Our Staff

Rebecca Almirol (Ballet)- has been dancing since the age of 5 when she was accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ponce, Puerto Rico where she studied classical ballet and other forms of Latin dances. At age 9 her family moved to San Francisco where she studied classical ballet with a lot of emphasis on pointe work and pas de deux, jazz and tap at the San Francisco Dance Academy and summer youth ballet workshops at the San Francisco Ballet. Rebecca attended the School of the Arts in San Francisco where she continued to study ballet, jazz, tap and modern under the tutelage of Elvia Marta and at age 15 she began her professional career where she became a soloist in Ms. Marta's company. Rebecca also studied Latin, Afro-Haitian and Brazilian dancing under the personal tutelage of various masters of Latin Dance. She continues to study ballet (pointe work and pas de deux) and has been teaching children ballet for many years.

Started dancing at the age of 4 at Fantastic Feet Studio. There she trained in Ballet, Jazz, tap, lyrical and Character dance. In her 12 years at that studio she performed in over 50 productions and competitions up and down the West coast. At age 11 she was the youngest dancer to be excepted on a traveling competition team called the "Marchais". Aimee Competed until the age of 15 then started teaching classes herself. She taught 3-5 yr olds Ballet and tap. Moving around a lot in her teen years, Aimee attended four different high schools. In every school she coordinated, performed and choreographed a dance team and numerous recitals and talent shows. She trained at The dance Center for 2 years in advanced Hip hop with top Choreographers from L.A. including clinic classes from The Rock Steady crew New York. AT the age of 17, Aimee moved to Oregon. For 4 years she Coordinated, performed and choreographed for over 20 productions. She taught Hip hop, lyrical and Tap at All that Jazz dance studio in Grants pass Oregon. There she also got to train with top Choreographer Wes Veldink and Greg Russell. Aimee then moved to Portland Oregon. There she taught Hip hop, lyrical, jazz and tap at Laurel Valley Dance studio for 3 years. Now she has moved back to the area. Currently she is Co-directing for Havoc dance company and teaching Hip hop/breaks and lyrical/jazz classes out of Ellington hall in Santa Rosa.
Aimee is in love with what she does. Dancing and teaching is her water and air. She loves people and is devoted to each and every student. To her Dance is more than just something you do but a way you live. A lifestyle that is healthy, beautiful and a perfect reflection of who you are.

Justin Fernandez (Hip Hop)- Justin has both a BA from Sonoma State University in Theatre Arts/Dance, as well as an AA from Napa Valley College in Natural Sciences. A fresh graduate from Sonoma State University (Spring 2006), Justin is ecstatic to be apart of the wonderful staff at Suzanne's Dance school.

In 1999, Justin co-founded the hip-hop dance company Fusion. Then, in 2001, he helped co-found yet another hip-hop dance company, Khaotic Groovemintz. All the while, studying to be a biology major at Napa Valley College. However, that
all changed in 2002. After appearing in the college's Spring Dance Show, Justin quickly changed his intended major to Theatre Arts. Then, in 2004, within days of transferring to Sonoma State University, Justin decided that Dance would be the focus of his study. Having never looked back at what could have been, there are only a lot of 8-counts and a lot of groovin' in Justin's future, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Amy Lynn McGrath received over eighteen years formal dance education in tap, jazz, ballet, and lyrical from the notable Schumacher's School of Dance under the direction of Dolly Schumacher. Continuously competing she won awards regionally, nationally and even internationally at The Prague International Dance Festival in 2000. It was here at Schumacher's, that Amy began her teaching career in 1995, continuing on to serve as Assistant Director before eventually returning in 2004 as Director of the prestigious dance school.

Continually broadening her education of the performing arts, Amy has choreographed and danced all over the country including Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Sacramento. She received a Creative Integrity Award at the California State Talent Competition for her creation and choreography of the dance production "Children One And All" in 2001 as well as countless Grand Champion Awards of that competition, Showstoppers National and Showbiz National competitions. In Sacramento, Amy was honored to choreograph for the reigning Miss Junior America of 2001. She also taught dance at the notorious Broadway Dance Academy; choreographing, directing, and stage managing for many of their dance and theater productions through 2002.

Jen Testa recently completed her sixth season as a member of the Golden State Warriors Dance Team and is currently dancing with "La Femme Panache", a San Francisco based Dance and Talent Company. Jen has been teaching and choreographing for the past 15 years. Her training includes ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, acrobatics and ballroom. Her professional dance career has taken her to many places including China, Las Vegas, Taiwan, the Philippines, and London where she performed in The New Year's Day Parade. During this past year, she was a guest choreographer for the Marin School of the Arts

Rebecca was born and raised in the Bay Area. As a young dancer, she trained at Contra Costa Ballet School in Walnut Creek and The Joffrey Ballet School in New York. She graduated from Sonoma State University in 2003 with a Bachelor's degree in Dance and Environmental Conservation and a minor in Biology. She received her MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College in 2007. Performing the soloist role of Martha Graham's, Primitive Mysteries and the world premiere of Molissa Fenley's Castor and Pollux were among her highlights while dancing at Mills College. Her proudest achievement was the creation and performance of her Master's thesis work entitled, Dr. Automatic's Laboratory of Cardinal Virtues. The dance piece and manuscript serve as an investigation of how humanity's relationship to the environment can be explored through Surrealism. Evolving the piece into an evening length performance is a dream she holds dearly.

Rebecca has performed with Molissa Fenley and Dancers, Deep Root Dance Collective, Nancy Lyons, and Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers. Most recently she has collaborated with writer and performance artist, M. Mara Ann and Alyssa Wilmot of Group A. Currently she teaches contemporary dance technique at Sonoma State University and dances with Double Vision, an intermedia and dance company in San Francisco

A Note from Celeste:

Not only is dance important to myself and my staff, it is also important to make each of your dancers feel good about themselves. Dance offers poise and a sense of grace. We are not all born dancers, yet we should all feel positive about who we are. I will aspire to make all of the dancers feel at home here at Suzanne’s Dance School.