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Our Instructional Staff

Mollee Johnson - Dance Coordinator “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion”. Mollee Johnson brings her passion for dance as well as over 30 years of experience to her teaching. Mollee has been a dance instructor and Dance company director for over 17 years. She has a multitude of performance and chorography experience in her portfolio, including performances at Cedar Point Amusement Park, The College Football Hall of Fame, The Orange Bowl Stadium and Walt Disney World. Mollee has taught both Jazz and Pom Pon clinics as well as having judged numerous high school dance auditions. Mollee was a member of her High School Orchesis and the NIU dance line the Silverette’s where she was an undergraduate leader. This is Mollee’s seventh year as Dance coordinator for APA. She is passionate about delivering a quality, technique based program. In addition to being Dance Coordinator, Mollee also runs a successful Interior Design company, Style 1519. She lives in Lake Zurich with her husband and two children.
Jen Rowley - Instructor Jennifer began dancing as a young child and has studied ballet, tap, jazz, African and modern dance styles. She has been teaching dance for over 19 years. Jennifer has a degree in Dance and Psychology from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She has also participated in the New York University Summer Dance program in New York City and studied abroad at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, England. She has danced professionally and has presented her modern choreography in Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago. In addition to dance, she is also a yoga instructor. Jennifer is thrilled to be able to share her love of dance with her students.
Kristine Blitek - Instructor, Head LBP Instructor, Impulse Co-Director Kristine Blitek began ballet training at the age of three. At the age of eight she trained at The Performing Arts of Spring Grove and performed with the Illinois Youth Dance Theater. During High school Kristine joined the Judith Svalanders School of Ballet where she began as a trainee and worked her way up to Judith Svalanders Company. There She participated in multiple productions of Sleeping Beauty, Copellia, and twenty plus productions of The Nutcracker. Kristine began performing with the College of Lake County in 2010 where she was accepted into to the Prairie Spirit Dance Troop. She continued performing through college and received her associate of arts with a focus in dance. In 2013 Kristine became a member of L-Theory Collective. A collective of North Suburban dancers dedicated to revitalizing modern dance through a unique blend of dynamic athleticism and emotive artistic integrity. She has participated in numerous local outreach programs. Kristine is still an active member of L-Theroy Collective remaining current in performance and technique. Through teaching Kristine finds great reward in passing on her passion for dance to her students. This is her seventh year with APA.
Gillian Bourke- Instructor, LBP Instructor, Impulse Co-Director Gillian began studying dance at a young age in Arlington Heights through their Park District dance program. Growing up she was a member of their dance companies and in high school was a member of the Rolling Meadows Orchesis Performing Dance Company. Gillian began assisting for dance classes in high school and her love and passion for dance and education grew. She furthered her education at Hope College in Holland, Michigan where she graduated in 2019 with a degree in dance education and physical education. While there she was a member of StrikeTime Dance Theater as well as H2 Performing Dance Company. Gillian and other company dancers from Hope had the opportunity to travel abroad to Adelaide Australia to attend, present, and perform at DaCi, an international dance congress. Gillian has had many opportunities to perform and present her choreography from the Oakland Dance Festival, SHAPE Michigan, to New York City and Chicago. She is assistant coaching a local dance team and has choreographed for many dance companies and dance teams throughout Illinois and Michigan. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, afro-latin fusion, and contemporary dance, and is very excited to have found a home at APA where she can spread her love and passion for all genres of dance.
Sam Mazzalonga - Instructor, Impulse Pre Director Samantha began dancing at the age of two on Long Island. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, kick line, and pointe at June Claire Dance Center for 15 years. During this time, she worked with some of the most prestigious teachers in the industry and teachers from NYC. While training there she was a part of their JC Lynn dance company and the Long Island Ballet Theater. She was honored to perform in professional shows such as the Oyster Bay Holiday Show and the Father Charles and Laurie Magano Christmas Show. She then continued her training in dance at the collegiate level and attended the State University of New York at Fredonia. She studied ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, and attended many guest artist classes in styles such as ballroom, hip hop, and African to name a few. She graduated with her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance and Bachelors of Fine Arts in Psychology with and interdisciplinary studies minor in Dance Studio Administration. While completing her undergrad, she was fortunate enough to teach at Eclectic Dance Company as a Senior Faculty Member and Technical Supervisor. During this time Samantha taught a wide variety of styles such as ballet, modern, tap, contemporary, lyrical, pom, kick line/character dance, and dance composition. She taught recital classes, technique classes, solo/duet/trios. Sam is excited to begin her third year at APA Lake Zurich and seeing what she can accomplish out in Chicago's dance scene! She believes that everyone can dance and wants to inspire students to reach their fullest potential.
Emily Mejicano-Gormley - Dance Instructor Emily Mejicano-Gormley is an emerging dancer and choreographer based in the Chicago Land Area. Her choreographic work has been featured both locally and abroad. Emily started dancing when she was eleven years old at her local studio, continuing her dance education at Hope College where she was a part of the H2 Dance Company. Her dance instructing history includes teaching at Soleunique Dance Company, Beyond the Stars Performing Arts, and Dance Images. Emily’s teaching philosophy is based on actively engaging in the class, communicating objectives and goals clearly, planning out the steps that are needed to be taken to reach these set goals, and working to inspire students to engage with the material being taught. This is her first year at APALZ and she is thrilled to pass on her love of the art to her students.
Erin Coffman - Dance Instructor Erin grew up in Maryland training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, pointe, and tap at several studios, thus beginning her love for dance. She continued her education at East Carolina University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance. While there she was fortunate enough to learn through residencies with many great companies such as: BODYTRAFFIC, Parsons Dance Company, and Koresh. She also spent her summers training with the American Dance Festival, Thodos, and New Dialect. She moved to Chicago in January 2017 to pursue her career in dance, and has been lucky to have the opportunity to dance with Banks Performance Project, a contemporary modern company, for many seasons. She recently became Outreach Coordinator for the company and looks forward to many upcoming projects. During this time Erin also found her passion for teaching, and spent many years teaching dance at studios in Maryland, North Carolina, and now Chicago. In her free time she likes playing with her cat Babe!