216.521.2540 x26 | mszucs@beckcenter.org

Melanie has been an instructor in jazz and ballet for over 30 years and serves as the director and choreographer of the Beck Center Dance Workshop. In her early years, she was named Miss Dance Michigan and performed as a soloist with Dance Detroit; she studied with George Zorich and on full scholarship with the School of Cleveland Ballet

Alexandra Cassidy – Jazz, Tap, Ballet, and Contemporary

Alexandra was born and raised in Cleveland, OH where she studied various styles of dance at Beck Center for the Arts and Cleveland School of the Arts. She holds a BFA in Dance with Distinction from The Ohio State University where she focused on choreography and education which allowed her to choreograph and present numerous works in student concerts. Ali has also performed and choreographed internationally through the Ohio State Brazil Dance Tour. She is excited to return to her home town and Beck Center

Louise (Lou) Hadaway – Jazz, Tap, and Ballet

Lou originated from York, England, a Musical Theater graduate from London’s Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. She relocated to Cleveland in 2010 upon retirement from 20 years of performing, teaching, and hiring dancers for Carnival Cruise Lines. Lou currently teaches for the Dance (Jazz, Tap, Ballet), Theater (Musical Theatre Dance), and Outreach Department at the Beck Center. Lou also teaches Jazz for the Dance Department at Cleveland State University and is a Choreographer for the CSU Vikings Dance Team.

Ally started her dancing career at the Beck Center in 2007. Since then she has performed in dozens of shows and showcases here, two of her favorites being as Karen Davidson in Billy Elliot (2016) and as the Evil Queen in the ballet, Snow White (2022). She is currently attending Cleveland State University where she is a member of the CSU dance company, majoring in dance. She can also be found performing science experiments at the Great Lakes Science Center, where she works part time.

Tristan has been a student at the Beck center for over 20 years in the dance, theatre, visual arts, and music departments. He has been teaching dance and choreographing for three years, starting in college, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in art and entertainment media at Vanderbilt University. He has been learning tap from former Radio City Rockette Mimi Schwensen for around two decades, and has also studied ballet, jazz, Latin dance, Chinese and Vietnamese traditional dances, flow arts, and martial arts such as Tai Chi.

Judi Bar E-RYT 500, Yoga Therapist, Reiki Master is Yoga Program Manager and Lead Yoga Therapist for a local health system where she manages her yoga team and designs program for patients, families and employees in her style of accessible yoga.  In addition to specializing in therapeutic yoga to treat chronic pain and illness for patients, she has developed unique programs that are accessible to everyone.  She has been featured in several books, speaks at international medical conferences of the benefits of yoga and has created the Come as You Are Yoga DVD series.   She was director of her own HeartLight Yoga Studio prior to joining the health system.  She has been teaching yoga almost 25 years.

Gwendolyn is a graduate of the University of Georgia, she studied theatre and stagecraft at Northwestern University with early training in ballet/pointe, tap, and jazz was with Margaret Holden. She performed with New York City Ballet in Saratoga Springs, NY. A former adjunct faculty member of Middle Tennessee State University and teaching artist for the Cumberland County Playhouse, Mrs. Seckers was the assistant director of the Rutherford County Youth Ballet. She is a certified group fitness instructor, has teaching experience with children and adults in private studios, teaches ballet for athletes and conducts in-school workshops.

Kelsey Heichel recently completed her Arts Management degree at Baldwin Wallace University, where she deepened her training and love for dance. Throughout her studies, Kelsey discovered a strong passion for teaching young dancers the beauty of this art form. She has gained valuable experience by performing at a collegiate level, instructing locally, and serving as a choreographer for local community theaters. Over the years, Kelsey's involvement with the Beck Center has grown, and this summer, she had the opportunity to teach dance to students in the community and create choreography for musical theater camps. Joining the dance department this year, Kelsey is excited to share her passion and inspire fellow dancers.

Mimi Schwensen has been a member of the dance faculty at Beck for nearly 40 years.  She was a Radio City Rockette, danced in summer stock, on Broadway, and with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. A dance teacher for competitive figure skaters, she has studied with Maria Tallchief, Bob Audy, Matteo, Luigi, Gennaro, among others.  Mimi’s classes begin with a tap barre. She places an emphasis on correct terminology, technique, and clean sounds.

Lieneke Matte grew up in the Bronx and received her early training at the School of American Ballet where she was a child performer with the New York City Ballet. Ms. Matte then attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York City and would later go on to study dance at SUNY Purchase College. There she performed works by a number of influential choreographers such as George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Nicolo Fonte, Lar Lubovitch, and Nicholas Villeneuve. Lieneke also studied abroad, spending a semester at the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts. In 2013 she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase College, as well as receiving the President’s Award for the dance conservatory. Following graduation Ms.Matte joined Verb Ballets (now Ohio Contemporary Ballet). During her 10 years with the company she performed works by Gerald Arpino, Adam Hougland, Anthony Krutzkamp, Heinz Poll, Richard Dickinson, Charles Anderson, Lauren Edson, Antonio Brown, Tommy-Waheed Evans, and Stephanie Martinez to name a few. Though no longer performing, Ms. Matte continues to spread her passion for dance throughout Northeast Ohio.

Emily Scali started her dance education locally.  She studied ballet, pointe, jazz, and tap, with a heavy emphasis in ballet, and pointe. After high school, she continued her education as a dance major at The University of Akron. Emily has been a ballet and pointe instructor at numerous studios in the area since 2004 and was recently certified to teach Progressing Ballet Technique. Emily continues her dance education by attending classes and local workshops. She is incredibly excited to share her passion and knowledge with the students at Beck Center. 

Bridget Biliunas was trained in Russian Classical Ballet by Cleveland's Marguerite Duncan and Nancy Arcury. She accompanied children’s ballet classes while student-teaching training. Her ballet career includes North Coast Ballet Theatre, Cleveland Dance Theater, numerous dance and science somatic seminars in Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, and Las Vegas while performing at the Cleveland Playhouse, the Masonic Temple, Connor Palace, and Tower City Productions, among others. In addition to her classical training, Bridget has danced with several folk dance ensembles. While performing, Bridget earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education teaching early childhood and middle school grades throughout Greater Cleveland. Through the Royal Academy of Dance, she is a licensed Silver Swans teacher for therapeutic ballet for seniors. Beginning in 2020, Bridget attends the Royal Ballet School’s Enlighten global webinar program for dance pedagogy. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Dance.

Molly Cohen is originally from Strongsville, Ohio and studied ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, modern, and contemporary for 15 years, with a heavy emphasis on ballet. She continued her dance education at Kent State University, graduating in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising with a Minor in Dance. After living in Cincinnati for 2.5 years, Molly moved back to Cleveland and started taking adult ballet classes at the Beck Center for the Arts, as well as substitute teaching at local studios. Molly is overjoyed to begin her teaching career at Beck Center, and is ready to utilize her over 20 years of ballet experience to help others develop their ballet skills and their appreciation of dance.

Melissa Yarur taught ballet technique and pointe for 15 years at North Carolina Dance Institute, a non-recital, non-competition studio. She also choreographed and produced several ballet concerts with Carolyn Ghezzi (PA Ballet, Geneva Ballet, NC Dance Theater). She moved to Cleveland in 2022.

Melissa studied ballet at the Academy of the Dance in Wilmington, DE, with Arthur Hutchinson, Victor Wesley, and Susan Lawrence. She performed various roles in the Nutcracker, including the Snow Queen, Chocolate, Candy Cane, Marzipan, the Toy Soldier, and Waltz of the Flowers. She has also performed in Les Sylphide, as the White Cat from Sleeping Beauty, and the Polovtsian maiden in the ballet from Prince Igor. Melissa went on to dance with Margot Parsons while getting her degree in Education at Boston University.