Gretchen Shelesky, owner & artistic director

TRAINING: Gretchen began dancing at age 5. She studied with Kelly Patrick Swingle in Archbald, PA in tap, lyrical, ballet, and jazz from 1991-2001. She has taken with Pearlann Porter, Caitlin Gudat, Jeremy Czarniak, Debby Benvin, Angela Wheland, Gino Vaccaro, Kiki Lucas, Kim Clay, and others since moving to Pittsburgh in 2001.  Her promise is to continue to learn from others.

TEACHING: Since 1993, Gretchen had taught with the Kelly Patrick Studio of Dance, Benvin Dance and Performing Arts Center, and Point Park Community Classes before opening Ideal Dance in 2010.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Her promise is to provide an open and supportive environment to help dancers grow in abilities, personal development, and well-being.

OTHER CAREER: Gretchen is a family doctor with the UPMC St Margaret Family Medicine Residency Program, though her most important job is as a mom of 2 beautiful girls.

We are thrilled to have Miss Gretchen teaching tap, contemporary, and jazz during the 2024-2025 academic year.

          Zoe Beard, faculty
TRAINING: Zoe began dancing at age 2. She studied at Sandra Lynn School of dance in tap, lyrical, acro, and ballet from 1999-2010. She danced at Ideal Dance from 2010 to 2015 in jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, and pointe. She danced on Kent State’s Dance Team from 2015-2020 competing nationally in pom, hip-hop, and jazz. 
 
TEACHING: Zoe taught at Ideal Dance in 2020-2021, teaching jazz and hip-hop. Additionally, she taught college dance clinics to middle school and high school students. 
 
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Zoe wants to offer a fun and safe environment for all of her dancers. Zoe hopes to promote body appreciation and body neutrality through her teaching. She wants to push her students to be the best they can be, while equally valuing self-care. 
 
OTHER CAREER: Zoe is a 4th year doctoral student, obtaining her doctorate in psychology. She is currently a licensed therapist at a private practice, and an adjunct professor for Chatham’s Masters program.
 
We are so thrilled to have Miss Zoe back to teach jazz and hip hop during the 2024-2025 academic year!

Sarah Danylo, faculty

TRAINING: Sarah began dancing at 5 years old with a formal focus on ballet and a love for hip hop. She joined Addis Studios 2005-2009, with experience in Jazz, Contemporary, and Ballet where she had featured roles in The Nutcracker. She also completed a summer program at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. In 2010, she joined the Ideal Dance family where she has been dancing ever since. 

TEACHING: Sarah has been teaching and demonstrating at Ideal Dance since 2017.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Her Teaching Philosophy is laughter. She wants to show you that your body already has all the tools it needs to be a dancer. Let's stregnthen our muscles by dancing and relaxing them with laughter.

OTHER CAREER: She is the owner of a magical arts and craft shop, The Chosen Wand. #thechosenwand

She are so excited to have Miss Sarah teaching ballet and hip hop for the 2024-2025 season!

Kaitlin Muczyk, faculty

TRAINING: Ms Kait is a graduate of Penn State University with concurrent BAs in Theatre and Integrative Arts/Dance. Since then Kaitlin has trained with masters of dance, voice, and theatre in Pittsburgh, New York City, New Hampshire, and London.

TEACHING: Since 2007 Ms Kait has been teaching dance, musical theater, adaptive movement, and kinesthetic wellness all over Western Pennsylvania. 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Ms Kait loves working with people of all ages and abilities and finding ways to enhance life through movement. Seeing the inherent dignity in all students and holding space for all to find comfort in their own skin, she firmly believes that everyone can dance. She aims to inspire her students by igniting their passion for movement, meeting people where they are, nurturing their abilities, and promoting a strong sense of self confidence.

OTHER CAREER: Ms Kait is excited to announce the launching of her business "K8 Do It! Handy-gal services!" From baking hand painted cookies for your next event, yard work/landscaping and planning, mural painting, to patching a hole in your wall--> Reach out to Ms Kait, she can do it all! But her favorite "jobs" in the world are being a wife to Stephanie, mommy to Sidney, and daughter to Terry who all dance her at the studio with her.

We are thrilled to have Ms Kait back this year to teach ballet, jazz, and special needs/ adaptive dance in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Aeriana Olds, faculty

TRAINING: Aeriana began dancing at the age of 4 at the Benvin Dance and Performing Arts Center and has been with Ideal Dance since 2010. She has experience in tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, and contemporary and continues to train in college where she is taking classes in modern, jazz, and ballet. 

TEACHING: Aeriana demonstrated at Ideal Dance from 2018-2022 and has been teaching since late 2022.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Aeriana hopes that she can help dancers build a connection not only with themselves, but also with their movements, their music, and the space around them when dancing. She wants dancers to be able to express themselves however they want or need to and put whatever they are feeling into each of their movements without being afraid. 

OTHER CAREER: Aeriana is currently a college student at the University of Pittsburgh working towards earning a BA in Theater Arts and a Minor in African Studies.

We are so excited to have MIss Aeriana teaching tap, jazz, and contemporary during the 2024-2025 academic year.

          Nevada Scholze, faculty
TRAINING: Nevada began dancing at age 4 at Benvin Dance and Preforming Art Center and has been with Ideal Dance since 2010. She also danced under Joe Nikel in her high school musicals and apprenticed with him to choreograph the musicals after she graduated. She continues to take any class she can, including taking ballet and modern under Kevin Maloney in college, classes with Attack Theatre and other community and online classes.
 
TEACHING: Nevada started demonstrating at Ideal Dance in 2012 and has been a substitute teacher since 2019. She is also the head choreographer for Penn Hills High School Musicals and the coach for the Penn Hills Dance team.
 
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Seeing taking dance class as an act of self love, Miss Nevada strives to have students know that they deserve to take up space and make decisions that are kind to themselves. Dance is not a contest but rather a way to better dancers’ relationships with their bodies by working hard for themselves and their dance community.
 
OTHER CAREER: Nevada is a bartender for both Kingfly and The Abbey, mixing drinks and pleasant conversations. She also spends her time at Penn Hills High school teaching their dancers for the musicals and dance team.
 
We are so excited to have Ms. Nevada back to teach jazz and contemporary in our 2024-2025 season.

Julia Wallace, assistant artistic director & faculty

TRAINING: Julia began dancing at various local studios at the age of three. She trained with the Benvin Dance and Performing Arts Center from 2002-2010. She danced as a member of the Pittsburgh Community Ballet Company from 2006-2010 and continued her training as a company dancer with Ideal Dance when it opened in September 2010 until June 2012. In college, she attended tap classes led by Barry Blumenfeld and continued to perform with Ideal Dance.

TEACHING: Julia demonstrated at Ideal Dance from Sept 2010 to June 2012, and has been teaching all genres at Ideal Dance since 2016.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: Her promise is to promote a love, appreciation, and passion for dance in each of her students by enhancing individual knowledge of dance, technical skills, and creativity of movement.

OTHER CAREER: Julia graduated from New York University in May 2016 with degrees in Psychology and Architecture/Urban Design Studies. She currently works for the University of Pittsburgh as a research specialist at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and hopes to return to school for a Masters in Neuropsychology.

We're so happy to have Miss Julia on faculty! She will be teaching ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, and tap during the 2024-2025 academic year.