STUDIO J DANCE CO - Key Persons
Ms. Kaleigh started dancing at the age of 3 and has been a competitive dancer since she was 6. She has studied in all forms of dance including Tap, Hip Hop, Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, and Contemporary. In 2007, Kaleigh joined Studio J Dance Co and continued her training under the direction Ms. Jessica Eckman. At the age of 10, she was selected to perform in The Nutcracker with the Joffrey Ballet Company. Kaleigh has also taken master classes from well known choreographers such as Oscar Hernandez, Misha Gabriel, Mario Velez, Grand Chenok, Kevin Herman, and Donna Wood to name a few. During her time competing with the Studio J Competitive Team she won many honors such as Miss Senior Spotlight 2014, Kids Artistic Revue Princess and was also part of Studio J's National Champion Hip Hop Group. Ms. Kaleigh has been an assistant teacher with Ms. Jessica for the last two years where she worked with the recreational classes as well as the award winning competitive PJ team. Currently, Kaleigh is attending Oakland University where she is pursuing her degree in education.
Ms. Marla is the Owner and Director of Studio J Dance Co. She and her daughter Jessica teamed up to open the studio in 2004 to provide a quality, friendly, family atmosphere, which welcomes the recreational and competitive dancer. She is the ‘business' side of the duo and brings 25 plus years of business experience to the studio along with over 30 years of dance experience with her 3 daughters. Her previous business experience includes accounting, account management, customer service and business development. She has also been a judge for various college, high school and junior high dance teams as well as numerous high school talent shows. Her business experience as well as her many years of working with dance studios gives her a great understanding of what it takes to direct a fair, organized & professional dance business. Studio J Dance Co has been recognized as one of the top studios in the United States with the FDC organization. Ms Marla is the mother of 5 children and very proud grandmother of 2.
Ms. Melissa has been teaching at Studio J since 2005. She began her training at Allard Academy Dance where she competed with the Allard All Stars and won several top scoring awards in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and acrobatics. At fourteen, Melissa decided she wanted to focus on ballet and began studying at Rochester School of Dance under the direction of Cornelia Sampson. The following year, Melissa auditioned for the Michigan Ballet Theater and has performed in several ballets including the Nutcracker Suite, Sleeping Beauty, and Les Syllphides. After high school Melissa attended Western Michigan University receiving her bachelors of Arts and Science in education. While studying at WMU, Melissa performed with Kalamazoo Ballet Company and Ballet Arts Ensemble. She has attended summer ballet programs with professional companies such as the former Cleveland San Jose Ballet Company and has attended several master classes. At the master classes she had the opportunity to train under Michael Anderson, Susan Hawkins, Gladisa Guadalupe, and Michael Hicks and many more.She continues to take ballet classes, always looking to perfect her technique to bring back new ideas to Studio J. In 2012, Melissa finished her Master of Arts in Teaching specializing in k-12 reading literacy.
Ms. Jessica Eckman is from Clinton Twp., MI and has studied dance for over 28 years with 15 years of teaching and choreographing experience. She specializes in Tap, Jazz,