Co-Owner

Kristine Burdi-Stickney (Co-Owner) holds a BA in Theatre with a minor in Dance Performance from Northern Illinois University. For the past 10 years, Kristine has worked as an actor, teacher and choreographer throughout Chicago and beyond. She has an incredible love and passion for dance, music and theatre and is so excited to pass that on to her students right here at That's Entertainment! Kristine has a strong background in Musical Theatre, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop and Acrobatics. She has performed regionally with many Chicago theatres, including Fox Valley Rep, Chicago Shakespeare, Drury Lane Oakbrook and the Metropolis Performing Arts Center. She has also had the privilege to perform with Six Flags Great America, The Shedd Aquarium, Walt Disney World and Royal Caribbean Cruises. She looks forward seeing you around the studio! https://kristineburdi.squarespace.com/

Co-Owner

Carrie Vignali Rossi (Co-Owner) holds a BA in Musical Theatre from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. Since graduation, she has been performing and choreographing for a variety of theatres in the Chicagoland area, including Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Big Noise Theatre, Light Opera Works, Circle Theatre, and Wagon Wheel Theatre. She also worked in entertainment for many years at both Six Flags Great America and Disney World. Her background is strong in method acting and musical theatre dance, and she can't wait to see new performers master these skills at That's Entertainment! Carrie is also a certified NASM personal trainer and certified Barre instructor. She can't wait to see you at TEPA!

Team & Technique Instructor

Danielle Keys is a graduate of the Northern Illinois University dance program. Prior to Northern, Ms. Danielle attended Chicago Academy for the Arts studying under Randy Duncan, Natalie Rast, and Guillermo Leyva. She also studied at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and performed at the Harris Theatre, as well as WGN. Ms. Danielle danced in various shows at Northern including Art for Life and the Student Choreographic Showcase. She was also selected to represent Northern Illinois at the American College Dance Festival and perform at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Ms. Danielle began teaching and choreographing while attending college, and she also serves as artistic director and artist for DanceLoop Chicago.

Theatre and Private Voice Instructor

Amy Malouf is beyond thrilled to be a part of the staff here at That’s Entertainment Performing Arts. Amy has been teaching musical theatre and voice for over 10 years. She hold a BA in Musical Theatre from Illinois State University. She has performed professionally for 12+ years in a variety of musicals and cabarets as well as a touring band for 6 years. She is a singer/songwriter who currently performs locally all over the Chicagoland area. Nothing makes Amy happier than teaching her passion to children who are equally passionate about their future.

Team, Technique, & Theatre Instructor

Emma Sterner began her dance training at the age of 2 at Dorothy’s Dance Unlimited in Schaumburg. She has been dancing for 20 years, being trained in numerous styles such as Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Ballroom, Modern, Hip Hop, and Lyrical. Out of all of styles that she had been trained in, her favorite styles to dance and tech are Contemporary, Ballroom, Hip Hop, and Lyrical. Shortly after she started dancing, she then started to get involved with a theater company called Christian Youth Theater at the age of 5 and has been with the company for 17 years. She was in a total of 19 shows, but her favorites that she was in were Les Miserables, Singing in the Rain, and Hairspray. After she graduated high school, she began to choreograph full length productions and teach dance classes with the same company. Throughout her dance career, she started training at Joel Hall Dance Center in Chicago where she got to work and learn from amazing instructors such as Rosetta Fair and David Leaf. Emma has been teaching dance for 7 years and is currently working towards earning her degree in Sports Medicine with a Minor in Dance Therapy. She is so beyond thrilled to be working with this amazing company and hopes to inspire and have a positive impact on her students.

Technique Instructor

Dorene Wackerfuss is a dance teacher, dancer, and choreographer. Dorene has been teaching Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater Dance, Ballroom, HipHop, and more for over 50 years. Dorene owned Dorene's DanceXpress in Arlington Hts, where Miss Kristine was one of her students! As a dancer she was in a ballet company in Georgia and also danced in Jimmy Durante's club act at the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago. As a choreographer, Dorene has worked on over thirty shows, many in the Northwest Suburbs. As a teacher, Dorene prides herself on her wide base of knowledge that she she enjoys sharing with her students. She is the current Educational Director of the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, where she holds a MDE certification (Master Dance Educator). Dorene graduated from Northwestern University.

Acting & Speech Coach

Mark has been singing professionally since 16 and doing Musical Theater professionally since he moved to Chicago at 19. Mark has worked with Stage Right Dinner Theater, Metropolis, NightBlue, Theater Nebula, Music On Stage . . . to name a few. He has been teaching acting, creative writing and improv in the local area for a number of years. For the last 5 years he has also been doing fight choreography for many productions. He is always happy to meet new students and watch their craft grow into something wonderful!

Music and Theatre Instructor, Office Coordinator, Costume Mistress

Ms. Moira holds a Bachelors in Music Education with a minor in Drama and Art, from Northern Illinois University as well as a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and a Masters in Leadership from Concordia University. She has taught Music, Art, Drama and Movement Early Childhood to 8th grade for the past 34 years. She has performed locally in a variety of Theater Productions and enjoys both being on stage and working backstage. Ms. Moira is very excited to expand her role here at TEPA and looks forward to working with all our talented students - and especially with our youngest artists!

Vocal & Theatre Instructor

Kristin is thrilled to be teaching at TEPA! Kristin began singing at six years of age with Anima: The Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus. She sang with them for a total of eight years, touring to England, Spain and Morocco. Kristin holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Millikin University. Since graduating, she has performed for a variety of theatres in the Chicagoland area, including Drury Lane Oakbrook, Mercury Theatre, CPA Theatricals, Big Noise Theatre, and Chicago Kids Company. She has had the honor of performing for Lin Manuel Miranda, Sutton Foster, and Andrew Lippa. She has a strong background in performing, acting, singing and musicianship and she loves getting to share her passion for performing with others, especially children. She hopes to instill a love of singing and performing in her students and inspire them shine bright like the beautiful stars they are!

Team & Technique Instructor

Bio Coming Soon!