Laura Gregory, Director

Laura has been a teacher here at t[df] since 1992.  She took over as owner and director in 2004 and absolutely loves her new position!  She built the t[df] Musical Theatre program throughout the 90’s into the fun, thriving empire we see today!   She loves teaching and bringing her energy, enthusiasm, and love of dance and theatre to the stars of tomorrow.  Her award-winning performing groups have traveled 4 times to Orlando, Florida as well as Lahaina, Maui. 

Those same performing groups have received accolades across the state of California.  She especially loves working with our youngest dancers and enjoys seeing the excitement on “her” kids’ faces when they master a step or hear that applause on performance day!  Laura strives to make t[df] a warm, friendly place where kids and parents feel happy, secure and welcome.  She hopes you enjoy your dance experience here and looks forward to saying hi to you in the lobby soon!

Liz Jorgensen, Competition Team Dicrector

Liz Jorgensen holds a B.A. in Dance from U.C.Irvine, and has been a dance educator in California for over 10 years.  Recently returning from New York City, she spent the last year assisting Jason Winters at Steps On Broadway (former assistant to Mia Michaels) and Jeff Amsden at Broadway Dance Center.  Liz also worked with Mr. Winters as his rehearsal assistant for his all male company Omen, and with Mr. Amsden as his assistant on Saturday Night Fever. 

As a performer, Ms. Jorgensen has done industrials for Sephora, Smashbox Cosmetics and the Little Bra Company among others, and has performed in Chicago, New York, Spain, France, and Canada.  At 22 she co-produced her own show “Herstory” which debuted at UCI’s Winifred Smith Hall in 2005.  She has performed with Ballet Pacifica, Jazz Spectrum, and Thompson Dance Media, and has worked with such esteemed choreographers as Malaya, Mark Meismer, and Jen Ballard. 

She was also the only UCI student selected to perform at the 3rd International Jazz Dance Forum in Paris, France.  As a choregrapher, her work has been showcased on both coasts in Fusion's Choreographers Showcase, Pulse, Smashbox Studios, and the Princeton Ballet School choreographic workshop.  As a student she was awarded scholarships from Barebones Dance Theater, U.C. Riverside, Defore Dance Center and Dance Educators of America. 

t[df] Instructors

Nicole Davison

Nicole Davison began ballet at the age of four, and took up jazz, modern and pointe thereafter. She has performed with The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Pacifica, Pacific Ballet Theatre, and Mike Esperanza of BARE Dance Company. She discovered her love for choreography while earning her BA in Dance at California State University, Fullerton, and one of her greatest honors was being asked to speak in front of thousands at commencement, to give the crowd a taste of what life as a dance major is like.

Nicki loves choreographing for The Dance Factory. She truly enjoys creating the themed “Big Ballet” each year, and finding new ways to get students involved in ballet who may not normally be interested. Additionally, Nicki and her mom Kathy run ImprompTutu, a dancewear and custom tutu company. Nicki is also on her way to becoming an event planner, where she hopes to use her experience with the Big Ballet to specialize in themed birthday parties.

Jeffifer Fitzgerald

Jennifer was trained at the Marin Dance Theatre in San Rafael, California under the direction of artistic director Margaret Swarthout. At the completion of her training, she joined the Sacramento Ballet as an apprentice and performed numerous Balanchine works.  She then started working for Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley under the direction of Dennis Nahat. Some of her favorite roles included; Lead Arabian in The Nutcracker, a woman in Donald McKayle's House of Tears, and rainbow girl in Michael Smuin's The Tempest. Jennifer is now a senior at CSULB and getting her degree in Dance Science. She hopes to continue her professional career after college, as well as earn her Masters degree in Physical Therapy.

Carri Burbank Glen

Carri Burbank Glen teaches all levels of tap & jazz.  She is the tap choreogragher for the Palm Springs Follies and has choreographed shows for resorts, and industrials.  Her dance company “Star Quality” traveled to England, France, Japan and Taiwan.  Her own past performances include Mad T.V., a year with Princess Cruises, movies, videos and commercials.  Carri is past president of Dance In Action and proud to be the original owner of The Dance Factory! 

Samantha Honer

Sam began dancing at the age of 13 with hip-hop. The following year she was accepted into the Commercial Dance Department at the Orange County High School of the Art (OCHSA). During her four years at OCHSA she studied all types of dance, including jazz, hip-hop, Polynesian, ballet, tap, lyrical, pointe, and modern. While attending OCHSA, she was selected to be a member of OCHSA's elite commercial dance performance group, Dotcomm, and her original choreography pieces were selected to be performed during OCHSA's student choreography shows. While at OCHSA, she was also fortunate to work with amazing choreographers such as Diane Bonds, Tim Stevenson, Mark Meismer, Mike Esperanza, Cruz, and Dee Caspary - just to name a few. For three years, Sam worked for Disneyland, dancing in parades and stage shows, such as "A Christmas Fantasy," "Fantasmic," and "Block Party Bash." Sam has appeared on commercials for Disney's 50th Anniversary Celebration, and she performed numerous times on Telemundo's "Jugar a Ganar," and in Moodswings, and Pulse. She also has performed with Hip-Hop Club and at numerous dance charity events. Currently, Sam is attending Fullerton College where she is pursuing her love of dance. In the future, she plans to transfer to Cal State Long Beach and major in Dance and Physical Therapy. She is extremely excited to share her love and passion for dance with all her students.

Vernadette Ramos

Vernadette Ramos, also known as Vern has been dancing for 15 years.  She started her young dance career here at the Dance Factory and continued on into high school.  She was a member of the award winning Mater Dei dance team and nationally ranked Mater Dei songleading squad.   From there she pas de boureed onto the Cal State Fullerton Dance Team.  During college, Vern was apart of the team, which consecutively won the Universal Dance Association College Championship title.

As a teacher/choreographer, Vern has worked with a various array of people from itty-bitty babies to distinguished adults.   Her choreography has won numerous awards and landed her a job as choreographer for the Miss Garden Grove Scholarship pageant and Garden Grove’s Outstanding Teen pageant.  Vern currently teaches at the Guardettes of  OC and Tdf.  She is excited to be back home and teaching at the studio that taught her how to move her dancing feet.

Sarah Reed

Sarah Reed has performed musical theatre all over the world, from Tokyo to Alaska.  Some of her favorite roles include Maria in Sound Of Music, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd.  She can currently be seen at The American Girl Revue in LA and in the Calico Saloon at Knott’s Berry Farm. She loves teaching what she has learned and watching the kids become great performers themselves.

Roxanne Reye

Roxanne Reye has been dancing at TDF since she was 7 years old. She attended OCHSA as a Musical Theatre major. She began teaching at TDF when she was 17 years old and was a member of The Brocus Project Dance Company for 3 1/2 years.  She enjoys teaching at TDF so much and is excited to begin a fun, new year.

Ellie Sabry

Ellie Sabry has been dancing for the past 16 years here at TDF.  She attended the Orange County High School of the Arts and is now at Chapman University double majoring in Dance and Liberal Arts.  She was also an apprentice for Tremaine Dance Conventions and was a member of Paris' Tap Company. She has currently become more involved in the Theater Dept. and can be seen as an extra on many MTV shows and in Raven Simone's music videos. Ellie cannot wait to start a wonderful new year here at her second home, TDF.

In addition, our teaching staff also includes:

Rachel Helzer
Michael Nunez
Sarah Melli
Rika Piper

t[df] Office Staff

Amber Villa