Meet Our Staff of Dedicated Dance Educators...
Our staff has a very diverse background in dance education. We are committed to creating a safe, fun, and educational atmosphere in which our students can thrive.
Joanne Zavisa
Owner/Artistic Director
Miss Joanne founded Joanne's Dance Extension in September 1984 in Canton, Michigan. She is a member of the very prestigious Dance Masters of America and is currently serving as a National Director for the second time. She is also the current Director of the DMA Performing Arts Competition. She was the founding President of Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters, Chapter 46 of Dance Masters of America, and currently holds a board position as Past President. Miss Joanne has received many honors from the dance community, including Member of the Year of Dance Masters of America. She is a graduate of Teacher's Training School and is currently an Administrator of that program. She held the title of Executive Director of Dance Masters of Michigan, Chapter 4 of Dance Masters of America, for many years before the Great Lakes Chapter was formed. She has been active in the Plymouth-Canton community for her entire career, most recently running a dance program for Speech and Language Systems' sensory challenged students. She has been a Board Member of the Plymouth-Canton Ballet Company since its inception in 1989. Her students have received many accolades including National and Regional titles from Dance Masters and American Dance Awards, Michigan's Young Woman of the Year/Junior Miss, and the reigning Miss Illinois, Katie Lorenz, is a JDE alumni. She has been recognized for choreography on both the regional and national levels. Miss Joanne's students have gone on to perform in ballet and modern companies, musical theatre productions, and cruise line productions. Most recently, Laura Dysarczyk performed with the first National Tour of Wicked and in the Los Angeles Company of Wicked and Delaine Andrzjewski toured nationally with Cats. Dawnell Dryja continues to dance as a principle with the Grand Rapids Ballet Company and will be performing in the Detroit area on February 28, 2009 in the company's production of Aladdin. Other students are currently dancing in Fine Arts Programs at numerous Universities, including Carie Jurcak (State University of New York at Buffalo) and Jacquelyn Bickle (Marymount Manhattan). Miss Joanne's students have been awarded scholarships for furthering their dance education at all levels including national summer camps for teens, the Student Honors Intensive Program, higher education institutions, and Teacher's Training School.
Mary Bennett
Intermediate and Advanced Modern Instructor
Carrie Darkowski
Kinderdance, Ballet, Tap, & Jazz Instructor
Miss Carrie first learned her love of dance at the age of 5, when she was enrolled in ballet and tap. Her teacher called her a natural, and since then, not a day has gone by without dance. Miss Carrie became a student of Miss Joanne at the age of 12, and immediately joined the Senior Company, where she made many lifelong friends. She danced all through high school with the Senior Company, until an injury in her senior year forced her to watch from backstage. Since then, she has loved teaching our younger students and many of the non-competitive dancers. Most days you can find her in the dance room, moving, leaping, and attempting to keep up with the younger dancers. Miss Carrie especially enjoys teaching the very young "babies" at the studio, and loves to see their little faces every week, excited to dance and eager to learn. Miss Carrie has most recently attended Teacher's Training School where she successfully completed her first year. She looks forward to attending again this summer, meeting up with many teachers from all over the United States and learning so much more about dance. She is a member of Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters, Chapter 46, and is certified to teach ballet and acrobatics. Carrie is currently a Director for the Performing Arts Competition for Chapter 46. She has traveled to many national dance competitions, not only as a dancer or teacher, but also as a worker. Miss Carrie is married to Mr. David, and together they have two beautiful and talented up and coming dancers, Zach and Kayla. She loves to watch her little ones on stage and hopes that they too, will someday follow their dreams.
David Darkowski
Gymnastics, Acrobatics, and Tap Instructor
Mr. David, or 'D', as his students affectionately call him, found dance a little late in life. At age 12, after 7 years of hockey, he decided that it would be more fun to be in a classroom with 15 girls than on the ice with 15 sweaty guys; and it was. The rest, as they say, is history. Miss Joanne started 'D' with Tap, Jazz, and Ballet, and later suggested adding Voice, Drama, Gymnastics and Acrobatics to his long list of classes. He continued with his training, which also included Assistant Teaching, until he graduated from High School in 1986, when he was asked to become a permanent member of the Staff. Since then, 'D' has focused on teaching Tap, Gymnastics and Acrobatics from Pre-School aged children through Adults. In 1988, he became a member of Dance Masters of America, a non-profit dance educator's organization that certifies teachers through examination. He is certified to teach Tap, Jazz and Acrobatics. During his tenure with Dance Masters of Michigan, he served as a Board member, Co-Director of the Performing Arts Scholarship Competition, as well as Co-Director of the Solo Title Scholarship Competition. In 2000, 'D' became a founding member of Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters, Chapter 46, and has served as a Director since its inception. He has served as Co-Director of the Performing Arts Competition, Vice-President, and currently holds the title of GLRDM Past-President. Nationally, 'D' has also served as Co-Director of the Performing Arts Competition. In 1989, 'D' became an active participant and Board Member of the Plymouth-Canton Ballet Company, and served as Director through 1996. When not performing, he held the position of Stage Manager, and helped with Set Construction. After High School, and while continuing to teach, 'D' attended Eastern Michigan University, where he received a B.S. degree in Construction Management in 1994. In 1998, he married Miss Carrie, and together they share in the joy of their two children: Zach and Kayla. Both Zach and Kayla are continuing the long tradition of dance with Miss Joanne, and Joanne's Dance Extension, and their family couldn't be more thrilled. Mr. David is known around the studio for his loud voice, loud music, and controlled chaos (especially in Gym). He is proud to have called JDE home for the last 25 years, and would like to thank Miss Joanne for the wonderful opportunity!
Christine Denstedt
Ballet, Tap, & Jazz Instructor
Miss Chrissie has been teaching in the Metro-Detroit area for the past 5 years. She is certified to teach ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, and Zumba. She is a member of Dance Masters of America (DMA), Great Lakes Regional Dance Mastersand ZIN, the Zumba Instructors Network. She is also a graduate of DMA’s Teachers Training School held at the University at Buffalo, New York. In 2008 she was awarded the annual “Janet Bachna Scholarship”, the highest award presented at DMA’s Training School. Christine’s students have competed in several regional and national competitions receiving several High Score and Overall Awards. She also has mentored and chaperoned for the Student Honors Intensive Program sponsored by DMA, and taught various workshops and summer intensives in Metro-Detroit. When she is not teaching she also works for American Dance Awards Regional and National Competitions.
Julie Knakal
Ballet Instructor, Intermediate & Advanced
Cecchetti Ballet Method Instructor
Miss Julie has been dancing since the age of 3 when she was first enrolled at Joanne's Dance Extension. She joined the staff of JDE in 1999 as a ballet instructor. Miss Julie is a certified member of Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters Chapter 46 of Dance Masters of America, a non-profit dance educator's organization that certifies teachers through examination. She currently holds the title of GLRDM President and has been on the Board of Directors for the chapter since its forming in 2000. She has been the Solo Title Scholarship Director since 2000. Miss Julie is certified to teach through Grade V by the Cecchetti Council of America and has been a member of that organization since 1999. Miss Julie is dedicated to excellence in ballet training, a fact that is exemplified by her students' remarkable success in their Cecchetti examinations. During her dancing career she was honored to hold the titles of Michigan's Teen Dancer of the Year in 1995, Dayton, Ohio's Dancer of the Year in 1997, and Michigan's Dancer of the Year in 1999 from American Dance Awards. She was also selected as Miss Dance of Michigan 1999 and was a Top Ten Finalist at Miss Dance of America. As an active member of the Plymouth Park Players at Salem High School, she was honored to choreograph multiple musical theatre productions and was featured as a dancer in all of the productions. She received numerous dance scholarships, including a full scholarship to the Cecchetti Council of America's International Summer School at Hope College and a full scholarship to Dance Masters of America's Teacher's Training School at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship initially, but chose to pursue academics formally and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2001. She graduated from the University of Michigan again in 2007 with a Master's Degree in Business Administration. Miss Julie delights in using her academic education in the classroom, especially when explaining dance moves in terms of physics.
Terri Maxwell
Cecchetti Instructor
Miss Terri has been a dance instructor for many years. She is a Qualified Cecchetti instructor and holds her Licentiate Certification. In addition to ballet, she has taught Polynesian, jazz, tap, Spanish and acrobatics. Down River Civic Ballet, Southgate Community Players, Washtenaw Dance Association, Cecchetti Council of America and Dance Masters of America are a few of the performing arts organizations to which she has belonged during her teaching career. She has owned and operated her own studio for years. Since closing her studio in 2003, she has been teaching for other studios Since closing her studio in 2003, she has been teaching for other studios in the Wayne and Washtenaw County areas. Miss Terri is currently a member of the National Executive Board of the Cecchetti Council of America and serves as its Membership Chair. She continues to study dance and has recently begun to train other teachers in the Cecchetti Method. Miss Terri resides in Ann Arbor with her husband Paul. She is co-owner of Maxwell Solutions, LLC, an engineering and educational consulting firm. We are happy to have Miss Terri joining our staff this year!
Sharon Richardson
Gymnastics & Acrobatics Instructor
Miss Sharon began her teaching career at the Downriver YMCA instructing swimming, diving and gymnastics. She soon added teaching dance as well, tap being her all time favorite! She taught in the downriver area for many years before branching out to Canton 4 years ago to teach at the Plymouth Canton Gym Express. In addition to her popular gymnastic classes, Miss Sharon is a certified judge for the National Association of Woman’s Gymnastics. She travels throughout the state of Michigan and Canada judging various levels of gymnastic meets. She has taught workshops throughout South Eastern Michigan for various gyms and Dance Masters. Her award winning students compete in acrobatic dance for local, regional, and national competitions. She is certified with the United States Gymnastics Association, Dance Masters of America, Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters, and also holds a gymnastic safety certification.
Tiffani Stewart
Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz, & Lyrical
Miss Tiffani has been teaching in the Canton area for the past 10 years where she owned and directed her own studio. She is a certified member of Dance Masters of America, Dance Educators of America, and Great Lakes Regional Dance Masters. Her classes include lyrical, contemporary, jazz, tap, and hip hop. Tiffani's students have won local, regional, and national overall awards for their performances and she has won numerous choreography awards. She is the teacher of the current Mr. Dance and Teen Mr. Dance of the Great Lakes with DMA Chapter 46. In addition to teaching for several organizations including DMA, she judges throughout the USA and Canada for American Dance Awards.
Julie Wilson
Beginner & Intermediate Tap & Jazz Instructor
Miss Julie Wilson became part of the JDE family when she was 11 years old and joined the teaching staff in 2002. During her time as a student at Joanne's, Miss Julie had the opportunity to study various forms of dance. She was also part of the competition team. Miss Julie's favorite memory from dance was being able to perform at Disneyland. Currently, she teaches tap and jazz to the younger students at the studio. For the past six years, Miss Julie has also taught dance through the Plymouth-Canton Community Education dance program. She teaches creative movement, tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip-hop. She assists in choreographing and coordinating their dance recital. Miss Julie is a 2002 graduate of Plymouth-Canton High School. She received her Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Eastern Michigan University in 2006. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, an honor society of educators. Miss Julie currently teaches third grade at a charter school in Detroit, Michigan. She is working on her Masters Degree at Madonna University, where she hopes to specialize in Special Education, Learning Disabilities. Miss Julie W. enjoys teaching dance and sharing her love of it among the students.
Frequent Guest Faculty
Larraine Susa
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Tina Banchero
Los Angeles, California
Amanda Nora
Plymouth, Michigan
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