Lake Michigan Dance Academy is an up-and-coming dance studio located in the heart of Allendale, Michigan, less than a half hour outside of Grand Rapids and just three hours outside of Chicago. We pride ourselves on developing the whole dancer - creatively, technically, and artistically. Lake Michigan Dance Academy will provide students with expert instruction by professional and pre-professional dancers, while fostering a safe and encouraging environment for our students to grow and mature in their art form.

Lake Michigan Dance Academy is dedicated to providing students with quality dance instruction,
​and instilling in them a passion for the art form that we share with our community.

Alissa Tollefson
Founder, Director

Alissa graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hope College in December 2010 where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Education and Dance Education. While at Hope, Alissa received the Distinguished Artist Award as well as the DeLong Dance Award for outstanding achievement in dance. Upon graduation, Alissa moved to Chicago to pursue her professional dance career. She apprenticed for River North Dance Chicago for two summers and participated in the Scholarship Program at Lou Conte Dance Studio before becoming a full-company member at Thodos Dance Chicago, a contemporary dance company. While dancing professionally, Alissa continued to pursue her passion for educating children in the art form, and spent five years teaching and choreographing for children and adolescents ages 3-25 at various studios and intensives throughout the Chicagoland area. Alissa spent four seasons with Thodos Dance Chicago, before moving to Allendale, Michigan. Alissa worked as a Part-Time Professor at Grand Valley State University for the 2015-16 and 2017-18 school year where she taught Modern and Jazz technique classes and choreographed pieces for the Fall and Spring Dance Concerts. She is also on faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp where she continues to inspire and influence young artists from around the country. Alissa is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, and is excited to continue her education while imparting this knowledge to her students at Lake Michigan Dance Academy.

Caleb Tollefson
Founder, CFO

Caleb Tollefson graduated Summa Cum Laude from Grand Valley State University in December 2009 where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration. While at Grand Valley, Caleb interned at Herman Miller and assisted with preparing their quarterly financial statements. Upon graduation, Caleb worked in the assurance practice at Ernst and Young where he supervised audit teams, assisted clients with financial reporting, and ensured clients maintained adequate internal controls. During the time Caleb was at EY, he also served as Treasurer at Water of Life Community Church. As the Treasurer, Caleb created and implemented policies and procedures to promote the safeguarding of financial contributions. Caleb went on to become a Manager at Baker Tilly where he split his time between the assurance and advisory practices. He assisted clients in a wide array of areas ranging from financial reporting to providing recommendations on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes within their companies. Caleb continues to assist Baker Tilly as a contractor, and is blessed with the opportunity to work full-time at Lake Michigan Dance Academy.

Leah Markee
Assistant Director

Leah originates from Libertyville, IL where she grew up dancing at Talent Forum under the instruction of many of Chicago's professional dancers. She performed with their youth jazz company, Forum Jazz Dance Theatre, for five years, including in Eddy Ocampo's Gold Shoe Award-Winning performance in the Leo's Dancewear Competition at Jazz Dance World Congress 2011. Upon graduation, Leah went on to study at the the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University where she performed works by Doug Varone, Douglass Bentz, and Alyson Laury. She graduated in 2012 with Honors and a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, along with a Business Management minor. After college, Leah trained and performed with jazz/modern company LehrerDance in Buffalo, NY and Inaside Chicago Dance in Chicago, IL, all the while continuing to teach a variety of styles and ages at dance studios in those areas. Leah completed Module 1 of her Acrobatic Arts Certification and is excited to grow this program at Lake Michigan Dance Academy as the Assistant Director.

Sarah Robins
​​Class Instructor

Sarah Robins fell in love with dance at a very young age. She grew up dancing at Studio G Performing Arts Center with Gina Urso Dudash where she studied Ballet, Pointe, Partnering, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Musical Theater, and Contemporary. She spent her summers training with The Joffrey Ballet School in Manhattan and competed at numerous dance competitions. Sarah danced principle and lead roles in full-length Ballets with the South Eastern Michigan Classical Ballet including The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle. She continued to study dance at Grand Valley State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. She had the opportunity to perform multiple guest artist pieces as well as study technique with Samantha Shelton, Lara Fauche, Carrie Morris, Alissa Tollefson, and Hannah Seidel. Sarah has spent the past three years living in St. Louis, Missouri where she was a Trainee with the Big Muddy Dance Company and just completed her second season with Ballet 314 under the direction of Rachel Bodi and Robert Poe. She is very thankful to recently premiere their new Ballet, “Ragtime, The American Experience” in July 2021. She taught at multiple dance studios around the area as well as Pilates and Barre classes at TruFusion STL. Miss Sarah is so excited to be back at Lake Michigan Dance Academy! ​

Karley Dorner
​​​Class Instructor

Karley, originally from Metro-Detroit, started exploring her love for dance at the age of 3. She trained at The Turning Pointe School for the Performing Arts where she studied an array of dance styles. As a member of the studio company, she danced competitively and regularly performed for the community. Her favorite performances include dancing in several Lion’s Thanksgiving halftime shows alongside Mariah Carey, Jesse McCartney, and The Goo Goo Dolls. Karley spent her summers training at workshops such as Giordano Dance Chicago, Break the Floor in NYC, and classes at The Edge Performing Arts Center and Millennium Dance Complex in LA. Her passion for dance led her to Grand Valley State University where she was a recipient of the Dance Department Scholarship, and graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. During her time at GVSU, she had the privilege of working with many guest artists such as Charles Askegard, Julie Blume, Lauren Edson, and Autumn Eckman. Since graduating, Karley has spent the past 5 years teaching Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Contemporary, and Lyrical at several studios in the Grand Rapids area, working with students ages 3-20. She was an Adjunct Professor at GVSU from 2016-2017 where she taught Jazz and Modern, and choreographed works for the Fall and Spring Dance Concerts. She has also had the opportunity to choreograph and perform for community events, the most recent being Bid for Bachelor’s 2019 which benefits Friends & Families of Cystic Fibrosis. Aside from her dance life, Karley works for Grand Rapids Public Schools as a Paraprofessional in the Special Education Department.

Autumn Durand
Class Instructor

Autumn is from the East side of Michigan and started her dance journey at the age of 4 and started competing dance at age 7. As well as competing Autumn enjoyed attending conventions, performing at community events, performing at pistons half time shows, and performing at downtown Disney World. She received her training at Michelle's Academy of Dance and continued her dance training in college where she currently dances for the Grand Rapids Drive Dance Team. Autumn grew up taking jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, hip hop, ballet, tap, acro, and heels classes and enjoys them all. When Autumn is not dancing, she studies health communications at Grand Valley State University. Autumn loves being with the Lake Michigan Dance family and can't wait to continue dancing and teaching this year! 

Jillian Gasper
Class Instructor

Jillian Gasper grew up in Gowen, Michigan where she began her dance training at the age of 11. She was classically trained in Ballet through the Cecchetti method and in many dance styles including Pointe work, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Hip-Hop as well as the opportunity to participate in competition teams. She is a 2011 graduate of Hope College where she earned a bachelors degree in dance with a focus on performance and choreography and a minor in psychology. During her time at Hope College she performed and choreographed many original pieces. Post graduation she had the opportunity to travel to Buffalo, New York and take part in the Lehrer Dance summer intensive.  She has enjoyed six years of teaching experience and continues to share her passion for dance by teaching and choreographing at various locations; including being a faculty member at the Grand Rapids Ballet School.

Danelle Hyde
Class Instructor

Danelle started dancing at the age of three, and grew up dancing at a studio in Grand Rapids, where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary. Through high school she assistant taught and after graduating, became an instructor as well as an office administrator at the studio she grew up at. After high school, Danelle went to GRCC where she continued to study dance for 2 years while also dancing with the Grand Rapids Groove, and then graduated from Baker College with a degree in Veterinary Technology in 2010. She became a competitive team instructor after graduating college, winning several choreography awards for her routines in tap, contemporary, and lyrical. Danelle also is proud to say she is the lead choreographer for the nonprofit event Bid for Bachelors and Bachelorettes, which benefits the charity Friends and Family of Cystic Fibrosis.

Auburn Kilian
Class Instructor

Auburn grew up in Naperville, IL. She started her dance training at The School Of Performing Arts where she was an Ensemble member and competing soloist. Auburn is a versatile dancer that has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop/Urban Dance, Contemporary, and Modern. Auburn is a 2017 Naperville North High School graduate who earned the MVP award as a freshman on the Varsity Dance Team. Throughout her high school career she spent her summers participating in dance intensives including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance, and Camp Kate (with Kate Jablonski). While at Camp Kate, Auburn was awarded the All Star winner as a result of her versatility. Auburn is a student at Grand Valley State University where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, English, and Education, with a minor in her Elementary Certification. During her time in the dance program, Auburn has had the opportunity to perform at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) regional conferences in 2019 and 2020. Auburn has a passion for working with kids and has experience teaching various styles of dance, as both an assistant and substitute teacher, within Illinois and Michigan dance studios.

Jayma Tagliavia
Class Instructor

Jayma grew up in Ortonville, Michigan where she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brandon High School in 2015. She spent the majority of her childhood at Creative Dance Center training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary and Hip Hop. In addition to training, she assisted instructors in classes for younger kids, worked as a substitute instructor, and performed administrative tasks for her home studio. Jayma attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp during the summers of 2011-2013, and performed in cities across Western Europe while touring with Blue Lake International Ballet during the summer of 2012. Jayma is currently a Senior at Grand Valley State University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training.

Patty Villanueva
Class Instructor

Patricia Villanueva graduated from Hope College with a B.A. in Dance. She has been a Lansing area teacher for many years, teaching at Happendance-Okemos, The Dance Conservatory-Charlotte, Adjunct faculty at MSU Department of Theater and Dance, Lake Michigan Dance Academy- Allendale, and summer sessions at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Her choreography has been shown in venues across the state of Michigan, as well as in Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard; in 2014 Patricia was among the four finalists for the Maggie Allesee Choreography Award. She has served as Repititeur and Ballet Mistress for the Children’s Ballet Theater of Michigan, the Junior Division of Greater Lansing Ballet Company, and the Junior Division of Holland Area Youth Ballet. Her performing credits include the Happendance Professional Company (now Velocity!), Happendance Education Exchange, Greater Lansing Ballet Company, and Aerial Dance Theater. She is now in the leadership positions of Artistic Director of the Conservatory Ballet Company at Dance Conservatory, Charlotte, Assistant Artistic Director of Impulse (a student dance company) and as Dance Department Co-Chair at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Patricia is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Megan Wolter
​Class Instructor

Megan grew up in Libertyville, IL and began her dance training at Dance Academy of Libertyville. She studied in a variety of styles including Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern and Hip Hop. Megan has performed with pre-professional companies such as Ballet Theatre of Illinois and Jazz Theatre of Illinois. As a captain of the Libertyville Varsity Dance Team, she  performed at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state finals performance. Megan is a junior at Grand Valley State University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance. For the past two years she has worked as an instructor for Universal Dance Association and choreographer for the Libertyville JV Dance Team.

Mary Kovalchek
​Class Assistant

Mary grew up in Grayslake, IL and started training at Dance Connection. She studied Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theater, Contemporary, Modern and Hip Hop in her hometown as well as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Aside from her studio, Mary has also been involved with Orchesis, a high school dance organization, where she had the opportunity to choreograph and work with high school students. She has also worked with kids ages 2-13 for 4 years and is now a student at Grand Valley State University. While pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Business, Mary has worked with many artists throughout her college career thus far and continues to work with kids within Illinois and Michigan. 

Julian McKenzie
​Class Assistant

Julian grew up in Grand Blanc, Michigan and began his dance training at L&L Dance Studio. He competed and studied various styles including Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, Musical Theatre and more. Julian was also a captain on the Grand Blanc Varsity Pom team for 2 years and competed at regional and national competitions. Julian is continuing his dance education at Grand Valley State University with a major in Dance and also Advertising & Public Relations, this will be his sophomore year. Julian is an active member of Momentum, a GVSU organization, and has choreographed for them for the past 2 semesters. Julian is also an instructor for Universal Dance Association.