Gretchen Burghart Bice – Director/Instructor
Gretchen has had a successful career as a performer, touring with the first national Broadway tour of “Legally Blonde,” national tour of “Fame,” regional tour of “Cabaret,” performing in an off Broadway production of “On the Town” as well as at regional theatres. Gretchen was a part of the dance faculty at Millikin University for five years. Her students have gone on to work professionally in Chicago, LA and New York.
Gretchen received her dance training at Jan’s Dance Studio. She went on to hone her skills studying at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Lou Conte, Gus Giordano, Edge Performing Arts Center and LA Performing Arts Center. She has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Millikin University in musical theater and a minor in dance. She has taught master classes across the United States and is a faculty member and adjudicator on numerous talent conventions and competitions. She and her husband Mike are proud parents of Vander and Huxley!
Johnie Boxell – Instructor
Johnie is a recent graduate of Illinois State University with a bachelor of science degree in dance. Johnie is a JDS alumni and has traveled the country training with some of the best in the dance industry. Johnie trained during the summer of 2023 at Huston Contemporary and prior to graduation worked with Water Street In Milwaukee. Johnie’s choreography has been seen in concerts at ISU and on the competition stage around the country. We are so excited to have Johnie on staff – bringing fresh contemporary choreography!
Bridget (Burghart) Armstrong – Instructor
Bridget is the original dazzler – one of Ms. Jan’s first students. She completed her undergraduate at University of Illinois at Springfield and finished with her teaching certificate at Illinois State University. She just completed her 22nd year teaching elementary school. She is currently teaching 3 year old Pre-K at Rochester Elementary School. She is dance mom to Brynna and race mom to Charlie and proud wife of Kyle. As a student, Bridget traveled the country with JDS for many experiences, including dancing at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, aboard cruise ships and taking home national competition titles. She loves teaching dance, selling insurance and booking vacations for her friends and family.
Andrea Conlon – Instructor
Andrea has 28 years of classroom experience in early childhood learning. She graduated from Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois at Springfield) with a degree in psychology with an elementary education certificate. She taught kindergarten at Farmingdale Elementary School before joining St. Joseph’s Preschool where she taught for 15 years.
Andrea loves working with preschool-age children because of their zest for life. “They help me see that life isn’t serious business, it’s fun business. I am looking forward to moving and shaking with my new preschool friends!”
Melissa Hurley – Instructor
Melissa joined JDS in 2022. Originally from Michigan, Melissa started dancing at 12 years old. While in high school in 2002, Melissa traveled to France and performed with the Universal Dance Association All-American group at Disneyland Paris. She was a UDA All-American recipient in 2001 and 2002. Melissa has coached competition teams of various ages and has won several national titles thru Showcase America. In her first year of coaching, her mini team was named grand national champions. She has taught dance, cheer and tumbling.
Melissa first became involved with JDS by taking an adult ballet class. Now she is teaching three acrobatic dance classes and watching her daughter perform with Dazzler Dance Company. Melissa is certified in Acrobatic Dance through Acrobatic Arts.
Elisabeth (Kluge) Luttrell – Instructor
Elisabeth started dancing at Jan’s at 4 years old – loving every minute of class with Ms. Jan, Miss Gretchen and her other teachers. After she graduated from high school, she continued dancing at Millikin University in Decatur, where she majored in elementary education with a concentration in fine arts. She currently teaches eighth grade language arts at Sangamon Valley Middle School. Elisabeth truly enjoys sharing her dance passion with the girls who are just learning to love dance, both the “babies” and the older girls in her ballet and pointe classes.
Emily Murphy – Instructor
Emily has been dancing at JDS since 1999 – she has been involved in 23 recitals! She is a graduate of Illinois State University with a major in special education and a minor in dance. While at ISU, she was a member of the Illinois State Dance Company and the Unlimited Dance Team. She is currently a special education teacher at Rochester Elementary School. She has enjoys teaching her “little ladies” in creative movement, working with the Dazzler Dance Company and teaching her beautiful teen ballerinas.
Ellie (Pfister) Watson – Instructor
Ellie started teaching at JDS in 2020 but she has been a part of our dance family since she was 5 years old. After high school, she attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she was a member of the Illinettes Dance Team for four years, serving as a captain her senior year. In 2015, she was invited to work as an instructor through the National Dance Alliance where she traveled the country for five years coaching high school and college dance teams as well as performance events in Disney World. After she graduated from UIUC, she returned to Chatham as an elementary school teacher.
Hannah (Phillips) Hamilton – Instructor
Hannah began her dance career at 5 years old at Jan’s Dance Studio. At JDS, she was a member of the Dazzler Dance Company and Competition team.
Hannah graduated from JDS and Glenwood High School in 2010. At Glenwood, Hannah led the dance team and Titan Fever Show Choir. She captained and choreographed the nationally-ranked Millikin Sapphires Dance Team and was in the elite dance ensemble at Millikin University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in dance. Hannah was the Glenwood High School dance team coach for 6 years. She is thrilled to be doing what she loves: working with kids and sharing her passion for dance.
Jan Regan Burghart – Founder (3/4/48-7/15/25)
Jan Regan grew up in Springfield, IL and started her dance training at the age of 3 with Betty Jo and Joey Mack at the Mack Professional School of Dance. She also studied on scholarship at the Stone and Cameron School of Ballet in Chicago before beginning her professional dance career touring the United States with the Lenore Sutton Dance Troupe.
Her love for performance turned into a love of teaching when she opened the doors to Jan’s Dance Studio in 1982. Jan was an active member of Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and SADM. Jan strived to provide students with dance experiences in a variety of environments in order to become well rounded individuals. Jan’s dancers have performed at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, aboard numerous cruise lines and traveled to New York City to participate in the “Rockette Experience.” Her students have been employed as dancers in Broadway shows, with professional dance companies, on cruise ships, at Walt Disney World and in Chicago, LA and New York. Her students have received national talent scholarships, choreography awards and many have gone on to become teachers themselves. Jan left a lasting mark on 1,000 of dancers in her 40 years of teaching and is greatly missed but not forgotten.
JDS Assistants 2023/2024
If you are on social media, we would love to connect with you!
Follow jansdancestudio (FB) and jansdancestudiodazzlers (IG).
