Meet your Instructors
Our WELL and WyND program instructors are not only deeply passionate about dance, but they also genuinely care about our dancers' lives beyond the dance studio. They are dedicated to supporting each dancer's personal growth, encouraging them to flourish both in their art and in all other aspects of life.
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WyND Program DirectorHere are the statistics a bio is supposed to present. I began dance at the age of three. I've competitively danced for 13 years and professionally with Exhale and Whirlwind. I've choreographed hundreds and hundreds of dances for dancers of various levels. I've taught dance for movement and competition for 18 years. I completed 29,565 pirouettes and at least 23,725 battements, and all these statistics continue grow.
Want to know the me behind the statistics? A fire in the belly. A spring in my step. A comfort to my soul. All of these are true of dance. My world is better because of the innate joy that dance brings to my body. I doubt my mother knew what would happen when she took me to my first class. (I actually hid under her top, I was so afraid). But something clicked, and the world felt right. Dance took me through the good and the bad. It lifted me and moved with me. It enveloped me when the world crashed and rose. Dance shielded me from every storm, and I rest comfortably in its embrace still today. Don't think for a minute I teach because I can't dance. I teach because I need to pass on the fire that warms me still. I can remember the first time I competed; ask me, I'll show you the dance. Ask me any of the dances I've performed in my life. I can show them to you. I can dance all my sister's dances. I can show you the first dance I ever taught any one of my students, and I remember how well they did. Dance is not my life - I have three children and a spouse (sometimes 4 children), but I couldn't imagine a life without dance. As I continue my journey, I recognize the need to refine my own art moving toward aesthetic dance and dare I say it, dance purely as art for art's sake.
WyND culminates this idea of a life moving toward art, capturing beauty, and passing on the fire. I am happy to be here at its inception.
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Administrative Director
Laura is thrilled to join The Well as Administrative Director and is excited to help bring a pre-professional dance program to Central Ohio with her longtime friends Tiffany & Josh. Laura retired from Victoria's Secret in 2014 as a Regional Manager where she oversaw all aspects of sales and operations for 10 districts and 100+ stores.
After a 27 year long career in retail management she took on the challenging and rewarding role as co-owner and Studio Director of the award winning dance studio, Dance 614 from 2013-2017. Laura studied vocal performance at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI where she was a member of the acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble "Gold Company". She also attended the prestigious Phil Mattson School of Music in Spokane, WA. Laura is currently on the Board of Directors at Columbus' own Short North Stage a professional theatre company. Laura is ready and excited to start her new journey with The WyND Program at The Well!
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WyND Too Instructor
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Mackenzie LaFlamme is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who received her BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University in Texas. Mackenzie is currently an apprentice with Columbus Dance Theatre and formerly a company member with Whirlwind Dance. She received her training from her mentor Tiffany Frost and Columbus Dance Theatre in genres such as Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, and Ballet. Mackenzie has had the opportunity to present her choreography at the American College Dance Association South-Central Conference as well as Whirlwind and WyND performances. She has had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Laura Wade, Jan Erkert, Evelyn Toh, Hanna Bricston, Joshua Manculich and more. Mackenzie is thrilled to be directing the WyND Too's at the WELL and continuing her teaching for a second year.
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Contemporary Instructor
Abby Jones was born and raised in Greenwood, Indiana. She began her training at The Dance Company of Indianapolis at the age of 3. She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2023 with a B.F.A in Contemporary Dance, a B.A. in Psychology, and is certified in mat pilates. During her time at Indiana University, Abby was cast in many mainstage production performances and was able to work with choreographers such as Beatrice Capote, Elizabeth Shea, Evelyn Wang, Cameron McKinney, Lalah Hazelwood, Braeden Barnes, Erik Abbott Main, Prathiba Batley, and Stafford C. Berry Jr. Additionally, Abby has had training experience opportunities in a vast number of cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, New York City, Salt Lake City, and Lucca, Italy working with Andrea Ward, Andy Noble, Azuki Umeda, Brandon Welch, Julian Barnett, Lindsey Matheis, Maya Orchin, Omari Wiles, and Stefanie Nelson. Abby is currently living, dancing, and choreographing in Columbus, Ohio with Whirlwind Dance Company as a Mover|Maker under the direction of Joshua Manculich. Her trio for Whirlwind Dance Company “What If?” premiered at Jamboree as well as Trifecta in 2024 with Whirlwind Dance Company. Her solo’s “Alright” and “The Show Must Go On” premiered at Soliloquy in 2025. Abby plans to continue teaching, choreographing, and sharing her love for dance in every and any opportunity that comes her way.
Morgan Pinkham
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Whirlwind Program Director
BA, Point Park University - MFA, The Ohio State
Josh was born in Windber, PA and started his dance training at the age of fourteen. He had the pleasure of performing with Thodos Dance Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Pursuit Productions, Jaxon Movement Arts, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, and The Pillow Project. Brought up in a small town, he is thankful for the numerous inspiring mentors and creative artists that guided his pursuits as a dancer, choreographer, and person.
Josh's choreographic work exists in conceptual frameworks, and his choreography has been toured internationally and presented nationally by emerging contemporary dance companies, ballet companies, and universities. Josh was nominated for a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship by The Big Muddy Dance Company for which he eventually created "Lyra" through support of the Princess Grace Foundation.
Some of his choreographic adventures include a longstanding relationship and building of community with organizations like: Ballet Austin II, The Big Muddy Dance Company, Collage Dance Collective, DanceWorks Chicago, Eisenhower Dance, Houston Contemporary, and Santa Barbara Dance Theater. Most recently, Josh founded a new platform for contemporary dance, WhirlWind Dance. He is based out of Columbus, Ohio and hopes to inspire movers of all ages to live and dream boldly.
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Ballet Instructor
Sheena Kapila, originally from Regina, Saskatchewan Canada, began dancing at the age of 2. After dancing competitively growing up, she attended Sam Houston State University to achieve both her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (2022) and Master of Fine Arts Degree (2025). She has had the opportunity to train with the Radio City Rockettes, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, School of Alberta ballet, Dance Italia and most recently with Noblemotion Dance Company. In her collegiate career she was fortunate enough to work with choreographers Joshua Manculich, Nicole von Arx, Dual Rivet, Take Ueyama, Andy Noble, Evelyn Toh, Francisco (Cisco) Graciano, Colette Kerwick and Gregory Dolbashian. Sheena is looking forward to being a Mover | Maker in Whirlwinds upcoming 25-26 season!
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Instructor
Rachel Courtney is a professional dancer/performer and choreographer in the Columbus area. She’s been in many productions at professional theater company Short North Stage, including West Side Story, Rock of Ages, White Christmas, The Rocky Horror Show, The Addams Family, and more. She’s a graduate from the American Music & Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City. She has numerous production and video credits in NYC and Ohio, including dancing with professional contemporary company, Exhale Dance Tribe in Cincinnati. She’s so excited for this new teaching journey.
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Tap Instructor
Gaetan O'Brien is currently a BFA student at The Ohio State University majoring in Dance. She has a deep passion for performing, teaching and inspired choreography. Gaetan is a 2022 graduate of Bishop Watterson High School where she was a member of the Dance team and continues to choreograph for the BWHS Dance and Theatre programs. Most integral to her dance training, she developed her technique and love for dance at Generations Performing Arts Center in Westerville, Ohio where she trained and competed in Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre. Gaetan is thrilled to be part of the WyND team as she begins her professional career.
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Instructor
Olivia Barner is a graduate from Slippery Rock University, where she earned BFA in Dance with a concentration in performance and choreography, as well as a BS in exercise science. Throughout her college career, she has performed works by Martha Graham, Samantha Baker, Lindsay Viatori, Jennifer Keller, Jaya Mani, Matthew Shaffer and many of her peers. Olivia is currently dancing professionally with WhirlWind Dance Company in Columbus, OH, under the direction of Joshua Manculich. Olivia has had the opportunity to perform all over the country; she is the recipient of numerous performance awards and accolades, and has presented or performed work at Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Series, The American College Dance Association Conference, Koresh Dance Company’s Come Together Festival, and Ascendance Choreography Showcase. Olivia has also been named one of Mercer County's 30 most influential people under 40 years old by the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce (Pennsylvania). In addition to dancing professionally, Olivia is also an experienced dance educator and choreographer. Her choreography has been recognized and honored both regionally and nationally. Most recently, Olivia has co-founded publishing company Livington Books and co-wrote Livington's Ballet Dictionary for Children, which is sold at Barnes & Noble and Target, and on Amazon.
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Little Movers Instructor
Maggie Derr started dancing at the age of three at Straub dance center and more than 30 years later she is proud and thrilled to be back in the studio with her friend Tiffany Frost. She trained primarily in ballet, tap and jazz and is excited to be bringing her love of dance to the little humans at The Well and surrounding community.
Maggie has taught dance for over ten years at Dance 614, Infusion Dance and Broadway Bound. She specializes in instruction of our smallest creative movers. She has danced professionally traveling the US with the AFL (Arena Football League) and locally in Columbus with various event groups. Maggie is also an Experienced social media and marketing strategist with a passion for creating captivating content and implementing strategies to elevate brands. Dedicated to storytelling, building brands and driving results. Maggie creates impactful strategies and content to resonate with our audience.
Maggie was born and raised in Central Ohio and now lives in Gahanna with her husband Tyler, and two children, Josephine, and Henry.
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Contemporary Instructor & Marketing Support Specialist
Morgan Sandlin is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher with a BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. She is currently based out of Columbus, OH, working as a sports massage therapist, chiropractic assistant, and dance teacher alongside producing her own choreography both locally and nationally. Morgan has presented work across the U.S., including Barnstrom Dance Festival (HTX), Houston Fringe Festival (HTX), 5x7 Dance Festival (ATX), Big Muddy ScreenDance 2021, and Dance Work Chicago’s DanceChance. She was a 2022 recipient of Aimed Dance Company’s Emerging Choreographer Fellowship, resulting in her piece, i beg your PARdon?, premiering at the company’s Summer Fest in 2022, as well as being commissioned by Bellingham Repertory Dance to reset her stage work, spare me, for the company’s fall 2022 season. As a performer, Sandlin is one of the original members of Joshua Manculich’s WhirlWind Dance Company (HTX 2021), as well as working with Andrew and Dionne Noble, Adele Nickel, and Donald Shorter Jr. during her time at SHSU. She is rejoining Columbus based dance company WhirlWind Dance for their 24-25 season and continues to perform her own work as well as collaborating with fellow artists locally.
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Little Movers & Mini Company Instructor
Sarah Chavez is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and has been dancing since five years old. She began training in many dance styles, but emphasized strongly in ballet, and became certified through Cecchetti Ballet Exam Grade Six. She received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Sarah has trained nationwide with prestigious companies and choreographers including Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company, Ballet West, SALT Contemporary Dance Company, and many more. She is particularly proud of her diverse, well rounded training and has had performance opportunities in ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, musical theatre, and acro/contortion styles. Sarah has danced professionally with Quixotic Cirque Nouveau, Worlds of Fun Theme Park Entertainment, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, and is continuing her dance career in Columbus as she begins her first season with Whirlwind Contemporary Dance Company.
Sarah has been teaching and choreographing for the past seven years, and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with the next generation of dancers!
