Owners & Staff

Our team of dance instructors, teaching assistants, and current dance students look forward to meeting you!

Below is a brief introduction to the Dance Fever team:


Holly Griffin Ca

Born into a dancing family in Eastern North Carolina, Holly was exposed to dance at a very young age. Her parents have been shag dancing since the early days of the dance and were inducted into the Myrtle and Atlantic Beach Shag Hall of Fames. Holly studied jazz, tap, & ballet from the age of three until graduating from high school. She furthered her dance studies by majoring in dance at East Carolina University where she was a member of the East Carolina Dance Association. Holly continues to dance competitively and travel the country teaching - she has recently performed at the Palace Theatre, USA Grand Nationals, and even on "Good Morning America."

Holly brings to the classroom 25 years of dance experience and 15 years of instructional experience at various studios in the Carolinas. She has choreographed award-winning routines for several Little Miss North Carolina & Little Miss Mecklenburg County winners and countless dance competition teams including the East Carolina Dance Association Team. In addition to her award-winning lyrical, hip-hop, and tap choreography, Holly is a member of the National Shag Dance Team and 2007 National Shag Dance Champion in the NonPro Division.


Jason Cagle

Jason grew up nearby in Concord, NC where he attended NW Cabarrus High School. He began shag dancing by at an early age and danced in various shag competitions throughout high school. Jason graduated from NW Cabarrus High school in 1994 and migrated north to attend Harvard University. He continued dancing at Harvard where he introduced shag to many New Englanders through the "Southern New England Shag Club." Graduating Cum Laude from Harvard in 1998, he returned to Charlotte and continued his hobby of dance as the Sunday night shag instructor at Boppers from 1999 - 2001 in conjunction with Susan Pate Funderburk.

He and Holly won the 2007 National Shag Dance Champions in the NonPro division and now compete in the Pro division of the CSA/SPA shag dance circuit as well as are members of the National Shag Dance Team. In 2009, Jason was inducted into the "Keeper of the Dance" an annual award granted by the Shaggers Hall of Fame to one male and female who were former Junior Shaggers and continue to promote the dance. Jason is on the board of the National Shag Dance Championships, the Shag Hall of Fame Foundation, and The Ellen Taylor Foundation for Junior Shaggers.


Katarina Dimitrijevic

Katarina is a graduate of The State Ballet Academy of Belgrade, Serbia.  Upon graduation she danced with the Simionov Ensemble and instructed classical ballet at various ballet institutions in Belgrade and Sicily.  She then returned to school for another four year course in Ballet Pedagogy at the University of High Culture and Arts in Rome, Italy where she held a position of assistant to the Professor in Character Dance.  In May of 2003 she immigrated to the United States and made her way to Charlotte after instructing for a few years at the Fort Wayne Ballet Academy. She currently divides her time between NC Dance Theatre and our studio.


CJ Reid

Carl Reid Jr, better known by our students as "CJ", is from Charlotte. CJ is an experienced jazz, modern, and hip-hop dancer who has been choreographing in the Charlotte area for many years. CJ graduated from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a BA in Theatre. While at Pembroke, CJ was the choreographer for several "step teams" as well as the UNCP Cheer Squad. In addition, he was a choroegrapher and member of the UNCP Hip-Hop Dance Team. CJ really enjoys working with students and helping them feel the joy of dancing as only CJ can do!


Karlie Kissman

Karlie began dancing at age 3 at Marguerite's Academy of Dance in Erie, PA. She studied tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, acrobatics, and was a member of their Acrobatic Adagio Company by age 13. At that time she began student teaching and then eventually took on her own classes. She has experience participating in and coaching gymnastics, cheerleading and dance teams. Karlie attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she received her Bachelors in Child Development and Family Relations and minored in dance. At IUP she was also a member of the Dance Theater Company. She continued teaching dance through college and recently moved to Charlotte to work on her Masters in Dance Education at UNCC. Karlie is excited to share her 10 years of teaching experience, 20 years of dancing and her passion for dance with her students!


Jenn Floyd

Jenn grew up In Durham , NC where she started taking tap, ballet, jazz, modern ,contemporary, and acro/gymnastics classes at the age of 7. Once she entered Jr High she became a cheerleader and continued to cheer and dance thru her senior year in high school. Upon graduating from Northern Durham high school, she attended UNC Charlotte and was chosen a member of the Gold Duster dance team. In the 4 years she danced on the UNC Charlotte Gold Duster Dance Team, they won an NCA/NDA National Collegiate Championship (1997). She was also chosen as an NCA/NDA dance instructor for jr high and high school camps. Jenn graduated with a BA in Communications Studies and continued her involvement with the UNC Charlotte Gold Dusters dance team with the honor of being chosen as the coach for the team in 2009.


Amy Danser

Amy has been dancing since she was 3 yrs old when she attended Jamie's Dance Studio in Sistersville, WV and then I transferred to Kelly's School of Dance in Parkersburg, WV. While dancing at Kelly's she had the wonderful experience of dancing with Darryl Retter, Linda Barnabie-Retter, Devora Cooper and Jeri Rose at Dance Caravan for 3 year consecutive years. She continued ballet and jazz throughout high school where she was the captain of her high school cheerleading squad that earned 1st place champion four times in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference. She was then a founding member of the Fairmont State Dance Team her senior year of college.


Cameron Woody

Cameron Woody was born and raised in the triad of North Carolina. Cameron started dancing at the age of 7 years at John Walker's "Walkerdance Ballet". Throughout the 10 years dancing at "Walkerdance", Cameron performed in seasonal performances of "The Nutcracker", playing roles in Arabian Princess, Chinese Princess, understudy for Sugar Plum, etc. Alongside intensive ballet training, Cameron was also active in her former high school's musical theatre department with performances (both formal and informal) productions including: the role of Phyllis Dale in "42nd Street", the role of Amy March in "Little Women", and the role of Polly in "Crazy For You". Following her experience with musical theatre Cameron moved to Winston-Salem to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts – majoring in modern dance with a minor in ballet – where she attended for approximately 1 ½ years. Currently, Cameron is attending UNC Charlotte, majoring in English with a minor in Children's Literature and Childhood Studies.


Amanda Britton

Amanda is a familiar face to Dance Fever Charlotte as she has been a member of our competition team and a student assistant since our inception. She is a native Charlottean and began taking dance at the age of 2, studying ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern and hip hop. Amanda has danced competitively for over 10 years. Some of her competition venues have been Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Disneyland, CA. She is a graduate of JM Robinson High School in Concord and was accepted into the Art Department at UNC Charlotte where she is currently a Junior.


Geoff Burdick

In the late 80's after much encouragement from his parents, Geoff started shag dancing in North Myrtle Beach. Being hesitant, he decided to check out this dance to see what it is all about. After seeing the pretty ladies and the fancy footwork, Geoff realized this dance was for him. He has competed and won in many contest since 1990, including the 1992 Junior National Shag Dance Championship. In 1995, he won the Non-Pro National Shag Dance Championship and continues to compete in mixed double contests. He is a 4-time participant of the National Shag Dance Championship Dance Team promoting shag all over the Carolinas including at a sold out Charlotte Hornets game, the USA Grand Nationals, and the recent opening of the new Boardwalk in Myrtle Beach. In 2002, he was inducted into the Shagger's Hall of Fame "Keeper of the Dance" bestowed upon former Junior Shaggers who continue to promote and grow shag dancing. In addition, he was recently inducted to the Charlotte Hall of Fame "Youngblood's". Geoff is a board member of the Ellen Taylor Foundation for Junior Shaggers. He is known for his bowling shoes....make sure to ask him why!:)


Susan Funderburk

Susan grew up in Fayetteville North Carolina where she began shagging during the 1960's.  She took lessons for many years from notable instructors Shad & Brenda Alberty as well as Donn Bunn.  Susan competed in the National Shag Dance Championships in 1998 and 1999.  In the past she has been an active member of the Fayetteville Area Shag Club, Charlotte & Rock Hill Shag Clubs, and Competitive Shag Assocation.  Susan has been inducted into the Charlotte and Fayetteville Area Shag Hall of Fame.
 
She began teaching in 1999 when Jason & her took over the beginner & intermediate shag classes at Boppers Bar & Boogie in Charlotte.

Previous Guest Instructors

Dance Fever Charlotte periodically brings professional guest dance instructors into the studio to work with our students.



Jessica King

Jessica King is an accomplished artist, photographer, dancer, choreographer, and teacher. For the past year she has had the unique distinction of training and working with Mia Michaels, Mandy Moore, TyceDiorio, Tabitha and Napoleon, and Wade Robson to name a few. While touring as a Top Ten Finalist from the hit Fox reality television show, "So You Think You Can Dance" she found herself performing, center stage, to audiences all across the country.


Jessica Pack

Originally from South Carolina, Jessica Pack is a seven year veteran of the NYC Radio City Music Hall's "Rockettes" having the honor of being one of the few dancers invited back for the 2008-09 season without having to participate in the annual auditions. Jessica was on the national tour of "42nd Street" as well as "CopaCabana"


Dena Rizzo

Originally from South Carolina, Dena Rizzo now lives in New York City where she is very active in the dance scene. Hip Hop is her neverending passion and through working with Showstopper Dance Competitions, Darrin Henson's Dance Groove Tour, and her instructional videos she has been able to share the love for Hip Hop and Breakin' to the world.


Holly & Jason

2007 National Shag Dance Champions, NonPro Division