Meet The Faculty And Staff At Musical Feet

Jeanette Frame, Founder & Director, is the local master of tap dance. She has been teaching, directing, and choreographing tap dance to students since 1977. Beginning her tap studies at the age of 5 with Portland's Emery Clay, she also studied extensively with veteran tap dancers Honi Coles, Eleanor Borg, and Brenda Bufalino, as well as many others.

See more details about her on our "Meet Our Director" page.

Erin Riley -Ballet, Pre-Ballet & Jazz

Her dance training began at the age of four at the Eugene School of Ballet. She continued her training there until the age of fourteen where she was an advanced student performing in several professional productions with the Eugene Ballet Company. Erin performed in her student capacity in Swan Lake, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, Alice in Wonderland and The Nutcracker. Erin continued her classical and modern dance training at Lane Community College under the guidance of Mary Seereiter, Kymberly Fleming and Bonnie Simoa. While at LCC, she received awards for outstanding student performer and was a recipient of a Talent Grant in the Performing Arts Department. Upon transferring to the University of Oregon, Erin continued her training with such notable professors as Dr. Stephen Chatfield, Sherri Barr, Amy Lynn Stoddart, Walter Kennedy, Kimberly Christenson, Rita Honka and Susan Zadoff. At U of O she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dance. Erin was also a member of U of O's Repertory Dance Company for two years, performing works at the area high schools and quarterly performances at Dougherty Dance Theater. Erin enjoyed studying all genres of dance and became very interested in dance production. To date, she has helped produce many successful dance performances at the U of O, LCC, The Hult Center for Performing Arts and the annual benefit dance concert, Dance for a Reason.

Erin Lee - Tap

Erin got her start here at Musical Feet at the age of eight, where she studied with Jeanette Frame and learned the styles of Honi Coles, Brenda Bufalino, Dianne Walker, and many more. Erin immediately fell in love with
the art form, moving up fast in Musical Feet’s well rounded program and was given many opportunities to enhance her skills as a tap dancer and performer. Later, Erin began teaching in the Portland area making a strong
impact on the tap community while winning many choreography awards and recognitions with her daring and innovative stylistic approach. At the same time she was invited to be a company member for 3 consecutive years in Jeanette Frame’s “The Tap Upstarts”. Erin has traveled the country studying with some of the greats such as Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Van Porter, Ted Levy, Robert Reed, Jimmy Slyde, Acia Gray, Savion Glover, and the late Leonard Reed.

In 2002, Erin apprenticed Rhapsody In Taps (a California based Tap Company).While there she studied with Jason Samuels Smith (2004 Emmy Award Winner), Chance Taylor (from the movie TAP), and performed with other tap companies and artists in the area. Erin won the Rhapsody In Taps Choreography Award for outstanding breakthrough choreography two years in a row at Orange Coast College and was invited to perform a piece at LA’s 2004 National Tap Dance Day Celebration. Since then, Erin has opened her own studio in Portland, has began working with Soul Salad and Broadfunk Music, has began her own tap company VU (Voices Unheard) and is excited to bring all that she has learned and experienced back to MUICAL FEET, the place where it all began. Erin brings energy, discipline, passion, and most of all, FUN to all the classes she teaches and can’t wait to give back to a dance program that gave so much to her. “Let’s enjoy the love the dance….”

Kirsten Garrett - Ballet, Jazz & Tap

Kirsten began her dance training at the age of three with the Aurora Dance Arts center in Colorado. At the age of seven, she started taking ballet and tap classes at one of the most respected ballet schools in the US, Nevada Ballet Theatre. It was there that Kirsten found her love for dance. She has performed in numerous ballets, including work as a corps de ballet dancer with the Nevada Ballet Theatre Company, and she has appeared in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Hansel and Gretel, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Etudes, and Giselle. Kirsten's dancing has also allowed her to travel to some of the most highly regarded ballet schools for summer dance camps. She was one of very few students chosen to attend Long Beach Ballet Camp, Milwaukee Ballet School Camp, The American Ballet Theatre Camp, and Boston Ballet Summer Dance Camp Lab. Traveling all over the country for her dance has also allowed Kirsten to take master classes with world-renowned dancers, such as Gelsey Kirkland, Laura Young, Mark Bush, David Wilcox, and Fernando Bujones.

While at the Nevada Ballet Theatre, Kirsten was awarded a $200,000 Liberace Scholarship, which is only awarded to one student per year. Along with her ballet training, Kirsten has also been trained in tap, jazz, modern, and musical theatre. Kirsten is now a student at the University of Oregon, where she will continue with her dance training. Kirsten is excited to be a part of the Musical Feet staff, where she is teaching ballet, tap, and jazz.

Kate Cornwall - Tap

In her own words: I first discovered the art of tap when I was 4 years old in my hometown of Spokane, WA. The studio I grew up at, Bleker’s School of Dance, gave me a strong background in tap as well as jazz, and lyrical. I began teaching there when I was 14 years old and continued until I graduated in 2004. That is when I moved to Eugene to study dance at the University of Oregon. In an attempt to find good tap around the area, I found Jeanette and Musical Feet. A short time later, I transferred to Orange Coast College in southern California to further explore dance. The tap, modern, jazz, ballet, and choreography were wonderful, but I began to miss the northwest. I decided it was time to return to the University of Oregon, and Musical Feet. Between my background, studies in college, and experiences at conventions, I have learned many forms of dance. Though tap continues to be my focus, I also enjoy hip hop, modern, lyrical, jazz, and African. These are also the forms in which I love to teach. I am thrilled to be back in Eugene and teaching. I take pride in seeing my students succeed and love to share the gift of dance with anyone who is interested in learning.

Bekki Chelminiak - Jazz & Hip Hop

Bekki has recently moved to Eugene from Madison, Wisconsin where she received her bachelor’s degree in dance while studying on scholarship at the University of Wisconsin. Rebecca began her training at a young age and has studied numerous styles of dance with teachers from throughout the United States including the Gus Giordano Dance Center in Chicago, Illinois. She has performed with Jin-Wen Yu Dance Company, TriPolar Dance Company, Dance International in Sydney, Australia and has choreographed and performed for numerous other university and community productions. While in Wisconsin Rebecca taught for private studios, workshops, public school camps and non-profit organizations. She is very excited to be in the Northwest and to be teaching here!

Jason Olson - Ballroom & Salsa

Two years ago Jason was working 50 to 60 hours a week and decided he needed to have some fun if he was going to be working so much. One evening, after being stood up on a date, he decided to attend a local ballroom dance. He instantly fell in love with dancing and immediately signed up for private lessons. In February of 2005 Jason decided to take his dancing to the next level as he enrolled in a local branch of The Ballroom Dance Teachers College based in San Francisco, Ca. This intensive and extremely technical training accelerated his dancing ability and gave him the necessary skills for teaching both the lead and follow. Last May Jason participated in the DVIDA professional teaching exam process and passed with High Honors. Recently he has explored ballet and modern dance as he continues to train and teach ballroom. His students have remarked that he is very patient and makes the steps easy to learn.

Samatha Ketcherside - Hip Hop, Jazz & Ballet

Samantha Ketcherside is a Dance major at the University of Oregon. She has studied many forms of dance but her favorites are Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, and Modern. She has performed her own works at the Students works at LCC and alongside “Zapp” as a member of a company that is now known as “the Foundation”. She was a member of the Lane Dance Co in ’05 ’06 and she will be in a piece called “Puss in Boots” In Ballet Fantastique’s upcoming performance.

Sara Strite - Tap, Hip Hop, Dance Team

Sara Strite began her dance training at the age of three when her Mother enrolled her in a ballet class (Maddox Dance Studio). She decided she liked dancing so much when she was five years old, she begged her Mom to let her take tap and jazz as well. Sara’s parents gave her many opportunities by allowing her to travel all over the US for her dance. Sara has attended summer intensives since fifth grade including: Summer Dance Lab, Vail International Dance Festival, American Academy of Ballet, The Jillana School of Ballet, The Joffery School in NYC, Oregon Ballet Theatre. Also Sara got the opportunity to take from Barbara Remington for five years at Stite’s Performing Arts Center in Gresham. Her senior year of high school she was given the opportunity to attend Arts and Communication Magnet Academy where her focus was dance and she was a company member of Dance West. She is now attending the University of Oregon majoring in Education. She is also a member of the University of Oregon Dance Team where she is a third year member and captain for the ’06-’07 season. Sara’s favorite quote is “believe in yourself and all things are possible.”

Keelie Allen - Tap, Hip Hop, Dance Team, TJB

Keelie has been dancing for 16 years, studying all areas of dance, including: tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, modern and African. She started out strictly training in ballet for the first 5 years and then joined a performing company at the Lake Oswego Academy of dance and was there for 8 years. All four years of high school she was on the Lake Oswego Laker Dance Team. During two of those years, the team won the OSAA state championship. Keelie attended the University of Montana for her freshman year of college and was on the UM dance team where she cheered on the Griz! She is now attending the University of Oregon studying for a degree in Journalism. She is a member of the U of O Dance team. When she isn't dancing, Keelie's second passion lies on the slopes. Skiing has also been a major part of her life since she was 18 months old! "When I'm dancing or skiing is when I am the most free." Keelie is a fun outgoing person who has a strong passion for dance. Her goal is to spread her love and passion for dance to all of her students and to help them develop self-confidence. "I like to make class fun for everyone. I want to get to know each and every student well so that I can choreograph dances that will fit every student perfectly!" Keelie incorporates many different learning strategies for her students. "I find they learn the best when they don't realize that they are learning! " Goals are a big part of her classes, "I want my students to see themselves improving; the best way for that is to have them make year-long goals."