Ann Marie Frank

As the the Creator and Director of AMA Dancers & Co., Ann Marie has been working non-stop for years building an environment where students not only learn to dance and tumble, but always feel welcome as they walk through AMA's doors.

Ann Marie attended Northeastern University where she majored in music and primary education. Her extensive dance education includes The Dance Academy in Chicago and Lou Conte's Dance Studio, home of the Hubbard Street Dancers in Chicago's Loop. She has participated in numerous professional workshops including "Dancing in Disney Shoes" in Orlando, Florida.

She has additionally studied with Ruth Page and tap legends, Jimmy Payne, Tommy Sutton, and Bruce Stegman. Ann Marie has been teaching right here in the Des Plaines Community for over 18 years and is well known for her energetic style, original choreography, and contagious excitement and love for dance!

Miss Ann Marie loves flowers and enjoys planting them in her front yard during the summer.  She also loves traveling to warm spots such as Nevada and Arizona.  Miss Ann Marie loves Broadway musicals and has seen "Wicked" eight times, including the first time in New York!

Denise Mlynski

Denise is a graduate of Maine West High School where she was a member of the gymnastics team for four years. During her high school years, she coached a variety of gymnastics and tumbling classes with children between the ages of 3 and 10. After graduating high school in 1997, Denise attended Illinois State University to pursue a degree in speech language pathology.

She graduated from Illinois State University in 2003, earning both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in speech pathology. She currently works as a speech language pathologist at Children's Therapy and Rehab Specialists in Lake Zurich. While at Illinois State University, Denise became a member of a student-run organization called the Gamma Phi Circus. You've probably seen her perform with the Gamma Phi Circus for the past five years at our own Maine West High School right here in Des Plaines! She performed circus arts, including acts such as tumbling, tightwire, acrosport, adagio, and teeterboard with the Circus for six and a half years.

Denise also volunteered her time and talent to coach the Junior Gamma Phi Circus, teaching circus arts to children ranging from 6 to 14 years of age. Currently, Denise continues to perform circus arts within the Chicagoland area with the performing company Forms in Motion. We are thrilled to have such an AMAzing, talented, and experienced tumbling teacher such as Denise join the AMA staff!

Lauren Ashley

Lauren Ashley has been dancing for 17 years. She has studied with renowned teachers such as Randy Duncan, Joel Hall, Kirby Reed and Anna Paskevska. By the age of seven, she was dancing nearly 30 hours a week. She is formally trained in all styles of dance including Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Lyrical and Pointe. Lauren also attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts High School.

Lauren has extensive performance experience and has performed with The Joffrey Ballet, Mariah Carey, James Brown, Lil' Wayne and many more. As well as teaching all over the Chicago land area, she continues to perform and now choreographs music videos and performances for various R&B and Hip Hop artists. Lauren has a special place in her heart for working with children and loves to share her passion and drive for dance. AMA is very excited to welcome Miss Lauren to our AMA Faculty!

Lauren absolutely loves assorted chocolates so she has the choice of any kind of chocolate she wants! When we asked Lauren what the coolest experience she's ever had was, she replied, "That's easy! When I was younger a performing group I was a part of was asked to be the opening act for the London Alternative Hair Show. They held their show at the famous Chicago Theatre which holds 3,600 people. The day of our show we had a full house. Turns out the dance we were doing just so happened to start with a ballet solo starring me! It was the only time I ever got nervous. So I walked out for my solo (spotlight and everything!) and performed in front of all those people. Our group finished the dance and we received a standing ovation from almost 4,000 people! It was the absolute best feeling in the world."

Christina Gale, Born and raised in Elk Grove Village, Christina began her dance training at the age of four at the Pavillion Dance Center in Elk Grove. She continued to dance through out high school, but her investment in dance began at Columbia College Chicago, where she is currently pursuing her BFA in Dance with a concentration in teaching. While at Columbia she has studied and trained in many dance forms including, Ballet, Modern, Jazz, African, Tai Chi, Pilates, and Improvisation. The Dance Center at Columbia College has given her amazing opportunities to work with and learn from top professionals of the dance community nation and worldwide. Her passion in the arts is specifically directed towards education and integration of dance in all lives, because she recognizes the need and benefits of movement, and is trained in providing creative movement and technique classes for all ages. By being a positive and encouraging role model, who is truly engaged with her students, she creates a comfortable and open place for students to learn, explore and develop themselves, not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally as well.

Miss Christina has a weakness for chocolate, in particular any kind of chocolate ice cream: chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter and chocolate, hot fudge sundaes, and banana splits!

She’ll never forget the time she went to Discovery Cove in Florida and was able to swim with all the tropical fish and stingrays! Her dream is to swim with the dolphins!!

Abrevaya (aka Joanne) began her dance training with tap, jazz, and ballet in New York City, where she was born and raised. She continued her dance training with modern and ballroom dancing at the University of Massachusetts where she double majored in psychology and women's studies. Abrevaya then moved to Seattle where she discovered belly dancing. She was immediately drawn to the dance because of the fluidity of the movement and the intensity of the music. Abrevaya came to Chicago in 1999 to get her Master degree in Social Work at the University of Chicago while continuing her love of belly dancing.

Abrevaya’s grandparents were from Turkey and Abrevaya is their family name. Abrevaya wanted to honor them by using their name as her professional namesake. Abrevaya has been belly dancing for over 11 years and continues to teach and perform because it provides multiple benefits including developing muscle tone & confidence, improving flexibility, balance, & posture, and is a wonderful stress release.

As an instructor, Abrevaya makes the classes fun and takes the time to break down each movement so that students can master isolation and layering techniques. Abrevaya has attended over 25 master level nationwide workshops to further her appreciation of the dance. She incorporates her varied experience of diverse dance styles in her choreography to create unique and compelling routines. Abrevaya performs throughout the Chicagoland area.

Abrevaya enjoys to ski and has unsuccessfully tried to shimmy while skiing downhill. She also loves to rollerblade and bike ride (with or without shimmying)!

Visit Abrevaya's website

As Office Manager for AMA Dancers from its inception, Mrs. Bricks handles all accounts receivables and customer service for our students and their families.  Mrs. Bricks has a BA in Food Systems and Economics from Michigan State University.  She worked for years in the customer service industry as a catering manager for the Holiday Inn, Skokie.  As AMA's luck would have it, Mrs. Bricks volunteered for this position, not realizing she would become too valuable for us to ever let her leave!   Mrs. Bricks's favorite color is purple and she absolutely loves to cook, especially soups from scratch!

As the newest member of AMA's office staff, Mrs. Tedeschi comes to AMA ready to jump in and help with AMA's rapid growth!  Her enthusiasm and sense of humor makes her the perfect addition to our AMA Family!  Mrs. Tedeschi also works with hearing-impaired children and is fluent in sign language.  Mrs. T. loves to sing karaoke and her favorite food is cheese popcorn from Garrett's in Chicago!