starstruck STAFF
Emily Suing, owner/director, instructor
Miss Emily is a native of Lincoln and has been dancing since the age of three. She has studied tap, ballet, jazz, pointe, hip hop, lyrical, modern, cheer and dance team. Emily has performed in Disneyland, Disney World, New York City and various other cities across the United States with an award winning dance troupe as well as with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dance Program. She has toured the country teaching dance conventions across the country. She graduated with honors and highest distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2003 with a BFA in Dance. A dance teacher since the age of 15, Emily's dream was to open a dance studio of her own. In September of 2003 realizing this dream, she opened Starstruck Dance Academy. In her spare time when she is not dancing, Emily enjoys volunteering her time on the Milkworks board of directors, being a member of P.E.O. and spending time with family and friends, traveling and going to concerts. Emily enjoys seeing her students succeed with self-confidence and sharing her love of dance with others in a positive learning environment. Emily is excited for year 21!
andi ahmed, instructor
Miss Andi enjoys teaching all ages and levels of hip hop. She has choreographed music videos for local artists, danced in the Discover Orange Bowl halftime show with the Goo Goo Dolls, and was selected to attend a musical theatre workshop with the touring cast of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical, ‘In the Heights.’ Hip Hop culture has had a huge impact on Miss Andi’s life for many years. Some of her favorite highlights from her dance career have been taking master classes with Laurie Ann Gibson, who has choreographed for Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, as well as JaQuel Knight, who choreographed Beyoncé’s, ‘Single Ladies.’ Miss. Andi is fluent in Hip Hop history, music, dance, and fashion. She is excited for another fun year at Starstruck!
michaela farley, instructor, STars performing team/nova stars coach
Miss Michaela, who is from Omaha, Nebraska, started dancing at age 5. She grew up taking classes in ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, lyrical and contemporary. While in high school, Miss. Michaela was part of the second company of American Midwest Ballet (formally known as Ballet Nebraska). She had the opportunity to train alongside the professional ballet company and dance in numerous ballet productions across Iowa and Nebraska. In college, Miss Michaela was on the Midland Warrior Wildfire competition team, where she competed in multiple dance team competitions, including three different collegiate dance team nationals, where the team placed in the top 3. She's also danced with the Omaha Beef Prime Dance Team for two seasons. Miss Michaela is currently the assistant dance team coach at Omaha Roncalli and works full-time at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
riley kinnan, instructor, assistant, recreational stars team coach
Miss Riley has been dancing at Starstruck since she was 3 years old. She loves every style of dance, but hip hop and tap are her favorite. She was a member of the Starstruck Competitive team for 11 years. Riley is a sophomore at UNL and is majoring in secondary education with an emphasis on science. Riley is a Type 1 Diabetic, who is a passionate JDRF advocate. Dancing momentarily takes Riley to a world free from T1D. She can't imagine her life without dance. Riley is excited to share her love of dance with her students again this year!
tamara vigil, instructor, assistant
Tamara has loved dance her entire life. It began when she made her high school dance team the "Pacers" at 16. During the summer, she toured with a Christian music group called The Continental Singers that sang and danced almost every night in a different city. When Tamara was 18, she danced and taught at The Dance Factory in North Platte. She was asked by her dance teacher, Becky Smith, to choreograph "Mame!" for the North Platte Community Theater. As a Vocal Performance major, she still made time for modern dance classes at UNL and UNO. Since then, Tamara has been working in coffee for the past 20 years. She started her own consulting business to help coffee shop owners and managers learn how to run the business. Watching her son, Felix, dance at Starstruck made her excited to get back to dance! Tamara is thrilled to be back on the Starstruck staff this year!
laura nettland, instructor, assistant
Born in Idaho Falls, Laura grew up in Columbus NE, and moved to Lincoln to attend college, Miss Laura took her first formal dance class at the age of 18 years. She has since studied ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, hip hop, pointe, clogging, Irish step dance and ceili, and Scottish country dance and Highland. In school she was a member of the gymnastics club and started to become involved with theatre in college. She attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a bachelor’s of Animal Science-Pre-veterinary course, and a minors in Theatre. Miss Laura was one of the founding members of the Lincoln Irish Dancers, serving in various positions on the board of directors including president and also worked as show coordinator for the performing team. Miss Laura became the organization’s dance instructor in the spring of 2013 and taught Irish dance classes, choreographed/created performance dances and organized dance shows and programs through the final 2022 season. Miss Laura has also been involved in Feis / Irish dance competitions, winning medals in Loveland CO, Oklahoma City, Kansas City and St. Louis. She has been taking classes with Starstruck since 2015. When she is not dancing, Miss Laura enjoys competing in masters track and field meets, traveling, camping and hiking, creating video projects and chilling with her many rescued and loved kitty-kids. Miss Laura loves sharing the joy of movement to music and her passion for Irish dance and is very excited and proud to begin her second year as an instructor with Starstruck Dance Academy.
Ashley kosmicki, instructor, stars performing team coach
Miss Ashley is from North Platte, Nebraska has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She has trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, tumbling, pointe, modern, and baton. She is currently a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying dance with a minor in entrepreneurship. This is her second year with Starstruck, and she is so excited to see what this year brings and cannot wait to share her love of dance with her students!
kaylene ford, instructor, assistant
Kaylene was born and raised in Lennox, South Dakota. She started dancing at age 6 with lyrical and tap. At age 8, Kaylene started competitively dancing. She has performed in pom, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and a little musical theater. Competitive dance has brought her many amazing opportunities and fun trips. She has danced at the Dance Worlds and Summit in Orlando, different competitions in Las Vegas and Denver, and during a Timberwolf’s halftime show. Kaylene was brought to Lincoln for school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to become a physician’s assistant. Kaylene is very excited to begin her second season at Starstruck and watch her dancers thrive.
chrissy ristow, front desk manager
Born a Husker from the start, Chrissy was raised in Bellevue, Nebraska. As a kid, she found her love for dance at the age of 5 years old, when she started taking a ballet class at Entenman’s Studio of Dance in Bellevue, Nebraska. From there, she studied ballet, pointe, jazz, and tap all of the way through high school and began assisting in teaching tap to younger students until she left for college in 1998 to Wayne State College. There, Chrissy continued dance lessons and helped teach youth camps for tap and ballet until she moved back to Omaha. Chrissy is married to Josh, and combined they have 5 children: Gina, Trevor, Alyssa, Caleb and Claire. Chrissy began working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a functional IT analyst/project manager in October 2015 and moved to Lincoln in February of 2020. Her family members are huge football fans, LOVE those Huskers! Chrissy has many hobbies: cooking, baking, crafting, sewing and of course dance. She loves the outdoors when it’s not freezing and spending time with her family.
janeth mendoza, instructor, assistant
Miss Janeth is a junior at Northwest high school. This is Janeth's 9th year dancing at Starstruck and 8th year on the competition team! She takes ballet, lyrical, jazz, tap, hip hop, clogging and technique classes. Her favorite style of dance is lyrical and hip hop. She looks forward to sharing her love and passion for dance as she teaches and assists classes this year !
Breanne cole, assistant
Miss Breanne is a junior at Lincoln Southwest High School, where she is on the Varsity Cheer team. Breanne has been dancing since she was 9 and has been on the competition team for 6 years. Her favorite styles of dance are Jazz and hip hop! Breanne can’t wait for another year of dancing and teaching here at Starstruck!
Kaitlyn Oberg, assistant
Miss Kaitlyn has been dancing at Starstruck since she was five years old. Her favorite styles of dance are ballet, pointe, and lyrical. She was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and is a sophomore at Northwest High School. She is on her high school dance team, the Flyers. Kaitlyn is looking forward to assisting and helping inspire young dancers to love and enjoy dance as much as she does!
haley Tatum, assistant
Miss Haley is excited to be starting her 13th year of dance at Starstruck! She just started her sophomore year at Southwest! She loves jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and technique classes and can’t wait to see some new faces this year !
Lauren Vorderstrasse, instructor, assistant, Nova Stars coach
Miss Lauren is a sophomore at Southeast Community College. Lauren danced for 15 years, 7 of those being competitive dance. She has taken classes in ballet, lyrical, jazz, pointe, and tap. This is her 5th year with Starstruck. Lauren is excited to share her love and passion for dance as she teaches classes and assists this year.
lillian rezac, assistant
Miss Lillian is a junior at Lincoln Southeast High School. She's been dancing since she was 3, and this is her third year on the Stars Performing team. Her favorite styles of dance are hip hop, jazz, and lyrical. She also enjoys ballet, tap, clogging, and contemporary. She can't wait to see everyone's wonderful faces in the studio!
Miss Skylar, instructor
Miss Skylar is from Omaha, Nebraska and started dancing at Dance Inspiration at the age of four. She has been trained in the styles of tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, hip-hop, lyrical, and clogging. She was an assistant teacher for tap and clogging at DI. She was a member of their competition clogging team, Nebraska Pride Cloggers/D.I Excite, as well as their Dance Company. She is attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study dance and fashion. Skylar is beyond excited to start teaching at Starstruck this season and is grateful to have the opportunity to pass her love of dance onto her students!
Miss meg, assistant, instructor
Meg grew up as an only child in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. She attended Lourdes in Nebraska City for high school and is attending UNL majoring in elementary education/ early childhood. Her goal is to become a kindergarten or first grade teacher. Meg loves kids, and has a lot of experiences working with them! Meg has danced since she was three and created a dance camp at her high school for elementary girls and they danced at a halftime boys basketball game! Meg also started a dance team at her high school and it has been growing every year since. They got runner-up at state this last spring! On top of being an elementary teacher, Meg also wants to continue teaching dance! She is excited to share that passion with her dancers!
Miss sydney, instructor
Miss Sydney has been dancing since she was 2. She grew up in Chaska, MN dancing at The Dance Warehouse and on the Chanhassen Dance Team, where she was a senior captain, 4 year varsity member and on the choreography committee for 2 years. Sydney has also been recognized as Just for Kix’s “Most Outstanding Dancer”, “Most Valuable Dancer” on her dance team, and she is a DX National Winner. Sydney is now a freshmen at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she is studying nursing. Sydney’s favorite styles of dance are jazz and lyrical but she has trained in every style. Sydney is excited to continue her dance career as a teacher here at Starstruck.
Miss Ariel, teacher
Miss Ariel is from Randolph Nebraska, and is a sophomore at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln studying interior design. Ariel danced for 10 years, 7 of those being competitive dance. She took classes in tap, clogging, hip-hop, jazz, and pom. Ariel was also on her high school dance team that won four state championships while she was there. Dance gave her a new sense of confidence and helped her become a social person. Ariel is so excited for her first year at Starstuck and can’t wait to share her love of dance with others!