Dance Mechanix - Dance like no one is watching!

Jana Owen

Jana Owen has been teaching Ballet, Pointe and Lyrical for the last 15 years and is known for her dynamic teaching style, attention to detail, and innovative choreography. Jana began dancing at the age of nine and spent most of her childhood under the instruction of Stan and Sharon Rogers. She continued her ballet training after high school by majoring in Ballet at Friends University for four years. Jana has worked for and danced with The Louisville Ballet in Louisville, KY and Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago. She has also continued her training by taking from such classical ballet greats as David Howard, Helen Starr, & Bruce Marks. Her love of classical ballet is not to be outdone by her love of contemporary ballet and she has taken from some of the most innovative and cutting edge choreographers in the country including Mia Michaels, Mandy Moore, & Sonya Tayeh. A passion for ballet and teaching keeps her excited about passing her knowledge on to the next generation of dancers.

Amy Bertrand-Faimon

Amy has been teaching, choreographing and judging for more than 20 years and is known for her dynamic teaching style, her uncompromising attention to technical detail, & innovative and fun choreography.  Amy was blessed with some very profound and influential teachers while training and was lucky enough to be mentored by teachers such as Doug Caldwell & Jackie Sleight.

Over the years she has owned and operated several successful studios in south central Kansas.  She currently resides in Wichita, Kansas where she is the Artistic Director and Company Manager of Midwest Dance Mechanix, with a focus on Jazz and Lyrical.  Amy’s passion for teaching is endless and she strives to instill her love of dance into all her students through developing a respect for technique and a true internal connection to choreography.  She believes in building a strong and confident technical dancer.

Many of Faimon’s students have gone on to dance professionally in film and theatre and she currently has students studying at The Juilliard School, American Ballet Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet, The Tulsa Ballet, as well as former students who regularly appear on Broadway in NYC,  TV shows like GLEE and Bunheads and movies such as Fame.

Marcee Harris

Marcee Harris began her dance career at Kari’s Dance Academy in Emporia, Kansas when she was 12 years old.  She quickly became a member of the highly competitive Starfire Dance Company. She and the rest of the Starfire Dance Company danced in competitions from Kansas City to New York City, winning more often than not!  She found a love for teaching in 1998 and has been teaching both recreation and competitive level dancers ever since.  While she honed her teaching skills at the studio in the evenings, by day she pursued and earned her Bachelors in Business Administration, graduating in 2005.  She has also developed and administered dance and pom-pon clinics for area high schools and college pom and dance teams. She continues to explore other possibilities and opportunities to grow and learn as a dancer and as a teacher.

Trudy Souba

Trudy (Cunningham) Souba began her dance training under Ruth Watson at Dance Arts Studio at the age of 6. When 11, she transferred to Rogers Ballet where she studied under Sharon Rogers for 13 years. As a sophomore in high school Trudy was invited to apprentice with the Friends University Ballet Department where she later attended college, graduating with a BFA in Ballet. During her college years Trudy attended two summer dance intensives, Ballet Austin and Joffrey Ballet. Following college she danced professionally with San Diego Ballet for two years. Trudy has taught ballet at The Turning Pointe in Wellington, KS and at Friends University in Wichita, KS. She often substitute taught at various studios in both Wichita and San Diego. She is now proud to be part of the amazing staff at Midwest Dance Mechanix.

Abby Jackson

Abby began dancing at the age of 3. When 9, she began training under Amy Bertrand-Faimon and Kathryn Esposito at The Arts Quality in Dance in Wichita, KS and continued to train under Amy Bertrand-Faimon until she graduated from high school. During this time Abby earned numerous awards and scholarships and performed with Ballet Wichita under Jill Landrith.
Abby graduated from Wichita State University in 2009. During her college years Abby was the captain of the WSU dance team. In 2006 Abby was asked to join the National Dance Alliance staff. While on staff Abby taught technique classes and choreography to high school and college dance teams throughout the country. After graduating, Abby pursued her passion for teaching and began her career as both an elementary educator and dance teacher. She also served as the assistant coach of the WSU dance team in 2010. Abby joined the Midwest Dance Mechanix staff in 2013 and teaches jazz and lyrical.

Andie Stitt

Andie Stitt grew up in Kansas City, Kansas and trained at Kristi’s Academy of Dance, Priscilla and Dana’s School of Dance, Nallia School of Dance, and Beller Dance Studio.  The summer of her junior year of high school she traveled with Pulse Dance Conventions as a “Protégé” where she had extensive training with choreographers such as: Dave Scott, Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, Shane Sparks, Wade Robson, and many other world renowned choreographers.  Her senior year of high school she auditioned for Wichita State University’s Dance Department, and was accepted into the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theater under scholarship for four years of training.

Andie graduated in May 2014 with a dance degree from Wichita State and she toured Italy for 2 weeks performing with the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theater.  She teaches hip-hop, jazz, and many other styles of dance at Midwest Dance Mechanix and choreographs for dance teams throughout Wichita and Kansas City. Her choreography has received overall awards, choreography awards, and showmanship awards at competitions throughout Kansas and surrounding states.  She is excited to have a career that enables her to share her love of dance with her students. 

Traci Blanchat

Traci Blanchat began her dance career at CH Dance Productions in Anthony, Kansas at the age of 4. She quickly became a member of the Competition Team and continued for 11 years. Traci competed with her team at numerous dance competitions in the Midwest and won various scholarships, awards, trophies and titles.

Traci continued to dance in college, for the Raven Dance Team at Benedictine College. She was also was an instructor at the Raven School of Dance, a community dance studio on Benedictine College campus. After graduating from Benedictine College, she moved to Wichita and knew she needed to continue teaching. She feels blessed every day to be able to do what she loves, works to inspire with that same love of dance in each and every one of her students! She is thankful to be apart of Midwest Dance Mechanix Staff and looks forward to teaching this year.