Meet Your Teachers

Mid American Studio takes pride in providing our students with a motivational, talented, and dedicated team of instructors. Our instructors come from various backgrounds, and each brings an exciting element to their classes due to their unique personal experiences in the dance field.

Program Director — Miss Danielle A.

“Dance has had such an amazing impact on my life – physically and mentally. Being a part of a dance class or a dance team teaches you so much more than just ‘how to dance’. You learn about being a team player, dedication, time management, and the importance of setting and reaching goals.”

Danielle has been dancing for over 20 years, and enjoys bringing dance and the exercise into the lives of her students. Miss Danielle danced competitively in jazz and lyrical throughout middle school and high school at Suzette’s Masters of Dance in Shelby Township. She was a four year member of her high school dance team, and was captain her junior and senior year. During that time, the team attended dance camps through Mid American Pompon. In 1999, Danielle auditioned to be a camp counselor with Mid American and was accepted to the elite staff. In 2002, owner Karen Blazaitis envisioned opening a studio where younger students could take lessons to help prepare them for their high school pompon and dance teams. Miss Danielle moved to the Farmington Hills area and helped develop the youth programs for Mid American Studio. Over the past 7 years with Mid American, Miss Danielle has taught thousands of children though the youth programs, summer camp programs, and as Director of the nationally recognized Mid American Pompon All Star Team.

Miss Melissa A.

“My favorite thing about my job is that I get to not only teach fun routines to awesome students, but I get to help them understand the sports of pom and dance, enjoy it, and have fun all the while!”

Melissa has been instructing at Mid American Studio since 2002 and anxiously awaits each and every new session! With a background in dance from the age of 5, Melissa has performed and competed in the areas of tap, jazz and pom. She was a member of her high school dance team for 4 years where she was also named to the Mid American Pompon All Star Team. Following high school, she continued to choreograph for Mid American Pompon & Studio and has been happily settled here since. Melissa was a member of the Detroit Ignition’s inaugural dance team, The Spark, and later became the Arena Hostess for the Major Indoor Soccer League’s team at Compuware Sports Arena.

Currently, Melissa is the full time office manager at Mid American Studio and teaches multiple classes each week. She lives in Novi with her cat Taurey.

Miss Jillian T.

Jillian has been dancing since she was 3 years old where she competed in numerous competitions held all over the United States. She was a Varsity member of her high school pom team for 4 years and won back to back Mid American pompon State Championships. She was also a Mid American 3 year All Star member. She has had the opportunity to dance at events with celebrities such as Mary J. Blige, Jojo, Wyclef Jean, etc. She was a member of the Detroit Piston Dance Team Automotion for 5 years , where she was Captain of Automotion for 3 years. Jillian has choreographed pom and dance routines for many high schools teams, Detroit Shock Dancers, and Automotion. She has been working at Mid American since summer of 2007. She currently teaches Pom, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop. Jillian is also the Director of Intense Dance, an all-new dance camp and clinic division of Mid American Pompon, set to launch in August of 2010.

Miss Ashley M.

Ashley has studied dance for her entire life. She received the bulk of her training at Susie’s Dance Pointe, a studio with which she competed regionally and nationally for over 17 years. In addition, she has studied nationally with numerous world-renowned choreographers and at prestigious dance studios in New York City and Orlando, Florida. She was certified as a high school cheerleading coach by the National Cheerleading Association, where her squad won Top Team honors. Ashley has performed in the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game and with the Walt Disney Company.

Miss Michelle M.

Michelle has been dancing for 20 years. For 14 years she danced in Farmington Hills and competed nationally. In 2005, she was recognized as the studio’s “Dancer of the Year”. Michelle was a 4 year member and 3 year Captain of the Varsity Pom Pon squad at Harrison High School, placing 3rd my Senior Year at the Mid American State Championship in 2005. In addition, she was a two-year member of the Mid American All Star Team where she was able to travel on a Cruise to the Bahamas performing for fellow travellers. Her dance career continued through college where she was a part of Impulse Dance, a dance club at Michigan State University. She was then accepted onto the Michigan State University Dance Team from 2007-2009. Michelle has a growing passion and appreciation for dance and really enjoys having the opportunity to share her love of the arts with fellow dancers. Teaching children dance and pom has made her year amazing and she appreciates the time and dedication each student has contributed!

Miss Jaimee T.

Dance has been a BIG part of Jaimee’s life since she was 3 years old. Over the past 20+ years, Jaimee has had the chance to perform and compete on a national level. In 2002, Jaimee was awarded Ms. Universal Dance Association (UDA) Great Lakes and also had the honor of joining the Detroit Fury Dance Team. Jaimee continued her professional dance career and had the opportunity to perform with Disney Radio, Gravity Professional Dance Group, Enrique Iglesias, Neil Young, and Mary J. Blige. Jaimee has also had the chance to train at Broadway Dance Center and Steps located in New York. In addition, Jaimee was part of her high school varsity dance team for all 4 years. Even though dance is Jaimee’s #1 passion, she had decided to take some time to complete college with an Electrical Engineering Degree from Western Michigan University.

Miss Ashley W.

Ashley has been cheering for 11 years and loves coaching. She cheered for Walled Lake Western High School and then went on to cheer at Ferris State University. She has been in many competitions and has won many awards for cheerleading, including being named an All-Star where she got to cheer in the half time show for the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game. While at Ferris State she started coaching camps for American Cheer Express, ACE. While working for ACE she traveled the east coast teaching cheer camps and choreographing for local high schools here in Michigan. In 2009 she had the opportunity of a life time teaching cheer camps on the US Air Force bases in Alaska and Hawaii to the kids of Air Force parents.