Beyond the Stars Faculty

Elizabeth Bender

Owner, Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Elizabeth is so excited for the opportunity to be working with the students at Beyond the Stars. Before opening Beyond the Stars, Elizabeth was the studio director of Steps Dance Center in Aurora. Elizabeth started her dance training in 1984 and has been trained in ballet, pointe, lyrical, tap and jazz. She has studied under Joyce Lang and Julie Carson and has held dance roles in the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and West Side Story. Elizabeth has also had the honor of taking classes from Gregg Russell, Anthony Morigerato, Tyce Diorio, Judy Rice, Homer Bryant & Joel Hall to name a few. Elizabeth started teaching in 2000 and has taught all over the country including Illinois, Arizona, Ohio & Florida. She attended University of Illinois and obtained a degree in Industrial Engineering. After working as an engineer for 3 years, she decided to pursue her dream of starting a performing arts academy and could not be more happy for the opportunity. In her years of teaching dance, her biggest inspiration is "watching her students become unique individuals and blossom into beautiful people. Thank you dancers!"

Ellena Chaplin

Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Ellena started dancing at the age of three and has been dancing ever since. She started at Spotlight Dance Studio studying ballet, tap, jazz and clog. As she started to explore the dance world, she found a real passion in the art of ballet and pointe and decided to spend her teen years studying at The Midwest Ballet Academy and performing with the Midwest Ballet Pre-Professional Ballet Company. She danced as many roles in The Nutcracker every year as well as ballets such as, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonferland and more. Mim Eichmann was her mentor all of those years. She also danced on the state champion dance team coached by Dawn Jovic, at Downers Grove South high school. In her time with the team, she won multiple state titles, choreography awards, artistic excellence awards and was elected a team captain. Ellena was a Universal Dance Association All America Dancer. She attended several hip hop classes taught by Ian Eastwood, Jun Quemado, Lee Daniel and Patrick Chen. She also attended a River North Dance intensive, studying ballet, contemporary and Jazz. She is also a certified IHSA dance instructor.

Bethanie Herman

Theatre Program Director

Bethanie is a Chicagoland transplant of three years, hailing from Washington D.C. where she most recently earned her MFA in directing for the stage in 2018. While living in the DMV, Bethanie wore many hats, including Academy Program Manager for Adventure Theatre-MTC Academy. She was given the opportunity there to participate alongside her peers and 40 of her students at the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. She was also a company member at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick, MD. There, she was given the chance to direct, stage manage, and prop and makeup design. Additionally, she was on the original team which created the MET’s Apprenticeship program. Bethanie has worked for other organizations in the DMV area, such as Arena Stage, Phoenix Entertainment, and DC Fringe Festival, as well as for the American Realness Festival in NYC, Walt Disney World Company in Florida, and Elgin Community College in Elgin, IL and North Central College in Naperville, IL. Bethanie is elated to be working at Beyond the Stars Academy. She has so much enjoyed past productions working with BTS’s creative team and their students and is so excited to continue teaching (and learning from) these talented young performers.

Alexa Kruchten

Guest Choreographer

Alexa Kruchten is from Chicago, Illinois. She began her dance training at Stage Door Dance Academy, and continues her training at professional dance studios in Chicago including Visceral, Lou Conte, Joel Hall, Giordano Dance, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and Rast Ballet. Growing up attending dance conventions, Alexa has received numerous scholarships and titles throughout the years. She has learned from teachers including, Justin Giles, Liz Imperio, Erica Sobol, Kevin Maher and Hannah Wintrode, to name a few. Alexa is a proud graduate from Point Park University with a BA in Jazz and a minor in business. While at Point Park, she was privileged to learn from her mentors, Kiesha Lalama, Garfield Lemonius, Jason McDole, Matthew Powell, Kiki Lucas, and Kimberly Anderson. She had the opportunity to perform works by Joshua Manculich, Colleen Hooper, Vanessa Figueroa, Callie Luckenbach, Nikki Morath, Alan James Libert, and understudy for Kiesha Lalama and Jose Limon’s Missa Brevis at the Byham Theater. Alexa had the honor of staging her own choreographic piece “find and seek” for Point Park University's student showcase. She was the president of Point Park's Hip Hop Club, Impluse, where she organized weekly classes and performance opportunities throughout the community. She has a passion for teaching and is looking forward to what's to come!

Nicki Porter

Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Nicki is originally from California, where she received her early dance training from Dancers Inc. and Juline School of Dance. She received two scholarships to study at Columbia College Chicago, where she trained for three years towards a BFA degree in dance with an emphasis in choreography. While a student at Columbia, Nicki was given the opportunity to train under Robert McKee, Sarah Schafer, Kyle Seguin, and other renowned faculty members. She spent a summer in Urbania, Italy dancing in the Dance Master Class intensive studying under Anthony Wright of the Royal Ballet and Sara Accettura. She also had the pleasure of training with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre for their summer intensive program. Nicki transferred from Columbia and went to spend a year dancing in Ballet Chicago's Studio Company, a professional training program to intensify her technical training. While simultaneously dancing in Ballet Chicago's Studio Company, Nicki went on to study film and performance at The School of the Art Institute Chicago where she created two short dance films, "Side Effects" and "Telum" and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in May of 2016. Her choreography was featured in Alluvion Dance Chicago's "Emergence" dance showcase and her short dance film "Side Effects" was selected to be a part of the "Exfest" film festival where it won best cinematography and the audience choice award. She has performed works by various independent choreographers in Chicago and was a dancer with Ardent Dance Company from 2016-2019. Currently Nicki teaches students of all ages at dance studios in Chicago and the Chicagoland area.

Tristan Ramos

Vocal Instructor

Tristan Ramos currently attends Elmhurst University pursuing a B.A in Music and he is thrilled to bring his wide variety of skills and experience to the students at Beyond the Stars. Tristan is a classically trained, versatile musician who has studied a wide range of styles including musical theatre, jazz, opera, pop, and commercial music. Tristan is also a songwriter and is well-versed in many compositional mediums, including digital music platforms. His personal writing style and experience covers a huge range, from folk-inspired songs, to wind ensemble pieces, to strings. Additionally, he is trained in conducting and harbors a deep love of choral music. He has experience both on the stage and off, performing in and developing countless performance projects in and out of school. Tristan’s passion for teaching and musical collaboration fulfill him in new ways every day, and he is excited to learn just as much from his students as they do from him.

Olga Saad

Vocal Instructor

Olga Saad is originally from Wichita, Ks; where she received her B.M. in vocal performance from Friends University, under the instruction of Dr. David Weber. She went on to receive her M.M. and study Opera performance at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln where she studied with Donna Harler-Smith. Olga’s past performances include Grease! (Sandy), Big River (Miss Watson), Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Queen), The Secret Garden (Lily), Titanic (Mrs. Astor), Madama Butterfly (Mother), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Belle), The Magic Flute (Pamina), Sweeney Todd (Johanna) and Tina / Lo lo in the Chicago Folks Operetta translation / production of Mitislav the Modern. As a Wichita Grand Opera 2006-2007 young artist she covered Liu (Turandot), Stephano (Romeo et Juliette) and Violetta (La Traviata), and had the pleasure to share the stage with Sam Ramey, Annalisa Raspagliosi, Kirsten Chavez, Christina Nassif, and Gaston Rivero. In the 2007 summer, she was invited to debut Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in Rome, Italy. More recently Olga debuted Adina with Bowen Park Opera in Illinois for their production of The Elixir of Love. Olga has appeared with the UNL Symphony and Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. With many years of dance training, she choreographed productions of Grease!, The Music Man, West Side Story, The Sound of Music and Bye Bye Birdie. Considered a “go-to girl” by previous directors and colleagues, Olga is a versatile performer who is not afraid of a challenge or a new concept. Olga has been reviewed as a performer who plays her roles “with consummate grace” on stage (Larry L. Kubert / For the Lincoln Journal Star, Sep 09, 2005). She is an adventurous, energetic actress and a well-rounded singer who always strives to bring her characters to life. Presently, Olga is performing regularly with Chicago Chamber Opera.

Paige Snider

Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Paige Snider grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana and began her love for dance at the age of 3. She trained from age 3-18 at Toni’s Dance Academy under Toni Cason and Dana Kurzawinski. During these years, she trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, and Acrobats. In addition, she was heavily involved in her competition team, traveling around the country competing in national competitions against some of the best studios and dancers throughout the country. Paige began teaching the children’s department at her home studio at the age of 16 where she taught a variety of classes to students ages 3-10. She moved on to attend Indiana University where she obtained a minor in Dance from the College of Arts and Sciences and Contemporary Dance. She is so excited to be teaching and looks forward to continue to share her love for dance.

Brooke Wrasse

Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Brooke was born and raised in the Chicagoland area. She started her journey at Deforest Dance Academy where she competed on their award-winning company team, Steppin' Out Dance Company. This is where she fell in love, trained, and competed in jazz, ballet, hip hop, musical theater, and contemporary dance. Brooke also danced for four years on York High School's Varsity Dance Team where she competed on the IHSA state floor all four years. She continued her dance education on the Loyola University Chicago Dance Team alongside earning her minor in dance. With Loyola's dance team, she was given the award of National Dance Association All American Dancer, competed and placed in NDA's 2017-2019 College Nationals, and performed for the 15,000 attendees at the Alamodome for the 2018 Final Four NCAA Basketball Tournament. Brooke was also elected as a team captain for two years running. As a captain, she had the opportunity to choreograph, lead, and gain valuable teaching experience that she is excited to continue to bring to Beyond the Stars. Brooke currently assists as a coach for the York High School Dance Team and is looking forward to her future of teaching and growing along with her students!

Sara Zgonina

Dance Instructor & Choreographer

Sara Zgonina is a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer who works throughout the Chicago area. Growing up in Elmhurst, Illinois, Sara began dancing at the age of four at DuPage Dance Academy, where she was trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, and tap and performed with Elmhurst Dance Theatre and Ballet North. She started teaching dance at the age of sixteen and continued her training through intensives, college studies, and Chicago studios, including Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Lou Conte Dance Studio, and Aerial Dance Chicago. In 2020, Sara graduated summa cum laude from North Central College with a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre. Throughout her training and career, she has performed in many ballets, musicals, and jazz and tap concerts as well as choreographed for professional and youth theatre or dance shows. Some of her favorite credits include dancing the role of Cinderella (Cinderella), Dying Swan (Carnival of the Animals), Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker), Lead Frug Dancer (Sweet Charity) and Little Lamb (Big Fish).