Faculty and Staff

Lisa stay
owner & Instructor

Lisa Stay began dancing at the age of 3 at a local Lake County studio. While there she studied Ballet/Tap/Jazz and Pointe. Lisa competed in many dance competitions where she placed first. She studied dance at Barat College in Lake Forest where she took classes with Lisa Gold, Rory Foster and Eileen Cropley. Lisa has also studied with Reggio “The Hoofer” McLaughlin of Old Town school of Dance Chicago, and Sandi Frahm of On Stage Dance Center, California. After obtaining her degree in Business Management, Lisa taught at Lindenhurst Park District and became the Dance Director of the Gurnee Park District where she held the position for 15 years. Lisa's specialty is teaching our younger dancers. In 2013 Lisa and her family moved to Muskegon, MI where she taught dance and preschool gymnastics. Upon returning to Illinois, Lisa began working at Sedol in Grayslake as a Paraprofessional. Lisa has three children ages 18, 17, and 15 years old and has been married to her husband Ted of 20+ years. Without the love and support of her family and friends being the owner of Elevate Dance would never have happened.

Hannah johnson
ARTISTS IN MOTION ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Hannah began her training at the age of three and hasn’t taken a day off since! She has trained under numerous renowned choreographers and instructors, and has an extensive education in jazz, contemporary, and musical theater.
Living in the great city of Chicago, she is currently fulfilling her dream of being a full time educator and choreographer for multiple award winning studios throughout the Midwest. She has received many accolades for her choreography, but one of her favorites was this past season when her dance “Crazy” went on to achieve the “Superstar Award” which is given to the highest scoring routine of the entire competition.
Hannah happily teaches all levels of dance and continues to find new ways to inspire and push her students in and out of the studio. Throughout her classes, she heavily focuses on not only technique and dance foundations, but confidence building and empowerment through performance.
Hannah’s love for performing only grows stronger every day. She recently had the pleasure of being a dancer in the film “Bentley”, directed by Dre Josiah and choreographed by Monyett Crump. She has also been dancing annually in the Gateway for Cancer Research Gala, choreographed by Jennifer Mote. She was so excited to be backup dancing for Pussycat Doll Chesca Ramirez and rapper Stacey Kay at the last event!
Hannah has been on multiple judging panels for 5 years now, and she cannot wait to be inspired by all of the amazing dancers she gets the opportunity to work with this upcoming year!

Andi Bissen
tap & contemporary

Andi was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Writing and is projected to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from Roosevelt University in December 2021. She started dancing at age five and competitively at age seven, and through the years she has gotten training from professional teachers and choreographers from the Milwaukee Ballet, Danceworks Milwaukee, Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Hubbard Street of Chicago, M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Chicago Tap Theatre, and many more. In her travels across the country, she has attended and been invited to take classes from the likes of tap masters such as Gregg Russell, Angela Carter, Ryan Lohoff, Anthony Russo, Chris Erk, Mark Yonally, Ja’bowen Dixon, Bril Barrett, Kendra Jorstad, Dani Borak, Sarah Savelli, Lane Alexander, Maud Arnold, Chloe Arnold, and Sara Reich. She has also performed multiple times with Milwaukee Danceworks, in Chicago’s “Carnival Choreographer’s Ball”, and Chicago’s “World of Dance.” She was a guest artist in Chicago Tap Theatre’s critically acclaimed tap story show “Time Steps”. She was a dancer featured in Tap into the Network’s tap dance video “No Money - Galantis (LA Tap Experience)”. Since the Spring of 2015, Andi has also been a member of the only current all female tap dance performance company in Chicago, JorsTAP Chicago.

Charles "buzzy" brown
Hip hop

Charles Brown, aka "Buzzy" has shared a passion for athletics, dance and music since he was a child. This curiosity with sports and music led him to several accomplishments through the sport of track and field while also choosing to pursue playing the drums and participating in various dance showcases. For the past 9 years Buzzy has taught and continues to teach at several different dance studios from Aurora, IL to Milwaukee, WI. Currently Buzzy is teaching physical education at Our Lady of Grace Academy and is the head coach and choreographer for the Hip Hop dance team "iluZion" at Carthage College.

Dana Emering
LYRICAL, JAZZ, Adult Classes & TAP

Dana Emering grew up on a competitive dance team at Kim Kalla's Studio of Dance. She studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical and poms there until she was 18. She was on the Illini Dance Team which competed nationally while she attended the University of Illinois and also taught at Art in Motion during college. Recently Dana taught through an enrichment program in Deerfield and kept up with her dance classes at Lomastro Performing Arts. Dana lives in Antioch with her family and is extremely excited to share her love of dance with students at Elevate.

carla garippa
BALLET, POINTE and Lyrical

Miss Carla has been a dedicated teacher and choreographer for various studios and competitive teams throughout the Chicago land area. Carla is a former company member of Hip Hop ConnXion and The Chicago Honey Bears. In 2006, Carla moved to Los Angeles, California where she became a part of Hip Hop International and also furthered her dance training at well-known studios such as Millenium, Debbie Reynolds, and The Edge. She has performed and traveled world wide.. She is also certified in Zumba and Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) and is happy to share her passion for dance with her students.

sasha lotz
BALLET, LYRICAL, JAZZ

Sasha first started dancing at the age of two and hasn't stopped since. Before Elevate, she danced in four Nutcracker productions. Sasha has been a student at Elevate for four years and is a part of the studio company, Artists in Motion, and has won multiple awards from competing. She has been an assistant for over five years and was a company member at her previous studio in Kenosha. Sasha loves sharing her love of dance with other dancers and hopes to inspire them to dance more. Sasha is a student at Antioch High School. She participates in multiple clubs and volunteer opportunities that the school offers.

ANDREA FITZPATRICK

Andrea (Andy) is excited to join with the Elevate staff as we strive to provide a top notch dance experience for all of the customers we serve. She moved to Illinois with her family in 2013, after living in Singapore, Montclair, VA, and Fort Worth, TX. Andy is the proud momma of four daughters and one son, who obviously keep her extremely busy. Her household has also always had a various menagerie of pets which adds to the chaos, but makes life more fun! Andy holds a full-time job at a local private high school, and in her free time she enjoys reading, crafting and spending time with her family. She and her husband are always entertained by the home concerts, plays and dance recitals that her kids perform. Andy is a firm believer that the arts make life more fulfilling.