DANCE DEPARTMENT

Ballet, Pointe, Young Dancers

Amber has been teaching dance for over 18 years in the greater St. Louis area as well as in Norman, Oklahoma and Atlanta, Georgia. Her early training in ballet, jazz, tap, vocal performance, and theater began in St. Louis at Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts School (with Vivian Watts, Diane McCullough, and Thomasina Clarke) and continued at DaySpring Arts and Education (with Robyn Hartley, Ginger Hedrick, Ali Grimshaw, and Nancy Schaaf), where she also began teacher training. She continued her dance training at St. Louis Ballet School (with Ellen Costanza and Gen Horiuchi) before attending the University of Oklahoma and earning a B.F.A. in Dance in 2010. As a ballet pedagogy major at OU, she danced with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet company for two seasons and studied ballet theory with special focus on the psychology of learning and motivation among dance students. Amber is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Young Dancers, Adult Ballet

Kim grew up here in St. Louis, Missouri. She began taking classes at DaySpring when she was six years old and continued to grow in her performing arts education there for twelve years. In those years, she gained experience and training in ballet, jazz and modern dance as well as being involved in the Musical Theater, Voice and Drama departments. For two summers she also attended Ballet Magnificat!’s Summer Dance Intensive for additional dance training. She graduated from Parkway North High School in 2006. When she was 18, she was the Assistant to the Director of the ballet “La Sylphide”, and of the Musical “Tom Sawyer”. After taking classes at Lindenwood University for a semester, she moved to Madrid, Spain and began helping in the process of establishing a school of music and dance in the heart of the capitol city. After six months, she returned to the States and was the Teacher’s Assistant in Creative Movement classes at DaySpring. Upon her return to Spain, she became involved in Youth With A Mission’s Discipleship Training School and helped to choreograph evangelical dance pieces to be performed in the streets of Spain. Soon after, she returned to the dance school in Madrid and taught Creative Movement, Intermediate Ballet and Hip Hop classes for a semester. After two and a half years in Spain, she returned home to St. Louis. Since then, she has gotten married and now has four children.

Ballet, Pointe, Conditioning

Michael Burke, originally from Mexico, Missouri, trained at the Mareck Center for Dance and Beijing Dance Academy.  He graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Ballet.  Michael joined Saint Louis Ballet in 2016 under the direction of Gen Horiuchi where he is currently a company member.  He has also danced with Deos Contemporary Ballet since 2019 for their summer COLLIDE series, festival appearances, and dance for film projects. Highlights from his performance career include Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the principal pas de deux in Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour and The American, the leading roles in George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Square Dance, and Valse Fantasie, Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, John Keats in Tess Sinke’s My Dearest Girl, and The Mad Hatter in Brian Enos’s Alice in Wonderland. He has also originated roles in works by Amy Seiwert, Steve Rooks, Kevin Jenkins, Emery LeCrone, and Princess Grace Award winner Kameron N. Saunders. As an instructor, Michael has taught ballet, men’s technique, pas de deux, pointe, variations, contemporary, and conditioning to students of all ages, including for the Professional Training Program at Saint Louis Ballet. He has had students place in the top 12 at the Youth America Grand Prix and is an award winning choreographer.  Michael is an ABT® Certified Teacher and is also a certified in Progressing Ballet Technique.

Beginning Ballet

I grew up dancing at the Louisville Ballet School in their Classical Ballet and Pre Professional Programs. Once I graduated, I started as a trainee at the Saint Louis Ballet. This past summer I was the Assistant Rehearsal Director for the dance department’s performance of Giselle.

Ballet, Pointe, Variations

Christine Settembrino is an alumna of Princeton Ballet School’s Professional Training Program and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). During her ten-year performance career, she danced with Dayton Ballet, Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, Albany Berkshire Ballet, Birmingham Ballet, Missouri Contemporary Ballet (now Mareck Dance), and Deos Contemporary Ballet.  

Ms. Settembrino’s performances highlights include Kitri in Don Quixote, Lilac Fairy and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Fouetté Girl in Graduation Ball, Salvatore Aiello’s Afternoon of a Faun, and works by Dwight Rhoden, Thang Dao, Ben Needham-Wood, Anthony Krutzkamp, Tess Sinke, and Steve Rooks.  

Ms. Settembrino is currently the Assistant Rehearsal Director for St. Louis Ballet under the leadership of Artistic and Executive Director Gen Horiuchi, where she is also the Children’s Cast Director for The Nutcracker and has choreographed two works for the company’s New & Next series. She is also the Rehearsal Director for Deos Contemporary Ballet’s summer season, where she has often restaged the works of the Artistic Director, Tess Sinke.  

Ms. Settembrino is an ABT ® Certified Teacher and is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She is currently on faculty with DaySpring Arts & Education in St. Louis, where she has directed and choreographed productions of Cinderella, Giselle, and The Dream. Her students have received Top 24 placement at the Youth America Grand Prix and have gone on to careers with classical and contemporary ballet companies.

Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Movement & Mindfulness

Liliana is a 2022 graduate from Lindenwood University and holds a BFA in Dance. Her experience includes over a decade of extensive training and direction from the wonderful faculty at DaySpring Arts and Education. She studied many styles of dance, musical theatre, voice, and acting while at DaySpring. Liliana has been on the dance and performing arts faculty at Dayspring for eight years and loves the community that is found there. She is currently serving as the Performing Arts Department Head at and is enjoying her new role. 

From 2017-2018 Liliana completed a trainee program with Common Thread Contemporary Ballet where she trained in modern techniques and performed company repertoire. Liliana is currently embarking on her third season as a dance and company artist with Karlovsky and Company Dance under the direction of Dawn Karlovsky. Her other artistic endeavors include filmmaking where she had her short film "Upward and Over" featured at ACDA (American Collegiate Dance Association) conferences across the region in 2023. Liliana believes that movement is a gift and she loves to share it with others!

Ballet, Jazz, Young Dancers, Strength & Stretch

Sam Fink is a dance performing artist, instructor, and choreographer based in St. Louis. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from Southeast Missouri State University. Professionally, Sam has danced with Hot Crowd Dance Company, Simantikos Dance Chicago, Ashleyliane Dance Company, and various dance projects throughout Chicago and St. Louis. With these companies, Sam has had the privilege to travel across the U.S. and parts of the world. During her time in Chicago, Sam most notably taught with Chicago Dance Institute, working with live musicians and using intentional pedagogy to bring the joy of dance to elementary school students to promote social-emotional development. Since moving back to St. Louis, Sam has started a dance photography business, Lumosco Photo, where she captures dancers authentically on their dance journey.

Young Dancers, Ballet

Taylor Tricroce is a junior at Lindenwood University. She is working towards a BA in Dance and a BA in Elementary Education. Taylor grew up dancing at The Academy of Dance Arts in Warrenville, Illinois. She danced there for fourteen years and was on the competitive team for eleven years. She trained in various styles including; ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, tap and hip hop. During her time at the Academy, Taylor also gained experience assisting and teaching younger dancers. This is her second year teaching dance at Dayspring.

Tap

Alle Head began dancing as a child at Renee Johnson’s Dance Studio. There she studied tap, ballet, jazz, and lyrical. She then went on to train in classical tap with touring sister act, Gracie & Lacy. After high school, Alle attended Missouri Baptist University where she furthered her studies in musical theatre, tap, ballet, jazz, pointe, and contemporary. She graduated in 2021 with a degree in Theatre with minors in Marketing and Dance. Alle has taught competitive rhythm tap at DK Dance Productions as well as adaptive chair dance at senior living facilities around St. Louis through Vitality in Motion.

Modern Dance

A St. Louis native, Ellen Vierse graduated summa cum laude from Texas Christian University (TCU) with a BFA in Modern Dance, after which she moved back to St. Louis and danced with Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company, Leverage Dance Theater, and various independent artists. In 2016, Ellen moved to Chicago, where she continued to teach and perform professionally, dancing with Project606, Hot Crowd Dance Company, and Thodos' New Dances, among others. She has been featured in works by Jennifer Medina, Uri Sands (TU Dance), Jennifer Huffman Olivas (Diavolo), and Hanna Brictson (River North, Visceral) and has performed in two original dances for camera choreographed by Ela Olarte. Additionally, Ellen has studied contemporary modern dance intensively with established artists such as Doug Varone, Michael Foley, and Jon Lehrer and serves as a recurring guest choreographer for Columbus Modern Dance Company in Ohio. Ellen is also a certified Physical Therapist Assistant. As a dance educator with 10+ years of experience teaching children ages 2-18, she has always been passionate about the far-reaching benefits of dance and is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue sharing her love of the art form with the students of DaySpring!

Tap, Jazz

Ms. Amanda began teaching various genres of dance and movement in 1994 with an emphasis on precision tap and rhythm tap as well as contemporary and exploratory movement. Teaching environments have included multiple recreational and competitive dance studios in Missouri and Illinois as well as serving as the head dance team coach for seven seasons at a Missouri located university. She has also been a guest teacher and choreographer for countless studios, schools, workshops, intensives and churches for ages 2-85. While Amanda has been very fortunate to perform professionally for multiple professional sports teams in Missouri as well as being a contracted performer with a St. Louis located entertainment agency, her passion for teaching, sharing the art of dance and cathartic movement has always held her heart. Amanda is a certified Focalizing practitioner helping clients obtain body awareness and connection to self through movement, acceptance and breathwork. Amanda is also an RYT-200 certified yoga and meditation facilitator, specializing in a trauma informed practice as well as social emotional learning (SEL). Amanda is a nationally award winning tap choreographer and is absolutely thrilled to continue sharing this and other beautiful movement arts with students of every age and experience level at Dayspring!