Rachel, born and raised in Milwaukee, began dancing at the age of 8 at Young Dance Academy. She soon began intensive\u00a0pre-professional\u00a0training\u00a0and\u00a0competed in ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary. She\u00a0received numerous national awards and\u00a0scholarships for her soloist and group work. After high school, Rachel attended Marquette University and kept dancing\u00a0as a hobby. She continued to teach a variety of ages and styles of dance, while also working with local movie productions, dance companies, and\u00a0theater companies as a musical\u00a0choreographer.<\/p>\n
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Marquette University with a Bachelor\u2019s Degree in Secondary Education and Broad Field Sciences, she planned to pursue a career in dancing after being accepted to the American Musical and Drama Academy in New York City. However, after a spontaneous decision to try ballroom lessons at Fred Astaire\u00a0as a graduation present, she decided to pursue\u00a0training in ballroom. After a short two year amateur career that brought numerous Pro-Am\u00a0National Championship titles, she decided to pursue the professional circuit.<\/p>\n
Rachel has been with the Fred Astaire family for\u00a0a total of almost\u00a010 years.\u00a0She\u00a0transitioned from being a\u00a0\u00a0student, to becoming a\u00a0teacher, and then becoming training director of the studio. As a teacher, Rachel\u00a0has had much success with her students in a variety of styles, including students who have become notable\u00a0National and International\u00a0Champions.\u00a0Rachel\u00a0was also\u00a0consistently the Wisconsin Region’s Top Female Teacher across all categories for many years,\u00a0receiving many plaques and honors for her hard work and dedication to developing her\u00a0students.\u00a0During her\u00a0time as a training director, Rachel helped to lead a team of teachers to becoming a Top 20 studio in the country across the entire Fred\u00a0Astaire company. The instructors she worked alongside also had\u00a0much success, winning top awards for their accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Professionaly, she is currently competing in the International Latin style with her partner Alex since 2019. In just a few short years, even amidst a global pandemic, they have already accomplished quite a bit in a short time. They are most proud of their finalist placements in all Rising Star Latin events at major U.S. competitions, including USDC Open to the World, Ohio Star Ball, New York Dance Festival, Emerald Ball, and more. They also travel internationally to all of the major Latin competitions\u00a0where they have become\u00a0Rising\u00a0Star\u00a0semifinalists, including at\u00a0the\u00a0most\u00a0prestigious Blackpool Dance Festival\u00a0and\u00a0International Championships\u00a0held in the United Kingdom\u00a0as well as at World Masters held in\u00a0Innsbruck, Austria.<\/p>\n
Her areas of\u00a0specialty\u00a0include International\u00a0Latin, International Smooth,\u00a0American Rhythm, American\u00a0Smooth,\u00a0Theater Arts\/Cabaret, Showdance, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary,\u00a0Beginner Students, and Wedding Choreography.<\/p>\n
Rachel is very excited to be opening her first school in the Wisconsin area. She cannot wait to share her passion for dancing with the area of New Berlin and is beyond grateful to become a part of your dancing\u00a0journey!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7231,"template":"","class_list":["post-7230","team_member","type-team_member","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_member\/7230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_member"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team_member"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_member\/7230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/newberlin-wi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}