2023 Faculty
Jenefer Miller, Founder/Director
Jenefer is a native of Michigan and is a tap dancer, teacher, choreographer, director, writer, and producer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in the Performing Arts from Oakland University and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Phoenix. Jenefer recently performed with the MusicaNova Orchestra and was commissioned to interpret and perform Morton Gould’s Tap Dance Concerto at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Ms. Miller was also featured in a short film by Screenvision Media’s Corner Stories which aired in movie theatres across the United States. She has appeared on stage with Tap 24.7, Mike Wittmer’s Scuff'd Up, Especially Tap Chicago, the Detroit Tap Festival honoring the legendary Nicholas Brothers, Dance Chicago, Sesame Street Live, and Oakland Dance Theatre.
Mentored by Dianne Walker and the late Robert Reed, Jen has performed in shows with legends such as the Nicholas Brothers, Ben Vereen, Debbie Allen, Savion Glover, Chloe Arnold, Sarah Reich, Jason Samuels Smith, Dianne Walker, Jimmy Slyde, Barbara Duffy, Robert Reed, Prince Spencer, Harold "Stumpy" Cromer, and Heather Cornell. Faculty credits include American College Dance Festival, Arizona State University adjunct faculty, Motor City Tap Fest, Phoenix Tap Fest, St. Louis Tap Festival, Las Vegas Tap Festival, Tapapalooza, Portland Tap Fest, Circle City Tap Fest, Wing It Tap Challenge, Oakland University, Nexus Dance Conventions, Tap Into the Network, and more! JMill is the producer of the Phoenix Tap Fest and Just West of Broadway, and owns JMill Productions LLC, producing arts education events all across the nation. Her choreography has been featured at Cornell University for the American College Dance Festival, featured in Tap 24.7 original shows, and has also been aired on ABC, AZTV7,and 3TV. Jenefer is a resident choreographer for the professional tap company Circle City Tap Co in Indiana. Jen studied dance, voice, acting and technical theatre at Oakland University and delved into improv at the Improv Olympic , or IO, in Chicago. She was a backup singer for Bob McGrath in Sesame Street Live and also appeared on stage with Sam Wright and Ben Vereen. Jen has choreographed and directed shows including Hairspray, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Seussical the Musical, and more. She has been the director for the Kyrene Community Theatre, Thunder Theatre Company, and Studio 111 Theater Company. She teaches dance across the country and is on staff locally at Dancers Domain in Scottsdale and Dance Connection Too, in Chandler, AZ. JMill was a finalist for the Ahwatukee Chamber’s Educational Mentor of the Year, nominated for Phoenix Best Teachers, and has won numerous inspirational awards including one from former Governor John Engler of Michigan. She was the proud recipient of the 2015 Oakland University MaTilDa Award for Alumni Lifetime Achievement in Dance.
Jenefer has enjoyed watching many former dance students including Ryan and Evan Kasprzak, Nick Young, and many more on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance as well as NBC's World of Dance.
Denise Caston-Clark was a Radio City Rockette for 10 years and toured nationally with the Tony Award winning musical, Crazy For You. Denise has worked with and performed the choreography of Savion Glover as part of the Broadway Dance Center showcase in New York City. She recently created, choreographed, produced and directed Beatles On Tap, a tap dance show featuring the iconic music of The Beatles, accompanied by Detroit's best musicians.
She performed on tour in Australia with Elvis to the Max. Her choreography has been seen in many productions in which she performed, including shows at Caesars Windsor in Ontario, Canada. Credits also include film, television, commercials, and industrials.
She was on the faculty at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in NYC, and is thrilled to be back in her home state of Michigan, where she founded and directs Tap Dance Detroit. Other teaching credits include Debbie Allen Dance Academy Summer Intensive, Gregg Russell's Tap Into the Network, Big Apple Tap Festival, and The Rockette Experience© at Radio City Music Hall.
In 2011, Denise was invited to speak at the TEDx Detroit Conference about her contributions to the cultural landscape in Detroit, including founding and producing Motor City Tap Fest and founding the Detroit Tap Repertory.
In 2014, she was awarded a prestigious MaTilDa Award from her alma mater, Oakland University, for Alumni Achievement in Dance.
Denise Caston-Clark, Faculty
Christopher Broughton, Faculty
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Christopher Broughton began dancing at the age of 12 and never looked back. Under the instruction of Paul and Arlene Kennedy at Universal Dance, he immediately became a member of the Kennedy Tap company, world renowned and responsible for tap greats such as Derick Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, the latter of which he had the pleasure of performing as cast mates in his first Tony, Astaire and Drama Desk Award winning Broadway show After Midnight. Broughton’s dancing has also led to National recognition with the NAACP ACT-SO Award not once, but twice. As an instructor, performer and choreographer, his art has taken him everywhere from St. Louis and Washington D.C. to Brazil, Finland, Cuba, Italy, Germany and beyond.
In 2007, hardship struck Broughton’s life when he spent over a year recovering from a major injury to his left leg. He has very much since returned and is at the peak of his game. Since his triumph, Broughton has performed and toured the world with greats such as Jason Samuels Smith, R&B singer MYA, Ted Levy and Chloe Arnold to name a few. Company work has included national and international tours with Dorrance Dance, including Bessie Award winning work The Blues Project co-created/choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Toshi Reagon. He has also performed as a featured dancer on the 25th Anniversary International tour of Riverdance; a critically acclaimed run of the Signature Theatre’s revival of Jelly’s Last Jam featuring choreography by Jared Grimes; Magic of The Dance; Rasta Thomas’ Tap Stars; The Cotton Club Parade at NY City Center; and the national tribute tour of Thank You Gregory!. Christopher’s athletic choreography, courage and charisma are in the highest demand and he continues to learn and grow his art. Christopher Broughton owes his sincerest gratitude to his sister Chantel Heath, who introduced him to the world of dance, Tonie Nicholas, son of the legendary Fayard Nicholas, and Paul and Arlene Kennedy; without whom, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
Brendan Kellam is the Artistic Director and co-Owner of DXX Studios. Brendan is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a BFA in dance and a minor in Music Production. He has trained in jazz, ballet, modern, hip hop, and ballroom; but his heart lies with tap.
Brendan is a professional tap dancer who has traveled all over the U.S. to study with many masters including Jason Samuels Smith, Nico Rubio, Jason Janas, Lady Di’Walker, Sarah Reich, and the late Professor Robert L. Reed. In 2017, Brendan became the first tap dancer to feature in the Essentially Ellington Competition at the Lincoln Center in New York.
Brendan is the Artistic Director of Tucson’s only tap company, DXX Tap. He has been on faculty for Sarah Reich’s Tap Music Project, Wing It Tap intensive, Phoenix Tap Fest, Utah Tap Fest, Circle City Tap Fest, and Motor City Tap Fest. He has also been seen performing with the Phoenix-based tap company, Tap 24.7.
Brendan’s choreography has performed in the Big Apple Tap Festival in New York City and the Motor City Tap Festival in Detroit. He choreographs for multiple studios across the country and his work can be seen at many competitions and awarded numerous high accolades.
Brendan Kellam, Faculty
Steve is a globe-trotting master tap dancer, teacher, musician and entertainer who has trained and performed with the Nicholas Brothers, Gregory Hines and countless other tap notables. He has taught and performed across the United States, Europe, South America and China and has been a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble and Rhapsody In Taps.
As an historian, Steve teaches a tap dance history course in the Dance Department at CSU, Long Beach and has published four oral histories of significant tap dancers (Stan Kahn, Bob Scheerer, Fred Strickler, Sarah Petronio) that are housed at prestigious scholarly institutions (Performing Arts Division of the New York Public Library, Carson Dance Library, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum). Check out his Ted Talk "Tap Dancing Is The Story Of America" and his article published by Dance Magazine.
Steve is the man behind Tap Academy Online, a subscription-based tap training program and currently teaches lessons in two languages to subscribers in 25+ countries on six continents.
Steve has taught at countless tap festivals both international and domestic such as LA Tapfest, Big Apple Tap Festival, OC Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Joinville Festival de Dança, Limoges Festival de Claquettes, China International Tap Dance Festival and many, many, many more. For almost 20 years, he was the lead tap teacher for The Gabriella Foundation that gives extremely low-cost dance lessons to under-served youth in Los Angeles.
When not traveling to teach and perform, Steve can be found in the Dance Department at CSU, Long Beach and giving master classes at various dance studios in Southern California.
Coming to Los Angeles and bringing your tap shoes? Send Steve an email to find out about group classes and privates and to find out about upcoming performances.
Steve Zee, Faculty
Karen Callaway Williams, Faculty
Karen is an international, award-winning artist, recognized for her outstanding artistry and contributions to the tap world. She is known for being both the first African-American female tap dancer and dance captain in Riverdance – The Show and the only African-American female tap dancer and dance captain in Riverdance on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include the Tony Award Nominated Duke Ellington musical Play On. Karen has been featured on the cover of Flow Magazine and in the documentary, Been Rich All my Life. The story of the Silver Belles, a group of chorus girls from the 1920s. 1930s and 1940s. Ms. Callaway Williams has performed with the original Silver Belles at the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre; and for the likes of Bill Clinton, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. She is currently a Second-Generation Silver Belle and the Artistic Director of this group. Karen has toured extensively performing in 35 States and 13 countries having just returned from a two and a half month run of Hinton Battle’s American Variety Bang in Osaka, Japan.
Ms. Karen Callaway Williams is a living legend in the tap dance world. She is mentioned several times in the Tap History book Tap Dancing America by Constance Valis Hill. She was featured in a Black History edition of ESSENCE Magazine, which highlighted four female African-American tap artists. In 2013, Karen was a Flo-Bert Honoree and received the Florence Mills Award. In July 2015 she was awarded the prestigious Hoofers Award from the American Tap Dance Foundation. Dance Magazine heralded her as “a graceful dream with taps as happy as a song.” The New York Times called her “a gifted traditionalist with laughing eyes”. She was also appeared in the documentary Bojangles: the Legacy and in a special guest spot on Sesame Street. Karen is a Featured Artist and was the first Dance Captain and charter member of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble having recently celebrated 24 years with the company, performing in their high energy shows A Stop on the A-Train, The Next Step, Rhythm is our Business, By George It’s Gershwin and Pass it on.
Ms. Callaway Williams taps can be heard tapping on Duke Ellington’s Music From The Sacred Concerts: as performed by the Princeton University Concert Jazz Ensemble as the Tap Dancer in “David Danced Before the Lord”, a role rarely performed by a female dancer. She has been featured as a tap solo artist with both the Baltimore and New Jersey Symphony Orchestras on several occasions; performing movements from the iconic Morton Gould’s Tap Dance Concerto. She was also featured with the Detroit and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras for their Yuletide Celebrations, and the BSO Holiday Spectacular. She has been a guest performing artist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Callaway Williams has toured all over the world: Performing with the Duke Ellington Big Band in The United Arab Emirates; in Romania with Tap City on Tourthrough the Unites States Embassy; in the All that Tap Taipei festival in Taiwan; in Canada with Tap Giants; and in Bejing, Mexico, and Canada with Riverdance.
Over the past 30 years Ms. Callaway Williams has established herself nationally, and internationally, as a prominent tap instructor. She has taught for Spelman College, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, New York City Dance Alliance, national and international tap festivals, dance camps, master classes and enrichment programs. She gives lecturer/demonstrations and educational assembly programs in elementary, middle and high schools for the Paper Mill Playhouse on “Legends of Tap Dance”. She traveled regularly to Zurich Switzerland as an instructor for the Zurich Tap Festival.
Karen has also authored several children’s books introduce kids to tap dancing, including Gabriella’s Tap Shoes, Gabriella and the Tap Dance Floor, and Rhythms for Ruby. She is currently working on her forth book for children, Gabriella: The Girl Who Lost her Shuffle. Her books are available on Amazon and in The Dance Connection office.
Kenny Jezek is best known for playing Lars Englund on the TV soap opera Days of Our Lives, in 1986 and 1987.
Prior to transitioning into acting, he was a professional dancer, often touring and teaching master jazz and tap classes in the United States, Europe, and Canada. Jezek's dancing credits include the Los Angeles companies of the award-winning Broadway musicals Cats and 42nd Street. He was also a regular series dancer in Fame, and a featured dancer in the movies Pretty In Pink and Fast Forward.
Jezek has numerous national and local commercial, music video and industrial credits as well.
Kenny Jezek, Faculty
Meet Suzy Guarino-Hall, a luminary in the dance and entertainment realm, boasting over 30 years of immersion in the industry. Originally from Chicago and now a Phoenix resident, Suzy's journey encompasses print work, industrial films, and a plethora of commercials and voiceovers for iconic brands such as Volkswagen, McDonald's, Massage Envy, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Holding with a bachelor's degree in communications from Loyola University Chicago, Suzy is the visionary behind the Phoenix-based tap company, Tap 24.7. In this role, she has crafted, produced, and directed 13 original shows, captivating audiences not only in Phoenix but also in cities like Detroit, Seattle, and San Diego. From the enchanting "Tappy the Elf" to the gripping "Murder at The TAP'Ocho," Suzy's productions showcase her versatility and creativity. As a tap dance choreographer and teacher, Suzy imparts her expertise through workshops at esteemed events such as Motor City Tap Fest and Phoenix Tap Fest. Her influence extends to dance competitions, where she serves as show director for AMP Dance Competitions adjudicator for In10sity Dance, demonstrating her keen eye for talent and artistic expression. In the Phoenix area, Suzy is a respected figure at The Dance Project, Take Five Dance Academy, and LA Dance, where she choreographs for competition groups, garnering multiple national awards for her outstanding work. Her students, under her guidance, consistently earn national titles, a testament to her exceptional teaching and choreographic skills. Currently in her ninth year as adjunct faculty for the dance department at Grand Canyon University, Suzy teaches tap at all levels, leaving an indelible mark on the next generation of performers. Beyond being a dancer and choreographer, Suzy Guarino-Hall is a storyteller, shaping the narrative of tap dance and leaving an enduring legacy in the hearts of those she inspires.
Suzy Hall, Faculty
Kelly Zwolinski, Faculty
Kelly Zwolinski is a seasoned tap dancer and performer. Trained in all forms of dance, Kelly traveled extensively as a student to conventions and tap festivals all over the world including the St. Louis Tap Fest, the Motor City Tap Fest, L.A. Tap Fest, and the Stockholm Tap Fest. She has has performed professionally with many dance companies, including Dance Motion of Phoenix the Tap 24.7 Ensemble, the Reverb Tap Company the ASU Hip Hop Coalition, and the live stage show featuring classic rock and blues music "Scuffed Up" choreographed and conceived by Mike Wittmers. She was a featured tap dancer in the music video “Tap Dat” by Rachal Royale. Currently, Kelly is on faculty at Dance Connection in Scottsdale, AZ and is a principle dancer and choreographer with J.A.M. and Company, Arizona’s all-female tap company. Kelly’s classes are innovative and energetic and you do not want to miss out!
Bruce grew up in the arts and has performed in venues from the performance halls in the U.S. to the concert stage in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Trained under the legendary jazz instructor Frank Hatchett, his performance credits include musical productions such as, "DreamGirls," "Philly's Beat," "The Evening is Yours," and "The Swan Ball." In addition, he was a featured singer with the R&B group "Secrets" and has done commercials for radio and television. These days he can be found teaching Tap at local colleges, high schools and dance studios. Bruce is truly a teacher’s teacher. His energetic and postive classes will lift you up, spin you around, and leave you snapping. His wisdom and kindness flows and you are sure to love every moment in his classes! Bruce has been on faculty at the Phoenix Tap Fest and with Just West of Broadway since they began in 2013. He is also our resident MC at all of our live events.
Bruce Goolsby, Faculty
Megan Maltos began dancing at the age of four in California. She began dancing at Danswest, then owned by her mentor Frank Trent, at the age of 9 where she continued to train until she graduated from CDO in 2001. After graduating from the University of Arizona with her BA in Business management with a focus in dance in 2005, she and her mom Jill Maltos took over Danswest from Frank upon his retirement. While at the U of A, Megan had the privilege of studying Modern, Jazz, Ballet, and Tap with Amy Ernst, Michael Williams, Sam Watson, David Berkey, Nina Janik, and Susan Quinn and was also selected to perform at Gus Giordano’s Jazz Dance World Congress in Buffalo, NY. In addition to theater dance, Megan has worked in music video, TV, and film. In recent years, her love of tap has grown into more of an obsession; spending more time in her tap shoes than regular footwear! Her award winning tap choreography has been performed internationally; at regional and national dance competitions, National Tap Dance Day showcases, and other community dance events. She has been a proud member of the all-tap company; Tap 24.7 directed by Suzy Guarino and Jenefer Miller since 2010 where their unique style is featured in tap dance festivals all over the country. While still pursuing a professional dance career outside of Danswest, the studio is where her heart is. Her love of teaching is visible whether she is teaching a preschool dancer or an advanced class. There is no place she would rather be than in her shoes with her students.
Megan Maltos, Faculty
Mary earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. After completing her degree, Mary continued to train at a variety of studios, including the Dupree Dance Academy in Los Angeles, CA, and the Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City. She began teaching dance in 1998 at the Ballet Centre of Marilyn Bostic in Tempe, AZ. In 2002, she was hired as an adjunct faculty member for Maricopa Community Colleges where she taught Tap Dance and Musical Theatre Dance at Mesa, Scottsdale, and Chandler-Gilbert Community Colleges. At Mesa Community College, she was the director of their Tap Ensemble, MCC On Tap, from 2003 – 2015. She left her adjunct faculty position after the Spring 2015 semester to focus on Wall-2-Wall Tap Dance Center & the HeartBeat Tap Ensemble.