About Us
Julia
Owner/Instructor
Julia began dancing at the young age of four at Dance Time Studios Inc in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, gymnastics, acro and pointe for 14 years and under instructors from Point Park University. While dancing, she competed with the studio’s company in several large scale national competitions. She became an assistant teacher at the age of 15 and was teaching on her own at 18.
Julia was also a cheerleader as a child for the local pee wee football team program. She then cheered in high school, proudly representing her school.
In the fall of 1999, Julia moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College Chicago, where she majored in Dance Education. In 2001, she became the head dance coach for the Jones College Prep Dance Team, taking the team to the state finals for ten consecutive years. During this time, she also began teaching children’s classes in tap, jazz and ballet for FFC Gym in the South Loop.
In 2005, Julia launched the hip hop dance company, GraffitiDancers. The company performed across the city of Chicago and the Midwest and was the first hip hop company in Chicago to host its own large scale production in 2006. Over the course of the next seven years, Julia was privileged to choreograph alongside other dancers for DJ Flipside and the B96 Bash, MMA Champion Jason Miller during an arena fight in Chicago, and she choreographed for a Coyote Ugly-themed bar in Indiana. She also collaborated with several other high school dance teams to critique and choreograph and held the position of judge for Illinois Dance Team Association.
After selling the company in 2012, Julia began coaching dance at Saint Ignatius College Prep, followed by Saint Viator High School. She has taught and currently still teaches tumbling, acro and dance at several studios in the last 20 years including Extensions Dance Company, Steps Dance Center, Dance Xplosion, Elite Academy of Dance, The Dance Project, Center Stage Dance Studio, Intrigue Dance Studio, Movement & Sound and On Your Toes Academy.
Julia founded T3 in July of 2021 with only 12 students, teaching private lessons in her backyard and garage and in her student’s homes. Within one year, T3 grew to some 200 students and relocated to a 4,300 sq ft facility! Julia is grateful and excited to continue this adventure with the amazing students of T3!
Meet Our
Teachers
Noelle
Noelle has been a dancer at McDonald Dance Academy for ten years and a gymnast for eight years. She is a cheerleader at Saint Viator HIgh School and previously cheered at MP CHEER while coaching there for two years. Noelle is a flyer and a tumbler and she hopes to cheer in college at the University of Dayton when she attends in the fall. She has been coaching at T3 since summer of 2022 and enjoys providing classes full of detailed training while having some fun.
Megan G
Megan has done gymnastics for the past 11 years, and is currently a level 9 gymnast at Gymkhana Gymnastics. She did dance for about four years just for fun. She attends Prospect High School at the moment, and hopes to go into Physical Therapy for college. She is very excited to be working at T3.
Ondiana
Ondiana is from Arlington Heights and went to John Hersey High School. She’s done gymnastics her whole life until high school where she started cheer. She now attends Illinois State University. She has been working for T3 since 2021 and she absolutely loves helping kids work towards their goals.
Juliana
Juliana has been a competitive dancer her entire life with Aspire for Center Stage and Boom Box Dance Co. She was also trained in Acro and Tumbling under Miss Julia for 6 years. Shes planning to study law in college while also training the kids at T3!
Juanita
Juanita was a 4 year Varsity Cheerleader for Rolling Meadows High School & a competitive cheerleader for 12 years! She is also a youth cheer coach for the Arlington Cowboys Cheerleaders. She is currently also receiving her CNA and plans to continue working with children. She is excited to work with all of the kids at T3.
Mia
Mia has been a gymnast her entire life, training at American Academy of Gymnastics and is a Varsity gymnast at Prospect High School. Mia is excited to continue sharing her gymnastics skills with her students at T3.
Caroline
Viki
Viki has been a competitive cheerleader for MP cheer for 6 years and has been on the Prospect High School Varsity Cheer Team for 4 years. She plans to study business at the University of Illinois but is extremely excited to work with the students at T3.
Alie
Alison has been dancing for 18 years, and has a decade of competitive gymnastics experience. She trained through high school at Rise Dance Center in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, modern, tap, hip hop, contemporary, pointe and acro. She attended Schaumburg High School and competed on the varsity gymnastics team for all four years. Alison then went on to attend The George Washington University on a presidential dance scholarship and graduated magna cum laude in 2021 with a BA in both dance and Political Science. She returned to Rise Dance Center where she now teaches and choreographs, and she is currently a member of BoomCrack! Dance Company, a professional hip hop company based in Chicago. Alison has been teaching and coaching since she was in college, and has been teaching for T3 since the summer of 2022.
Kayli
Kayli currently attends Fremd High School and would love to attend an SEC college, such as Tennessee or Alabama. Currently in high school, she is a member of the varsity poms. Kayli has been teaching at T3 since winter 2021! She dances at Dance Xplosion and has been dancing competitively since she was five.
Kayli has been a gymnast since the age of three and competes at the optional level. During COVID, she decided to focus more on dance. However, tumbling has always been her favorite and she loves to practice and share her skills with young tumblers.
“It is my passion to help kids and see their growth in what they love to do,” Kalyi says. “I listen to the needs of my students and develop a plan to help them achieve their goals. I have a structured class and provide a list of skills at the end to practice at home, between lessons, and/or classes. My classes are full of detailed training but we have a lot of fun along the way.”
Macy
Macy began working for T3 in June of 2022. She studied gymnastics for several years and has been a competitive dancer for the last 10 years while keeping up with tumbling. Macy appreciates the fundamental techniques of dance as well as varying elements of tumbling. A graduate of Jacobs High School, she now attends the University of Illinois where she is a member of the Illinettes Dance Team.
Katie
Kira
Lydia
Daniella
Sarah
Sarah has been doing competitive cheer since she was eight-years-old. She enjoys tumbling and stunting and did so while attending Saint Viator High School. She is currently a student at Marquette University. Sarah has been working for T3 since fall of 2022 and loves teaching and sharing her passion with others.
Evelyn
A current gymnast with 13+ years of experience, Evelyn was a cheerleader for three years and dancer for 10 years. She has done various coaching and volunteering over the years, and loves T3 and the environment it offers to students. Evelyn attends Hersey High School and plans to go into law for college. She has been coaching with T3 since winter of 2021.
Alex
Alex danced for 16 years with Center Stage Dance Studio, Perseverance and Dance Xplosion. She also danced for the Lake Park Lancettes dance team. She is currently in cosmetology school and will graduate in September 2023. She participated in gymnastics when she was little and tumbled until high school. She is excited to now teach what she has learned and used her entire life to the T3 students!
Luca
Luca attends Lake Park High School and is on the Varsity Gymnastics team. His two best events are floor and vault where he placed 2nd in the 2023 IHSA State Finals. He is also a competitive dancer and has been since the age of 7 with Aspire Dance Company at Center Stage. He enjoys teaching people how to tumble because he can remember being in their position once — It was so hard to gain new skills but felt so good once you did! Seeing kids and students reach their goals makes their teachers feel so accomplished. Luca can’t wait to start working at T3 because he knows it will be an amazing experience!
Abby
Via
Lily
