About Us
At 3rd Street Dance, we aim to help our students achieve in DANCE & LIFE. We hope to inspire our students to believe in themselves, spread joy, and build lifelong friendships. This is our 3rd Street Dance & More Than Just Great Dancing® philosophy and at this time in history, that's more important than ever before!
Dance meets imperative student needs for community, socialization, friendship, mentors, physical activity, and more! The benefits of dance include, but are not limited to intellectual, academic, social-emotional, and physical support.
3rd Street Dance is the first dance studio in the area to achieve Youth Protection Advocates in Dance™ (YPAD) certification. As the nation's only dance certification program focusing on both safety and wellness for dance students, this certification marks 3rd Street Dance's commitment to keeping kids happy, healthy, and safe in dance.
To earn the designation, studios must complete training in CPR, First Aid, dance education and safety, injury prevention, emergency preparedness, abuse awareness and prevention, dancer wellness and development, social media safety, nutrition and disordered eating, bullying, and conflict resolution.
3 Ways to Dance in our 27th Recital Season:
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In-person, live stream into class (by request), & Private Lessons.
3rd Street Dance is proud to be a More Than Just Great Dancing® affiliated studio! MTJGD is a licensed affiliation of dance studios that subscribe to a
high standard of dance instruction and management practices and are united in their belief that dance has the power to change lives.
We have chosen to align ourselves with this organization because we believe in upholding certain standards while educating children and are committed to creating a positive, safe, encouraging, and welcoming dance studio for all!
We are excited to once again offer our Star Leadership Training program to our student's ages 8-10 and 11-18. This class curriculum is based on the character values of Trust, Service, Love, Excellence, and Growth. Check our schedule for this awesome opportunity.
Alice Williams
Alice Williams, Owner and Artistic Director of the 3rd Street Dance, has been performing dance & theater since she was 5 years old. She began performing theater here in St. Charles with her mom in the Children’s Theatre Workshop and dance with Ellen Copeland at the St. Charles Park District and then Copeland Dance Academy. In high school, Alice was accepted into Northwestern University's Cherub Program where her LOVE of dance grew even more.
Alice went on to Butler University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance. During and after college she performed with the Maine State Music Theatre, in Brunswick Maine, where she performed in various shows. Alice continued to perform professionally all over the country in various theater productions.
Alice is delighted to have the opportunity to run 3rd Street Dance and teach children and adults to love dance like teachers did for her.
Caroline Williams
Caroline Williams grew up in St. Charles, Illinois, where she spent her entire childhood dancing at 3rd Street Dance, developing a lifelong passion for the art.
She graduated from Indiana University in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Arts Management. Caroline loves teaching young children, young adults, adults and sharing her joy of dance with everyone. She finds fulfillment working in the office, and working with the parents, where she enjoys seeing all the familiar faces of the dance community.
Tanya Osika
Tanya Osika put on her first dance shoes at the age of three. She never imagined her first dance routine including mouse ears and tutu would initiate such a strong love affair with dance. From classical ballet to tap, Tanya’s insatiable desire to learn has led her to study almost all forms of dance. Growing up in the dance studio and the competitive dance world, Tanya had the pleasure of studying dance with talented choreographers and master teachers such as Mia Michaels, Doug Caldwell, and Jay Fagan.
Tanya is also a national award-winning performer and choreographer and truly adores teaching and inspiring others to pursue their dancing dreams. Tanya is passionate about continuing her dance education and attends Rhythm World workshops annually where she has been able to study tap technique with artists such as Derick K. Grant, Dianne “Lady Di” Walker, Bril Barrett, and many more talented tap dancers. Tanya had the honor of studying jazz dance with Chicago jazz legend Nan Giordano and completed the Basic and Beginning Level Teacher Certification Programs.
Sidney Valdez
Sidney Valdez began dancing at the age of four at DuPage Dance Academy in Elmhurst, IL and has been loving dance ever since. She grew up dancing ballet, jazz, and musical theatre styles and performed in numerous dance concerts and musical productions at York Community High School and with Elmhurst Dance Theatre.
Sidney continued dancing at Dickinson College where contemporary and post-modern dance became forefront to her training and she earned a B.A. in Dance and Neuroscience. At Dickinson, Sidney deepened her interest in the mind-body connection and her passion for dance community. She was proud to serve as Vice President of Dickinson’s Dance Theatre Group and was awarded the Gould Award for exceptional contribution to the Theatre and Dance Department. In addition to numerous performance and choreographic opportunities with Dickinson’s Dance Theatre Group and Hypnotic Hip Hop Troupe, Sidney studied ballet with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet instructors and studied abroad at the Accademia’dell Arte in Arezzo, Italy, where she engaged in exploratory, conservatory style dance theater training. She also had the honor of working with artists such as Sarah Skaggs, Erin Crawley-Woods, Emie Hughes, Alessio Trevisani, and Orange Grove Dance.
Sidney is excited to share her passion for dance and she is thrilled to be joining the 3 rd Street
Dance community this fall.
Case Koerner
Case has been dancing since the age of three. Case mainly trained in the Vaganova method of ballet, but also studied tap, jazz, and contemporary. In college, Case studied theatre and choreographed three of the university's musicals as well as student-directed three plays.
Case believes that sharing the art and joy of dance is incredibly important, and is thrilled to be a part of that process at Third Street.
Gianna Buffano
Gianna Buffano is thrilled to be teaching at 3rd Street Dance Studio this year! She recently graduated with her Master’s in Early Childhood Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis after her time in the Teach For America Corps. Gianna earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from The Ohio State University in May 2022.
Her dance experience includes training in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, hip hop, tap, and musical theatre. She has performed works by renowned choreographers like Susan Petry, Abbey Zbikowski, Crystal Michelle Perkins and has collaborated in dance research with Master of Fine Arts candidates.
Gianna recently moved back to St. Charles to pursue her doctorate in Occupational therapy at UIC. In her free time, Gianna enjoys dancing, painting, working out, exploring Chicago with her dog friends and spending time with family. She is excited to build relationships with her students, grow her skills as an educator, and see what amazing opportunities this year brings!
Jamie Overla
Jamie Overla started perusing her passion for dance at the
age of seven at Moves Dance Studio in Glendale Heights, IL.,
preparing her for a sixteen year career in commercial dance in
Los Angeles, CA. Her training with Excel Dance Company
and her study of dance at Columbia College laid down the
foundation to become a professional world touring dancer for
Beyoncé, Usher, Backstreet Boys, Nicole Scherzinger, and
Iggy Azalea. She has performed at the Grammy’s, Super
Bowl, Video Music Awards, So You Think You Can Dance,
The Voice, Dancing With The Stars; Appeared in Step Up 3D.
Netflix’s. series Soundtrack,Glee, a
Footloose. She currently teaches and choreographs all over
the Chicago land area.
Bella Reich
Bella Reich was born and raised in the west Chicago suburbs. She began dancing at age 3 and started training pre-professionally at age 12 at State Street Dance Studio in Geneva, IL. From there, she moved around to many different pre professional schools in the suburbs. Notable teachers include Tatyana Mazur, Steven Norman, Anna Spelman and Carson Reiners. Bella danced at A&A Ballet in Chicago for 2 years. As a junior in high school she was homeschooled and joined the A&A Ballet youth company under the guidance of Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. As a senior in high school, Bella returned to public school and danced at Alma Dance School in Glen Ellyn, IL, as part of their youth company. Her teachers at Alma included Vilma Machin, Guillermo Leyva, Summer Smith, and Rigoberto Saura.
Bella is a 2024 graduate from Butler University with a bachelor’s degree in dance-pedagogy. At Butler, she grew in her technique and artistry in not only ballet, but also modern and jazz. With Butler Ballet, Bella performed in many full length ballets such as Giselle, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, La Vivandiere, and Cinderella.
Bella is so happy to be a part of the 3rd street dance family! As a teacher, she will encourage her students to lead with kindness, tenacity, and confidence.
Ada Williams
Ada Williams has been a dancer at 3rd Street Dance since she was 18 months old. She is trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Modern, and Lyrical.
She was on 3rd Street’s performance company from ages 5-15 and a part of 3rd Streets inovate company from 2019-2020. She was captain of her dance team at St. Charles North High School and has been an employee at 3rd Street for 3 years. Ada loves getting to work and teaching the kids at 3rd Street and inspiring them to be good dancers and people as she was inspired here at their age!
Gabrielle Nicastro
Gabrielle Nicastro grew up in St. Charles, Illinois, where she spent more time at 3rd Street Dance than at her house. Gabrielle has been performing since she was 3 years old on stages around the country. In high school, Gabrielle was a member of the St. Charles North Dance Team, and in college, was a member of the Belmont University Dance Company. She contributes her success to 3rd Street Dance as they taught her the foundations of dance.
She graduated Cum Laude from Belmont University in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Social Entrepreneurship. Gabrielle loves sharing the joy of dance with the students at 3rd Street Dance and hopes to positively impact the students just as her teachers positively impacted her.