Our Story:
In 2004, Livermore School of Dance was created by Liz Roberts and Shelly Schoendienst in Livermore, California. Their dream was to create a place where dancers of all ages could come and dance and feel great about themselves. It has always been our studio’s primary goal to build self-confidence in all our dancers while teaching them proper technique in a safe and comforting environment. We offer classes for dancers ages 1 ½ through adult from the beginning through advanced levels in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, modern and improv, musical theater, tap, floor barre, tumbling, and creative movement. Our studio is noncompetitive and offers multiple performance opportunities a year. Almost 20 years later, Liz and Shelly have finally taken their much-deserved retirement and Brittany Lee, one of their first students, is the owner and director. Livermore School of Dance is proud to continue providing a supportive and nurturing environment for our dancers to grow and learn. We hope that every time a dancer walks out of our studio door, they have a smile on their face!
Our Team:
Brittany (Bond-Braatz) Lee
Director and Owner
Brittany began dancing at the age of four after watching the San Francisco Ballet’s “Nutcracker.” Determined to be part of her own performances, Brittany started taking dance classes beginning in ballet but expanding to include modern, jazz, lyrical, improv, musical theater, contemporary, and tap. Brittany was one of Livermore School of Dance’s first students, and she soon fell in love with the supportive environment and dance family that Liz Roberts and Shelly Schoendienst created. Unable to give up on her passion after graduating high school, Brittany majored in English and Dance at San José State University. She was a part of SJSU’s contemporary dance company, UDT (University Dance Theater) and went on to earn her BFA in Dance, as well as the award of “Outstanding Graduating Senior.” Brittany also began teaching at LSOD and discovered her true love and passion for it. Brittany is honored to be able to continue Liz and Shelly’s legacy by providing a nurturing environment for the next generation of dancers at Livermore School of Dance!
Megan Blatt
Megan (Bahr) Blatt started dancing at the age of 11. Inspired by watching The Nutcracker, she fell in love with ballet and immediately started training at Livermore School of Dance. As a student at LSOD, Megan earned two solo roles. She also danced in six seasons with Le Tableau Magnifique ballet company in which she had the honor of being the Snow Queen in 2017. In addition to LSOD, she participated in summer intensives with City Ballet San Francisco and Diablo Ballet School and spent a full year training with Diablo Ballet School. After graduating high school in 2016, Megan continued dancing at LSOD while obtaining three AA degrees at Las Positas College. She has enjoyed helping kids since she was 12, such as assisting with ballet classes, babysitting, volunteering in the community, and working as a teacher’s aide at a private school. Recently, her husband introduced her to country line and swing dancing, which has become a hobby of theirs. Megan is a firm believer that it is never too late to start a new skill.
She is so excited to continue to share her knowledge and passion for ballet with her students.
Chalayna Bergh
Chalayna Bergh - Chalayna began dancing at the age of 4 and performed in tap and ballet. Then at 11 years old, she went back to studio dance. Chalayna has trained in jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary and hip hop, and has competed in several dance competitions. Her team even appeared on the show Dance Moms with Abby Lee Miller’s team. Chalayna received second place overall for her solo at KAR Nationals. When she began high school, Chalayna decided she wanted to join the LHS dance team, and made varsity her freshman year. During her 4 years on the dance team she mainly performed in jazz, pom and hip hop. For her junior year Chalayna was team choreographer. In her senior year of high school she was named team captain where Chalyana led, choreographed, and taught several routines. After graduating in 2020 she started her education at Las Positas college majoring in Child and Adolescent Development, and also worked at a preschool as an assistant teacher. Chalayna had a baby in 2022 and decided to stay home with her son for his first 10 months before receiving her Associates Degree in 2023. Dance has always been Chalayna’s passion and she knew she wanted to start teaching again. She is excited to be teaching at Livermore School of Dance.
Alaina Braatz
Alaina Braatz - Alaina Braatz began dancing ballet at the age of 3. At the age of 8, she added classes in tap & jazz to her repertoire. Alaina was one of Livermore School of Dance’s founding students in their opening year of 2004. Throughout the years, Alaina has also studied hip hop, acrobatics, modern, and contemporary dance. In 2011, Alaina transitioned from dance student to dance instructor and discovered her love for teaching. She took a brief hiatus from dancing to pursue one of her other passions, firefighting. Her favorite role at Livermore School of Dance was her solo as “The Beast” in Beauty & The Beast in 2009. Alaina is so very excited to be coming back as a teacher at LSoD!
Nadia Braatz
Nadia Braatz started dancing at two and a half years old. She fell in love with dance after sitting in the lobby watching her older siblings take classes. She has trained in a variety of styles, including ballet, modern, jazz, tumbling, contemporary, and hip hop. She began assisting at 12 years old. At just 15, she was accepted into CSSA’s prestigious summer dance program where she was trained in Horton and Limon modern dance. At the end of the program, Nadia’s choreographed piece was one of two pieces selected to be showcased at the end of the program recital. She has also performed as a guest dancer for DVC Dance company in San Jose. Highlights of Nadia’s dance experience include being Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. Nadia is incredibly grateful for LSOD.
Jordan Higby
Jordan Higby began dancing at the age of 6. For nearly 18 years, she has been a part of LSOD and has loved every second of it! In her years as a student, she was able to perform a myriad of solo roles, some of which include: The Mad Hatter (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 2015), The Baker’s Wife (Into The Woods 2016), Peter Pan (Return to Neverland 2016), and The Goblin (The Snow Queen 2018). After graduating high school in 2016, Jordan took a gap year, during which she explored new employment opportunities, and kept up a rigorous ballet training routine weekly. In 2017 she enrolled at Contra Costa Medical Career College as a phlebotomy technician student where she graduated with her certification and licensure in phlebotomy in 2018, while continuing to dance in the evenings after
commuting home. After completing her phlebotomy training, she began her general education at Las Positas College in 2018. After accumulating 60 units, she transferred to California Baptist University (CBU) in 2020. She graduated in 2022 with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication Studies, graduating with honors. She plans to go back to school in the near future to attain a Masters of Arts in Strategic Communications with the goal of working in the field of Child Welfare. Jordan is grateful to be where she is now, living out a dream she’s had since she was a young girl: teaching ballet and sharing her passion for this beautiful art to the next generation of dancers.
Gabrielle Ivey
Gabrielle Ivey started dancing at the age of 10 in Central Florida. She received her core ballet training from former Joffrey, Kirov, Orlando, and Dance Alive National Ballet dancers. While highly focused in ballet, Mrs. Ivey rounded out her studies through modern, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, and tap training at her home studio. Her proudest achievement in her thirteen years of training was acceptance to The Ailey School’s Professional Division Certificate Program in New York City. There, Mrs. Ivey studied ballet, Horton, Graham, jazz, tap, and West African techniques under the direction of world class instructors. Returning home from NYC, Mrs. Ivey danced professionally as a soloist in Dawn Branch Works, a modern ballet company in Orlando, Florida.
Mrs. Ivey has over ten years of experience teaching a variety of dance techniques, including ballet, modern, lyrical, tap, jazz, and creative movement. Some of her most recent students have accepted invitations to Point Park University, The Julliard School, and Nashville Ballet II. Mrs. Ivey strives to provide a supportive learning environment where students feel empowered to grow, learn, and pursue their dreams.
Brenna Richards
Brenna Richards began dancing in 1988 at Pam Gibson’s Dance Studio in Pleasanton, CA. During her time at Pam Gibsons she had the privilege of taking tap, jazz, and ballet lessons. Brenna participated in competitive dance for thirteen years, earning 1st place at many State and National dance competitions. She took ballet lessons as Valley Dance Theatre for 15 years, dancing in many Nutcrackers as Spanish Chocolate. Her favorite style of dance was always and remains to be tap dance. She started teaching and choreographing in 2001, in which she discovered her deepest passion within dance. Since then attended teaching seminars at Tremaine, Pactific Northwest Ballet Company, and Dance Teachers Summit. She continues to grow and expand her dance teaching and tap dance skills on a regular basis. Brenna believes that dance teaches kids of all ages invaluable life skills like perseverance, dedication and discipline.
Derek Sakakura
Derek Sakakura is a 20 yr professional dance veteran whose career stops include: the Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Met, Ballet Austin, Diablo Ballet, SF Opera Ballet, and Menlowe Ballet. During his career, he has been a part of the cast of the Broadway National Tour of “The King and I” and has played Bernardo in Woodminster Theater’s Equity production of “A West Side Story.” Teaching has been a natural extension of Mr. Sakakura’s love of dance for the past 30 years. Having trained at San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, and with numerous coaches in New York, his teaching philosophy is, “Be the teacher you always wish you had.” Recent students have been accepted to Juilliard, NYU, and North Carolina School of the Arts.
Chloe Shapiro
Chloe Shapiro - Bio coming soon!
LaTonya Watts
LaTonya Watts has worked with several famous directors and choreographers to pursue her passion. She has directed and choreographed many theatrical performances for some of the Bay Area’s popular theatrical companies. Her work includes: Taming of the Shrew; Romeo & Juliet; The Wiz; Grease; Pippin; Oedipus; Cinderella; Macbeth; Dreamgirls; Blackballin; Once Upon This Island, Chicago (2011 SFBATCC and Shellie Awards nominee for Best Choreographer); West Side Story; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Hairspray; Life Could be a Dream; 9 to 5; Rent; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; The Robber Bridegroom; Night of January 16th; A Trip Down Broadway (2016 Shellie Award winner for Best Choreographer); Aladdin; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Arsenic and Old Lace; Urinetown, the Musical; Rumors; You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Moon Over Buffalo (2018 Shellie Award winner for Best Director); The 1940s Radio Hour; Lend Me a Tenor; Once Upon a Mattress; The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Zombie Prom; The Savannah Sipping Society, School House Rock, jr., Young Frankenstein, Freaky Friday, A Raisin in the Sun, Fences, Dreamgirls, Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits and Annie Jr.. She was a recipient of the 2018 Women of Distinction Award from the Soroptimist International Organization and in 2022, she was inducted into the Pittsburg California Entertainment and Arts Hall of Fame.
Michelle Wolfe
Michelle Wolfe is a Bay Area native and received much of her ballet training in Hayward. Ballet has always been the primary art form which has shaped her life. Ballet motivated her to earn a Bachelors of Art at San José State University in Dance, 2007. This degree helped her focus on exploring ballet primarily, but increased her experience in many dance forms modern, jazz, tap, Bharatnatyam (classical Indian dance), Vintage Dance from 1700 through the 1900 and musical theater. While studying at SJSU Michelle had the privilege being taught by Gary Masters in ballet and modern. Masters was a company danseur under the leadership of José Limόn, the famous modern choreographer. In addition to Masters influential teaching Fred Mathews ahead of the SJSU Dance department in 2007 taught Michelle in choreography. Mathews intense curriculum developed skills in contact improvisation, choreographic phrasing-beginning, middle & end as well as developing one’s personal voice in choreography.
College experience & in house studio teaching is different but it has propelled Michelle in 20 + years of teaching. Michelle has taught at various different studios throughout the Central Valley and Bay Area. Michelle has had the opportunity of choreographing and performing for the Children’s Dance Theater in Tracy for their Nutcracker 2007-2012, adjudicating at Valley Dance Theater in Livermore for various roles in the Nutcracker 2015-2018, leading Pas De Dux classes for ballet partnering, teaching contemporary classes, baby combo classes and every level of ballet class from ballet 1 through adult ballet not forgetting pointe classes as well.
Highlights of her life would be husband Levi, 2 daughters Priel & Natania.