Alumni

Whitney attended UW-Whitewater, participating in both their Dance Team and Dance Company. After returning to the Madison area, she continued her dance education by becoming a member of the Dane County Hawks and the Madison Wolfpack dance teams. Whitney also spent a summer in San Diego attending the Academy of Performing Arts, APAStudios and enjoys taking classes occasionally through the UW-Extension program. In addition Whitney was a choreographer and dancer with Madison Contemporary Dance for 5 years. And Whitney has taught/choreographed for ALAD for 10+ years and set our Alumni piece for our 25th year celebration!

Emily Ott became Acrobatic Arts Certified in 2024 and is a full-time employee at ALAD (see teacher bio).

Danced with Affinity for Dance a non profit run by former ALAD teacher Nicole Novak. Performed in nutcracker as party parents with husband for ALAD and with his studio, Sue Darrow's School of Dance. Taught dance with Applause Dance Academy in La Crosse ages 3-adult including competition companies

Gabby is a current UW-Madison dance student.

Sarah attended UW-Whitewater and continued her dance journey with the UW-Whitewater Dance Company. She currently teaches at ALAD (see teacher bio).

Sarah has Bachelor's Degrees in Dance and Psychology from UW-Madison and has earned a Masters of Science in Dance/Movement Therapy from Sarah Lawrence College. Sarah danced with Madison Contemporary Dance and Peridance in New York City in an Independent Study Program. She continues to enjoy dancing by taking dance classes in New York City. The valuable foundations learned as both a dancer and teacher at A Leap Above Dance have made a lasting impression on Sarah -- supporting and shaping her career along with strengthening her love of dance to share with others!

After high school, Maddie never stopped dancing! She would find a drop-in class or free Zumba on campus. When Maddie was a sophomore in college she choreographed a hip hop routine for a studio in Tomahawk. After graduating she continued to teach HipHop and Jazz in Tomahawk and gets to see ALAD coaches every once in a while at competitions. “It’s very full circle, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! That’s the best part about dance, you can always find the beat and let it come right back to you. 💜”

Katie Ryann Soldatke is a rising NYC-based dancer, choreographer and educator. She danced at A Leap Above Dance for 16 years before pursuing her degree in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At ALAD, she fell in love with Ballet and vowed to devote her life to the studio. She began her professional dance career with Jin-Wen Yu Dance in Madison, WI before moving to New York City to work at the Joffrey Ballet School. As Operations Manager at the Joffrey, Katie guides pre-professional dancers through their unique journeys into the professional industry while maintaining a high emphasis on Robert Joffrey fundamentals, pedagogy and legacy. She has performed and choreographed across the city - her work often exploring the marriage of Ballet technique and Contemporary studies. Outside of dance, Katie spends her free time reading mystery novels and crocheting leg warmers.

Marie was one of the first ALAD students in our first program! She attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she obtained a Minor in Dance. Miss Marie teaches dance at ALAD along with ALAD’s communications and social media director (see teacher bio).

Melanie was active in the ALAD studios through classes, the Nutcracker, competitions, and working in the office from 2003-2007. She taught summer classes from '07-'11, and has occasionally returned to teach summer master classes. Melanie has a BA Dance from the UW Stevens Point and now lives in Chicago. She has previously collaborated with Laboratory Dancers and Darling Shear. Currently, she's been rehearsing and performing with RE|dance group since 2011 and serving on the RE|dance group board as a dancer liaison since 2023.

Dance team in college!