Amazing Dance Instructors
TDS2 has some of the top dance instructors in Central California! We pride ourselves on providing a high level of dance precision that helps our students thrive. We are grateful to have such a wonderful team of instructors with a heart and passion for dance. Below is a list of our current dance studio instructors.
Season Cavalla-Cooper
Artistic Director/Owner
Has dance training in Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet, Modern, Tap, and Gymnastics. She was a dance teacher at The Dance Studio of Fresno for 21 years.
RACHELLE BOLES
Specializes in Ballet, Lyrical / Contemporary, and Hip-Hop
Rachelle has studied dance since 1994, with a focus in Jazz, Ballet and Hip-Hop. She has taken master classes from Mia Michaels, Brian Freedman, Ted Levy, Chebar Williams, Mark Goodman and Gina Starbuck. She used to be a member of the award winning competition teams at The Dance Studio of Fresno and the MKF Altered Modalities Dance Company. Rachelle was a Production Assistant for the Miss California Pageant from 2007-2009.
Rachelle has taught for the last several years at The Dance Studio 2 and The Dance Company. She is now exclusively at TDS2 and enjoys teaching the art of dance to our young aspiring dancers. When she isn’t teaching, she is an Assistant Manager at Parc Grove Commons Apartments. In her down time Rachelle loves to spend time with her husband and son.
MAKAELA CAVALLA
Specializes in Jazz.
Makaela started dancing at The Dance Studio of Fresno at the age of two. After The Dance Studio 2 opened in Fall 2007, she started training under the direction of her aunt, Season Cavalla-Cooper, and her faculty. She enjoys all styles of dance with an emphasis in Jazz and Contemporary. Makaela started competing at the age of seven and continues to be a part of our Extreme Elite Team to this day as well as serving as a Team Captain for her younger peers. She has been a Teacher’s Assistant for numerous years, helping mainly in jazz and turns classes. In Fall 2019, she officially joined the TDS2 staff and has been given the privilege of having her own jazz class. Makaela is currently a junior at Buchanan High School and involved in their Pep and Cheer program. After she graduates high school, she hopes to go to college to become an Anesthesiologist.
MEGAN CHINNOCK
Specializes in Ballet & Tap
Megan started dancing when she was three years old and began taking classes at TDS2 in 2008. There, she fell in love with dance and in 2012 joined the TDS2 Extreme Elite Team, of which she was a member until 2017. Megan is so grateful to have been exposed to several dance styles during her time at TDS2, especially Ballet, Contemporary, and Tap. She continues to take classes at the studio and is thrilled to have officially joined the staff for the Fall 2019 dance season. Megan is a Pre-Nursing student at Fresno State in the Smittcamp Family Honors College.
KENDRA COLLINS
Specializes in Ballet & Tap
Kendra has been part of the TDS2 faculty since 2015. She has a background in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip-Hop and African, having trained extensively at TDSF since early childhood. Kendra continued training during her studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts, specifically in Dance. Kendra has had the opportunity to perform pieces created by Sidra Bell, Bill T. Jones, William Forsythe and Trisha Brown, while attending numerous workshops such as American Dance Festival in North Carolina and New York, BODYTRAFFIC in Los Angeles, and Chuthis in Fresno. She also had the pleasure of being a personal dance assistant to Ballet Mistress Chebar Williams for the NUVO Dance Convention. After moving back to Fresno, Kendra choreographed three musical productions for the Selma Arts Center including Young Frankenstein, Shrek and Big Fish. She has also choreographed a few routines for TDS2 Extreme Elite Team members. In addition to teaching dance, Kendra works full-time as a licensed agricultural appraiser.
KELLI KAKU
Specializes in Ballet & Pointe
Kelli started dancing at The Dance Studio of Fresno at the age of three. She has trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Contemporary and Hip-hop. She started competing with TDSF at the age of nine where she was able to work with many professional choreographers. During high school, she competed locally with Clovis West’s pep team winning multiple advanced national titles. Kelli went on to get her B.A. in Dance with a minor in Educational Studies from UC Irvine under the direction of the late Donald McKayle. Throughout those years she was able to be a part of the UCI Dance Team and Kaba Modern. After college, Kelli earned her multiple subject teaching credential, single subject teaching credential in physical education, and single subject teaching credential in health science. For several years she was located in Southern California. She taught a couple years at a special education private school working with kids with autism before she got hired on at a performing arts charter school. There she was the director of the dance program, head of the ballet department, and the jr. high dance team coach. Her and her team built the dance program to be the biggest department at the school and produced multiple shows and performances. In 2018 she decided to move back home and be closer to family. Now along with teaching at the studio, Kelli teaches Academic Block at Alta Sierra Intermediate. She is also the Pep and Cheer Director and Pep coach at Alta Sierra.
KELSEA KUNZLER
KELSEA KUNZLER
Specializes in Tap, Jazz, Ballet
Kelsea began dancing at the age of two and throughout her dance career has trained in various disciplines such as: Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Modern and African. She trained and competed in these various disciplines at The Dance Studio of Fresno until she graduated high school in 2011. She then attended Saint Mary’s College of California, where she was awarded a dance scholarship. Throughout her years in college, she taught tap and ballet to young children at the California Academy of Performing Arts, Inc., as well as attended workshops such as the American College Dance Festival in Arizona and Chuthis in Fresno. After graduating in 2015 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in dance, Kelsea has followed her dreams of working with children with special needs through different jobs and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Education to become a school psychologist. She has a passion of working with children both in the school system and in the dance studio.
KAITLYN MARGARIAN
Studio Manager
Kaitlyn began dancing at The Dance Studio of Fresno in 1991 and during her many years of dance training she favored Tap, Jazz, and Ballet, which she continued to partake in until 2008. During her second year at Fresno State, she was approached by Season to come help open The Dance Studio 2 and learn the business of running a dance studio. She's been the manager of TDS2 since the studio opened in Fall 2007. Kaitlyn prides herself on making the studio run as smoothly as possible by handling all day-to-day operations, helping the Extreme Elite Team with their practice schedules and competition entries, as well as organizing the TDS2 Annual Recital that is held every June. Kaitlyn is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing.
MANDY MENES
Specializes in Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Tap
Mandy began dancing at three years old in the State of Kentucky and after moving to California she joined TDSF. She began dancing at TDS2 when the studio opened in Fall 2007. She enjoys all genres of dance with an emphasis in Hip-Hop, Jazz, Contemporary, and Tap. She competed on The Dance Studio 2 Extreme Elite Team from 2008 to 2016, being an original member of the first competition team. During her years as a competition dancer, she had the opportunity to be apart of the Young Tanzsommer Dance Festival, performing in several cities in Austria. She has also danced in music videos for Adam Hicks, Nic Neufeld, and Omar Alhindi. Mandy started subbing dance classes in 2014 and officially joined the TDS2 Staff in Summer 2015. Mandy is a graduate of California State University Fresno, with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology: Exercise Science. She is currently working on earning a second bachelor’s degree in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, with plans of becoming a Speech Language Pathologist.
JESSICA RENNA
Specializes in Toddler classes & Ballet, Co-Director of Jumpstart & Mini Elite Team
Jessica began dancing at The Dance Studio of Fresno at three years old and transferred to The Dance Studio 2 when it opened in Fall 2007. She is an original Extreme Elite Dancer, having competed for TDS2 for seven years as well as being a Team Captain for her younger peers to look up too. In Fall 2013 she started subbing dance classes and in Fall 2014 she officially joined TDS2 faculty, co-directing a Jumpstart Competition Team and teaching toddler dance classes. She now co-directs our Jumpstart program with Taylor Coloka as well as Mini Extreme Elite with Season Cavalla-Cooper. She is a graduate from Fresno Pacific University with a B.A. in Psychology and is currently in graduate school working to obtain a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy.
