Shauna Steele

Shauna Steele received her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Michigan with an outside field focus in Dance History and Art and Technology.Her professional credits include Windfall Dancers, African American Dance Company, Dancers Studio, Sancocho: Musica and Dance Collage and Ann Arbor Dance Works. Ms. Steele has performed in Robin Wilson’s Slave Moth, in Alexandra Beller’s Reasons for Moving, Gay Delanghe’s Motor Tango/Tangle and understudied And Their Words to the End of the World by Doug Varone.
 
She served as the creator and artistic director of Parallel Differences, a youth dance company, taught master classes in Roots of Jazz at Western Michigan University and served as the Associate Instructor and assistant to the Director of the Indiana University African American Dance Company and has lead master classes and workshops in improvisational movement, African dance, modern dance, jazz, and hip hop.
 
Ms. Steele served on dance faculty at Grand Valley State University where she choreographed for the University Dance Ensemble and taught Modern Technique,Dance History, Choreography & Improvisation, Jazz Dance Technique, and Introduction to Dance Appreciation. She and fellow colleague Kristen Berger are scheduled to publish their current book "Experiencing Dance: A Creative Approach to Dance Appreciation" in Fall fo 2009.

Meghan Curlett

Meghan graduated Cum Laude in May of 2009 with her BFA in dance from Oakland University where she was the recipient of the Maggie Allesee Distinguished Dance Student Award. While at Oakland she danced in both Oakland Dance Theater and the Oakland University Repertory Dance Company. Meghan has choreographed for Young Choreographers Forum and has performed works by Laurie Eisenhower, Michael Foley, Shane O' Hara, and Jon Lehrer among others. Meghan has taught for the EDE Center for Dance, and performed professionally with the Port Huron Ballet Theatre Company. This is Meghan's first season with RusticGroove Dance Company.

Rebecca Slater

Rebecca Slater is finishing her BS in Accounting with a minor in Applied Technology in Business (ATiB) at Oakland University, and has finished her course work for her BFA in Dance. She has performed as a member of the Oakland Dance Theatre (Fall 2003-Winter 2006, Fall 2008-Fall 2009), as well as a Oakland University Repertory Dance Company (Fall 2006-Winter 2008). She has worked with choreographers Laurie Eisenhower, KT Niehoff, Adrienne Clancy, Michael Foley, Lori Belilove, Steve Koester, Gregory Patterson, Mariah Malec, as well as others. She is in her first official season with RusticGroove, but has previously worked with Kristen Berger and Matthew Farmer as a guest performer.

Dancers and Performers (pre-Professional)

Chelsea Nabozny

Chelsea began her dance career at age 4 studying with Susan Vaughn and Dance Arts of Chelsea.  She has studied Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Modern.  In the summers Chelsea has studied at Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and Randazzo summer dance camp.  She has performed Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Encore, and The Five Dancing Princesses with Chelsea Youth Dance Theatre.  Now studying Modern with Kristen Berger and Matthew Farmer she is enjoying the performance training with Rustic Groove Dance Company.

Dayna Hamilton

Dayna Hamilton is a junior at Napoleon High school and has danced since she was 4 years old.  She has studied ballet, jazz, tap, and now modern with teachers Susan Vaughn, Kristen Berger, and Matthew Farmer.  Dayna spends summers attending the Chicago National Association of Dance and plans to continue dance training in college where she wants to study to be an ultrasound technician.  She is excited to be performing with Rustic Groove Dance Company.

Kelsey Layman

is a junior at Northwest High School and has been dancing since the age of 4.  Kelsey started out dancing in Wixom, MI where she was part of a competition dance troupe, then came to studied with Susan Vaughn for three years.  She now studies Ballet, Jazz, and Modern with directors Kristen Berger and Matthew Farmer.  She is having a wonderful time performing with Rustic Groove.

Chelsea Ganton

Chelsea is a junior at Vandercook Lake High School and very active in both sports and dance. She has studied dance since she was very young at the Susan Vaughn School of Dance. Chelsea is currently training at Jackson Dance Alliance with Kristen Berger and Matthew Farmer. This is Chelsea's first season as an apprentice with RusticGroove, and she is excited to be joining such a wonderful group of people.