Dance Instructors
Meet our Dance Instructors:
Alana Halsne-Baarda
Alana grew up in a dance studio as a child since her mother was a professional dancer. She has been a high school dance teacher in Arizona along with teaching dance at dance studios and park districts for over 10 years. Alana danced and performed on the Arizona State University Dance and Auxiliary line. Alana has a doctoral degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Loyola University of Chicago along with being an adjunct professor at the College of Lake County for the past 20 years and is a full-time high school teacher in the areas of special education, business, fashion and careers at WTHS District #121.
Alyssa Treutelaar
Alyssa started dance at age two and by age 4 she began training focused on ballet and jazz. She also trained in hip-hop, modern and tap. Alyssa went to Libertyville High School and was a member of the LHS Poms Squad and captain her senior year. As a member of the Purdue Dance Team she competed in the finals of the Daytona's NDA Nationals for 2 years. After college Alyssa became an NBA dancer for the Chicago Bulls as a Luvabulls, and was made captain and leader of the squad her third year. She performed as a Luvabull all over the world in Japan, Greece, Cyprus, Istanbul and Holland. She is enthusiastic to share her love of dance with tiny tots to bee-bopping seniors!
Christina Barnak
Ms. Christina has been dancing since she was 2 years old in various studios. She started student teaching at age 10 and teaching part time at age 15 while attending Mundelein High School. She realized this was her passion early on and has been teaching ever since. Ms. Christina has taught for Recreational programs for 30+ years now and wouldn’t have it any other way. She supports programs like this because it gives every child the opportunity to dance. She has taught all types of dance including Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary and even Hawaiian. Her focus is Lyrical/contemporary as this style of dance is about expression and emotion. She believes a dancer can truly express their thoughts and feelings freely through dance!