* Mark Meismer *
Mark Meismer grew up in Orange County, California where he trained for four years at the Orange County High School of the Arts. Mark has been dancing professionally for fourteen years. Mark has danced and worked with artists such as Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, Madonna, Paula Abdul and toured with Reba McEntire from 2000 to 2002. Some of his TV credits include; “Scrubs”, “Will and Grace”, “The George Lopez Show”, “Home Improvement”, “Mad About You”, “The Hughleys”, “The MTV Video Music Awards”, “The American Music Awards” and “The VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards” “The Tonight Show“ with Jay Leno and the Rosie O’Donnell show. Some of Marks film credits include; "Jackass 2", “Austin Powers 2”, “Austin Powers 3 Goldmember”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “Gigli” “North”and “A Time For Dancing”.He has danced in commercials for Dr. Pepper, Reebok, Pepsi, Toyota and Frito Lay.
Mark is also an original member of Mia Michaels dance company “RAW” based out of New York City. He was the assistant choreographer to Mia on Celine Dion’s show “A New Day” in Las Vegas and assisted Mia on the FOX TV reality show “So U Think U Can Dance”. Mark was a faculty member of LA Dance Magic for 9 years and currently teaches master classes and workshops across the country. Mark has choreographed for the TV shows "Dancing With The Stars", “Scrubs” and “The George Lopez” show. Mark also added the title of Artistic Director to his resume when he started his own Dance Company: "Evolution".
Mark has had a very diverse career in concert dance and commercial dance, however his biggest accomplishment and proudest achievement is being a dad to his beautiful daughter Ryan.
* Mark Goodman *
Hoofer, choreographer and master teacher Mark Goodman is the artistic director of the Mark Goodman Tap Company, an LA-based dance company that fuses New York swing-style tap with world rhythms and other dance forms to break new ground in tap dance performance.
Mark began tap dancing at the University of New Hampshire under Gay Nardone. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Theater Arts, he moved to New York where he joined the American Tap Dance Orchestra (ATDO), training with Brenda Bufalino. Mark went on to work with Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Charles "Honi" Coles and Buster Brown. He proudly acknowledges that his dance style has been greatly influenced by these greats and by the great movie hoofers.
Mark's innovative choreography fuses powerful dancing, percussion, storylines, original music and rhythms. His sense of humor and belief that dance and performance need to be fun -- for both dancer and audience -- also influence his work. You can expect Mark to joke lightly while his feet fly, and you can expect the unexpected when he pulls out the props -- anything from stairs to chairs to jump ropes.
While in New York, Mark was on staff at the Broadway Dance Center and Steps. He performed with various dance troupes and as a soloist nationally and internationally in such venues as: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Joyce Theatre (with ATDO), "Savion Glover and Friends at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park." Goodman's stage credits include Andy Lee in the European tour of "42nd Street," the Lead Man in "Sophisticated Ladies," "Anything Goes" with Melba Moore and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. He also has held lead roles in "No No Nanette," "Sugar Babies" and "Over Here." His dramatic credits include "Mother Courage and Her Children" under Pulitzer-prize-winning director Tony Kushner, and "Death of a Salesman."
Following a move to California in 1996, Mark joined the faculty at The Performing Arts Center in Van Nuys. He is currently on staff for SHOCK and travels to 30-35 different U.S. cities throughout the year. His stage extravaganza, "Mark Goodman Tap Company Presents World Tap”, made its debut in June 2001 at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. He recently founded The Mark Goodman Dance Company. He has brought his innovative style to many countries, including Switzerland, Finland, Australia, New Zealand and Guatemala to name but a few.
In 2003, Mark completed work on the feature film “Polar Express” working with Tom Hanks and Director Robert Zemeckis. He is now in the process of developing 2 new shows: “Q” an adaptation of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and an original new show, using the music of Seal (“Seal with a Kiss”), scheduled to make its debut in Spring of 2005.
* Jason Janas *
Jason originally hails from the northern New Jersey area, and more recently from Charlotte, NC.
His dance education is highlighted with training and performing with Tapestry Dance Company and by his tenure as a charter member of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble, where Jason began his rhythm tap career under the direction of Ms. Deborah Mitchell.
Jason continues to teach and choreograph from coast-to-coast while he continues to grow as a multiform rhythm tap dancer.
Jason is also the Artistic Director of the Hoofin’ Ground Tap Festival in Charlotte, NC and recently performed in Derick Grant’s Chicago production of Imagine Tap.
* Billy Larson *
Billy Larson, from Philadelphia, PA, brings a vast array of performing, teaching, and choreographic experience rangin from contemporary jazz to rhythm tap. Most recently, Billy danced the lead role in Mia Michaels' "3 Steps From Heaven" staged for ASH Contemporary Dance Company, where Billy performed as principal male dancer for 4 years. He traveled throughout North America as Funky in Dein Perry's critically acclaimed TAP DOGS and was a dance champion on CBS's Star Search. Other company work includes principal roles with the late Mark Marino's American Dance Company where Billy performed throughout Italy, Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Some other credits include the 2002 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies in Salt Lake City, Carnival Choreographer's Ball NYC, The Elan Awards, Broadway Dance Center's Performance Outlets, and Dancers Responding to AIDS benefit performances. Broadening his career as a choreographer, Billy recently formed Truth In Progress, a contemporary dance company based out of the Philadelphia/NYC area.
* Merissa Gassel *
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Merissa has trained, competed, and choreographed all over the United States winning numerous awards and gaining recognition. At the age of 14 she began touring with a national convention circuit assisting Dee Caspary for 3 consecutive years. Having since moved to Los Angeles to pursue a dance career, Merissa is now represented by DDO dance agency and continues her training at the EDGE PAC and the Millennium. She has been a dancer in Dee Caspary's IV dance company for 5 years and has performed in "A Time No More", "The Glass Case", "The Best of the Broadway Dance Center" and the Elan Awards in NYC. Merissa has most recently shot a commercial for "Champion" stores that will air in France this coming year. She currently performs with a dance group "The Eddies" at The Edison Downtown in downtown Los Angeles and just finished choreographing for "Velvet Haze", a burlesque group, premiering this Summer. Although Merissa spends most of her time dancing, she finding teaching just as fulfilling. She toured as a faculty member of Starsystems "SHOCK" convention in 2005-2006. Merissa loves motivating, inspiring, and connecting with her students.
* Justin Giles *
Justin began his career training at the Southern Strutt. He was a winner on Start Search as well as Destination Stardom in Hawaii. Justin has worked for such companies as Reebok and Fox TV. In 2001 he traveled to Korea where he worked with Poz dance Theatre and performed along side their company in Seoul. He has introduced his work in SoulEscape his own company. His award winning choreography can be seen in dance studios and professional companies nationwide and abroad. He is also currently a staff member on NuVO!
* Terry Schulke *
Terry is the owner of "Just Plain Dancin' & Co." in Riverside, California. Her studio has been featured in Dance Spirit Magazine as one of the top rated dance studios in the nation. She is an award winning choreographer in Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Modern Dance in California, New Jersey, New York and San Francisco. She has also been given the honor of "Choreographer of the Year" several times at many National Competitions. She has choreographed videos for companies such as Bournes and Budweiser, as well as choreographing for Star Search, three award winning high school dance teams, and the UCLA Dance Team. Her studio has performed theater productions such as Sleeping Beauty, Evita, Chorus Line and the Wizard of Oz. Her works have been performed at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios. Many of her students have done commercials, music videos, TV movies, as well as major motion pictures including "North" and "Coneheads - the Movie".
For the past 20 years, Terry has taught hundreds of dancers the values of technique, the importance of performance, style and creativity. Terry's studio is an all around performance studio specializing in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Modern dance. Terry judges at numerous competitions and currently is a lecturer and master teacher for many conventions. Her workshops include teaching skills, technique, Art of Dance, and choreography. She is the co-director of "L.A. meets N.Y." in New York.
As an author, Terry's works include "Dear Mom & Dad", and "Exit Wounds", which have been awarded Top Choreography awards at National Dance Competitions. She is also the master teacher for the video, "Turns, Leaps and Tricks", produced by Mad Degrees Productions.
Terry's personal life includes being the mother of two daughters, married for over 30 years, and is a 11 year Breast Cancer survivor.
