Andrea has lived in the East Valley for most of her life. She started dancing as a child, taking lessons in jazz, tap, lyrical, gymnastics, and ballet, and studied ballet seriously from the ages of 11-17 with instructors at top local studios as well as instructors from Ballet Arizona, and had the opportunity to study with the Oakland Ballet Company when she lived in the Bay Area. She was a member of her high school dance company, but gave up dance after high school to attend college. She also pursued certification in yoga instruction. Currently, Andrea is an Instructor for Writing Programs at Arizona State University, where she is also working toward her PhD. Andrea is very excited to be part of the BFF team!
Michaela Bloom
Michaela has been dancing since she was 3 years old and has a passion for building strength to improve life as a dancer and for everyday life! Though she feels at home in ballet classes, her favorite styles are jazz, contemporary and tap. She has taught kid’s dance classes from creative movement to after school curriculum to competitive performance teams (think Dance Moms…) for over 10 years. You are likely to see her on the BFF schedule teaching Stretch and Restore, Stretch and Tone, Beginning Lyrical Jazz or Floor Barre. She has been on the BFF team for almost 6 years and her favorite class to take is Barre Fit.
Allison Bretzman
Allison’s love for dance began after she took her first ballet class at 3 years old. She has trained with Nina Marlow, Rena Backer, Slawomir Wozniak, and many others throughout her life who have prepared her for various roles such as Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, and Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee. When Allison reached middle school, she decided to diversify her dance experience by pursuing show choir. She continued this style of performance through high school, competing with and choreographing for Horizon High School’s advanced show choirs “Step on Stage” and “Show Divas”. Show choir has blessed her with incredible opportunities such as earning a chair in Arizona All State Show Choir her freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year, performing at Disneyland, and competing in the 2015 Los Alamitos Xtravaganza. Currently, she is working to receive her BA in Communications at Grand Canyon University and continues her passion for dance by studying various elements and styles of dance through the university as well as being a dancer on the GCU Dance Team. She has always been eager to share her experience and love for dance/healthy movement through teaching ballet, show choir, and gymnastics since she was 10 years old. Allison feels beyond blessed to be a part of the BFF family and can’t wait to continue dancing and instructing with the most inspirational clients and staff on the planet!
Hallie Edmonds
Hallie began her ballet training at the age of 5 in Tucson, AZ at Academy of Ballet under the instruction of teachers including Linda Walker, Gary McKenzie and Deborah Kennar. She also studied jazz beginning at the age of 8. She took part in, and performed in several summer workshops and danced in their company, Tucson Regional Ballet, for 6 seasons. During this time, Hallie also attended and performed in several Regional Dance America (RDA) Pacific festivals. Later, Hallie attended the University of Arizona where she continued to study ballet, modern and jazz and earned her Bachelor’s Degrees in Anthropology and Art History. Hallie’s love of dance and science brought her to Phoenix to attend graduate school at Arizona State University to pursue research in biomechanics and anatomy. Hallie earned her MA in anthropology at Arizona State University and now holds her PhD in anthropology as well. She holds certifications in pilates and barre and has taught for BFF since 2011. This studio is more than just a place to workout- it’s a community of amazing and supportive people and we want you to be part of it! Come join us for class!
Marissa Esparza
Marissa began her dance training at the age of 6 attending Dance Works by Danis. There she studied Ballet, but later trained at East Side Ballet for 4 years. While she was at East Side Ballet, she also attended classes at Tempe Dance Academy. As her journey continued, she began dancing with the pre professional company, Ballet Etudes. For over 8 years, Marissa was a member of Ballet Etudes company. During her time spent with the company, Marissa was casted various roles, such as The Mechanical doll and Chinese from The Nutcracker, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, The evil step sister in Cinderella, and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Besides her love of Ballet, Marissa is also passionate about Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Hip hop, and many more. In recent years, Marissa has been apart of the Mesa Community College dance company, as well as performing professionally with Showstoppers Interactive Entertainment. This past summer, Marissa graduated from ASU majoring in Nutrition Management and is one class away from receiving her Associates in Fine Arts through dance.
Danielle Hensley
Danielle began her dance background at the age of 8 developing her skills in her dance studio’s company through high school. She attended Arizona State University double majoring in Interior Design and Design Management and maintains a full-time career as an Interior Designer. Throughout college she was a member of the ASU Dancing Devils and the ASU Show Team competing in Latin and ballroom styles. She is certified in the Lotte Burke Method and Mat Pilates though the Pilates Core Integration Program. Danielle believes in ballet based methods to develop a strong, long and lean physique.
Lisa Hunter
Lisa first received the opportunity to study dance and music by joining her middle school’s color guard at the age of 11. It was while she competed with the Dublin High School winter guard that she began focusing more on ballet, lyrical and jazz technique. She is a three-time California Color Guard Circuit champion and a two-time Winter Guard International finalist. While participating in her high school and college level teams, she has also served four years as a color guard instructor for middle school, high school, and college-level students. Outside of marching band, she practiced social swing dancing and hip hop while in high school as well as social ballroom while attending California Polytechnic State University for her Bachelor’s in Computer Science. Though she has retired from color guard and maintains a full-time career as a software engineer, she still continues to study various dance styles as well as learning new ones such as competitive ballroom and bellydancing. Growing up shy, it was through music and dance that Lisa learned to express herself confidently, and as a Studio BFF instructor she wants nothing more than to pass on such confidence to her students.
Lisa Juliet
Lisa is the founder and Artistic Director of Ballerobica and Ballet Fusion Fitness Studio. Lisa has 28 years of classical ballet training, a minor in dance, a major in molecular biology, and a masters in business. She worked as a biochemist doing cancer research for the last decade before following her true passion. She is ACE certified and has been teaching all types of fitness for the last 18 years. She created Ballerobica, a ballet based workout that utilizes a ballet barre and a persons own body weight. After a year of testing and tweaking the program, she created the Ballerobica DVD series and began teaching classes as well as certifying other instructors around the world. Lisa LOVES to teach and has truly found her passion with Ballerobica and Ballet Fusion Fitness. She is really looking forward to meeting new people, making friends, and sharing her love with you.
Cassie Salmen
Cassie began her study of ballet at the age of four in Tucson, AZ at Academy of Ballet, Tap and Jazz. She began her training in tap and jazz at the age of five. Cassie performed with their senior company for seven seasons as well as attended and performed in several Regional Dance America (RDA) festivals. Near the end of high school, Cassie was added to the staff as a ballet, jazz and tap instructor. She continued her education as a dance major at the University of Arizona studying ballet, jazz, modern and tap where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in Dance. Cassie moved to California after graduation to join JohnC Art Ballet as a company member. During her time in California she also danced with project based companies such as Hybrid Dance Theatre and Concrete Dance Initiative. She was a ballet instructor at Dance Precisions in Anaheim and with the non-profit program A Step in the Dark – a dance program for legally blind children. Cassie is excited to be back in Arizona and share her love of dance with everyone at Studio BFF!
Mikaela Wisniewski
Mikaela is so excited to be a part of the Ballet Fusion Fitness family! She inherited her passion for dance from her mom, who was both her role model and first ballet instructor. At the age of 11 Mikaela joined Ballet Etudes’ pre-professional company. While there, she danced several roles including Spanish, Snow Queen, and Arabian in the Nutcracker and Fairy of the Golden Vine and Silver in the full length ballet of Sleeping Beauty. After many years of strictly ballet training, Mikaela joined the college dance scene where she branched into modern dance and other styles of dance. From the first class, she fell in love; training in everything from Improvisation to Choreography to Flamenco to African dance. She has auditioned and been cast as either a dancer or choreographer in several Faculty performances, Student performances, and guest artist works at both Chandler-Gilbert Community College and the University of New Mexico. Mikaela is also humbled to have the opportunity to train with the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company this summer. Currently Mikaela is pursuing a degree in Dance Education at Arizona State University.
