Co-Owners

Jason Danieli was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He moved to Maine with his family in 1980 and remained there until he graduated from Gray-New Gloucester HS in 1989. One year later, he joined the United States Air Force, where he would travel throughout the continental United States and eventually Europe.  Jason started his career as a Medical Logistician working in the many military hospitals around the world. In 1993, while stationed at Griffiss AFB, NY, he met the love of his life, Sheri.  Sheri was born and raised in West Windfield, NY.  After High School, Sheri went on to study dental Hygiene and graduated with high honors from Onondaga, College, NY.  The two of them married later, while he was stationed at Hanscom AFB, MA in 1996.
Jason and Sheri later moved to Colorado when he was selected for assignment to the United States Air Force Academy in 1999.  On August 8th, Sheri gave birth to their beautiful dancer-to-be, daughter, Maria Renee. While attending night school, Jason earned both his Associates in Logistics Management and a Bachelors of Science in Information Systems in 2001.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jason volunteered to augment the Security Forces Squadron at the United States Air Force Academy for two years. Later in 2003, Jason applied and was accepted to switch his career field to what he considered to be his “dream” job; Space Operations.  He was re-assigned to Schriever AFB, CO, where he completed his training in the 4th Space Operations Squadron and earned his Associates in Space Technologies. He served on active duty until late 2004, where he transitioned to the Air Force Reserves.

Since 2005, Jason has been working both as a reservist and a government contractor employed by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. In 2006, he graduated from the Academy of Military Science and was pinned a 2nd Lieutenant. To date, Jason has served over 22.5 years in the military and is still active in the USAFR.  During all of Jason’s mililtary-civilian transitions, Sheri has been working passionally in the field of dentistry for nearly 22 years.  She practices today at Springs Dental Care just a few miles from their home.  When she is not practicing dentistry, you are most likely to catch her at the studio. 

Over the past nine years, Jason and Sheri have been captivated by the art of dance through their daughter Maria, her dancemates and teachers.  ”We are truly blessed by how our family’s  involvement in dance has enhanced our lives.”   We hope you will come visit us at Revolution Dance Academy!  ~Jason, Sheri and Maria

Artistic Director/Co-Owner
Ballet, Youth and Junior Jazz Ensemble Director/Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Combo Instructor

Antonia Freehling is a certified dance instructor in ballet and jazz through Dance Educators of America. “Miss Toni” has been instructing dance since the age of 16, and studying dance since the age of four. Toni grew up dancing in Colorado Springs training in ballet, pointe, tap and jazz with teachers that included Barbara Benish, Esther Geoffrey, and Barbara Ellis. Patricia Dickenson, Valerie Roche, Rozanne David, Juan Sanchez and Patsy Swayze are a few of the master teachers that Toni has had the pleasure to learn from. After being an assistant to her teacher Barbara Benish, Toni began instructing and choreographing for her own classes at Benish Dance Express in 1990.

Toni graduated from Creighton University, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Physiology and a minor in dance education. At Creighton, Toni studied the Royal Academy of Ballet syllabus under the acclaimed Valerie Roche. Toni also enjoyed studying modern and tap in Creighton’s dance program. Toni gained experience with competitive choreography while at Creighton as the captain of the dance team. She performed, choreographed and inspired the team leading them to many awards at the Division I National level, including a national title.
Since 2003, Miss Toni has been instructing and choreographing for ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, Broadway, and combination classes for preschoolers. At regional and national competitions, Toni’s students and groups have achieved top awards. Toni continues to study dance of all styles, yearly attending workshops for teachers. Toni has continued to train with excellent teachers and loves being a life-long student of dance.

Toni brings an extensive knowledge of dance technique, anatomy and physiology to her classroom. Encouraging her students to understand their bodies and make the connections between anatomy and technique. Toni also enjoys teaching classes on nutrition and body awareness.

Miss Toni is passionate about teaching dance and inspiring the love of dance in people of all ages and abilities.

 Co-Owner

Rick Freehling was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended Regis Jesuit High School, where he played football and baseball, and earned all-conference and all-state honors respectively and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds. Rick elected to not sign with Cincinnati and went on to play baseball for Creighton University and earned his BS in Business Administration. During his career at Creighton, Rick was elected to all-conference teams all four years and had the honor of playing in the College World Series, which in 1991 Creighton finished 3rd in the country. At Creighton, he currently holds three records (hits, triples, and games played) and is ranked in the top ten in seven other offensive categories. Rick was inducted into Creighton’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. The Florida Marlins drafted Rick in 1992, Rick played with Florida’s minor league system for two seasons until an injury cut his career short. He returned to Creighton as an assistant baseball coach for three years, he went on to work for a marketing firm as an account executive for three years.

In 1998, Rick, his family moved to Colorado Springs, where he began teaching in Harrison School District 2. Rick earned his master’s degree in education from Regis University in 2001. Currently, Rick is the department chair for Harrison’s 21st Century Program, which has received local, state, and national recognition for the innovative curricula design and teaching methods. In 2010, Rick achieved exemplary teacher status, which puts him in the top 1% of all teachers in Harrison School District 2. He has taught grades 6 through 12 and has taught social studies, math, math/science reasoning, critical thinking and reasoning, and economics and globalization.

Rick has three children; Ceresa, Alena, and Cael, and is married to the lovely Miss Toni. Rick developed a love and appreciation for dance as a result of being a dance dad and married to a dance teacher. Rick’s education background, appreciation for athletics, business education, and loving support to his wife and kids led to the opening of Revolution Dance Academy.

Ballet/Broadway Jazz Instructor

Born in Hollywood, California, Athena began dance classes before her second birthday, and started working steadily in TV and commercials at age four. She trained in acting, jazz, tap, and musical theater with top Hollywood professionals and ballet with Stanley Holden (Royal Ballet), Jillana (New York City Ballet), Sallie Whalen (San Francisco Ballet), and Kathryn Etienne (Hollywood School of Ballet).
Stage productions as actor, director, dancer and/or choreographer include: The Nutcracker; Cinderella; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Taming of the Shrew, Guys & Dolls; Hello, Dolly!; Gypsy; South Pacific; Annie Get Your Gun; Sweet Charity; and many more. As dance captain and performer with The Young Americans, she toured all over the U.S. and France with stops in Vegas and Tahoe for shows with Liberace.
Athena has been teaching and choreographing for over 25 years. Her students have performed all over the world, earning top regional and national awards as well as scholarships to many prestigious dance programs.

She holds a BA from University of California (Irvine), a Master of Education degree from Regis University, a Colorado Teaching License with a drama/dance endorsement, and is certified by Dance Educators of America (DEA).

Currently, she is president of the Colorado Dance Alliance (CDA), and director of Declare His Glory liturgical dance ensemble. Accomplishments include Colorado Model Content Standards Review Dance Subcommittee member, DanceQuest executive director, and ballet director of The Dance Center of Colorado Springs.

Alicia (Benish) Beer, a native of Colorado Springs, began studying all forms of dance at the age of five with her mother, Barbara Benish. She furthered her studies in ballet with Mavis Pakenham and John Callander at the Colorado Springs Ballet Academy & Company. Alicia expanded her training within several summer intensive programs including Ballet West, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet , and Milwaukee Ballet. At the age of 14, at the Denver Ballet Guild competition, she was awarded the first place scholarship of $1200 for her performance of Kitri’s Variation from Don Quixote. The following year, she was awarded a $700 scholarship for her performance of the Lilac Fairy Variation from Sleeping Beauty. She also received substantial scholarships to San Francisco Ballet’s school, as well as Ballet West. The year of her audition, Alicia was one of only 350 dancers nationwide to be accepted to study at the School of America Ballet (official school of the New York City Ballet). Alicia began her professional career with Milwaukee Ballet, where she performed in several ballets including Giselle, Coppelia and Nutcracker. While with Milwaukee Ballet, Alicia also had the pleasure of dancing in Swan Lake alongside guest artist and legendary dancer, Fernando Bujones, of the American Ballet Theatre. She later joined Omaha Ballet, where she performed in Variegated Vivaldi, Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante. Prior to ending her professional career, Alicia appeared as a guest artist in Pueblo Ballet’s production of Firebird, dancing the role of the princess. Alicia has been on faculty of the Barbara Ellis Studio of Dance from 2003 to present and joined the faculty of Revolution Dance Academy in 2012.

Zena began dancing in Grants, New Mexico at the age of 10. She studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Acro at Val’s School of Dance where she became on apprentice at the age of 13. After getting married Zena left dance to raise her family. Zena has had 15 years of experience working with young children. She opened a home daycare center in 1995 and continued to care for and teach chiren from birth to 12 years of age through 2007. Zena began subbing acro classes in the fall of 2006 after her own daughter had fallen in love with dance and acro. She began teaching the summer classes in the summer of 2006 and the fall sessions of acro in 2009.

Christophor Moulton is from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a graduate of the Harid Conservatory in Florida, where he trained under Svetlana Osiyeva, Olivier Pardina and Victoria Schnider. During his years at Harid, Mouton performed numerous roles including Sigfreid in Swan Lake and Cavalier in The Nutcracker He also studied for a year at the Jacquelyn Kennedy Onassis School under Franco Devita. Moulton is a recipient of the 2007 Rudolph Nureyev Education Fellowship. Moulton joined Colorado Ballet’s Studio Company in 2009 and was promoted into the Company in 2010. During that time he has danced several roles including Toreador in Don Quixote, God of the Wind in Beauty and the Beast and The Old Man in Eventually.

Senior Jazz Ensemble Director/Ballet, Contemporary, Leaps and Turns Instructor

Born and raised in Colorado, Abbi started dancing at the age of 6 at The Dance Center of Colorado Springs. She trained there until she graduated high school which led her to Mesa State College. She graduated with honors and her BA in Theatre Arts with a concentration in dance.

After college she danced with Kim Robards Modern dance company for two seasons. She was recently accepted into APEX Contemporary Dance Theatre and is very excited to start her second season with them. Abbi is proficient in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Hip hop, and Contemporary. She has trained under the instruction of Melonie Buchanan, Rozanne David, Keith Cliffton, Tony Coppolla, Holly Lampe, Viki Psihoyos, Raymond Lukens, Charles Kelly, Chung-Fu Chang, Juan Sanchez and many others.

Abbi’s choreography has been chosen to perform at the American College Dance Festival, Aspen Dance Connection and many Mesa State College performances. Her performances include: The Evolution Movement with Loren Wilder, Mind and Body with APEX, Colorado Christmas with the Colorado Symphony, Kim Robards Dance Company, multiple roles in the Nutcracker such as the Snow Queen and Marzipan, Aspen Dance Connection, Loren Wilder’s: The Language of Light, The American College Dance Festival, Mollet, MSC repertory dance concert, and Dance Quest Productions. She has also performed in multiple musicals such as, Brigadoon and Noah’s Flood as the Dove. Abbi also teaches a variety of different classes at Gayton Dance World, and X-treme Dance Force.
She strongly believes in structured technique with the dancer’s own individual creativity. Abbi plans to create her own dance company in the future.

Tap Ensemble Director/Tap Instructor/Front Office

Nicole is a wife, mother of two, native of Colorado Springs, and the director of the tap ensembles. She started her journey in the dance world at the age of five under the instruction of Laura Davis at The Dance Center of Colorado Springs where she eventually worked as both, Tap Director and Business Manager. Nicole has trained in many genres of dance but has a true passion for the history and progression of tap dance and loves sharing this knowledge with her students. Nicole is honored to bring her expertise here to RDA as Tap Ensemble Director and will also be part of the front office team. She is very excited and grateful for the new ventures in her life… go Revco!

Michelle Seeley is a graduate of the School of Creative and Performing arts (SCPA) in Chula Vista, CA. As a student at this school she received training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Character, Broadway, and Modern and had the wonderful opportunity to work with dance master Jack Tygett. She began working at …And All That Jazz!!! Dance Studio her junior year in High School, quickly moving up in rank from apprentice to teacher to jazz company director in her 12 years with the studio. Several of her former students have gone on themselves to have successful professional career in dance and the entertainment industry, Michelle graduated form SDSU in 1991 with a B.S. In Microbiology and a minor in Dance. She has danced professionally and taught jazz for over 28 years. She has a real passion for dance that shines through in her teaching making her classes both enjoyable and inspiring for all her students.

    LEXI FAMERA PICTURE AND BIO’S COMING SOON!

Leaps and Turns Instructor

Shakeara Goodwater began dancing at the age of 3 1⁄2 in Colorado Springs. She has studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Pom, Acro and Hip Hop.  Shakeara started in competitive dance at the age of 12, being a part of State and National level awards. Shakeara also went to Nationals with Sierra HS Cheer Squad. She was trained through an Apprentice/Substitute/Teacher training program where she received her Teaching Certificate. She has taken master classes from Mia Michaels and Shane Sparks. Shakeara has won Platinum award status on her student choreography at a local competition. She is currently on staff at two other local dance studios, sharing her knowledge and love of dance. Shakeara will be attending UCCS in the fall where she will be dancing on their dance team.

Jaime is a 2009 graduate of Pikes Peak Christian School and currently attends UCCS where she studies Communications. Jaime studied dance from elementary through high school and is a nationally award winning soloist and ensemble member. She is excited to be on staff at Revolution teaching the Strength/Stretch classes, helping dancers to further their flexibility and strength.

Info Coming Soon…

Laura is a mother of three and all of her children dance at RDA and participate in the Performing Ensemble program. Laura started dancing at age 3. When her family moved to Colorado Springs Laura continued her love of dance at under the direction of Laura Davis of The Dance Center of Colorado Springs until graduating from high school. Laura also worked in the office at The Dance Center once her children started their love of dance. Laura is a graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, and certification in early childhood development. She has taught kindergarten and the Colorado Preschool Program through Junior Academy. Laura is very excited to be a part of the front office team at Revolution as well as teaching our adorable tots on Wednesday mornings!

 Info coming soon…