Our dance team is composed of truly incredible and inspiring artists from a multitude of creative backgrounds
Meet Our Company Dancers
Robin has over 25 years of jazz dance experience, which includes vintage jazz and swing era dances, as well as an in-depth knowledge of chorus girl choreography and styling. She is an original founding member of the Sister Kate Dance Company, a national swing dance champion, has choreographed over 100 dance routines, and is a passionate scene leader, always working to unify artists and champion their work. When not busy with all things Sister Kate, you can find her cooking, throwing parties, thrifting, taking aerial arts classes, or checking out a show on the town all dressed up (with loved ones in tow).
Taylor Stender has been a member of Sister Kate Dance Company since 2016. She has contributed choreography to 3 full length shows produced by Sister Kate Dance Company and was a part of the first place Solo Jazz Group at Camp Hollywood in 2019.
While she has found a way to dance most of her life, Taylor began swing dancing and learning vernacular jazz in 2007, and teaching since 2012 locally and regionally in the Pacific Northwest. Lending her voice on the mic, Taylor has been the Fabulous Femcee for events like: Rhythm City Mess Around, Camp Jitterbug, Northwest Balboa Festival, Bal-Ast Off, California Balboa Classic, The Snowball, and featured at All Balboa Weekend.
While she has found a way to dance most of her life, Taylor began swing dancing and learning vernacular jazz in 2007, and teaching since 2012 locally and regionally in the Pacific Northwest. Lending her voice on the mic, Taylor has been the Fabulous Femcee for events like: Rhythm City Mess Around, Camp Jitterbug, Northwest Balboa Festival, Bal-Ast Off, California Balboa Classic, The Snowball, and featured at All Balboa Weekend.
A member of Sister Kate since 2015, Heather has trained in and performed a wide variety of dance styles, from clogging at rural county fairs to dancing a K-pop routine at a major hair fashion show in Seoul (and nearly everything in between). She is a creative choreographer who enjoys absurd props and anything that involves a bit of a flirt with the audience. She’s also performed in theatre productions and as an MC at non-dance (professional) and Lindy hop events. When she’s not dancing, Heather loves traveling, cooking, cuddling with her pets and her husband, and starting creative projects that she rarely finishes.
Melinda Davis joined Sister Kate Dance Company in 2018 after moving from sunny San Diego. She was introduced to tap dancing and cheerleading at a young age, but fell in love with vernacular jazz and swing dancing in her 30’s. Her favorite Sister Kate moment was winning 1st place at Camp Hollywood in 2019 in the Solo Jazz Group Division! She’s so excited to continue her dance journey with such a talented and creative group of dancers. In her non-dancing time, Melinda enjoys artistic roller skating, snuggling with her pets and husband, travelling, and engaging in scientific pursuit.
Bio Coming Soon!
Kara has been a member of Sister Kate since 2009 - over a decade! She first started dancing ballet at age 3, and over the years dabbled in multiple dance styles, eventually falling in love with swing dancing, chorus girls and jazz.
In her day-life Kara is a Naturopathic Physician, providing trauma-informed primary care medicine and medical management of eating disorders. She is also adjunct faculty at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine. When not at work or on the dance floor, Kara can be found geeking out over Tolkien, badly singing show tunes or playing dress-up with her kid and American Eskimo direwolf.
In her day-life Kara is a Naturopathic Physician, providing trauma-informed primary care medicine and medical management of eating disorders. She is also adjunct faculty at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine. When not at work or on the dance floor, Kara can be found geeking out over Tolkien, badly singing show tunes or playing dress-up with her kid and American Eskimo direwolf.
Though kicked out of dance classes as a kid for being too tall and uncoordinated, Sheila was undeterred. She loved to dance! After discovering lindy hop in 1998, Sheila spent many years traveling, teaching, and competing all over the U.S. In recent years, she has focused on the performance aspect, first joining vintage chorus girl groups in Chicago and Madison, and then, becoming a member of Sister Kate Dance Company in 2015. Sheila has contributed choreography to four Sister Kate shows and enjoys incorporating comedy and quirkiness into her routines. When she isn’t dancing, Sheila can be found in front of a classroom, playing music with her orchestra, hiking up a mountain, or taking way too many pictures of her cat.
Melissa fell in love with dance at the age of three where she began her dance journey. From that time on, no one could stop her from wanting to put on a performance. Melissa discovered the local swing dance in Tampa, Florida in 2005. She quickly became enamored with Lindy Hop, Balboa, and Vernacular Jazz. Since then, Melissa has been a member of three vintage chorus girl groups, three lindy hop teams, and one balboa team. She loves the collaboration and camaraderie that comes with working with a team.
As a new member of Sister Kate, she is thoroughly looking forward to what lies ahead. Melissa also enjoys a friendly competition and has fun competing with her husband, Matt, in Balboa. When she is not dancing, Melissa is a stay at home mom to her son, Alexander. She is also learning French and loves to travel and explore new cities with her family.
Yael has been dancing since she was able to stand by herself, bobbing in front of the living room stereo, and learned how to Charleston at age 6 from her grandfather - the dancer of the family. She has been a member of several dance troupes, performing in festivals around Israel, before joining the Tel Aviv swing dance community in 2010. Since moving to Seattle in 2017, she has been enjoying the city's bubbling cultural and culinary scenes, as well as relishing the local weather.
Andrea Groenink has been a member of the SKDC since 2018 but has been dancing since the age of four. Traditionally trained in ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical, Andrea has expanded her love of artistic movement to include swing dancing and vernacular jazz. Thank you, Sister Kate! When she is not dancing, Andrea is a wife and mama bear of two AMAZING humans, a vintage junkie, a seamstress, a Jane Austen enthusiast, pit bull mama, and an art, science, history and astrology obsessed human.
Katie Kihara has been dancing, teaching, competing, and performing jazz-era dances since 2007. She became a member of Sister Kate in 2011 and quickly fell in love with the performance of chorus girl-style jazz. She’s also co-owner of Swing It Seattle, spreading the love of lindy hop and solo jazz through swing dance classes & events.
Beyond dancing, you can find her working away at Katie Kihara Hair & Makeup. She’s currently in the process of getting her esthetician’s license. When not working, you can usually find her at the movies or drinking wine in the sunshine with her Pomeranian, Mario.
Meg always knew she wanted to dance, but because life is weird, she was finally able to begin pursuing Lindy Hop and vintage solo jazz in Los Angeles when she was 28. In 2010, she moved to Seattle and immediately immersed herself in the local Lindy Hop scene. Meg was thrilled to pieces when she became a member of Sister Kate in 2018. She is particularly proud of two specific Sister Kate moments: First, performing with Sister Kate for the very first time...32 weeks pregnant; second, being part of the amazing crew who took first place at Camp Hollywood 2019.
Bio coming soon!
Bio Coming Soon!
Gracie Greene joined the Sister Kate Dance Company in 2022 after a 4 year residency with the Atomic Cherry Bombs, a chorus girl group in Southern California. While she began her vernacular jazz journey in 2017, Gracie has over 20 years of ballet, tap, and hip hop dance experience in total.
She’s excited to continue her dance journey with this talented and welcoming group of jazz gals. When she isn’t on the dance floor, you can find her teaching spin classes, playing video games, or putting rhinestones on something.
Originally hailing from the city of wind and deep dish, Lizzy Jinkins has been a proud Seattleite for 7 years. At the tender age of 3 her artistic journey began while studying dance and languages; this love grew to include ballet, jazz, swing, ballroom, and eventually a BA in Theatre & French. When Lizzy isn't on the dance floor you will find her traveling, costuming, singing, acting, camping, or hiking with loved ones (both 2 and 4 legged).
Jen has produced, directed, and choreographed for multiple Sister Kate's shows. Drawing from her theater background, she loves to incorporate comedy and playfulness into Sister Kate's performances. When not dancing, she is often hamming it up with Annex Theatre, No Refunds Productions, Jet City Improv, and at her day job in online education. Jen also enjoys hiking, running, reading, and spending time with her cats and partner.
Theresa Manney has been a passionate member of the jazz dance community for over 10 years. She values musicality, quality of movement and social dance etiquette. You can catch Theresa dancing and teaching lindy hop, balboa, collegiate shag, st. louis shag, and solo jazz. When not dancing up a storm, you can catch her biking, bouldering, pole dancing, or playing with her sweet dog, Hondo.
Francesca Gigi is one of the newest additions to Sister Kate, joining in 2022. She has been dancing since her teen years, starting with ballet, modern and musical theater. She started dancing Lindy Hop after moving to Seattle from Italy in 2016 and fell in love with all vintage style dances.
She is stoked about the opportunity to join such a talented group of dancers and to have found a community even away from home.
Rachael was put into ballet at the age of three because she wouldn’t stop walking on her toes. She trained classically for most of her early life. She is new to the world of jazz and chorus girls but is so excited to learn and improve within the style. Her other interests include being in the woods, meeting new dogs, and reading cozy murder mystery novels. She still walks on her toes.
Alexis Chouery has been tapping her toes to music since she was a little kid. Her father introduced her to music by singing and playing the guitar for her as entertainment when she was a toddler and has been into dance ever since. In high school, she fell in love with belly dancing after visiting her roots on a trip to Cairo. In college, she discovered East Coast Swing and began spending her evenings Lindy Hopping at local venues (and sleeping through class in the morning.) A few years later, she joined Swing-a-majig, a local Lindy Hop dance team, and performed with them for a couple of years. She later spent time performing as a professional belly dancer in the Seattle area.
After a little hiatus from dancing, she is very excited to be performing and dancing again with Sister Kate! When Alexis is not dancing you can find her in the woods (hiking, Overlanding, backpacking, running, swimming and biking) or in her garden.
Bio Coming Soon!
Bio Coming Soon!