Gina Koch created Dancexcel with the vision of giving young dancers the opportunity to fall in love with dance just as she did as a little girl. She has over 30 years of dance experience with training in ballet, pointe, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, tap, modern and theater. She has been teaching dance for over 20 years and was a former kindergarten teacher as well. She performed as a professional member of the Cleveland Cavalier Girls Dance Team and was invited to dance aboard Holland America Cruise Lines. She was also a member of the Cleveland Baron’s Dance Team. Gina has received numerous awards for her choreography, dance performances, technique and teaching abilities. She received a scholarship to train in New York City at the Broadway Dance Center at the age of 16. She continues to train all over the country with well known instructors and choreographers such as Denise Wall and Mia Michaels. Gina graduated Magna Cum Laude from Baldwin Wallace College in 2004 with Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education. She served as a kindergarten teacher at Kidder Elementary in Brunswick from 2004-2008 and was named Teacher of the Year for the 2007-2008 school year. Gina has coached the Kidder Dance Team, Towslee Dance Team, and Brunswick High School Dance Team throughout her years as a studio owner. Most recently, Gina was recognized by Misty Lown, founder of More Than Just Great Dancing, for her efforts to build a studio that goes beyond teaching technique to help her students develop important life skills, learning to be respectful, confident and conscientious young people who share their gifts and talents with the community.

Brittney Rucker began her dance training at the age of 3 and has over 25 years of dance experience. She has been trained in the areas of ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, lyrical , and modern dance. She was a member of the Medina High School Dance Team and continued to study dance while attending Kent State University. Most recently, she was a member of the Columbus Crewzers professional dance and cheerleading team. Brittney is currently a home health care nurse, wife and mom to a newborn baby boy, Crew.

Amy Procyk has been dancing since she was five years old and was one of Miss Gina's first students at the studio. She is trained in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Lyrical, and Pointe.  Amy was a member of the Dancexcel Diamond Crew Competition team for five years, being captain of the team for one year and was a member of the Brunswick High School Dancin' Devil's team for four years. She trained in the Dancexcel Student Teacher program while dancing at the studio and attended several master classes with teachers such as Tyce Diorio, Bonnie Story, and The Rockettes.  Amy attended the Beginnings Workshop, a week long seminar for performing arts students in London, England, under the direction of Peter Sklar. Miss Amy is excited to be a part of the Dancexcel teaching staff and to share her love for dance with all our students.

Ashley Haviland has trained in dance since the age of three. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, and modern, with additional training in pointe and hip hop. Throughout her childhood and adolescence, she took classes from teacher of 60 years, Wally Dashiell, at her studio in Kent Island, Maryland. In her last four years at the studio, she was an instructor for several dance classes with children ages 9 to 11, including young ballet, tap, and jazz. She has attended several dance festivals, including Dance Masters of America and Maryland Council for Dance. Ashley was also trained with and was a member of the children’s cast of the Nutcracker for the Joffrey Ballet. She has trained with The Movement Project, directed by Rebecca Leuszler and Megan Gargano, at their intensive for two summers. Ashley attended Baldwin Wallace University, where she was a part of the dance program under the direction of Gregory Daniels. She was trained by teachers Sara Whale, Rebecca Leuszler, Gregory Daniels, and Heidi Glynias. Ashley choreographed and performed in the program’s informal show Testing Grounds, as well as in the annual dance concert, fyoo zh en. Ashley graduated from BWU with a B.S. degree in Early Childhood Education and a minor in dance. She is now a 3rd grade teacher at Grace L. Roxbury Elementary in Solon, Ohio. Ashley is looking forward to sharing her love for dance and teaching with all of the students at Dancexcel.

Morgan Farley has been dancing both competitively and recreationally for over 15 years. She has had such a love for dance since a young age and has made sharing and teaching dance her main passion in life. Morgan has training in jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical, and contemporary. Throughout Morgan’s dance career she has taken a number of master classes, dance workshops, and conventions. She has most recently trained with dancers such as Jessica King from “So You Think You Can Dance” and Colt Prattes, the lead backup dancer for P!NK. As a competitive dancer, Morgan has won numerous high-score, overall, and special awards for both her self-choreographed solos and group dances. As a teacher and choreographer, she is even more proud to say that her own dances have been awarded the same. She has most recently been awarded with “Top Choreography” at the national level this past summer in Orlando, Florida, where she was also one of the directors and choreographers of a piece chosen to perform at Downtown Disney. Morgan loves teaching all dance styles to all ages and has had an amazing first year being a part of Dancexcel! She is so honored to meet so many dancers who share the same passion as her and she cannot wait to continue to share her love of dance, as well as help and support her students reach their goals!

Allexa Gaewsky has had a love for dance since the age of two. She has been dancing competitively and recreationally for over fifteen years. Allexa has training in jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, and contemporary. She has taken a number of master classes and attended many conventions during her time as a competition dancer. She has taken master classes from Mia Michaels and Melanie Moore, both from “So You Think You Can Dance”. Along with this, Allexa has been trained by master teacher, Miss Dee Hillier. Allexa graduated from The University of Dayton in 2016 where she danced recreationally while pursuing her degree in Child Psychology.  Allexa is a peformance team coach and coordinator at Dancexcel and enjoys sharing her passion and love of dance with her students.

Jalyn Mancuso has always had a love for dance. She began dancing at the age of three, and is trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, and Contemporary. Jalyn began competing at age five, traveling to different states participating in competitions and conventions. She has taken classes with the Radio City Rocketts, Travis Wall, Denise Wall, Michelle Dorance, Chris Judd, Fik Shun, Arron Burr as well as many more dance professionals. Jalyn traveled to New York City where she took classes at the Broadway Dance Center, and had a class with Lane Alexander who was the consular on the show Victorious. She has worked with The Movement Project participating and performing in their summer intensives in 2016 and 2017 as well taking classes at their facility. At Dancexcel, Jalyn has been on the Dancexcel Diamond Crew, Teen Dance Force, Platinum Crew and the Dancexcel Youth Company. She was also part of the Dancexcel Student Teaching program for several years. She is a recent graduate of Strongsville High School and is a licensed Cosmetologist. Jalyn's strength is tap dancing and she looks forward to working with young students and sharing her love of dance.

Lauryn Lloyd began her dance training at the age of 3 and has danced professionally for over the past 13 years. After graduating from high school she moved to New York City to further her dance career and train with the industries top professionals. While in NYC she was chosen to perform at many Broadway Dance Center showcases, and a music video for Greg Lato. Lauryn has danced for Kings Islands, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, followed by a move to Las Vegas performing at the Tropicana Las Vegas. In 2010 Lauryn started dancing for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as a lead dancer and dance captain. After years of traveling and performing Lauryn is excited to be residing in Cleveland, Ohio! She still spends her weekends traveling as a judge for Thunderstruck Dance Competition where she educates other dancers all across the United States. Lauryn is thrilled to start her first year at Dancexcel and to share her passion of dance with her students!

Maddie Hopkins has had a growing passion for dance since the age of three. She has attended multiple studios, Dancexcel being the longest of nine years. She has training is ballet, jazz, and lyrical/contemporary as well as training in pointe. Maddie has attended many conventions and had the opportunity to compete with the DXL Youth Company where she learned from many professional dancers. She has been a part of a performance team for all of her years at Dancexcel including Glitter Girls, Ballet Company and Teen Dance Force, and enjoys sharing her love for dance with others. She has many years of experience student teaching with ages three to eight in all different styles of dance. She also was a member of the Dancexcel Chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts where she completed multiple service projects. Maddie graduated Medina High School in 2019, and is now attending Baldwin Wallace University studying Public Health and Biology with the hopes of attending Medical School after her undergraduate. She is very excited to now be part of the Dancexcel staff to continue sharing her passion for dance with all of her students!

Julie has been studying ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical & hip hop styles of dances for over 30 years. She has been choreographing and instructing since 1998. Julie was a member of the International Hockey League Cleveland Lumberjacks dance team. She was the founder of the Cleveland Barons American Hockey League dance team where she was choreographer and a performer. She has choreographed multiple award winning dances performed at prestigious dance competitions and has won several choreography awards. In 2012 she received the best overall Choreography out of 436 dances. Julie has trained in all ballroom styles of dance and finds much joy in choreographing for weddings. She has also choreographed for numerous events. TV Commercials, Northcoast 99, Baldwin Wallace College Dance Team, Brecksville/Broadview Heights Variety Show, High School Dance Teams, just to name a few. Julie holds licensure as a Physical Therapist Assistant and is a certified Senior Fitness Trainer. She is the Owner of Dance Again, where she travels to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to provide our greatest generation with seated dance classes. No matter the age, her passion is to spread the love of dance. She is thrilled to be a part of the Dancexcel family and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and training with her students!

Nicole Mitchell was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska. She began her training with Dancer's Workshop and performed with various companies including Alberta Ballet, Ballet West, and the Royal Ballet. She continued her studies in Seattle at Cornish College of the Arts and while attending was featured in works by Bill Evans, Daniel Cruz, Alexandra Little, and Wade Madsen. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance she pursued her career in New York City where she danced with Joyce King Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, and Banana Peel Dance. She was featured in multiple showcases including Dance Now NYC, WAXworks, Outlet Dance Project, and NY Jazz Choreography Project. She also traveled to Alaska during summers off to choreograph for elite competition teams. In 2014 she decided to broaden her education and pursue a career in massage therapy. While continuing her studies she taught and choreographed for Stillpoint Dance studio in Oregon. Nicole recently moved from Portland and is thrilled to be teaching and choreographing for Dancexcel!

Makenna Hopkins has been pursuing her passion for dance since she was three years old. She has attended several studios, Dancexcel being the longest of 10 years and has training in ballet, jazz, lyrical/contemporary, hip-hop, and pointe. While dancing at Dancexcel, Makenna was part of Glitter Girls, Ballet Company, and Teen Dance Force for several years. She was a part of the student teaching program as well as a member of the Dancexcel Chapter of National Honors Society for Dance Arts where she served as president her senior year. Makenna was a member of our Teen Dance Force last year that competed for the first time and took home several awards. She competed a solo where she was awarded first place overall for her age division along with being a Dancer of the Year Finalist. Makenna is a recent graduate of Medina High School, and currently attending Cleveland State University with a degree in Business Economics. Makenna is so excited to be a part of the Dancexcel staff this year and is eager to use her knowledge of dance to inspire and motivate future dancers.

Molly Kolman began dancing when she was four years old and has been training at Dancexcel for the past fourteen years. Molly has had many years of training and experience in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary and pointe. While training at Dancexcel Molly has been a member of the senior competition company, where she has been able to attend conventions and numerous competitions and win many awards. Molly has had the opportunity to take class from the Mihacevich sisters from NBC's World of Dance. She has also been a part of the Dancexcel student teaching program for four years where she was able to learn from many different teachers and share her love of dance with younger dancers. Molly is also a member of the Dancexcel chapter of the National Honors Society for Dance Arts where they are involved in many different service projects. She is very excited to be a part of the Dancexcel teaching staff and to be able to work with younger students and share her love and passion for dance with others!

Abby Petitto has had a love for dance since she was three years old. She's been attending Dancexcel for the past 15 years where she has received training in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, and tap. Abby is going into her third year as a member of the DXL Senior Competition Company where she has had the opportunity to attend conventions, compete at multiple competitions and learn from master teachers and choreographers including NBC's World of Dance the Mihacevich Sisters. In addition to the company Abby is also a member of the Dancexcel Secondary Chapter of the National Honors Society for Dance Arts which focuses on completing service projects for the community. Abby is a previous member of the student teaching program at the studio where she has gained 5 years of experience teaching under lead instructors and choreographers in classes ages three to eight in all different styles of dance. She is super excited to now be a member of the Dancexcel staff and be able to share her growing passion and love for dance with her students!

Miss Erin graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ashland University with a B.A. in Musical Theatre. She has years of experience teaching acting, dance, and musical theatre (Triple Threat) classes all over NE Ohio. She performed in many productions and also directed/choreographed children and teen theatre productions and is looking forward to teaching Musical Theatre at Dancexcel!