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Miss Marli (Owner/Director): Miss Marli has been dancing since the young age of two and her love for dance and the performing arts has only grown stronger through the years. She has trained in many different styles including Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre and Acro. Miss Marli continues to travel and train every summer and takes classes from some of the best instructors in the country. She believes that there is always room to grow and more to learn! She has choreographed for many musicals, including "The Wiz," "Annie," "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Broadway Exposed."
Miss Marli often travels to Charlotte, North Carolina (with Miss Jenna) to teach and choreograph for a spectacular dance program, A Chance to Dance. This program was designed for children with special needs to be able to enjoy the full dance experience, regardless of their different abilities. Miss Marli is a certified early childhood educator and was formally a teacher at Temple Beth El's Early Childhood Center. She enjoyed it very much, but decided it was time to focus more energy on dance. Marli debuted The 8th Count in August of 2011 and began by renting space from a gym for 4 years. After growing immensely, The 8th Count officially opened their very own doors in April 2015. Marli and her sister, Jenna are known for their exceptional acrobatics program, that is now nationally ranked! Their students have won and continue to win many high achievements and judges choice awards. From the babies to the seniors, Miss Marli's students always leave class with a smile on their face! Over the past 18 years Miss Marli has shared her passion for dance and her high energy with all of her students and she continues to do so today. |
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Miss Jenna (Assistant Director/Instructor): Miss Jenna has been dancing her entire life and teaching for 13 years. She has trained in many styles, including, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Musical Theatre, Hip-Hop and Acro. As a former competitive dancer herself, she is part of our first ever Alumni dancers at The 8th Count! Miss Jenna always has the kids laughing and having a great time in her classes. She has participated in and been awarded scholarships at dance conventions, including LA Dance Magic and Tremaine. Competitively, Miss Jenna has received many special awards, including "Most Graceful Dancer" and "Best Intensity." Miss Jenna travels to Charlotte, North Carolina as often as possible (with Miss Marli) to teach and choreograph for a spectacular dance program, A Chance to Dance. This program was designed for children with special needs to be able to enjoy the full dance experience, regardless of their different abilities. Miss Jenna also attends workshops all over the country each summer to help her grow as both an instructor and a dancer herself. She was the Assistant Director of "Hamlet," as well as a dancer in a production of "The Newsies." Jenna is the co-director of our award-winning competition team. Miss Jenna can't wait to share her love for dance with everyone!
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Miss Breanna (Instructor): Breanna Perrett, affectionately known as Ms. Bre by her students, is a native of Detroit, MI where she learned to dance at a local dance studio. Her love for dance began at the age of 3 and has evolved with her as an adult. She has trained in many different styles including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop and Modern and even joined the Cheer and Pom teams in high school. Dance has allowed her to travel to many different cities around the U.S, including New York City and Los Angeles as well as throughout the state of Michigan. Breanna lives by the sayings “Dance as if no one is watching” and “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world”. The only thing she loves more than dancing is teaching dance to students of all ages. Breanna has been teaching at 8th Count for 5 years and looks forward to another wonderful year of working with all of the staff, students and families.
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Miss Riley (Instructor/Front Desk): Miss Riley began dancing at the age of 3 and hasn’t stopped since. She was a competition dancer for many years and is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical and contemporary. Miss Riley danced for Waterford Kettering’s varsity dance team throughout high school. She discovered her love for hip-hop and "sassy" jazz once she joined the Detroit Pistons Semi-Pro team and started training with the Detroit Pistons dancers. Dance has given Riley the opportunity to travel nationally, taking classes at places such as, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan, however, she believes that some of the best talent is right here in Detroit. Miss Riley has danced for 'Dancers for Gordy', a Detroit based hip-hop crew. Through 'Dancers for Gordy' she performed in the Motor City Choreography Collective. Miss Riley is also a newly licensed Esthetician and is thrilled to be starting her career in skincare. Along with hip-hop and jazz Miss Riley also teaches lyrical, contemporary, technique & tap! This will be her third year teaching at 8th Count and Miss Riley just loves being part of the 8th Count family!
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Miss Carly (Instructor): Miss Carly began dancing at the age of 4. She joined The 8th Count as a dancer during Year 2 and is so excited to be back as a teacher! Miss Carly was the dance instructor at Cranbrook Kingswood for five summers. During this time, she developed an 8-week recreation dance program to expose the students that attended to different dance styles. Miss Carly attended the University of Michigan and graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. While she was at U of M, she joined Pure Dance company, a jazz and contemporary company in Ann Arbor. She was the executive director of Pure for 3 years with the responsibilities of choreographing the company’s pieces and organizing their annual showcase for the U of M community. In addition to teaching dance, Miss Carly is a fourth grade teacher in Novi Community School District. She is also in the process of getting her Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from Eastern Michigan University. She is so excited to be able to share her love of dance with the 8th Count family!
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Miss Lauren P. (Instructor): Miss Lauren began dancing at the age of 8, which is where she found her love for jazz! She is, and always will be, a sassy jazz dancer at heart. Lauren's love for dance continued as she explored other genres before becoming a competitive dancer. She competed locally and nationally throughout the years gaining fun titles such as “Sassiest Jazz Performer.” During high school Lauren danced for Waterford Mott on their varsity dance team for 4 years and was the captain her senior year. After high school she began classes at Oakland University and also began teaching at Forte Academy of Dance. At Forte, Lauren absolutely fell in love with teaching! In her 7 year span of teaching she has taught both, recreational and competitive classes, teaching jazz, lyrical, acro, tap, technique, hip hop, and ballet. Lauren has always known she wanted to be a nurse but teaching dance was the icing on the cake to a beautiful life. She studied nursing at Oakland University from 2014-2019 and has recently become an alumni, graduating with her Bachelors in Science of Nursing. Lauren is a registered nurse at Royal Oak Beaumont where she works on a nationally ranked Orthopedic Unit. She is so excited to get to know everyone this year! |
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Miss Molly (Instructor): Molly Urquhart was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Her training started at a competitive studio at a young age. She began teaching and choreographing at the age of 16 for dance programs, musicals, and dance teams. Throughout high school and after graduation, Molly was an assistant at various conventions and intensives and was also a member of the contemporary company SueMo based out of Milwaukee, WI under the creative direction of Christa Smutek. At 19 years old she made the move across the country to begin her dance career in Los Angeles. Since then she has worked with Jaimie Goodwin, Jonathan Sison, Will Bell, and other up and coming choreographers. She received training at studios such as Movement Lifestyle, The Edge PAC, Millennium Dance Complex, Playground LA, and Snowglobe Perspective. She has assisted at CLI studios and has performed in multiple shows and competitions in the Los Angeles and the southern California area, such as with Culture Shock San Diego. She also had the opportunity to work with KPop artist Kevin Woo on his “Ride Along” music video, with the hope to continue performing and choreographing as her career goes on. Currently, Molly is back in Michigan and is more than excited to share her energy and spirit with The 8th Count family!
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Miss Jamie (Instructor): Miss Jamie has over 20 years of dance and performing arts training, as well as, 13 years teaching experience. Jamie has extensive training in Acrobatic Dance and is now a Certified Acrobatic Arts Instructor. She is well versed in her dance techniques, with specialties including Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Tap and Musical Theater. Jamie continues to train as a dance educator through regional convention classes. Training under instructors such as Twitch, from So You Think You Can Dance, and Sonya Tayeh. Starting at age 8, Jamie became a member of the national award-winning "Classy Dancer" competitive dance troupe where she worked under world renowned choreographers, including Mia Michaels, Keith Clifton, Mandy Moore, Thom Lake, Rhonda Miler and Nick Lazzarini. Her most memorable experience was being hand-picked by Debbie Allen to perform in a national competition in Hollywood, California, being awarded first place overall in Michigan and third overall nationally. Jamie has performed in numerous musicals starting with "The Lion King" at age 3 and continuing with "Grease," "Guys and Dolls," Camelot," "Music Man," and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Most recently Jamie was a performer for the Crystal Coast Jamboree in Atlantic Beach, NC. Jamie has an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development and is continuing her studies for a bachelor's degree in sport psychology, with dance as her main focus. Jamie has spent many years dancing, teaching and choreographing with Miss Marli. She was an instructor here at The 8th Count the very first year the studio opened! She has always been a huge supporter and is very excited to be at 8th Count for another year!
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Miss Morgan (Instructor): Miss Morgan has been dancing since the age of 3. She studied tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, musical theatre and lyrical. She has competed at many regional and National competitions. At the age of 16, she began teaching. At that point, she found her true love, sharing her love of dance with her students! She taught ages preschool through adult, beginners through advanced and loved every second of it! Over the years, she has had countless awards for competition numbers, taken master classes from some of the top instructors, choreographed for local groups, built long lasting relationships with her students and dance parents and is SO excited to be back to dancing with the 8th count family!
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Miss Amy (Front Desk): Amy's daughters have been a part of 8th Count for 6 years. Both of her girls are on our competitive team. Already being at the studio 5-6 days a week, Amy has stepped in to help with the front desk and administrative tasks. Amy's family is always #1. She has been happily married to her husband Adam for 11 years. Amy is the National Vice President of the Board of Directors for Sigma Delta Tau. She is the #1 supporter of her girls and a huge supporter of 8th Count.
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