Director

Stacey Archer-Little
Stacey Archer-Little moved to Bolingbrook from Hawaii in 1999. While in Hawaii, she founded Hawaii’s most prestigious high school dance-theatre company, the Kamehameha Performing Arts Company (KPAC); produced more than 15 professional dance concerts; created the curriculum for the performing arts department at the high school; revamped the University of Hawaii Rainbow Dancers into a nationally acclaimed dance team, which she directed for 10 years; and co-founded Hawaii’s first non-profit dance organization, the Hawaii Dance Alliance, through which her outreach programs utilized dance as a means to deter drug use and gang involvement in the youth of Hawaii. Her previous accomplishments are even more extensive, as she was the assistant choreographer and a dancer for the NBA Indiana Pacers.

Stacey was hired in 1999 to teach dance for the Bolingbrook Park District. Within a year of being hired, Stacey proposed and implemented the Power Dance Project and the Danceforce programs. She continued to direct and develop these programs and became the dance department coordinator in 2003. Recently, in 2005, Stacey was promoted to Recreation Supervisor of the dance and gymnastics programs. Under her direction first as coordinator then supervisor, the dance department’s participation has grown from just under 300 to over 900. Danceforce has grown from 36 to 165 dancers, and the Power Dance Project has increased its programming from 5 original school sites to 14 current program sites, reaching hundreds of children each year. She came to the Park District with nearly 20 years of experience teaching, directing, choreographing, and developing dance schools, companies, teams, programs and organizations. Recent accomplishments for the Bolingbrook Park District are highlighted in the program narrative, and she recently received Dance Chicago’s 2006 Outstanding Choreography Award (New Voice) in recognition of excellence in choreography during the 12th annual Dance Chicago Festival.

Assistant Director

Desiree Pepper-Venzant
Desiree Pepper-Venzant is a native Chicagoan and holds a B.A. in Dance and Business Marketing from Barat College of DePaul University in Lakeforest, IL. Desiree is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and is the Dance Program Coordinator for the Bolingbrook Park District and Assistant Director for Danceforce. She is also a Power Dance Project instructor. Desiree has trained with notable teachers from the American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor (Modern Dance) Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) and The American Dance Festival (ADF). She teaches ballet, tap, jazz, creative movement, modern dance, and hip hop at the Bolingbrook Park District. Previously she taught at Westside Elementary School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Roanoke, Virginia and was the Director and an instructor at the Floyd Ward School of Dance Studios in Roanoke, Virginia. She later joined Hollins College of Roanoke, Virginia as an adjunct professor for the Dance Department. Desiree has also taught for the Jeralyden’s School of the Dance (the official training school for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company) in Dayton, Ohio, for the Umoja Dance Company, Blacksburg, Virginia, and for The North Shore School of Dance in Highland Park, IL. She has performed with the Southwest Virginia Ballet in Salem, Virginia; Hollins College Dance Repertoire; the Opera Roanoke; and Li Chiao Ping Dance. She also performs for various Chicagoland groups and choreographs liturgical dances for various religious groups.


Arlette (Chelly) Ixchell Benzinger
Chelly’s dance roots are in the island of Puerto Rico where she performed as a child for the acclaimed choreographer Sophie Sanfiorenzo. Later she attended Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, where she concentrated in Ballet and Modern Dance while studying the performing arts and trained with the Salt Creek Ballet simultaneously. For 15 years, Chelly has taught jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, ballet, modern, Latin dance and tap to children and adults of all ages. She has worked for Geneva Dance Academy, The Indian Oaks Recreation Center, Dance Dimensions, Arial Dance Studio, Center for the Arts and most recently for the Bolingbrook Park District. She helped develop Arial Entertainment, a professional dance ensemble where she also choreographed and performed. Among other professional works, she was part of the Chicago Honey Bears Dance Ensemble and Brasileida Productions (Samba Dance Company) which frequently performed with the Chicago Samba School. Her choreography has been seen at Northern Illinois University through Northern Dance Theatre, Orchesis and she was president/choreographer of Dança Quente (university Latin Dance Ensemble).  For two consecutive years she choreographed for the Latin group at Benedictine University in Lisle. Her choreography was also featured in the Brook Players’ (now Theater on the Hill) production of “My Fair Lady”. Her most recent accomplishment as a professional dancer was performing and choreographing for the original recording artist, Petra Luna where she also made her debut as a singer. Chelly has been the assistant director for the acclaimed Bolingbrook Park District DanceForce in addition to being the coordinator of the Power Dance Project outreach program for 3 years (2005-2008).  Chelly is a devoted wife and mother of two. That same devotion can be seen in her work as a passionate performer, teacher and choreographer.

Katrina Amante
Jamm Teams Co-Director
Katrina Amante began dancing when she was 15 with the Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce. She has trained in jazz, hip hop, lyrical and some tap, ballet, and African dance technique for the past seven years. Some companies she has danced with include Hip Hop Connxion, Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce Sr. Jamm Team, as well as the major league indoor soccer team Chicago Storm. Katrina has been a Danceforce teacher since 2003 and is also a co-manager and choreographer for the WNBA Danceforce Elite Team, which performs at Chicago Sky games. Katrina has taught hip hop, pre ballet, ballet/tumbling, creative movement, jazz, hip hop and all age levels of Power Dance. She is an award winning choreographer and is passionate about working with Danceforce.

Jaimie Castonguay
Instructor
Jaimie Castonguay has been dancing for 12 years, first training at various studios, then focusing her dance training with the Bolingbrook Park District in jazz, ballet, lyrical and hip-hop. Jaimie has been instructing dance for three years at the Park District and has been a member of the Danceforce Jamm teams for the past five years. Jaimie currently teaches and choreographs for the Junior and Teen Danceforce companies, as well as youth and teen/adult jazz, ballet, and hip-hop classes. Jaimie also shares her experience of teaching dance to children with special needs and is happy to be a part of the staff at the Bolingbrook Park District.

Jeanne O'Connell
Kidz Company Director
Jeanne O'Connell is a "triple threat" in her own right. She is a dancer, teacher and choreographer of equal quality. Jeanne began dancing as a toddler in her mother's studio and eventually trained nationwide from New York to Los Angeles. At 19, Jeanne joined the national tour of 42nd Street and as they say, the rest is history. She toured with the show, doing many productions, and eventually landed the lead role of Peggy Sawyer. She has been featured in many other equity productions including Joseph, Music Man, Singing in the Rain, Sweet Charity, and Me and My Girl. Jeanne has performed extensively at Disneyland, appeared in many television shows, movies, and commercials, and has even been "sawed in half" as a magician's assistant. Jeanne is also a very accomplished teacher and choreographer. She has taught and directed many teams and performing groups, which include such notable students as Christina Applegate, Drew Barrymore and Katie Holmes. Her choregraphy has won many top overall awards including a dance which received a perfect score. More importantly, Jeanne has a true passion for dancing, teaching and performing, which is apparent in her classes. Her energy is infectious and her drive is contagious. Jeanne's job is to teach dance, but her mission is to develop dancers with good character.

Brian Rabenda
Instructor
Brian started his dance training at the age of 15 at Steps Dance Center in Aurora, IL. After only a year he found himself dancing up and beyond the level of even the most advanced students. Motivation, perseverance and hard work have lead to Brian’s success as a dancer. He has won numerous awards from competitions all around the country for his show stopping performances. Now residing in Schaumburg, IL, he dances for Midwest Movement, training under the direction of artistic director Ted Jackson, specializing in Jazz/Lyrical dance. While he loves taking classes and hitting the stage, Brian’s passion is in teaching/choreographing dance. His movement comes from his heart, producing first place routines for local high schools and studios. Brian now shares his talent and passion with the Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce and also teaches a number of the dance department's jazz and ballet classes.

  Beverly Jane Bautista
Jamm Teams Co-Director
Beverly is a recent graduate of Ball State University with a degree in Dance Performance and Bachelors in Science. She has extensive training in jazz, modern, hip hop, lyrical, ballet, ethnic/folk, tap, and even hula and tahitian dance. She has worked with Universal Dance Association for five years and was recently awarded an apprenticeship with the Valerie Alpert Dance Company, a modern/jazz company based in Chicago. Beverly currently performs with Dance2XS and is the Danceforce Teen Jamm Team director. Beverly is also a lead instructor for hip hop classes, Power Dance Project and other dance department classes.

Jimmy Putong
Instructor
Jimmy Putong has been dancing for six years and has been teaching for three years. He currently is a co-director of the Elite dance team of Danceforce where he choreographs for the half-time and time out dances for the WNBA Chicago Sky home games. Jimmy is also a teacher of hip hop and b-boying. Jimmy's love for dance started when he was 12 when he joined Power Dance Project and then became a member of the Dancforce Jamm Team. Over the years, Jimmy has learned a lot about the dance industry and in addition to his teaching, plans to become an agent for those who want to be in the dance industry.

Dionna PridGeon
Specialty Instructor
Dionna received her B.A. in dance from Point Park University (PA) in May 2004. This past year, Dionna received the Future Star Award from Dance Spirit Magazine, a full scholarship through Monsters of Hip Hop, an invite to Janet Jackson’s private audition in L.A, and is now represented by Lily’s Talent Agency/Clear Talent Group. Currently, she performs with Dance2xs Chicago and also works with pillowproject dance company in Pittsburgh. Dionna is on staff at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where she teaches dance as a part of the Education Program in partnership with D.A.R.E. and Kraft Foods. In addition, she also teaches dance at four other facilities in the Chicagoland area. Aside from teaching, Dionna has had the privilege of performing concert works by well-known choreographers, such as Robert Battle, Lou Conte, Carmen deLavallade, Daniel Ezralow, Kevin Iega Jeff, Donald McKayle and Margo Sappington. Her other performance credits include Congo Square’s production of Black Nativity at The Goodman Theatre, December 2005.

Aileen Puzon
Instructor and Power Dance Project Coordinator
Aileen received a Bachelor's in psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is continuing to pursue an additional bachelor’s degree in nursing. Aileen has been a part of the Bolingbrook Park District dance program for more than 12 years and has trained in all areas of dance, concentrating in ballet, modern, lyrical, tap, and hip hop. She has been on staff since January 2000 and has taught creative movement, ballet/tap, ballet/tumbling, pre-ballet and Ballet I. Aileen has also worked with Danceforce as a dancer and teacher, which has allowed her to perform at the World Veterinarians’ Conference and Gala in Minneapolis, MN (July 2005); American Veterinarians’ Christmas conference and luncheon in Schaumburg, IL (December 2005); and WNBA Chicago Sky half-times (August 2006). She has also been a back-up dancer for Ashley Garland (Radio Disney) opening up for Jordan Knight and Od Tapo Imi Steel Drum Band. She is now the new coordinator for the Power Dance Project outreach program.

Lynette Puzon
Summer Instructor
Lynette started dancing at age 3 at the Bolingbrook Park District and became a member of the Park Dancers at age 8. She has been trained in jazz, ballet, modern, tap, hip-hop and lyrical. She had her first professional job dancing as a back-up dancer at age 13 and started teaching at age 14. She is currently a member of the Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce and continues to teach and dance professionally when called to do so.

Molly Ghahtani
Instructor
Molly studied ballet from a young age through college. She was a member of a semi-professional company, the Grand Rapids Ballet of Michigan, for several years and studied with two former Joffrey Ballet dancers, one of whom is the head ballet mistress for Joffrey Ballet Chicago. Molly has performed in ballets such as the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Cinderella, Our Town, Gaite Parisienne, Ambulations and other small repertoire pieces. She has also studied some jazz, modern and character dance. Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Molly is the mother of two girls, Sophie and Isabella. She and her husband, Sultan, have been married for 10 years and have lived in Bolingbrook for the past 5. Molly has a Bachelor’s of Science in Merchandising Management from Michigan State University. She was recruited to teach for the park district and considers teaching a blessing.

Shaina Humphries Jr.
Summer Instructor
Shaina Humphries began dancing with the Bolingbrook Park District in 2001. Since then, she has been performing and competing with the Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce and various school teams. Shaina has been dancing with the oldest facet of the Danceforce Jamm Teams since they began. While a member of Danceforce, she has been trained in hip hop, jazz, ballet, tap and lyrical dance. Since 2005, Shaina has been an instructor for the Junior, Teen and Senior companies of Danceforce and is a co-director of the Junior Jamm Team, for which she has gained national recognition. She also teaches the Power Dance Project, and jazz/hip-hop classes. Shaina loves working with dancers at all levels and of all ages and is proud to be a part of the Bolingbrook Park District Dance Department.

Additional Bolingbrook Park District Dance Department Staff

Karen Wilson
Instructor; Director, Excel Musical Theater Company
Karen has studied dance since the age of 5. In high school, she was the lead dancer in the musical "Hello Dolly," "Pippin," and "The Wiz." Karen received a dance scholarship to Columbia College her freshman year where she studied jazz, ballet, tap and modern dance. Her professional credits include assistant choreographer for the musicals "Oliver," "Annie," "Chicago," and "Bye, Bye, Birdie." Karen has also choreographed for many local high schools, including Lockport, Reavis and Andrew. Karen has taught creative movement, tap, ballet and pre-ballet classes.

Sahara