Instructors

Izabella George

Izabella went to her first dance performance at the age of 3 and immediately fell in love and signed up at a local dance studio. Shortly thereafter, she realized she also had a passion for teaching and choreography. This passion led her to offer free dance classes out of her garage. Over her 20 years of dancing and 15 years of competing, she was trained in contemporary, modern, lyrical, ballet, tap, hip hop, salsa, bachata, and more.

After graduating from Larkin Dance Studio she went on to pursue a degree in dance education at Hamline University. While attending Hamline she founded a dance organization that went on to perform and compete at the national level. Izabella is excited to share her passion and knowledge with the students and become part of the amazing work at Mayer Arts!

Katie McGannon

Katie McGannon is a performer and educator based in Minneapolis, MN. Originally from New Prague, MN, she moved to Indianapolis to study Music Education at Butler University in 2016. In Indiana, she taught PreK-8 General Music, directed multiple musical theatre productions, and taught beginning Musical Theatre with Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre in Carmel, IN. This summer, Katie returned to the Twin Cities, and she’s so excited to dive into the thriving theatre community here in Minnesota. Katie currently teaches K-5 music in Minneapolis, and she’s thrilled to be working with Mayer Arts! 

Kate Herrera

Kate Herrera is a performer and teaching artist based in the twin cities. Born and raised in Minnesota, she went to North Dakota State University and graduated with a BFA in musical theatre. Kate has been doing theatre since she was 8 years old and her passion has only continued to grow as she’s gotten older. In college she found directing to be a true love of hers as well as working with kids. Therefore, she is delighted to be working with Mayer Arts this fall!

Kaelin Walker

Kaelin Li Walker hails from El Paso, Texas and is currently a Master’s of Public Policy student at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She has a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Women’s and Gender Studies. She has performed with and choreographed for El Paso’s youth theatre company Kids ‘n’ Co, performed in numerous musicals at the UTEP Dinner Theatre, and appeared in productions with the UTEP Department of Theatre and Dance. After having taught taekwondo to children for seven years, working as an undergrad TA, and teaching dance to young people, she continues to develop her pedagogical methodology as well as fostering arts appreciation through her work with Mayer Arts.

Carina Birkholz

Carina got her first tutu on her third birthday and has been dancing ever since! Growing up, she trained in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and musical theatre. She graduated in 2020 with a B.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota, and her M.Ed. in Elementary Education in 2021. Carina is honored and excited to share her passion for movement with others. (Photo by Isabel Fajardo)

Emma Swain

Emma Swain is a German-American playwright and theatre artist based in Minneapolis, MN; originally from Grayslake, IL. She holds a B.A. in Music Theatre & English from Carthage College, and currently works as a stage manager, house manager, crew member, childcare provider, and teaching artist across the Twin Cities. Emma’s playwriting work has appeared in readings/workshops nationwide, including Orlando Rep., the Lanford Wilson Festival, Long Island University in NYC, at the Region III Kennedy Center Festival in Madison, WI, and at various high schools and colleges. Her work has also been published in a Smith & Kraus’ 2021 monologue anthology, with Theatrical Rights Worldwide, and in some scripts literary magazine’s recently published LGBTQ+ monologue anthology. Upcoming: TEQUILA SUNRISE will appear at Southeast Missouri University in October 2023. https://www.emmaswain.com/

 

Calista Weidemeier

Calista is a Minneapolis-based teaching artist and performer. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO for Musical Theatre Performance. Post-college, she began pursuing her two biggest passions: theatre and education. She is also a teaching artist at Lyric Arts, SOAR Regional Arts, and this school year she will be a swing teaching artist for the Disney Musicals In Schools program through Hennepin Theatre Trust. She is also the Administrator for Buffalo Community Theater. She is thrilled to be a teaching artist at Mayer!

Julia Litecky

Julia began competitively dancing in fifth grade and continued ever since. She is a recent Iowa State University graduate who danced throughout college on the ISU InnovAtion team, while also choreographing for the school’s DubH Hip Hop club. In her time between graduating college and attending law school, she will be continuing her love of dance by teaching with Mayer Arts!

Kaylee Clauson

Kaylee is an incoming junior studying public relations and theatre arts at Concordia St. Paul. She also recently graduated from NYU’s performing arts industry program. Kaylee has been working as a theatre educator and director for the past two years in the twin cities area and surrounding. She is beyond excited to continue this work with Mayer Arts this summer.

Katelyn Hendrickson

Katelyn has been performing for 19 years as a dancer, singer, and actor. As a dancer, she is trained in classical ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and pointe. She was also a member of her high school and college dance teams that competed in high kick, jazz, and pom. While in college, Katelyn danced for the College of Saint Benedict Dance team for four years, and medaled at UDA Nationals. She was also part of the on-campus A Capella group, CSBeats, for three years. Katelyn’s coaching and teaching experience involves coaching the Rocori High School Dance Team for five years, teaching youth theater and dance camps through Community Education,and head instructing dance classes at the Medina Just For Kix. Katelyn is currently a school counselor at Anoka Middle School for the Arts, a Fall Performance Dance Team coach for Anoka High School, and a Varsity Assistant Coach for the Two Rivers High School Dance Team. She is excited for a fun summer of assisting and teaching theater camps, and teaching dance classes for Mayer Arts!

Olivia Lundberg

Olivia Lundberg is a 2022 Centennial High School graduate and will be attending the University of Northwestern St. Paul in the fall to study acting and music. She has been performing since the age of six and has studied voice and acting for five years and dance for two. She is very excited to combine her loves of theater and childcare with Mayer Arts this summer.

Hope Easter

Hope Easter started dancing at age 9 at the Anne Hebard School of Ballet in New York where she studied Ballet and Jazz. She has also studied Tap, Hiphop and Character Dance at the School at Steps. She has performed with Catskill Ballet Theatre, a regional ballet company, dancing both soloist and corp de ballet roles in ballet productions such as The Nutcracker, The Snow Queen, and Peter and the Wolf. Hope has attended summer intensives at Steps on Broadway, the Nutmeg Conservatory of Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Nashville Ballet, and the State Street Ballet. She spent a year training at the Richmond Ballet and spent a year as a trainee at the Nashville Ballet under Paul Vasterling.

From 2018 to 2019 she was coached under the tutelage of Aaron Orza, former dancer with the San Francisco Ballet. In 2020 Hope joined the State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara CA where she performed in various productions throughout the year including the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. Hope is currently performing with the Continental Ballet in their 2021-2022 season. She is incredibly excited to be joining the Mayer Arts team and to share her love of dance with her students.