Michigan Dance Company has been in business since 2013 and has already made great feats in the dance world... Recognized by the ADCC as a National Studio of Excellence, voted Best of the Best, honored with multiple national titles and is home to several award winning choreographers!
MDC was created to provide an economical way for the community to pursue the art of dance. As a child, the owner was not able to do all that she wanted with dance and athletics due to financial hardships. Because of this, she does everything in her power to work with parents on a budget! MDC is very reasonably priced and offers many discounts, payment plans and fundraising opportunities!
Meet Our Highly Qualified Instructors!
Ms. Natasha Nivison-Colwell
Owner/Artistic Director/Head Company Instructor
Ms. Natasha has over 24 years of cheer and dance experience. She started her career in California at the age of 7 and continued her education in dance through the University of Michigan. She has cheered and danced for several teams, including at the collegiate level. Ms. Natasha is an award winning choreographer and has several routines that have won at the national level. She has been a studio instructor since 2009 and opened Michigan Dance Company in 2013. Ms. Natasha also coached cheerleading for 10 years. For most of this time, she was the head varsity cheerleading coach for Davison High School, a division 1 school, where she led her teams to push boundaries and break school records. She consistently is bettering her ability to teach by attending master classes and workshops geared towards teaching student athletics. Ms. Natasha also has a teaching degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on mathematics and language arts. Ms. Natasha has devoted every aspect of her life to serving children and young adults. It is her ambition to make a lasting impact on the lives of every person she meets and to provide a positive role model for each and every one of her students. She is not afraid to push the limits to help students to reach their full potential. Ms. Natasha is also First Aid trained & CPR certified.
Why her students love her: "Ms. Natasha is enthusiastic and loving. She makes every student feel at home in the studio. She also does an amazing job organizing competition routines where each dancer's strengths are highlighted!"
Why her students love her: "Ms. Natasha is enthusiastic and loving. She makes every student feel at home in the studio. She also does an amazing job organizing competition routines where each dancer's strengths are highlighted!"
Ms. Barbara Zaleski
Ballet & Pointe
Barbara Zaleski was raised in Macomb, MI where she began her early training with Renee Wood, Stephanie Pizzo and Christina Tasco. After graduating from high school, Barbara attended the trainee program at the Conservatory of Fort Wayne Ballet under the direction of Karen Gibbons-Brown. In 2008, she entered Fort Wayne Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member and later became a Soloist. Ms. Zaleski has performed in many ballets including, Cinderella, Giselle, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Sylphide and The Nutcracker. While at Fort Wayne Ballet, she studied Dance Pedagogy, Kinesiology, Choreography Composition and Music Theory. In 2010, Barbara moved back to Michigan to perform with Eisenhower Dance for two seasons and began teaching at Eisenhower Dance Center. Along with teaching dance, she is also a Physical Therapist Assistant. Barbara loves teaching at Michigan Dance Company and to share the knowledge she has learned over her professional career and many years teaching.
Why her students love her: "Miss Barbara allows every dancer to learn at their own level and pushes her students to be their very best!"
Why her students love her: "Miss Barbara allows every dancer to learn at their own level and pushes her students to be their very best!"
Ms. Elizabeth Hampton
Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Acrobatics, Tumbling & Poms
Ms. Elisabeth has over 20 years of experience in dance. Of those 20+ years, 8 of them include being a dance instructor of varies styles. 2 of them involve coaching a high school dance team. Additionally, she spent 2 years dancing at the collegiate level and served in a leadership position on her competitive college dance team. I’m her high school years, Liz was on the sideline and competition cheerleading teams. Her favorite styles of dance are hip hop, contemporary, and pom!
Liz graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and currently works in Early Childhood Administration. She works as the Assistant Director of a learning center ages 0- first grade. She believes that the early years are pivotal and she loves being someone young children can look up to. Her true passion in her work lies in the families. She is committed to supporting families, helping parents feel confident, safe, loved, and as though their family belongs in the community. Her mission in life is to connect with others and help them find their purpose to become the best version of themselves. In the studio, this translates to her classes. She is intentional on making her students feel important, supported, and empowered. In pushing her dancers to their best ability, she also strives to create a positive and fun learning environment. Liz is First Aid & CPR certified.
Why her students love her:
Liz graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and currently works in Early Childhood Administration. She works as the Assistant Director of a learning center ages 0- first grade. She believes that the early years are pivotal and she loves being someone young children can look up to. Her true passion in her work lies in the families. She is committed to supporting families, helping parents feel confident, safe, loved, and as though their family belongs in the community. Her mission in life is to connect with others and help them find their purpose to become the best version of themselves. In the studio, this translates to her classes. She is intentional on making her students feel important, supported, and empowered. In pushing her dancers to their best ability, she also strives to create a positive and fun learning environment. Liz is First Aid & CPR certified.
Why her students love her:
Ms. Caitlyn Cramer
Pom, Cheer/Tumble & Toddler Classes
Ms. Caitlyn is a very nurturing woman who loves helping children to grow. She has been involved with cheer and tumbling for 12 years, coaching for 4 of them. Ms. Caitlyn has been teaching dance since 2018. She has a deep understanding of childhood development and is totally focused on fostering the growth of the child as a whole by promoting creativity through movement. Ms. Caitlyn feels blessed to be a role model for MDC's littlest dancers!
Why her students love her: "Ms. Caitlyn has the patience of a saint... she not only makes class fun and engaging, but goes above and beyond to make her littles feel special and loved!"
Why her students love her: "Ms. Caitlyn has the patience of a saint... she not only makes class fun and engaging, but goes above and beyond to make her littles feel special and loved!"
Ms. Lilian Erdman
Pre Ballet
Miss Lilian was raised in Menominee, MI where she began her dance training at the age of 3 with Ms. Susan Bunting at the First Street Academy of Dance. Through out those years Liliy studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary. During her years she attended a variety of master dance classes in several states which allowed her to train with several professional choreographers. She also has a background in cheer. Liliy has a long background in leadership as she was an elected leader for an International organization for girls, Jobs Daughters, for a variety of years. This gave her the opportunity to learn how to effectively guide young women all over the state of Michigan to be confident young women and shape the future. Lilian strived to teach invaluable skills that increase their confidence and prepare them to lead, by allowing girls to use their voice. Following high school Lilian attended Grand Rapids for Sign language and Leadership. She then transferred to Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI to study Ballet. Lilian feels that dance is an opportunity – to fully put yourself in front of others and at the same time to put on a mask and not to be judged. Dance is an opportunity to be free. It gives you the ability to overcome yourself and your fears. Dance has always been there for me. Lilian strives to teach her students to be authentically themselves and to put all they have on the dance floor. She reminds them if you can say it, you can do it. Lilian is new to the MDC family but feels completely at home and looks forward to many years of teaching students that they are capable.
Why her students love her: "Ms. Lily has a great eye for improving technique and cleaning dances!"
Why her students love her: "Ms. Lily has a great eye for improving technique and cleaning dances!"
Mr. Chester Watson
Musical Theatre, Tap, Hip Hop, Cheer/Tumble & Ballroom
Chester Watson is a lifelong dancer. His passion for dance started at the age of five with Tap, Ballet, and Jazz. From the age of 12, was in multiple plays and musical theater productions. In high school, he began to do cheerleading. As part of their competition team, he was introduced to tumbling and elite level stunts/acrobatics. After high school he continued to cheer at Saginaw Valley State University. After an unfortunate injury, he switched his focus to dancing again. He starting learning East Coast and West Coast Swing. After just 12 weeks of classes, he began preforming on a West Coast Swing team where he began to compete. From there, he learned other dances expanding his repertoire to include Country, Latin, rhythm, and smooth. In 2007, that passion turned from just dancing and competing to sharing the gift of dance with others. In 2009, he stared dancing with is a partner in routine divisions where he regularly placed in the top 3. Chester's unique teaching style allows people of all ages learn to from him. One of his greatest accomplishments has been to teach dance to people with dementia and other disabilities. Chester enjoys being able to share his passion for dance with all of our dancers!
Why his students love him: "Mr. Chester is very passionate about dance and brings excitement into the classroom!"
Why his students love him: "Mr. Chester is very passionate about dance and brings excitement into the classroom!"
Ms. Alyssa Hamlin
Contemporary, Musical Theatre & Jazz
Ms. Morrigan Fifield
Contemporary, Acrobatics, Tumbling, Tap, Jazz & Hip Hop
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Morrigan has been in dance since she was three years old. Since the age of nine she has been an all-star cheerleader as well as a competition dancer competing at many different levels and genres including jazz, hip hop, acro, pom, lyrical, tap and contemporary in groups and solos. She has won several national titles and traveled extensively competing across the US. She has a passion for all types of dance including tumbling and was even the 2021 Michigan Dance Company Dancer of the Year, voted on by her teammates! She recently graduated from Goodrich High School and is in the Nursing Program at the University of Michigan Flint. She is excited to be able to continue in her love of dance by working with children to develop their individual talents and skills and also learn to work cohesively as a team.
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Ms. Chelsea Zappella
Guest Instructor
Chelsey Zappella is a passionate dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She has been dancing for 19 years and choreographing for 6 years. Chelsey recently graduated from the University of Michigan Flint with her bachelors in Dance and a minor in Theatre. Chelsey is trained in, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet and Tap. Chelsey has attended the American College Dance Association (ACDA) three times while in college. While at ACDA she took many different styles of dances from professors all over the east coast. She is so blessed for all the amazing opportunities her professors gave her in college. Chelsey had the opportunity to perform with one of her dance professors, Emma Davis at the Capital Theatre back in 2018. Chelsey’s passion for dance will never die. She loves to pass her love for dance onto each student she teaches. Chelsey loves to bring structure to her classes. She thrives on the energy and commitment from her students while in class. In Chelsey classes she really enjoys focusing on technique, movement quality, and pushing her dancers to be the best performer they can be. Chelsey believes that each dancer can bring something special to her choreography and she strives to pull that out of each student. In the future Chelsey plans to continue teaching and choreographing on committed dancers of all ages.
Hannah Boyl
Guest Instructor
Hannah was raised in Michigan's thumb! She started dancing at age 3 and was on a competition team by age 10. Over the years, Hannah received many top place awards including, judge’s choice awards and having solos place within the top 10 of her age division. Hannah has also received scholarships to attend national competitions. She has been teaching since 2008, in styles such as jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, ballet, and tap, to students ages 3 to adult. She has been a guest choreographer for school dance teams and multiple Michigan dance studios. After 6 years of teaching, Hannah took on the opportunity to perform again and began working as a DETROIT PISTON'S DANCER for the 2014-2015 season. Over the years, she has performed with artists including Kid Rock, Sebastian Bach, George Clinton, Alien Ant Farm, Bret Michaels, Ray J, B.O.B., Sean Kingston, Stevie B, and Gloria Gaynor. Hannah appeared in an independent horror film Pitchfork as a dancer and an extra. Hannah feels there is a great importance in continued education and continues to take advantage of conventions and classes in the area. Hannah has completed her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and master’s degree in dietetics. She is pursuing a career in sports nutrition!
Ms. Aurora Lewis
Guest Instructor
Ms. Aurora has been dancing since she was nine years old, at several different studios in Michigan and in various styles. She attended Grand Valley and graduated with a degree in dance, as well as psychology. She has also trained in New York at the Broadway Dance Center and the Joffrey Ballet School. Ms. Aurora was a member of the professional dance company Vertical Ambition Dance Company for three years and now performs professionally with Velocity Dance Company. She also tours nationally as a backup dancer and has judged at VIP Dance Competitions.
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The Studio Space!
Our studio consists of two large dance rooms, a spacious lobby with parent viewing windows and a fully furnished student lounge and study area. Our dance rooms are lined with mirrors and have beautiful, professional sprung flooring with a marley finish suitable for all styles of dance. We have stationary ballet barres, as well as portable barres that come in various sizes. We also have an inflatable tumble track, a kip bar, incline mat, octagon mat, wheel mat, and folding tumbling mats for our gymnastics/tumbling and acrobatics classes. Come in and check us out!
