Meridian Stars Dance Staff - Instructors
Tina Wayman has been teaching with the STARS program for the last five years and received "Teacher of the Year" in 2009. She purchased the studio in July of 2010 and is now the Meridian Stars Director and Owner. Tina has been dancing, performing, and competing for over 26 years!! She received her training from Bozeman Jazz, Dance Elite, and Montana Ballet, under the direction of Darren Eastwold, Cindy Tweedt, and Anne Bates in Bozeman, Montana. Tina also studied Dance at Montana State University, under the direction of Rosanne Pitcher. Tina has had exclusive training in Ballet, Jazz Technique, Modern, and Hip-Hop. Tina danced on the Montana State Dance Team and competed in the UDA National Dance Championships in Orlando, Florida. Tina has a Bachelor of Arts in International Business-Spanish and a minor in Dance.
Currently, she is a Choreographer and Showteam Competition Coach, Jazz-Technique Specialist and Micros Teacher at the studio. Tina has won choroegraphy awards for Hip Hop at IDC Regional Competitions, choreography awards for Production at the STARS Regional and National Competitions, and has taken several teams to a 1st place finish at the National Dance Championship level. Dancing is her biggest life passion and she loves to share it with as many people as possible! Tina's goal as a dance teacher is for every person in her class to have a thorough understanding of technique, develop self-esteem, respect one another and love dance!! Tina currently resides in Boise with her husband Lucas and their two sweet chocolate labs, Brutis & Sadie!
Amanda Linzy is a native of Meridian and has been teaching at Meridian Stars for the last six years. She has received numerous choreography awards for her team dances at the Regional and National Levels in Style, Originality and for Creativity for group dances and production. Amanda has lead several teams to 1st place titles at the Regional & National levels. She has trained in jazz, hip hop, tap and her personal favorite... lyrical. Amanda began her dance career at age 5 in Boise, where she was a member of performance and competition teams. She was also a three member of the Eagle High Edge Dance Team and was selected as "Captain" her senior year. Amanda was the head coach of the Borah High School Lion Elite from 2004-2009, where she made a positive difference in the program and took their team to Nationals several times! She has also been asked to choreograph dances for many high schools around Boise and the Spokane area. Amanda has had the opportunity of performing in Disneyland, Disneyworld, on the Big Red Boat in the Bahamas, Humanitarian Inductee Cermonies and in numerous competitions in the Northwest.
Amanda graduated in May of 2009 with her B.S. in Secondary Education with a Major in History and a minor in English. She believes that dance is the best form of expression one can experience and loves to share her passion for dance with whoever will let her! "Sharing my passion of dance is what I live for! There is nothing that can describe seeing what comes from your head and heart, being danced by amazing and talented dance students!" Currently Amanda resides in Boise with her husband JT and their two spoiled Boston Terriers, Gus and Visa.
Jennifer Waters is a member of Off Center Dance Project, a modern dance company. She recently performed in "Rules of Ettiquette," in 2010 and "Santa Baby," 2009. In 2009, she volunteered with the Special Olympics and choreographed "I'mma Shine,"and "Champion," and danced in "Stomp." At age 7, she began dancing with Stars Dance Team. Jazz dance was her first interest, but went on to discover a love for Ballet, Tap, Hip Hop, Break-dancing and Modern. In college, she began studying ballet under Marla Hansen, which led to an apprenticeship with Idaho Dance Theater.
Jennifer has also been involved with many local advertising and production companies, doing such work as; commercials for local, national, and international companies, voice-overs for local radio, modeling for Toys R Us, Canadian Club, Retelligence, and Do You Love Me Inc., featured in Teen Prom magazine.
Max Nguyen was born and raised in Dallas, Texas then moved to Boise when we was thirteen. He began dancing at age 3 attempting to imitate the late Michael Jackson. Over the years, he has used that inspiration to fuel his imagination to develop his own style in hip hop. Max has developed more into a popper/hip hop style. As a sophomore in high school, he decided to start taking dance seriously and started the habit of working on his craft everyday whether at school or in his garage at home. He has also broadened his dance vocabulary going from popping to locking, tutting, choreographing, and also breakdancing. He has had a small featurette on the t.v. show "So You Think You Can Dance" and was also one of the top 150 contestants to be in the movie "Step Up 2: The Streets". He hopes to one day be a professional dancer and/or own his own studio.
Max is currently a student at The College of Idaho majoring in Health Sciences and also playing for the tennis team.
Kimberly grew up dancing with the Nielsen’s School of Dance in Twin Falls, Idaho where she was a member of the multiple national award winning Stargazer Dance Company. While still in high school, Kimberly entered her first Miss America preliminary pageant in which she danced as her talent. After that, she earned the titles: Miss Magic Valley 2000, Miss Magic Valley 2002, Miss Kootenai County 2004, and Miss Nampa 2005. Kimberly used her pagent winnings to attend the University of Idaho where she was choreographer and captain of their dance team. In 2004 she traveled to Los Angeles where she was able to train and audition with some of the world’s greatest dancers and choreographers, helping to hone her skills, and create her own style. After Kimberly moved back to Idaho, she took the position of Timberline High School’s Head Dance Team Coach in 2007. This year, her dance team placed 3rd at the Idaho State Dance Competition in Hip Hop with her Choreography.
Kim enjoys teaching at Meridian Stars and being able to share her passion and style of dance. She teaches tap and advanced hip hop at the studio. Currently, Kim resides in Kuna with her wonderful husband Zak and their beautiful baby boy Owen.
Kelsey Manweiler began her training at Ballet Idaho at the age of 3, where she spent six years training in Ballet. At 9, Kelsey decided to focus her training on team jazz dance and started dancing competitively. By 14, Kelsey went back to Ballet Idaho and trained under Carol Roderick. She spent her summers dancing at Summer Dancefest taking workshops from Marla Hansen, Yurek Hansen, Jennifer Martin, Hyuk-Ku Kwon and Jenn Freeman. Kelsey spent her junior and senior years dancing competively for her high school dance team at Timberline Highschool and was Captain her Senior year. Kelsey has trained in jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary, hip hop, and has had an emphasis in ballet.
Currently, Kelsey is a student at BSU, majoring in Business. Kelsey is teaching the jazz/ballet technique for our Rising Stars Teams, jazz for third year dancers and heads up the Adult classes. She is now extremely excited to be a member of the Idaho Stampede Dance Team.
Jana has been dancing for over seven years now and has danced, competed, and attended many clinics through studio dance. She also had the opportunity to dance and compete on Timberline High School's dance team throughout her High School years. Jana has been trained in Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, and Lyrical, and attended camps such as CSI's dance camp.
This will be her second year as a teacher at Meridian stars, and she currently teaches Micros and Jazz 1. Jana attends Boise State and is working on her Elementary Education Degree. She has a strong passion for dance and loves kids.