Instructors

NIKKI MERCHUT holds a Bachelor's Degree in Dance Education and Composition from Bowling Green State University. She has trained as a student with Unity Dance Ensemble San Diego, Ririe-Woodbury Modern Dance Company, Dupree Dance Conventions, Steps on Broadway and Culture Shock San Diego. She holds certifications in Acrobatic Arts, Discover Dance and Progressing Ballet Technique. 

Nikki is the co-owner, with her husband Ken, and Artistic Director of Momentum Performing Arts (dance studio) in Chicago. Her students compete locally and nationally at various competitions and conventions including YAGP, NYCDA and UBC. She continues her enjoyment for teaching in the classroom and works to empower her staff to always continue learning and instill their same passion for the arts in their students.  

Norah Flaherty began her dancing in Oswego, IL at Dance With Flair, LLC. She trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, musical theatre, and tap, and has over  5 years of experience teaching these styles to every age and every ability.  While at the studio, she aided classes and choreographed for showcases, and recitals, and danced through over 20 theatre productions in the Chicago Suburbs. She believes in the importance of sharing the arts with the community, and also taught classes for elderly individuals at Open Door, and helped with the program "Dancing with Special Stars" to help special needs students enjoy the arts. She then took her dancing to North Central College in Naperville, IL, where she graduated with a degree in Theatre and a Minor in dance, studying under a variety of instructors including Cindy Hartigan, and Dyanna Daniels, while performing a variety of shows and taking classes on-and-off at Lou Conte in Chicago. During her first year at North Central she had the opportunity to study under Dmitri Peskov and be a part of a contemporary dance ensemble that produced the show: Fragments: a Theatrical Dance Experience. Norah was a 3 time contemporary dance choreographer for the Cardinal Dance Company, and danced in a variety of musical theatre, tap, jazz, modern, and contemporary performances for the company.  Her last year 2 years at North Central she shifted her dance focus more towards choreographing, as she was a preceptor for college dance classes, co-choregraphed a one-night production in the style of Bob Fosse, and began teaching tap and creative movement classes at the School of Performing Arts. When Miss Norah isn’t teaching dance or theatre, she can be found coaching college and high school speech teams, auditioning and performing in theatre productions in Chicago, stretching with her cat, and taking aerial arts classes for fun! 

Perry Denton has been an instructor in and around the Chicago land area for over 15 years. He has also been the assistant director, dancer, and choreographer for Gifted Souls Dance Group, one of the biggest salsa and hip hop dance companies in Chicago, Texas, New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. He was a principal dancer in the Bollywood movie Dhoom 3 and danced for many stars including Brooke Hogan and Ce Ce Pension, Black Eyed Peas and Chicago's very own BenOne. Perry appeared three times on the Oprah Show and is was in Chicago Fire. He received his dance training from Columbia College in Chicago where he studied all forms of dance including ballet, jazz and modern. Perry has taught throughout the Chicagoland area. He continues to teach more styles of dance including poms, African and Latin dance. Perry is eager to pass along his gift and love of dance to all his students.

Tanya Lewis is a San Diego native where she danced professionally, choreographed and directed. While in San Diego she worked primarily with Mounarath Powell Dance (formerly Visionary Dance Theatre) dancing with the company for 10 years, eventually becoming the Assistant Artistic Director and now board member; as well as setting work and directing. Tanya has also ran and directed Movement Makers, a choreography contest for local San Diego artists, with the goal of creating more inclusivity within the San Diego dance community.

She has also performed work for local, national and international choreographers such as Erika Moore, Eric Geiger, Patricia Rincon, Monica Bill Barnes, Trixi Agiao, Jeanne Travers, Emily Navarra, Spencer Powell and most recently, Fresh Congress directed by Rachel Catalano. As a choreographer she has produced and directed her work independently both on stage and on film. Projects that she has produced on stage include You’re Late, You’re Late II, Ebb &, and Prism. Tanya’s film projects include Between Two Ends which was featured in the international film festival 40North, and Becoming. Her choreography for the short film Song of Birds and Bees, won her the Silver Award for Best Choreography from the International Film Awards. Tanya is a University of California San Diego graduate with a BA in dance and a theatre minor, she received the Stewart Prize for Choreography upon graduating.