Our Faculty

Jennifer Grinwis

Owner / Director / Instructor

Nan’s oldest daughter, Jennifer, has been here from the very beginning! Our owner and director attended the 1989 NC Governor’s School in dance and participated in the Guilford County Junior Miss Scholarship Program in 1990 winning scholarships for her dance performance. She studied dance at UNC-G, and continues to further her training by enrolling in conventions and seminars. Other experience includes being a homeschooling mom to 4 children. Jennifer’s dance teaching experience spans 22 years.

Jon Grinwis

Owner / Athletic Training Coach

Jon grew up playing competitively in the sports of tennis, golf, baseball, soccer, football, and swimming. He has coached baseball for over a decade. His life experience with various traning programs and coaches gives him an array of styles to pull from for his classes which are tailored to the athletes enrolled. He is raising 4 children with Jennifer and stays very busy behind the scenes doing Nan’s School of Dance Business details.

Lauren Stroud

Instructor / Company Head Coach

Nan herself taught Lauren at our Yadkinville studio for fifteen years. She has her BA in dance from UNC-G. In high school and beyond, Lauren composed choreography, performed it, and won awards with her cheerleading team and show choir. At a competition in Atlanta, she was named All-Star dancer. Lauren started teaching here in 2000! When not dancing, her 6 children keep her busy.

Kayla Foster

Instructor

Kayla Foster started dancing at 2 years of age and hasn’t stopped since! She graduated from UNCG in 2020 with a BFA in Dance Performance and K-12 Teaching License. Kayla has been teaching weekly dance classes and choreographing competition pieces since 2015. She has been grateful to receive multiple choreography awards and first overalls throughout the years. However she believes the true focus should be on the students having an amazing, fun experience performing while improving their dance abilities. Kayla strives to provide a physical, emotional, and psychologically safe environment for her students to explore, experiment, and grow not only as dancers, but as individuals!

Georgia Grinwis

Instructor

Nan’s granddaughter, Georgia, began dancing here at age 2.5. She has attended many conventions and trained under choreographers from various arenas including, but not limited to “So You Think You Can Dance”. Her awards and accolades at a myriad of competitions through the years are illustrious. She started teaching here in 2022, and also has classroom experience through volunteering at church.

Molly Long

Instructor

Molly began her dance career here at age 5. She grew up dancing at competitions and winning awards in our Performance Company. She graduated with a BA in dance from Salem College in 2020. Her classroom experience is enhanced by her work with children at church. She is a Pre-School teacher during the day, and has been teaching here since 2018.

Kayla McBane

Instructor

Kayla started dancing with Jennifer at the Yadkinville studio when she was 3 years old. Now in her final year of a degree in kinesiology with a minor in dance at UNC-G, she is ready to share her knowledge. Through volunteering at church and training with us, she has experience with children of all ages. This is her 4th year teaching at Nan’s.

Ashley Simmons

Instructor

A dancer here at Nan’s since age three, Ashley has experienced many dance genres. She recently graduated from UNC-G majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Dance. She has many years of classroom management under her belt through helping at her church all her life and her position as a 4th grade teacher at Greensboro Academy. Ashley began teaching here in 2010, and stays busy at home with her 2 little ones.

Karamie Walsh

Instructor

She started her now 20 year dance journey ar Melanie Paschal’s Dance Creations and danced competitively for 9 years there. After she graduated in 2019, Karamie attended Louisburg College in dance and then was accepted into The American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York. Due to covid, she was unable to attend, but wouldn’t have it any otheray. Karamie has discovered that not only is performing her passion, but so is teaching and choreographing. Her goal with students is to encourage creativity and help find comfort and confidence in themselves through movement.

Sherry Yacuzzo

Instructor

With 28 years experience as a dancer/performer, instructor, choreographer and judge, she has been trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Acro and Musical Theatre. Sherry was a professional dancer and model for over 10 years in Lake Tahoe, NV, Branson MO, and NC. She studied under greats Al Gilbert, Frank Boem, Ron Lewis and Michael Darrin. Earlier training under wonderful teachers, the late Jacqueline Dorminey and Ray Hollingsworth prepared her well. Sherry has worked as a Judge for several National Dance Competition circuits for over 15 years.

Erin Young

Instructor

Dancing here since age 3, Erin has many years of dance training in all genres, but her favorite is tap. She earned many trophies and medals dancing in our Performance Company. She is currently a Liberty University student studying Crime Scene Investigation. Her work with groups of children at church gives her classroom management skills. 2023 is her first year teaching at Nan’s.