Randazzo Dance Studio

Sara Randazzo

Sara has a rich and varied career in dance including performing, choreographing, directing, producing and teaching. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Michigan State

University and an Associate Degree in Health Sciences from Washtenaw Community College She received her Physical Therapist Assistant licensure in 2012. Most recently she has had the opportunity to assist Heather Southwick, PT at the Boston Ballet learning about the unique injuries and preventative interventions for dancers. 

Sara is a STOTT certified Pilates instructor in Mat and Reformer and uses Pilates to help the dancers to prevent injury and promote postural alignment.

Sara holds her Cecchetti teaching certificates for grades I-III. 

Sara has studied Jazz/Tap intensively for the past 20 years in Chicago, and New York with many great teachers including Brenda Bufalino, Sam Weber, Josh Hilberman, Billy Siegenfeld (Jump Rhythm Jazz Technique), Ed Kresley (Broadway Jazz). 

Sara has choreographed for several dance companies including the Performing Arts Dance Theatre in Howell, Company Dance Traverse in Traverse City, Dance Arts of Chelsea, and the Ypsilanti Area Dancers. She spent the 2002-2003 academic year developing a Movement Physical Education program for the Ypsilanti Public School District. She is currently on faculty for the Dance Arts of Chelsea, the Department of Music, Theater and Dance at the University of Michigan and Randazzo Dance. 

Sara is the founder and director of Sole Full of Rhythm Tap Ensemble. (www.solefullofrhythm.com) The Ensemble tours schools, performs at festivals and produces annual Jazz concerts with live musicians, promoting Jazz/Tap as a uniquely American art form. 

Since 2013, Sara is the Artistic Director of Randazzo Dance Company (formerly Ypsilanti Area Dancers) (www.randazzodancecompany.com) 

Heidi Vitso

Heidi started her dance career at State Ballet of Rhode Island performing in Ballets such as Giselle, Coppelia and Romeo and Juliet under the direction of Myles and Herci

Marsden. She continued her dance education at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts studying Dance and Art Therapy while performing with the Dean College Modern Dance Company under the direction of Joan Palladino.

After her formal schooling she moved to Trondheim, Norway where she was soloist for Release Modern Jazz Dance Company. After returning to the United States, she performed as guest dancer for several companies, taught Aerobics and private dance classes.

She joined the faculty of Randazzo Dance in 1994 and was trained extensively by Marjorie Randazzo. She has earned her Cecchetti teaching certificates in grades I-V and is currently continuing her studies through the Professional Level.

In 2002, Heidi became partner of Randazzo Dance and is the Director of the ballet program.

Heidi is the former Artistic Director of the Ypsilanti Area Dancers (now Randazzo Dance Company) where she was responsible for many ballet performances from 2003 to 2013.

She is a full board member for the General Board of the Cecchetti Council of America. Currently, Heidi is directing the Ballet, Modern and Cecchetti program at Randazzo Dance. 

Roya Panahi

Roya has studied ballet, jazz and tap with Marjorie and Sara Randazzo at Randazzo Dance and ballet with Wendi Alger at the University of Michigan. Additional ballet

training consists of summer study at the National Academy of the Arts, Southwest Ballet Center, Ellis-DuBoulay School of Ballet, Lou Conte Dance Studio, and Marygrove College.

She has performed with the Ypsilanti Area Dancers, Ballet Repertory in Ann Arbor, and

the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre. Roya has been an instructor at Randazzo Dance for many years. She has also choreographed for Randazzo Dance Company (formerly Ypsilanti Area Dancers), and served as Directors Assistant. Roya has received her M.A. degree in Clinical Psychology and a Specialist degree in School Psychology from the University of Detroit Mercy. As a psychologist she has researched the benefits of dance on the self-concepts of young children. Currently, Roya teaches pre- ballet and ballet for Randazzo Dance as well as ballet performance for the Ypsilanti Area Dancers. She also serves

as Directors Assistant for the Ypsilanti Area Dancers. 

Rebecca McCarthy

Rebecca began her training at the age of 10 at Randazzo Dance Studio. She studied French and dance performance at Oakland University and Eastern Michigan University where she received her degree. She has trained, traveled and performed with the former Rustic Groove and People Dancing companies under the direction of Matt Farmer, Kristen Farmer, Shauna Steele and Christina Sears. Rebecca has been teaching for 9 years and holds her Cecchetti Council of America teacher certification through Grade V. Currently, Rebecca lives in Ypsi with her husband and daughter (a.k.a. the cutest little future ballerina).

January Provenzola

January studied ballet, jazz and modern in the Ann Arbor area for the majority of her life and is a graduate of the University of Michigan Dance Department. In addition to a love of dance, January is heavily involved as a performer and choreographer in local theatre. 

Christine Sampier

Christine started dancing at the age of 4 at Randazzo Dance Studio. She started with ballet and then began taking jazz and tap later on. She has performed in numerous Nutcracker performances, at Heritage Festivals, the Ann Arbor Art Fair and Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti.  She was even selected as a supernumerary for ABT's Sleeping Beauty in 2016. 

In Community High's Dance Body, she learned modern dance and began choreographing all styles of dance for the group. She continued dancing at Washtenaw Community College with Noonie Anderson and Gayle Martin and was able to produce, direct and choreograph a new adaptation of The Nutcracker, called Neo Nutcracker, that included all styles of dance for all performers. 

Christine has had the pleasure of dancing with Ypsilanti Area Dancers, Patchwerk Dance Troupe, Dance 4 Unity, Rare Paragon Gems and Factory Dance Co.  She has taken master classes with Ed Kressley, Peter Sparling, Peter Kentis and Jefferson Baum and is currently working with Laura McCarthy for her Cecchetti Teacher Exams. 

Julian Gonzalez

Julian has been dancing with Randazzo Dance Studio since 2013, taking tap and hip hop primarily. He has since performed with Sole Full of Rhythm as a member, University of Michigan’s Caroline or Change, Penny Seats production of Summer of Love, and RDC 2019 Nutcracker. Julian has competed at several competitions, achieving High Gold awards for hip hop duet.

Julian has been working on choreography for tap and hip hop while under the tutelage of Sara Randazzo and Christie Sampier, also assisting them in their classes since fall of 2018. He also teaches swimming to young children at Goldfish Swim School in Ann Arbor.

Stella Rodriguez

Stella has a lifelong love for dance that began in childhood at Randazzo Dance Studio! As a member of the Randazzo family she is steeped in history, carrying on the legacy left before her by Marjorie Randazzo. During the week, you can find her teaching at Ann Arbor Open in a 1st/2nd grade classroom! 

While teaching she aims to nurture not just your tap skills but also a deep appreciation for rhythm, movement, and self-expression. Dancing to fun music is her absolute favorite, and she can't wait to groove to the beat with you as we embark on this exciting dance journey together. Let's make every step count!

Lilly Kirschenmann

Lilly Kirschenmann is a junior in high school. It is her first year working at Randazzo, but has danced with them since she was 4 years old. Along with dancing, she plays cello in her rare free time.

Alexa Hendricks

Alexa studied jazz, ballet, and lyrical at Studio 3 Performing Arts Center in Ann Arbor, MI, since 2012. She was a member of her studio’s competition dance team until graduating in 2020.

Alexa attended Saginaw Valley State University and received her Bachelor of Arts in 2023. During her time at university, Alexa was a member of the SVSU Dance Team, where she trained in jazz, hip hop, and pom.

Kate Player

Kate Player is currently a sophomore Musical Theatre major at the University of Michigan. As a North Carolina native, she graduated from the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for both contemporary dance and drama in 2023. Coming from a classically trained background, Kate has been dancing and choreographing for thirteen years. She has been teaching private lessons for over five years and most recently worked as adjunct faculty at Dancers Edge. Her regional theatre credits include the Little Mermaid at Opera House Theatre Company and Oklahoma at the Encore Musical Theatre Company.  As a teacher, Kate strives to emphasize the importance of storytelling in combination with clean technique.

Reeves DeVoe

Reeves DeVoe studied dance therapy at Eastern Michigan University, where he became acquainted with the Ballet Chelsea Adaptive Movement program. From which he has worked in many schools, centers and programs in and around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. These movement classes are for people of all ages and ranges of mobility. In addition to adaptive movement and studio work, Reeves has performed in the Detroit Dance Collective, Koresh Dance Festival in Philadelphia, DUMBO dance festival in New York, Ballet Chelsea’s winter Nutcracker, Eastern Michigan’s Seasonal Ballet and facility concerts, Moving 24FPS Video dance competition, and many more performances around Detroit, and Chicago. Now In days Reeves likes to choreograph for competition teams, and create new and fun ways to get people moving!

Audrey Waugh

Audrey has been dancing for 17 years, which includes training from the Randazzo Dance Studio, Cecchetti Council of America, and American Ballet Theatre.

She has choreographed for Ann Arbor Civic Theatre’s production of “We Will Rock You” and Rose Above Theater’s production of “Pippin”. She was the dance captain and appeared on stage as Marianne in “Disaster! The Musical” with Dexter Community Players. She has also recently played Francine Valli and featured dancer in “Jersey Boys” with Spotlight Players, and was a featured dancer in “SpongeBob: The Musical” with Horizon Players.