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 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.


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!


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! Dance Fever is proud to welcome CJ to our staff and watch our students smile when CJ is in the class room.


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). Sh 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 has continued her involvement with the UNC Charlotte Gold Dusters dance team with the honor of being chosen as the current coach for the team.


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.


Nanya

Nayna began in bellydance in 2002 under the instruction of Yasmine and her love for this dance grew quickly. With her fluid like movements and natural skill Nayna enjoys the improvisation that is allowed in bellydance. Nayna's performances reflect her joy in the dance, and both students and audiences find themselves drawn in by her infectious smile and quick wit. She loves to teach and has a great rapport with her students, allowing them to feel relaxed and liberated. An alumni member of The Magic Hips Dancers, Lead Instructor, and Director's Assistant to Yasmine, Nayna brings a in-depth knowledge of studio operations and dance instruction. A bit of a pyro, any opportunity to work with fire fans, fire fingers, or poi is a good one! Her inspiration comes from Rachel Brice and Suhaila, and she is Level 1 certified through the Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance. For more information, please visit www.bellydancebynayna.com.


Jubelin Ramirez

Originally from Venezuela, Jubelin grew up studying gymnastic aerobics and latin dancing. While in Venezuela she was a dancer on TV and studied dance in college. She moved to the US in 2004 to teach Salsa in Florida. After moving to Charlotte in 2007, she began teaching all forms of ballroom in addition to her passion of Latin dance.

Currently Jubelin is a competitive ballroom dancer, choreographer, and instructor. She won the 2008 Silver Rhythm Scholarship at the Heritage Classic, and also competed at the 2008 Vegas Dance Sport and North Carolina Classic. She teaches at Dance Fever Charlotte by appointment - for more information go to www.jubelindance.com.


Desirea Rankl

Desirea was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina where she began jazz dancing at age 4 and cheerleading and gymnastics by age 5. As she grew older her interest turned to hip hop, which at the time was called "street jazz." She danced at Dance Creations in Raleigh through her senior year and also attended Gym Carolina and Raleigh School of Gymnastics. Desirea cheered for many little league football teams through middle school and continued cheerleading at CATS in high school. She is currently a senior at UNC Charlotte where she is majoring in Health Communication. Desirea has always had a passion for dance along with a beaming personality which she is eager to share with our students.


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 Sophomore.


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 Famess.
 
She began teaching in 1999 when Jason & her took over the beginner & intermediate shag classes at Boppers Bar & Boogie in Charlotte.  She is also a member of Boppers Shag Club in Charlotte where she serves on the board of directors and choreographs their synchronized dance team.

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