Meet Our Team

Studio Owner/Director

At 13, she began studies under Legendary Master Teacher, Larry Long at the Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago, IL. She was invited to join the Ruth Page Civic Ballet, performing works from renown choreographers such as Ruth Page, Melissa Hale Cole, and Lou Conte. 

Her summer intensive studies include American Ballet Theater NY, the Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and Broadway Theater Project under the wings of Ann Reinking, Gregory Hines, and Ben Vereen. Her greatest ballet mentors include, Larry Long, Elise Flagg, Jillana, Delores Long, Birute Biradocate, Eduardo Villaro, and Nancy Bielsky.

Her performance credits include leading roles in a national tour of The Nutcracker such as Clara, and as a principal dancer in the Civic Ballet of Chicago.

Miss Amanda transitioned her performance career to relocate as a full time cast member of Festival of the Lion King at Walt Disney World. Transitioning even

further beyond her wildest dreams, Tokyo Disney Sea then invited her to soar to new heights, performing the role of Ariel, as lead aerialist in Tokyo, Japan.

While living and performing in Japan, Miss Amanda met her husband Gary also a dancer from London. Together they danced for Celebrity and Norwegian cruise lines. They are now a family of five with three young boys living in Yorkville, IL.

Miss Amanda’s passion for teaching reaches far and wide, and she enjoys paying forward the lessons from her invaluable teachers and mentors. Helping each student develop towards their true potential, Amanda is so grateful to pass the torch to younger generations of dancers. Her students have been accepted to prestigious schools around the world including The Juilliard School, SAB, The Royal Ballet School, Marymount Manhattan, The Joffrey Ballet School, and more. 

Co-Owner/Director

Born in London, England, Gary Started Dancing at his local dance school at the age of five, with his first performance not long after that. From there on, he hasn't stopped performing. Gary trained at the prestigious Royal Ballet School as a Junior Associate, and at the age of 11, went to full-time vocational training at the Urdang Academy, in the heart of London’s Theater land in Covent Garden. He then continued his dance and performance training at London’s BRIT School (funded exclusively by the British Record industry). He finished out his studies at Reynolds Performing Arts also in London. 

During his Training, Gary performed in many shows in London’s West End including Musicals, and review shows. He was lucky enough to work with both The Royal Ballet Company, The Royal Opera, both at the Royal Opera house in London, and Russia’s Famous Kirov Ballet. 

He performed in several Pantomimes across the UK. Gary has the pleasure of performing with several Cruise lines, most notably Disney cruise line, where he was in the opening Cast of Disney’s “Twice Charmed”. He continued to work with Disney travelling to Tokyo and performing at Tokyo Disneyland. Here is where he met his beautiful wife, Amanda. They went on to perform together for celebrity and Norwegian Cruises. 

Gary Loves to perform. Telling stories through creating deeply developed and entertaining characters is his passion. He is so excited to be able to teach the next generation of performers and to help children gain the confidence they need to succeed in their chosen life path. 

Teacher

Kristin Catalano received her early training from Sherry Moray at The Academy of Dance Arts. Catalano has danced professionally with Ballet Austin, Milwaukee Ballet and as a guest artist with the Ruth Page Civic Ballet of Chicago. In 2006, Kristin had the privilege to perform in the opening cast of the Dream Along with Mickey Castle Show at Walt Disney World.

Catalano has taught classical ballet in the Chicagoland area for the past 15 years. In 2018, she completed the Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teacher Training Program. Kristin is passionate in sharing the joy of dance with her students and is thrilled to be teaching the Adaptive Dance Program at Monarch Academy of Dance.

Kristin currently resides in Naperville with her husband Joe and two daughters, Audrey and Samantha. 

Teacher

Elizabeth Knight is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She trained at Milwaukee Ballet School, Houston Ballet Academy, San Francisco Ballet School, Pennsylvania Ballet School, Princeton Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, and Steps on Broadway, all on scholarship, as well as with her coach, Yves de Bouteiller. Ms. Knight was trained by renowned and diverse instructors, including Margaret McLaughlin, Clara Cravey, Lola de Avila, Gloria Govrin, Jeffrey Lyons, Suki Schorer, Stanley Williams, Nancy Bielski, David Howard, and Willy Burmann. As a high school senior, Ms. Knight was one of six ballet dancers chosen nationwide to be a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts awardee. Ms. Knight also participated in the Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition in Lausanne, Switzerland, the U.S. International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and was a finalist in The Second Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan. Ms. Knight has danced with Milwaukee Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Dance As Ever (NYC), Chicago Festival Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Alma Dance, Ballet Legere, Elements Contemporary Ballet, Schaumburg Dance Ensemble, and Dallas Opera. Her repertoire includes leading roles in Nutcracker, Cinderella, Esmeralda, Grand Pas Classique, and Swan Lake, as well as roles in Stars and Stripes, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Billy the Kid, Where the Wild Things Are, Carmina Burana, and the operas Aida, Samson and Delilah, and Carmen. Ms. Knight previously taught for VH Dance Center, Salt Creek Ballet School, and Hinsdale Dance Center. She also currently teaches at the Academy of Dance Arts. Ms. Knight has her Master’s in Teaching from National-Louis University and was previously an elementary school teacher and elementary school dance teacher for Chicago Public Schools. Ms. Knight lives with her husband and two young children in Naperville. She is looking forward to sharing her knowledge, expertise, and love of ballet with the students of Monarch Academy of Dance!

Teacher

Wendy Taylor Appling is passionate about the art of dance. As an instructor she believes every student has infinite potential and strives to help each dancer achieve personal excellence while learning to cultivate their own artistic voice. Wendy is a graduate of Northern Illinois University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts / Dance Performance. She began her professional career performing and teaching as a member of The Chicago Moving Company, one of the longest running modern dance companies in Chicago Illinois. She had the great honor in CMC to be mentored by the legendary Nana Shineflug; one of the founders of the Chicago modern dance scene. Wendy also enjoyed dancing as a founding member of the Cindy Brandle Dance Company and climbed to new heights with Aerial Dance Chicago as a guest artist/choreographer. Wendy had the privilege to dance with trailblazers such as Bob Eisen Dance, Clinard Dance, Maggie Kast and Company, Melissa Thodos and numerous independent choreographers. While in Chicago Wendy continued to hone her craft training with some of the best instructors in the world of dance at Hubbard Street Dance, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Joel Hall Dance Center, Homer Bryant Ballet, Rast Ballet and at The Dance Center of Columbia College. She spent many wonderful years teaching dance around Chicago including residencies in public schools. Wendy has taught a variety of dance forms, has integrated movement into curriculum , led students in the creation of in-school performances, worked with special needs children, students in arts camps, summer camps and after-school dance and drumming programs. Since moving back to the Fox Valley area Wendy has been teaching locally where her love for inspiring the next generation of performing artists continues to grow. She is excited to fly with Monarch Academy of Dance and be a part of each dancer's metamorphosis. Wendy lives in Yorkville, Il with her husband, her three cool kids and their dancing cat Puma.

Teacher

Morgan Wiggins fell in love with dance when she was 3 years old as a praise dancer in her grandmother’s church. She eventually decided to pursue a competitive level of training in which she trained in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip hop, and Classical Irish dance. Her several disciplines allowed her to be a successful competitive dancer during her 10 year career at Xtreme Dance Force. Her competitive dance career then transitioned into exploration of the professional dance community in Chicago & Los Angeles. Morgan has been mentored by respected professionals such as Cameron Lee and Andye J. She currently still works and trains as a professional dancer while also teaching kids in hip hop and contemporary in the Chicagoland Area.

Teacher

Angie S. Keneipp is a native of Los Angeles who moved to Chicago Fifteen years

ago. While in L.A. she was senior member, soloist and choreographer for Jazz

Dancers Inc., L.A.’S premiere concert jazz dance company. Angie has also

appeared as a featured dancer in several films such as “Staying Alive”, “One From

the Heart”, and “I’ll Do Anything”. She has worked and collaborated with the

creative talents of Twyla Tharp, Sylvester Stallone, James L. Brooks, Ben Vereen

and John Travolta, just to name a few. Her teaching and choreographic talents

have taken her all over the globe. She has taught at Paramount Film Studios,

Dupree Dance Academy and tours with conventions annually. Angie has

performed with Chicago Dance Medium, a prominent Modern Company on the

Chicago dance scene and is choreographing for several projects in Los Angeles and Chicago. Angie was honored to choreograph for Dance Chicago's showcase , one of Chicago's largest dance festivals. She recently was honored to have a piece premier at the RDA Dance Festival. Her unique and dynamic style is appreciated by all. 

Teacher

Reneé Porter is a Plainfield native, who grew up in her hometown dance studio, where she received both dance and acrobatics training. At the age of 13, she transitioned from student to an acro teaching role: teaching gymnasts, cheerleaders, and dancers. She continued to build the acro program while attending North Central College in Naperville, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Her time in the studio highlighted her love of education, which drove her to receive her masters of education for school psychology at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater. Reneé returned to the area to practice as a school psychologist, where she has served local school districts since 2005. Upon returning from Wisconsin she taught acro at several local dance studios, furthering her love of acro and dance. Renee’s passion lies in acro for dancers, which allows individual skill development, but also partner and group work, which is the catalyst for team building, confidence boosting, friendships and fun!  With her deep understanding of education, Reneé believes strongly in differentiation within her class, and meeting each student where they are to achieve individual goals. There is nothing more exciting than seeing students achieve different goals on different timelines with the support of their peers and staff.   Renee is thrilled to join the Monarch team, as she knows it’s a special studio that fosters community, positivity, and support of all students.