2026 MASTER TEACHERS

Expertise. Artistry. Inspiration.

Kai-Lynn Fortner

Jazz Dance

  • Born and raised in Los Angeles CA, Kai-Lynn Fortner is a performer, choreographer, and educator trained in a wide range of styles including ballroom, jazz, tap, hip-hop, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, heels and musical theatre. She began choreographing at the age of 14 and has developed a strong passion for storytelling through movement and theatrical performance.

    Kai-Lynn has trained extensively with leading choreographers and industry professionals and spent over 10 years training with LA DanceMagic. Kai-Lynn has also trained in ballroom under Brandon Leffler and competed at the highest level in multiple ballroom styles. Drawing from both competitive ballroom and commercial dance training, Kai-Lynn strives to preserve the social essence of each style while elevating it through strong technical performance. Additional performance credits include dancing alongside Liza Minnelli at the Gala of the Stars, as well as training and performing with the Los Angeles Jazz Company and Reverb Tap Company in multiple shows as well as live television.

    Alongside dance, Kai-Lynn is an award-winning filmmaker and creative director currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Filmmaking while continuing to teach, choreograph, and perform within the entertainment industry.

Jackie Sleight

Commercial Jazz Dance

  • Jackie has become one of America’s most prominent dance educators and has earned the reputation of being a “teacher’s teacher”. She has traveled the world sharing her exciting style of jazz and has celebrated over 35 years as a master teacher. Her career as a choreographer and director has crossed into all venues. Jackie choreographed and directed for some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry including Barry Manilow, Paula Abdul, Melissa Manchester, Englebert Hunperdink, Peaches & Herb, Yvonne Elliman, Expose, Stacey Q, Barbara Eden, Barry Bostwick, to name a few; her television choreography boasts several weekly series and her commercial list includes McDonalds, Burger King, Levi’s, Honda, Ford, Polaroid and more. Jackie also became active in the fitness industry just as aerobics was taking off. She was featured in several magazines including New Body and Fit where critics raved about her revolutionary fitness program, FreeDance. She soon became the staff choreographer for the Crystal Light and Reebok Aerobic Championships. The fitness sensation eventually took Jackie to Miami where she wrote and published an exercise manual and system which was used by health clubs all over the country. She worked to usher in what was to become the industry’s hottest craze, “low-impact” aerobics. Jackie’s ever-evolving career includes dancer, choreographer, director, entrepreneur and business owner, including the national dance convention, L.A. DanceMagic. Still, her first love is teaching and she continues to inspire students all over the world. She is forever grateful to her own teachers for sharing their knowledge and passion.

Cam Loeser

Cole Jazz Dance

  • CAM LOESER is a New York based choreographer and dance educator. Cam is the Founder and Artistic Director of COLE JAZZ and its dance company The NEW Jack Cole Dancers. The company works to honor the legacy of dance pioneer Jack Cole, and has recently celebrated its inaugural Fundraiser GALA at Off-Broadway’s Theater 555, as well as the initial run of their CLUB ACT at the Midnight Theater in Midtown Manhattan. Through COLE JAZZ, Cam teaches the Jack Cole Technique across the world in New York, Tokyo, London, and Mexico. Cam has also taught for such prestigious programs as Momen NYC, The Source, and Uprooted UK. 

    As Associate Choreographer, Cam remounted Chet Walker's choreography for the 2022 Japanese Language encore production of Diane Paulus’ Tony Award winning revival of Pippin, after working on its Tokyo premiere in 2019. He also reconstructed the choreography for the Sydney iteration of PIPPIN in 2020. Cam has served as Resident Director/Assistant Choreographer for the National Tour of CHICAGO, and as the Swing/Dance Captain for the UK Tour of CHICAGO for their Tokyo engagement. Cam also served as Tour Choreographer for the National Tour of FINDING NEVERLAND in 2018/2019, and Dance Captain for the National Tour of PIPPIN in 2017.

    Cam had the privilege of acting as the late Chet Walker’s Associate, working closely alongside Chet teaching and creating work across the globe up until his passing. Throughout the years, Cam assisted Chet in teaching in the style of Jazz Dance pioneer Jack Cole in New York as well as in London, and worked with Chet developing his JACK COLE Project. Cam can be seen dancing for Chet in a Jack Cole segment for the acclaimed HBO jazz documentary UPROOTED. 

    As a choreographer and Jazz dance dance educator, Cam is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of where this incredible art form comes from.

Daisy McMillen

Latin/Jazz Dance

  • Daisy McMillen is a professional dancer and educator based in Los Angeles, CA, originally from St. Louis, MO. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Chapman University, where she trained extensively in technique, choreography, anatomy, kinesiology, and pedagogy.

    Her performance career spans commercial, concert, and partnered dance styles. As a company artist with the Los Angeles Jazz Company, Daisy continues to deepen her connection to classic jazz through ongoing training and performance.

    In addition to her jazz and commercial work, Daisy specializes in Latin dance—particularly Salsa—blending refined technique with her authentic movement style. She has traveled internationally to study Salsa and brings this experience into her teaching, cultivating a strong student community in Los Angeles through Latin body movement and partner work classes. A dedicated educator, Daisy is committed to thoughtful instruction that develops technical skill, musicality, cultural understanding, and artistic integrity.

     

Hannah Hawkins

Jazz Dance

  • Hannah Hawkins is a dancer/choreographer/educator from Sacramento, CA represented by McDonald-Selznick Associates (MSA), and has been working and teaching from her home base of Los Angeles since 2017. Commercially, Hannah’s credits include Taylor Swift's “Fate of Ophelia” music video, American Eagle Outfitters Back To School International Campaign and Fall Collection Campaign. Hannah’s TV and Film credits include The Morning Show with Steve Carrel and Jennifer Anniston, Renfield with Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret with Rachel McAdams, Hulu's Interior Chinatown and The Masked Singer on FOX, under award winning choreographers including Mandy Moore and Kathryn Burns. 

    In tandem with her onscreen work Hannah has performed live as a Radio City Rockette in the New York City Christmas Spectacular, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting, Billie Eilish at Coachella, Jordin Sparks in the Rose Parade, danced in Netflix’s Stranger Things Live Immersive Show, and toured the US in a burlesque production of Bob Fosse’s iconic creations.

    Hannah also enjoys being immersed in the concert dance world. She has trained with Entity Contemporary Dance, Peridance Contemporary Company, Hubbard Street, Dana Foglia Dance and many notable others. She is a former member of the professional dance companies, “CORE Contemporary Dance”, Cat Cogliandro’s “CATASTROPHE!” and the all female contemporary company “Mash Up”.  She is a current member of the Los Angeles Jazz Company directed by Jackie Sleight and Will Thomas.

S.Ama Wray

Jazz Improvisation/Freestyle

  • S. Ama Wray, Ph.D., – Creator of Embodiology®, Professor of Dance – UC Irvine, Affiliate Faculty UCI School of Medicine - PRIME-LEAD ABC Program, and the Dept of African American Studies.

    S. Ama Wray, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized choreographer, researcher, and educator, and the creator of Embodiology®—a groundbreaking methodology that fuses African knowledge systems, improvisational science, and embodied mindfulness. A Professor of Dance at UC Irvine, she also holds affiliate appointments in UCI’s School of Medicine (PRIME-LEAD ABC Program) and the Department of African American Studies. Wray’s work serves dancers, musicians, physicians, medical students, nurses, and entrepreneurs, fostering community cohesion and cognitive resilience through movement. Her contributions have been honored with the Newkirk Fellowship for Science & Society (2024), the Mind & Life Contemplative Changemaker Fellowship (2023), and a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (2023). She has taught at Harvard, Princeton, UW–Madison, and the Martha Graham School, and her ideas have reached global audiences via TEDx, the United Nations, and collaborations with Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and London’s Royal Opera House.

     

Pat Taylor

Jazz Theatre

Lifetime Achievement Award
JDCW 2026

  • Pat Taylor (Artistic Director/Choreographer for “Jazz Antiqua”) blends her love of jazz and blues music, visual art and spoken word, with a distinctive historical perspective to create Jazz Antiqua’s own brand of “jazz theatre.”

    Her background in Katherine Dunham and Lester Horton techniques., West African, American vernacular and classic jazz dance, along with a love for the collage nature of improvisation, combine to form her signature style and approach to movement.

    Exploring original music compositions along with the works of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, John Coltrane and other greats, Jazz Antiqua delves deep into the heart of jazz and the “movement in the music” –from the lineage, legacy and language to the socio-cultural implications and contexts embedded therein. From jazz clubs to concert halls, performing arts centers to schools, museums to festival in the park, Jazz Antiqua shares the art of jazz with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

    The Company has been presented at: Playboy Jazz Festivals (Hollywood Bowl), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Music Center of Los Angeles), Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California African American Museum, The Jazz Bakery, Irvine Barclay Theatre, Ford Amphitheatre, CIAEI Theater (Brazil), Dance Mission Theatre (San Francisco), Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, UCLA Hammer Museum, Watts Towers Jazz Festival, Southern Theatre (Minneapolis), Laney College (Oakland), Mesa Performing Arts Center (Arizona) and many other distinguished venues.

Jessica Lea Patty

Jazz Dance

  • Jessica Lea Patty is a 7 time Broadway veteran, director & choreographer currently living & working in Los Angeles. She was last seen on Broadway in the Tony Award winning production of Bandstand where she played Jo & understudied & performed the lead role of Julia Trojan. She was also in the Broadway revival of EVITA starring Ricky Martin where she understudied & performed the title role of Eva Peron, as well as staring as the Cassie alternate in the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. Other Broadway credits include The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman & the original Broadway companies of The People In The Picture, 9 to 5 the musical & The Addams Family.  She is featured on 5 original Broadway cast recordings. Jessica has numerous regional & NYC stage credits including City Center Encores! & the NY Philharmonic as well as touring nationally w/ Cats & Fosse. Jessica has also made numerous television appearances including five Tony Awards telecasts, Dancing w/ The Stars, The Kennedy Center Honors, Letterman, The View & Good Morning America.

    Jessica has had the privilege of working alongside Tony Award winning director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton, Bandstand, In The Heights) as both a performer & an associate choreographer. Since appearing in Bandstand on Broadway she has transitioned to directing, choreographing & mentoring.

    She co-directed, choreographed, wrote & starred in Performing w/ the Pros for the California Schools for the Arts. She directed & choreographed The Addams Family (Broadwayworld.com Regional Award winner for Best musical, direction, choreography) & Hairspray (Broadwayworld.com Regional Award winner for Best musical & choreography) at Florida State University. As well as 9 to 5 & Sweet Charity at Orange County School of the Arts (Macy Award winner for Best Choreography & Spirit of the Macys). Jessica also choreographed the high school premiere of Jasper in Deadland at OCSA. During lockdown Jessica created virtual productions of Disney’s The Little Mermaid & Beauty & the Beast Jr.

    Jessica has taught workshops & masterclasses all over the country, most notably for The Performing Arts Project, The Broadway Artists Alliance, Broadway Workshop, University of California Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, AMDA LA & Florida State among many others. She holds a BFA in Music Theatre from Florida State University & hails from Jupiter, Florida. Jessica lived in NYC for 14 years before she & her husband made the cross-country move to sunny LA! With the endless love & support of her family, friends, her rock, Greg & son Lucas, Jessica is following her life passion to open hearts & minds through storytelling.

Joey Doucette

Luigi Jazz Dance

  • With over 25 years of experience in most areas of the show business industry, Joey Doucette can offer today a widely ranged artistic and professional experience, including but not limited to dance teaching, choreography for stage and television, direction and show production.

    Currently based in Las Vegas and New York City, Joey Doucette wrote and created a variety of production shows throughout United States, Latin America and Europe. He employed his versatile knowledge of different styles of dance while teaching across North and South America as well as many European countries. Joey performed on stage in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, They’re Playing Our Song, Annie, South Pacific, Anything Goes and more. On television he was a lead dancer on many variety shows in Latin America, and Europe, (Siempre en Domingo, En Vivo, Sabado Gigante and a list of others.)

    Joey Doucette is working now to broaden his palette of artistic influence throughout the European and Asian entertainment community. He has performed at the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris and in Korea, where he choreographed and directed an Original production Enigma. Joey worked with Tony Bennett and Regis Philbin, Olga Breeskin of Mexico and a host of other celebrities. Joey has created corporate events that have performed in New York City, Las Vegas and across the country. Mr. Doucette’s work has also been seen in over 44 different countries.

    Joey has trained with the world-famous Luigi of New York City, where he taught at Luigi’s Jazz Centre. Joey is currently the program creator for the new innovation of Luigi’s Jazz technique, Jazz Dance Legacy. Joey has created the Luigi jazz technique teacher certification program launched in July 2019. Joey also was on full scholarship at Joffrey Ballet in New York City. Mr. Doucette has taught throughout the USA, Mexico, Europe Italy, France, Romania, Latvia, Ukraine, Korea, Portugal, and more. Joey also has been a guest teacher at the University of Mexico, UCSD San Diego and at the Virginia School of the Arts under the direction of Petrus Bosman. Plus, he has taught and choreographed a variety of Jazz Ballets for the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA). Joey just recently taught at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, where he taught jazz to the pre-professional division students.

    Known as a energetic and stylized teacher/choreographer, he has enjoyed teaching all levels from 8 yrs of age to professionals. As a former studio owner as well, in Mexico City, Joey understands the needs of studio owners, teachers in the studio environment. Joey has had extensive experience in all aspects of the dance business, both in onstage and backstage. Joey has always looked for new talent, and has hired dancers straight from the dance schools around the country.

Janell Burgess

Baltes Jazz Dance

  • Janell’s passion for the arts began at a very young age with her commitment to the study of dance guiding her to professional training with focused studies in the Ballet Pacifica School, DeFore Foundation of the Arts, and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, Giordano Dance Chicago, and Limon School. She is the recipient of the Tremaine Scholarship, Giordano Merit Scholarship, and the American Legion Award for her advocacy and commitment to arts education in the Southern California schools districts. She has been a professional choreographer and performing artist for over 20 years, teaching, choreographing, and performing worldwide. Janell has worked with top artists and companies including the KC & The Sunshine Band, The Jackson Family, Paul Oakenfold, Gene Simmons, Holly Madison, Universal Studios, Ceasar’s Entertainment, Disneyland, Fercos Brothers Circus, Brockus Project Dance, LA Contemporary Dance Company, and Louise Reichlin & Dancers, and has served as resident choreographer for the Sands Hotel in Macau, China. Her film & television credits include: The Travel Channel, The View, PBS, AXS TV, and 4 years on West Africa's longest-running dance reality television show, "Maltina Dance All" which focused on bringing families together thru through dance. She is also an accomplished theatrical actress, puppeteer, and aerial artist, of for which she won was awarded the Paragon International Doubles Championship in 2014 for her performance & choreography.

    As an educator, Janell’s teaching career, spanning over the last 3 decades, has included holding faculty positions at the Debbie Reynolds Dance Center, ABT Gillespie School, StarQuest Dance International, Jimmie DeFore Foundation for the Arts, LA Choreographers & Dancers, Newport Mesa Unified School District, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. She has also served as an Educator for ArtsTeach thru through the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center, and as a guest speaker at Orange Coast College and UCLA. As a certified Zena Rommett Floor Barre Instructor, Certified Yoga Instructor, Certified Food'nSport Fitness Instructor, and Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, Janell brings a strong focus to body alignment, physical health, and mental wellness to the classes she teaches and the dancers she educates. Her choreography has been featured on by the Disney Channel, Atlantic City Hotels, Southern California Dance Invitational, LA Dance Invitational, Orange County Dance Festival, Inland Empire Dance Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival and most recently the Southern California Dance & Choreography Invitational where she won an award for Best Choreography for her work "Treat". Through the pandemic, Ms. Burgess choreographed and produced the short dance film “Chameleon”, which premiered live at Global Pushfest San Francisco in 2020 and continued to tour the film festival circuit winning multiple awards for Best Choreography and Best Original Score. She also produced 3 online and in-person full dance concerts which featured Jazz Spectrum Dance Company and Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre. Ms. Burgess Janell currently serves on the board of Jazz Spectrum Dance Company, holds the position of Artistic Director, and is the Owner of Spectrum Dance Center in Lake Forest, California which houses a professional studies program for college students, youth conservatory, and adult dance program. Janell continues to tour with the legendary KC & The Sunshine Band where she serves as dance captain and maintenance choreographer. Her mission is to help develop artists and projects that will inspire healing, bridge cultures, create unity, and ignite a passion for life!

     

Jeff Hendrix

Jazz Dance

  • Jeff Hendrix is a Professor of Dance at California State University Dominguez Hills, Long Beach City College, Mt. San Antonio College, Fullerton College and Pasadena City College teaching jazz, tap, modern, social dance and dance history. He frequently choreographs for concert productions. Recent history: Professor Hendrix taught for the Jazz Dance Teacher’s Conference, June 2016 at Southern Methodist University. He also teaches annually at ACDA: Baja Region since 2010. Additional credits include: Panelist for “The Movement in the Music” by Jazz Antigua (L.A. 2017). Luigi Jazz Technique Certification (2022). Produced and Directed the annual Jazz Dance Conference West at CSUDH May 2022 – 2024 (Jazz master classes with top professionals, panel discussion and Gala Concert showcasing jazz choreography in a variety of styles). Currently producing Jazz Dance: Master Series (classes with top instructors from the L.A. area). Also, soon to be released Hama: Jazz Dance Technique video. Professor Hendrix is honored to be featured in Marquis Who’s Who in America as a Top Educator for 2024.

     

     

Stacey Strickland

African Jazz Dance

  • Stacey Strickland Jr. is a Southern California based Arts Educator, Choreographer and Performer with 15+ years of experience in class settings. He is a passionate youth advocate and loves being involved in the local arts community. He is the Founder/Artistic Director of StricklyMvmnt Performing Arts Collective and Xpressions Dance Ensemble at University of La Verne. Strickland trained with the Lula Washington Dance Theater from 2009-2017(and still serves as guest faculty) simultaneously, he trained/majored in dance at SMC and West LA College. Strickland served as CoPrincipal/Rehearsal Director for Maura Townsend's Project21 Dance(2011-2016) and rehearsal assistant/teacher for Pat Taylor's JazzAntiqua Music and Dance Ensemble(2016-2019). Currently, Strickland serves as Dance Faculty at University Of La Verne,  and continues to teach workshops throughout SoCal.