Jan Regan Burghart – Owner
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 is an active member of Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and SADM. Part of JDS’s mission is to provide students a dance experience 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.” Jan’s 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 believes dance training and performance build self-confidence, which will enrich the lives of her students. After 40 years, Jan is even more passionate about fine arts education and she proves this through her devotion to her students and her profession.
Gretchen Burghart Bice – Owner
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 future Dazzlers – Vander and Huxley!
Melissa Hurley
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.
Bella Albarracin
Bella is a Dazzler Dance Company alumni! She is a graduate of Glenwood High School and was captain of the GHS Dance Team. She currently works as a school aide but has dreams of pursuing a professional dance career. While dancing on the JDS competition team she was awarded numerous scholarships for her outstanding dance technique and performance ability. She was part of many title-winning routines and won first overall with her solo! She has been a great addition to our staff. Our competition numbers have never looked so polished.
Elisabeth Luttrell
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
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 behavior teacher therapist at The Baby Fold Alternative School in Normal. She has enjoys teaching her “little ladies” in creative movement, working with the Dazzler Dance Company and teaching her beautiful teen ballerinas.
Ellie Pfister
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
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 is the Glenwood High School dance team coach. She is thrilled to be doing what she loves: working with kids and sharing her passion for dance.
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