Saima Nunez

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Saima is the former Dance Director for Roosevelt School of the Arts where she served Fresno Unified students for 12 years. She has choreographed the musicals, “Zombie Prom”, “Once On This Island”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Nunsense”, and more. Saima has been dancing for 35 years and teaching for 21. She was awarded a Masters in Education in Cross-cultural Teaching in 2011 and knows what it takes to teach to a diverse population of students. Saima created curriculum to support college and career readiness and provided opportunities to showcase her students’ dance abilities in multiple shows, workshops, and competitions each year. She was a founding member, choreographer, and assistant rehearsal director of the company “Tap Overload” founded by Mindy and Gabe Copeland. She has studied with Tap legends Linda Sohl-Donell, Fred Strickler, Diane Walker, Gregory Hines, and more. A former Miss California Judge (2013) and a direct support of students in Special Education demonstrates her ability to diversify her professional career. Saima has focused on the inclusion of all people and has been a strong advocate for the arts, specifically dance, in the Valley. She has formed partnerships with community members who support the arts from the Valley Performing Arts Council, Fresno County Office of Education, Fresno City College, and CSU Fresno. It is Saima’s experience with multicultural communities that is a vital asset to managing a business. Her vision is to expand the love of dance throughout the valley and to increase the access to quality training regardless of income, gender, race, disability, or other social factors. 

Monica has worked with students throughout the valley for 21 years and has been dancing for 36 years. She has been a teacher at Roosevelt School of the Arts since 2009, Sequoia Middle School for 2 years, and an adjunct professor at Fresno City College since 2019. She was the first student from CSU Fresno to be awarded the B.F.A. in Dance and is currently working on her Masters in Higher Education Administration. Her knowledge of dance education speaks to her ability to provide structured and progressive classes. She performed with the Nevada Ballet as a guest artist, and was a company member with Santos Dance Company in San Francisco. Also, performed with Fresno Dance Collective as a company member (2018), danced in commercials for Chukchansi Resort & Casino (2017), and choreographed/performed in EECU’s Derek Carr Music Video commercial, performed in Lively Arts Foundation’s “The Nutcracker” as Arabian lead (2012), cast member of Good Company Players “Chicago” (2003), directed and choreographed Madera High’s “Guys & Dolls” (2010). She has created original dance shows, choreography, and full length story ballets, such as “Malion Records”. Her experience in the arts is not limited to dance. She worked in the advertising community for VB&P and M2 Branding Studios where she worked on international, national, and local accounts. Monica’s experience in the dance and the arts community is crucial to running a successful studio and her joy for dance is evident in the love she pours into her students.

Dance is education. Lessons at Fig Garden Dance Studio and Kaye’s School of Dance, Dinuba and Sanger are structured and organized. A studio syllabus is followed for instruction from beginners to professionals. Beginning students enrolled in combination classes will take both disciplines to establish a well-rounded, solid education.   

Dance teaches physical and mental skills. The teachers are technically knowledgeable and qualified. Most classes will learn at a different pace because of motor skills of the students.   

Dance is creative and artistic. The choreography taught to students will reflect many different styles and techniques in accordance with the style of the music used and the level and age of the student.    

Dance teaches discipline. The teacher will keep order in the classroom and may have a need to discipline a student with words or actions.    

Dance is fun. The classroom will be not only educational, but a pleasant and fun place to be for all students.  

Taylor Courter has been dancing since she could walk. 

She started off like many students, with talk and ballet. As she continued her training, she learned hip hop, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, and pep & cheer. 

Taylor started her career as an instructor at 16 years old at Pinedale Community Center. She volunteered her time to teach children of all ages the fundamentals of dance. After 3 years at Pinedale, she taught at Starlite Dance in Sanger. 

She created the Cheer program at Immanuel High School and became the Cheer Advisor and Choreography Coach. 

While coaching at Immanuel, Taylor taught at On Pointe Dance Company in Reedley. She was also the Competition director and Manager. 

Taylor has trained at The Dance Studio of Fresno, Clovis West High School, Dollhouse Dance, Revive Dance Company, and Fresno City College. 

Miss Janeen began dancing at the age of 6 at Terry Clark Dance Centers. Throughout her time at Terry Clark Dance, she first trained in Tap, Jazz, Ballet and was a part of the competition team for 2 seasons. Janeen then went on to study with Clovis East High School’s Dance Repertory program for 2 years. Post college, Janeen began to train with D&J Dance Company in 2017 and became a company member in 2020. She currently trains in contemporary & lyrical, jazz, jazz funk, ballet, and hip-hop.

Janeen started teaching Hip-Hop for Kaye Migaki in 2018 and motivates her the students step into their confidence and grow their love for dance. Her favorite part of teaching is watching her choreography come to life through her students.

Janeen plans to continue to learn and train in more areas of dance and to perform for several years to come. Janeen also hopes to explore other creative projects with choreography for other genres in dance.