SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

Faculty & Staff

Michael Charron
Dean, School of the Arts
Charron earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre and English with a secondary education license from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. He continued his education by obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre from the University of Minnesota. Charron was a faculty member at Concordia University in Saint Paul, MN from 1983 - 2007. During his years at Concordia, he became a tenured professor of theatre arts, as well as Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre. Charron has extensive experience as a director, playwright, actor and leader within the arts community. Additionally, he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2004 - 2006. While a student at Saint Mary's, Charron was an active participant in Theatre Department productions. Furthermore, he was involved in Winona Community Theatre and The Ballet School [MCA].

 

Christine Martin
Managing Director & Adjunct Faculty - Dance
 Martin has been a faculty member at the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts since 1994 and has been the managing director for the last nine years. She also teaches dance for the Saint Mary's University Department of Theatre Arts, Viterbo University, and has taught at Winona State University. Martin's performing career includes work with the Minneapolis-based tap company, Keane Sense of Rhythm at: The Minneapolis and Thunder Bay, Canada Fringe Festivals, the Minneapolis and Chicago Human Rhythm Projects, and Choreographers Evening at the Walker Arts Center. She has choreographed a variety of original works for the conservatory's Dance Repertory Company and has choreographed for theatrical productions such as Cabaret, Gypsy, Little Shop of Horrors, Showtune, and The Wizard of Oz. She has studied under Lane Alexander, Sam Weber, Lynn Dally, Diane Walker, Gus Giordano, Savion Glover, Billy Siegenfeld, Mia Michaels, Ted Levy, and Idella Reed, among others. Martin is a graduate of Saint Mary's University with a B.A. in public relations. E-mail Christine.

 

Heidi Draskoci-Johnson
Adjunct Faculty - Dance
Draskoci-Johnson is an adjunct faculty member in the dance division at MCA. She has studied dance for over 20 years and is a graduate of MCA. She has performed with and choreographed for MCA’s Dance Repertory Company in numerous productions. Draskoci-Johnson has studied under an array of master teachers, including Doug Varone, Danny Buraczeski and Company, James Sewell Ballet, Lane Alexander, Diane Walker, and Billy Siegenfeld, among others. She attended the dance program at Wichita State University where she had more opportunities to study under a variety of instructors and guest artists, including Jamie Martinez of David Parson's Dance, Mitzi Adams, Susan Quinn-Williams, formerly of Gus Giordano Dance, and Denice Vail. As a member of the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre, she performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Draskoci-Johnson has performed at and attended multiple American College Dance Festivals. She has previously taught at and choreographed for the Columbus Dance Arts Academy, San Antonio School for the Performing Arts, and Saint Mary’s University. In addition to her teaching responsibilities at MCA, Draskoci-Johnson also served as the lead dorm chaperone for MCA’s 2009 Summer Intensive. She has an array of camp counseling experience having worked for three summers in various counseling and chaperone positions at Camp Echo Lake in upstate New York. Draskoci-Johnson is currently completing a public relations and arts administration degree from Winona State University.

 

Lindsy O'Shea
Youth Choir Director & Instructor - Voice
O'Shea holds a Masters of Arts in Instruction and a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Music Performance from Saint Mary's University. She has been involved with choral music, as a singer or director, for 15 years. O'Shea previously taught choral and general music in the Rochester and Faribault Public Schools. Additionally, she worked with the choirs of Blue Lake Fine Arts camp and with the Michigan State University Children's Choir. She is currently adjunct faculty with Saint Mary's University, directing the Women's Choir and teaching private voice lessons. She also sings with the LaCrosse Chamber Chorale.

 

Erin Gollnik
Adjunct Faculty - Dance
Gollnik began studying ballet at age seven. She later studied tap, jazz, and modern in addition to her ballet training. Gollnik has attended various summer workshops, including Great River Festival of the Arts Summer Intensive, the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Summer Dance Intensive, and Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, where she studied on scholarship. She has also studied dance at Viterbo University. In addition to her teaching responsibilities at MCA, Gollnik is also a ballet and certified Pilates instructor for the La Crosse Dance Centre.

 

Brian Moore
Instructor - Dance
Moore began training at the age of 10. He danced competitively for Footlights Dance Studio, Woodbury Dance Center, and Turning Pointe Dance Studio (formerly Dyan’s World of Dance), training in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip-Hop and specializing in Lyrical and Contemporary. Moore has performed in many shows across the country including the 2008 Showbiz National Finals Opening Number in Chicago, IL, Destination Dance 4 in Los Angeles, CA, and Disney’s High School Musical at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. He has also appeared as the Nutcracker Prince in MCA’s 2008 Nutcracker, Mike in SMU’s production of A Chorus Line and Solor in DRC’s La Bayadere, among others. Moore is currently in his sophomore year at St. Mary’s University where he is majoring in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Musical Theatre Performance and minoring in dance.

 

Davey Warner
Instructor - Guitar
MCA welcomes Davey to our music division where he will be teaching guitar lessons for beginners during our winter session.

Tammy Schmidt
Director of Dance
Schmidt holds a B.F.A. in ballet from Texas Christian University and an M.F.A in dance from the University of Oklahoma. As director of dance, Schmidt leads and teaches in the dance division of MCA as well as the dance minor program at Saint Mary's University. Additionally, she serves as artistic director for MCA's Dance Repertory Company.  Schmidt has restaged and choreographed several full-length ballets for the company including: Cinderella, Paquita, The Nutcracker, and Excerpts from Swan Lake. She has previously taught at Viterbo University, Winona State University, the La Crosse Dance Centre, the University of Oklahoma, North Houston Ballet, Backstage Dance Theatre, and a performing arts middle school in Austin, Texas. Her performing career includes work with Ballet Dallas, Houston Ballet, Ballet Austin, Milwaukee Ballet, and Oklahoma Festival Ballet.

 

Juliana Piscitiello
Administrative Assistant & Adjunct Faculty - Dance
Piscitiello began her classical ballet training at the Conservatory at the age of three under its founder, Stefannié Valéncia Kierlin, and has continued to train extensively in ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, and other dance forms. She spent the beginning of her college career as a Ballet and Modern Dance major at Texas Christian University, where she performed in student and faculty works and studied under Li-Chou Cheng, Elizabeth Gillaspy, Susan Douglas Roberts, Ceyhun Oszoy, and Ellen Page Shelton, among others. She has had the opportunity to take a variety of master classes and workshops with such artists as Fernando Bujones, James Sewell, Adrienne Clancy, Nina Martin, Bryant Young, Ben Munisteri, and Danial Shapiro. Throughout her years at MCA, Piscitiello has performed many times with the Dance Repertory Company in both classical and contemporary works. Her roles include Paquita in Paquita, Ballerina Doll, Spanish Chocolate, and Peppermint Flutes in The Nutcracker, and one of the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella. She graduated with honors from Saint Mary's University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies with a focus in dance. After graduation, she spent some time teaching English, Chemistry, and Speech/Debate to high school students in Okinawa, Japan, where she was able to share her passion for the arts with many of her students.

 

Jennifer TeBeest
Adjunct Faculty - Dance
TeBeest began her dance training as a young child in La Crosse, Wisconsin, studying ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop and modern dance. She went on to study modern dance at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2000 and attended the Miami Dance Festival in 2002. TeBeest continued her studies at Viterbo University, choreographing in three student showcases in 2003, 2004 and 2005; while teaching jazz at La Crosse Dance Centre. In the spring of 2005, TeBeest graduated cum laude from Viterbo University with a B.A. in English, and minor emphases in dance and graphic design. She has choreographed numerous musicals throughout the past 9 years for Wisconsin and Minnesota high schools, along with Home and Community Options' annual summer musical in 2006, 2007 and 2008. TeBeest attended the American College Dance Festival in 2007 and 2008; The PULSE workshop in Minneapolis in the spring of 2008; and the Chicago Human Rhythm Project in the summer of 2008, where she studied with Ted Levy, Sam Weber, Jason Samuels Smith and Billy Siegenfeld. Currently, TeBeest serves as adjunct faculty at Winona State Univerity, Saint Mary's Univrsity, La Crosse Dance Centre and the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. She is the new administrative assistant to the managing director at Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. She has choreographed and set work for DRC II's 2005 Showcase, DRC II's 2007 Showcase and DRC's 2008 production of the Nutcracker.

 

Avin Honecker-Sherman
Adjunct Faculty - Dance
Honecker-Sherman is a graduate from Winona State University with a B.A. in Professional Studies: Dance and Movement Studies. She has performed with the Conservatory's Dance Repertory Company as well as performing for WSU, the University of Minnesota, Ballet Arts City Children's Nutcracker Project, American College Dance Festivals, Sam Costas "10,000 Dances" Company, Sweets of May Irish Dance, Children's Dance Theatre, and many other community performances. She is a graduate of Perpich Center for Arts Education where she has also been a guest teacher. Her teaching experience includes ballet, modern, jazz, tap, clogging, improvisation, swing, and Irish dance. She is also a certified Pilates instructor and Personal Fitness Trainer, skilled in kickboxing, land and water aerobics, and weight training.

 

Rachel Moore
Adjunct Faculty - Dance
Moore has been studying ballet since she was four years old. Moore has studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia with the Mussorgsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet as well as the Rimsky-Korsakov School. Moore was a member of a pre-professional company for 12 years prior to graduation from Butler University with her B.A. in Dance Pedagogy. Some of her roles have included the Rat Queen from The Nutcracker with Butler Ballet; Berthe from Giselle with Butler Ballet; Queen Mother from Sleeping Beauty with Butler Ballet; and Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland with Alexandra Ballet Company. Moore is an adjunct instructor of dance at MCA and plans to further her education by getting her Masters in Dance Pedagogy.

 

Caitlan Kaman
Instructor - Dance
Kaman started dancing at age 6. Later, she joined a pre-professional studio, Performing Arts of Spring Grove, and danced there for 6 years before graduating high school, moving to Winona and taking classes at the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. Through PASG she was able to take classes at The Ruth Page Center in Chicago, as well as from Jean Paul Comelin, Rolando Yanes from The Milwaukee Ballet, and Sam Pergande from the Joffery Ballet. She danced for the Illinois Youth Dance Theater under the direction of Alice Keaggy Brinkmann formerly of the Milwaukee Ballet where she danced various roles in The Nutcracker, an original production of Joan of Arc, The Little Mermaid, and Swan Lake. She has also performed with MCA’s Dance Repertory Company in The Nutcracker and in a variety of contemporary concerts. Kamen participated in MCA’s apprenticeship program for two years and now is an assistant teacher. Currently, Kaman is a senior at Winona State University majoring in medical technology and minoring in dance. As a dance minor at WSU, Kaman performs in annual WSU productions as well as participates in the American College Dance Festival.