Faculty

Tracy Dupre – Tap, Jazz, Composition, History – has a cross-disciplinary focus in dance and digital media. She teaches at the Performing Arts Centre and has served as the Tap Dance Coordinator for COCA. In 2019, Tracy’s piece titled, “The Sweetest Sound,” was chosen to perform in a new choreographer’s showcase, “Something’s Afoot” produced by Brenda Bufalino’s American Tap Dance Festival in New York City. Choreography credits include the Bob Costas charity event, 60×60 Project, Spring to Dance Festival, Dancin’ In the Streets, St. Louis Billikens basketball team, St. Louis Panera Bread Company, the opening act for a Bobby McFerrin concert, as well as a Love & Unity town hall event here at Lindenwood University. She earned a Master of Arts in Mass Communication & Digital Media from Stephens College, where she also studied dance.

Weiwei Fu – Traditional Chinese Dance – is the founder of WeiDanceArts and The St. Louis Modern Chinese School. After graduating from The Shanghai Dancing Academy, she worked for New Shanghai Circus in Branson, MO as a choreographer, rehearsal director, and stage manager. She has danced with Lehrer Dance Company in Buffalo, NY and with Leverage Dance Theater in St. Louis, MO. Her choreography has earned awards at The International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention, Kansas City, MO and The International Acrobatic Competition in Paris, France.

Amy Gammon – Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop – is a performer and co-founder of MoSTLy TAP, a St. Louis based tap dance company. She has taught for Tap The Map, Greater St. Louis Cecchetti Committee, and has set choreography on several area dance teams. Amy is a member of Dance Masters of America, a graduate at DMA’s Teachers Training School earning the Bachna Scholarship, and serves on the board of directors for The DANCE CO. of St. Charles. She holds a BA in Dance and a Master of Arts in Teaching with an emphasis in Dance from Lindenwood University. Most recently, she was also named director and convention teacher with Beyond the Stars.

Alicia “Sunshine” Gbaho –  Special Topics: Afrodance – earned a BS in Mass Communication, a minor in Dance, and is certified through NASM (Nutrition Coach), AFFAA (Group Fitness) and ABT Curriculum (Ballet). She is also the Director/Founder of Beyond Measure, LLC. Alicia Sunshine began her dance career at the Katherine Dunham dance center in East St. Louis, IL where she was born and raised! She later evolved professionally & technically with her training at Illinois State University.

Dawn Gilbertson – Jazz – is a St. Louis–based dance educator, choreographer, and arts advocate working across performance, education, and community programs. She teaches at organizations including Variety, Stages, COCA, and through her wedding dance company, First Dance StL, where she enjoys introducing dance to people of all ages and backgrounds. A former company member of Saint Louis Dance Theatre, she currently serves on its Board of Directors and is also a board member of La Voute. Dawn holds degrees in Finance with minors in French and Dance from the University of Iowa and trained at Monona Academy of Dance, Boston Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, and Point Park College. Her performance and choreographic credits include The Big Muddy Dance Company, The Muny, Spring to Dance, and the St. Louis Dance Festival.

Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall – Composition, History, Kinesiology – is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer, and scholar. She has lived and danced in the south of France, central Illinois, New Orleans, and is currently based in St Louis where she is an adjunct professor at Webster University and Lindenwood University. Tess holds a Master’s of Fine Arts in Dance from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Dance Performance from Illinois State University. Tess’ artistic research considers liminality, cultural straddling, and diasporic grief. Her work is heavily inspired by her father’s stories of his migration away from Cuba and the rest of his life spent in exile. Her work has been performed nationally and internationally, most recently in Washington D.C., and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Erin Morris – Introduction to Dance, Special Topics: Lindy Hop – has been teaching, performing, and competing in jazz and swing dancing for over 20 years. Erin received her MFA in Dance in 2023 from Washington University in St Louis. Her art-making focus has been on blending her background in Black social jazz dance with personal explorations in postmodernism, and she finds that all paths return her to the importance of improvisation and collaboration with musicians.

Miranda Payne – Ballet & Contemporary Repertoire – is a founding Company Dancer of The Big Muddy Dance Company, where she danced for 12 seasons. Miranda holds a BFA in Dance from Webster University, and she has trained throughout the United States. Miranda has also performed with Stages St. Louis, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Variety Theatre and The Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, MO. She served as Dance Captain for both Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Variety Theatre. Miranda has 18 years of experience working as a dance educator and choreographer; having won numerous choreography awards. Miranda remains on staff with The Big Muddy Dance Company: leading class, restaging company repertoire, and creating original choreography for summer intensive students. Miranda is delighted to be working as an Adjunct Professor of Dance for both Lindenwood University and Missouri Baptist University.

Leah Robertson – Pointe, Jazz – is a dance educator, choreographer and performing artist located in St. Louis. She received her BFA with a dual emphasis in modern and ballet from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri – Kansas City and her MFA in Dance from Washington University where her research focused on dance pedagogy and composition. She has danced professionally with Seamless Dance Theatre, Missouri Ballet Theater, and Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company and has choreographed for pre-professional and professional theatre and dance groups throughout the St. Louis and Kansas City area.

Janet Strzelec – Ballet, Dance Pedagogy – holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing with a Musical Theatre emphasis from Lindenwood University. Professor Strzelec has been teaching at Lindenwood since January 1998 and served as chair of the dance department from June 2005-May 2021. She has an extensive history of teaching, directing, and choreographing in the greater St. Louis area including work with dance studios, K-12 schools, universities, and professional dance and musical theatre companies.