Garley 'GiGi Tonye' Briggs, a Nigerian-American, is best known for her infectious energy and joyful expressions. A woman of faith, mother, and lover of movement arts, health, and wellness, GiGi has been featured on CBS News, Fox 32 News and more. She is the Founder | CEO of GiGi Tonye' Arts & Fitness - a revolutionary mobile dance and fitness studio, as well as the creator of the first Dance and Wellness™ Hub and Fitness and Wellness™ Hub in Chicago.

Bringing together her passion for dance, health, and wellness, GiGi fuses these elements through a lens of clinical care. With a Masters in Health Care Administration and over 15 years of experience in health administration and clinical patient care, she also holds certification in Creative Dance from Luna Dance Institute. As a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance educator with over 10+ years of experience, GiGi is a multi-year member of the National Dance Education Organization, International Sports Sciences Association, Medical Fitness Association and more! Her talent has graced many stages as a lead dancer and Zumba® instructor, including the Millennium Park Summer Workouts 2019-2023, Chicago Parent Conference, American Diabetes Association, and Bantu Fest, among others.Her leadership achievements include being the recipient of Bapson College's Black Women Entrepreneurial Leadership Award and being an alumni of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. 

But GiGi's impact goes beyond just dance and fitness - through her multi-year partnerships with clients like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Chicago Public Schools, and Forest Preserves of Cook County, she is making a unique positive change in the arts, health and wellness of organizations, communities, families, and individuals globally.

Dyanna Daniels received her MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. She is an adjunct professor at North Central College, Dominican and Aurora University as well as a teaching artist at The Paramount School of Arts. Dyanna teaches Hip Hop, Dance for Social Justice, Hip Hop Philosophy, Musical Theatre Dance, Jazz, Somatics, Dance History, Choreography, and Contemporary. In addition to teaching, she has choreographed musicals and co-directed devised dance productions at the university level. Dyanna is also the owner of DLD Dance Center, a primarily Hip-Hop studio in the suburbs of Chicago. Educating dancers on the history, culture, and technique of Hip Hop dance is of the utmost importance to her pedagogy. 

Shireen Dickson has worked in dance and arts education for over 20 years – as a performer, teaching artist, lecturer, curriculum developer, and NYC Dept of Education classroom teacher. Her performance experience spans from a teen National Tap Ensemble member to professional cheerleading for the NBA to Equity, Off-Broadway and ‘experimental’ and improvisational theater. She performed with and assisted award-winning choreographer Dianne McIntyre for 10 years, performing and teaching at such venues including the National Black Arts Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The American Dance Festival, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, among numerous other theaters, festivals and universities.  Shireen was the founding Community Engagement Director for both MacArthur winner Elizabeth Streb’s SLAM and Dance Parade NY, and currently consults on culturally- and community-responsible arts-based projects nationwide. Since 2010 Shireen has directed OKRA Dance, which presents African and American diasporic dance and world rhythmic forms in schools, libraries, museums and festivals throughout the US. Shireen is a founding executive board member of the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance based at Duke University and directed their bi-annual conference for 10 years.   Shireen moved to Chicago in fall 2022 and is currently a full-time research associate at Northwestern University managing SLIPPAGE Lab (an anti-racist, proto-feminist and queer-affirming interdisciplinary performance research group that explores connections between performance, history, theater, and emergent technology) and mentors classroom teachers in arts integration via the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.

Elisa Foshay (she/her) discovered her passion for dance in her teens through competitive ballroom dancing. Through Ballroom Elisa found Modern dance, and went on to earn a BA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago and a MFA in Choreography with K-12 licensure in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Elisa spent over a decade balancing her career as a performer and choreographer while teaching in studio, community and residency-based school settings. She has shared her love of dance with students aged 18 months-98 years. Since diving into teaching full-time in 2014, Elisa has established the dance program at Jones College Prep and cultivated partnerships with local and national arts organizations. Elisa has sought further avenues to support the growth of dance education through her service as an Arts Instructional Specialist for CPS and a new teacher mentor for the National Dance Education Organization and IAHPERD. She was honored to be the IAHPERD Dance Teacher of the Year in 2020 and the SHAPE America Midwest District Dance TOY in 2022. In the summers, you can find Elisa teaching at Interlochen Arts Camp, spending time with her family and enjoying the outdoors.

Erica Hornthal, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, has many years of experience working with clients from all walks of life. Erica attended graduate school for Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling, where she was inspired to bring somatics, movement, body awareness, and mindfulness into the psychotherapeutic relationship. While Erica has a passion for somatic work, she is also trained and well versed in traditional psychotherapy interventions. Her style is person-centered, cognitive behavioral, experiential, and trauma-informed. Erica tailors her approach to each client and understands that each individual has unique circumstances that bring them into treatment. She has experience in working with anxiety and mood disorders, cognitive and movement disorders, as well as challenging life transitions, attachment wounds, trauma, caregiving, grief and loss. Erica recently published the award-winning book, Body Aware, and is releasing another publication in March 2024.

Rubén Pachas is a Peruvian Indigenous Dance Teacher, Social Justice Arts performances producer, Choreographer, Dancer, and drum musician. Pachas has been teaching abroad and in the US since 2004. His love of indigenous dance started at age 5 when in Peru his parents showed him their traditions and later, he was dancing in “Matices Peruanos - Folk Cultural institution”.  He has been doing dance research and field work since 1993 in different indigenous regions such as the Andes, coast, and jungle. He received a BA in Arts Education from Dance from National Higher Education School of Folklore “Jose Maria Arguedas” Mayor in Peruvian Folk Dance in Minor in Education in Peru in 2002 and recently he obtained his Master of Arts in Arts Education from School of the Arts Institute of Chicago (SAIC) focusing on Teaching Peruvian Indigenous Dance to Non- Indigenous People for cultural values in 2020.

Pachas began teaching indigenous dance to his classmates in his last year of high school  1991 and later he continued to teach during his university studies carrying out transculturation from indigenous peoples to the communities of the city of Lima, earning the Peruvian Folk Dance National champion Contest with his students three consecutive years 1999,2000,2001. When he arrived in the USA, he taught in the Chicago Public Schools for 13 years. He also was Dance Professor in Symposiums and Continuous Training Courses at Waukegan Public School, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Dominican University. He was Guest professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, University of Chicago and in different National Dance conferences as National Folk Organization and Door County Folk Festival. Pachas has been an advisor for one year and Peruvian Dance Instructor at Chicago Summer Dance Chicago Since 2021. Pachas is Fine Arts and Spanish teacher at St. Roberts Bellarmine school in Chicago and Spanish teacher at St. John Brebeuf school in Niles.  He is the founder together with Jessica Loyaga of the Center of Peruvian Arts  which was previously the  Peruvian Folk Dance Center. They have been promoting indigenous Peruvian culture in Illinois and other states. Pachas has been an active member of the Chicago dance community as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer for over 19 years.

Emily Stein is a veteran of Chicago’s dance scene, dancing, choreographing, and teaching. She is currently on the faculty of the Dance Center of Columbia College where she teaches Ballet Technique, Experiential Anatomy, and Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement®, and she teaches in the Adult Open Division of the Joffrey Academy of Ballet. Her teaching career has encompassed professional and private studios, as well as higher education. Her ongoing interest in the evolution of ballet inspired her choreographic series “Secret Experiments in Ballet,” which plays in the intersection of ballet and improvisation. In 2012 she co-founded BalletLab Chicago with Paige Caldarella, to share their research and dialog with the broader dance community. From 1993 to 2011, she danced and choreographed with Zephyr Dance, performing and presenting her choreography locally and nationally. She holds BA from the University of Iowa, an MFA from Smith College, and is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner.

Antoine Thomas Originally from NY, Antoine has been performing, creating, directing and teaching dance for two decades, and has extensive experience in working with both adults and children. He has owned and operated the DanceLife Center since 2010, with two locations in Illinois, and a third in St. Louis. Despite the demands of managing three studios and a faculty of 16, Antoine remains deeply connected to his art. He still finds time to share his expertise, teaching ballet and hip-hop classes and lending his creative vision to schools and dance communities. For Antoine, dance is more than just movement—it's a transformative experience that has the power to change lives. His mission is to make this experience accessible to all, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to discover the joy and fulfillment that dance can bring. With degrees from Eastern Illinois University and a background in instructional technology, Antoine combines his love for dance with a keen understanding of how to effectively teach and inspire others.

Krishna Thomas considers herself a lifelong learner and tap enthusiast. With over 17 years in higher education, she brings a wealth of experience and a passion for learning to everything she does. As the director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at Parkland College, Krishna is deeply committed to mentoring and learner-centered pedagogy, values that align seamlessly with dance education. Krishna's love for tap and early childhood dance shines through in her role as a studio owner. Her favorite age group to teach is the 2–6-year-olds, where she delights in sharing the joy of dance with her young students. Beyond teaching, Krishna plays a vital role in her studio by recruiting, training, and retaining quality educators. A lifelong love of learning fuels her work, with the goal of inspiring both students and teachers to thrive.

M.K. Victorson is the Dance Content Specialist for the Chicago Public Schools Department of Arts Education. M.K.’s arts education career extends from dance studios to arts organizations to 15 years in the pre-K–8 classroom. At Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, M.K. worked in the education and youth programs and helped to develop the Autism Project. She is a two-time recipient of the Fund for Teachers Fellowship for professional development. Her passion for continuing education has led her to the National Dance Institute, Luna Dance Institute, and the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL). M.K. is a recent graduate of the DEL Institute and a certified DEL facilitator. She holds an MFA in dance from Smith College, and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Chicago.