OUR FACULTY

At Premier School of Dance, our faculty believes that dance training fosters valuable life skills such as respect, humility, responsibility to oneself and others, teamwork, goal-setting, creative expression, and personal achievement.

All our instructors have extensive qualifications in dance, with a full understanding of what is technically appropriate for every age level.
 

Karin Gritz
STUDIO OWNER & INSTRUCTOR

Karin Gritz has owned Premier School of Dance for 30 years, and has been teaching dance for over 35 years. Her early training began with Gwen Bowen School of Dance in south Denver, and progressed to teaching at age 18. She has taught through many outlets including: YWCA, Pueblo Ballet, Rancho Simi Valley Recreation Department and at local studios in Colorado.

Karin is exceptional in working with the younger kids and keeping the tradition of dance alive! Her objective with the studio is to reinforce arts education by providing an outlet for all families to afford dance training. She believes that dance teaches many life skills besides technique and the artistry of dance.

Alexandra Fields
CO-DIRECTOR & INSTRUCTOR
Alexandra Fields began her training here at Premier. She went on to graduate with Honors from the University of Arizona with a B.F.A in Dance Performance. She received additional training from Virgina School of the Arts, Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has been teaching for 22 years and has been the Director of the competition team for the last 15 years. In her free time you can find her chasing her three adorable children around. 

Jamison Slater
INSTRUCTOR
Jamison Slater began her training in Medford, NJ. She then went to study on scholarship at Virginia School of the Arts. She attended many summer programs including Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Koresh, and Charleston Ballet. She has danced professionally with Charleston Ballet Theatre and Caribbean Cruise Lines. While living in Las Vegas Jamison performed in Jubilee!, Nathan Burton Comedy Magic Show, and the Sirens show at Treasure Island. Jamison has also performed as a back-up dancer for recording artist Kristine W. in Miami and Bruno Mars in Las Vegas. She is also a judge for National Dance Showcase, International Dance Alliance and Headliners. Jamison is looking forward to her fifth season at Premier.

Michelle Nigro
INSTRUCTOR
Michelle has been teaching at Premier since it opened in 1993. A former Miss Adams county with over 30 years of being involved in performing arts, she has a B.A. in Elementary Education and a minor in Dance from the University of Northern Colorado. Currently she is working as an instructional coach at The Studio School in Adams 12 Five Start School District. She has a wide background in teaching Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Acrobat. As of recently two of her three adult children have gotten married. 

Lisa Caldwell
INSTRUCTOR
Lisa trained at Ballet Mississippi and the St. Louis Ballet School. She attended the University of Kansas and has a B.A. in Dance and a B.S. in Business Administration. She has spent the last few years in Chicago teaching and dancing professionally with Aerial Dance Chicago and Thodus Dance Chicago. Lisa is an experienced Ballet teacher with years of experience teaching all levels. She moved to Colorado to train with Frequent Flyers in Boulder and is currently a member of Hannah Kahn Dance. Lisa is happy to call Colorado her new home. 

Liam Hogan  
INSTRUCTOR
Liam grew up in Houston, Texas where he started his ballet training at the Houston Ballet Academy. Upon graduating high school he began his career as a professional Ballet dancer at the Washington Ballet under the direction of Julie Kent. In 2018 Liam joined the Colorado Ballet where he has performed multiple leading roles in both classical and contemporary Ballets. Liam has been teaching Ballet for six years. This is his first year teaching at Premier. 

Liz Fischer
INSTRUCTOR
Liz earned her B.A. from Mercyhurst University in both Dance and Communications. She lived in NYC for the past few years where she worked for Kinderdance in the public and private school system as well as at Broadway Performing Arts Center. Liz has been teaching for the last decade and her specialties include Acro, Ballet, and Lyrical. Liz is thrilled to be a part of the team here at Premier. 

Danielle Scheib
INSTRUCTOR
Orginially from New Orleans, Danielle is a form adjunct faculty member in the dance department at Tulane University and was a past company member as well as the Associate Artistic Director for Gulf Coast Theater on Tap. She perfomed with Beyonce in the 2013 Super Bowl Halftime show, was a dancer at Tokyo Disneyland and performed in Broadways "42nd Street" in Germany. Danielle has taught on the National convention faculty for Dance Masters of America. 

Cassandra McGehee
INSTRUCTOR
Cassandra began her training here at Premier. She graduated with Honors from Grand Canyon University with a B.A. in Dance and a B.S. in Business Management. While at GCU she studied Ballet, Modern, and Jazz, as well as performed every semester with GCU's Ethington Dance Ensemble. She is excited to be back at Premier doing what she loves, teaching!

Alyssa Degler 
INSTRUCTOR
Alyssa was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and started dancing at the age of six in Ballet. Since then she has trained in Modern, Jazz, Pointe, and Pilates. During university she picked up her yoga instructor certification, along with her B.S in Dance Science and B.A in Psychology. Aside from her love of dance, Alyssa enjoys exploring the Colorado outdoors with her golden retriever, Banjo!

Tammy Wilkins

INSTRUCTOR
Tammy is a certified pilates instructor in which she has been teaching for 15 years, She is also a classically trained ballet dancer and has danced with Boulder Ballet as well as Colorado Dance Theater. She has a degree in Kinesiology and Dance Science.  In 2013, she studied over 250 hours worth with 2nd generation master teacher Casa Resser to become certified through Pilates Method Alliance. She is a mother of 5 and owns her own studio, Pointe Pilates, as well as teaches as Club Pilates.