Where Technique And Creativity Unite
EMBER is a Dance Academy with a strong focus on technique, artistry, and individual growth both inside and outside of the classroom.
Our Culture
We highly value the safety and security of our students physically, mentally, and emotionally. Ember Dance Academy will ensure that parents have ease of access to information throughout their child’s training. We praise students based on hard work, dedication, effort, improvement, attitude, individual growth, and drive to accomplish the goals that they set for themselves. We believe that each student’s contributions are of great benefit to their team, and encourage them to cooperate with their team and value teamwork.
I would like to assure you that our studio upholds a "no drama" policy, and will do our best to mitigate any situations that may arise. We place great importance on respect among teachers, students, and parents. We believe in fostering clear communication, maintaining transparent billing practices, and providing exceptional technical training to our students. If at any point in your student’s training you have a concern, please feel free to reach out to us. Ember Dance Academy staff wants to ensure that you and your child have a great experience at our studio, and the best way to ensure that happens is by maintaining open and honest communication.
How Ember Dance Academy Began
After years of working at different studios and realizing that there is a lack of quality training in this geographical area, I became frustrated as I tried to find a studio that I could trust to teach my own children (regardless of whether I would be teaching at the studio). I found that many of the “good” studios put their focus on one or two groups with advanced dancers, while the students in other classes were given lesser resources and thus fell behind in their training. I have watched as students change studios each year in the hopes that they would be on a better team than their existing one, or because all of the “good dancers” were moving to be with a “better team” only to be in the same situation at the end of the next year. Generally, the quality of training has been determined by whether or not you received one of the “great teachers.” I have also seen many parents become frustrated due to issues with being overcharged and not returned the overpaid funds, and lack of clear communication (I have been one of those frustrated parents, too!). I knew something had to change, and took a lot of time to think through ways to solve the many issues I have seen.
By opening Ember Dance Academy, I am able to personally ensure that communications are clear and billing is managed correctly. To address the training issues mentioned above, I began creating a curriculum to ensure that each class has clear expectations of both teachers and students, and that the parents will be aware of the class expectations. You will receive a list of the movements your child is working on at their appropriate level, and be able to see when they accomplish and pass off those skills. By doing this, we can ensure that students are improving throughout the year and if there are areas of difficulty we can develop plans to help them move forward in their progressions. Our curriculum will also include strength and flexibility training that will support our students in their efforts to accomplish their technical goals. Their team fees will include strength and flexibility tools that are required for class which will help them reach their goals with higher efficiency, and these items will be able to come home with them after each class so that they will be able to use them for individual practice time at home.
About the Founder
I (Tenisha Hamelin) found my passion for dance at a very young age while trying to imitate dancers training at my mother’s dance studio. I competed with my first solo around the age of two, receiving the first of many “queen” awards. Around age 12, I began choreographing my own lyrical and jazz solos. Throughout my competitive years, I received many high point soloist awards, including the Joel Ferrell award at the AAU Junior Olympics. (If you would like to do a google search to verify this information, google search under my maiden name, Tenisha Schild). I have choreographed many solo, duet, trio, and team dances, and won “Best in Choreography” at multiple competitions over the years.
I have been teaching since 2008 (beginning as an assistant previous to that year), and have taught a variety of styles. Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, Tumbling, Acro, and Ballet are my areas of highest expertise. In college, I was a University of Idaho Cheerleader and later was a part of Dance Alliance touring performance company at BYU-Idaho.
I graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a Bachelor of the Arts in Dance Pedagogy, emphasizing in Ballet. Dance Pedagogy focuses on the techniques of teaching dance as well as the skills needed to run a dance studio, and provided me with greater knowledge of how to teach more effectively. While at BYU-Idaho, I received the opportunity to travel across the United States and Canada as I performed with Dance Alliance. I loved experiencing new styles while studying for my degree, but especially loved learning the information taught in Dance Kinesiology classes. This information combined with my training and experience have given me a strong knowledge of why techniques were developed and what each dancer must do to perform each movement with efficiency, as well as injury prevention tactics.
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