At Gray's School of Dance, our classes are taught by professionals who are proficient in technique and in patience. They are devoted to building a studio of excellence and possess uncompromising dedication to the ideal quality of dance education. Please take a moment to get acquainted with our dance staff and their backgrounds: Patty Gray embarked on her dance career at the tender age of three. Following many years of disciplined training, Patty studied and danced at Dance Educators of America for four years and danced professionally in both New York City and Chicago. Patty has danced her way through countless seminars, courses, auditions and performances.
For over thirty years, Patty has bridled kids’ energy from age two to eighteen and beyond into the art of beautiful, inspiring and just plain fun dance. Patty loves and stands strong with her pupils as is evident from her students returning year after year, and show after show. Whether an elegant relevé, a spirited pirouette or a funky jump, her students learn it with poise and precision (and the occasional giggle.) Patty was Ottawa High School’s Swing Choir’s choreographer for fifteen years as well as for many Pirates Invade the Ballroom Booster Club dancers and the Ottawa and Marquette High playmakers. She mentors oodles of dancers from the Fine Arts Festival, pompom teams, cheerleading squads and dance competitions.
Patty is no stranger to community. It’s her passion, it’s her mission. Her school has performed for over thirty years in the Easter Seals telethons and she single handedly raised over $8,000 in her own dedicated show for the cause. She produced Miss Ottawa Pageants and Cerebral Palsy Telethons. She has even pulled out her “Simon” as a judge for the local “Dancing with the Stars” competition. Patty is without question the quintessential student, teacher, mentor and volunteer.
Sarah Heuser  Sarah Heuser is a born and raised Gray’s School of Dance dancer. She joined the Gray’s School of Dance teaching family as an assistant teacher in 6th grade and continues to teach with Miss Patty at 32 years of age. Although Sarah is a rounded dancer, teaching and learning all subjects, her love is standing side-by-side in tap classes with Miss Patty.
Even though Sarah does not have a college education in dance, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Special Education (Illinois State), and two Master degrees (Aurora University) in Educational Leadership and Reading Instruction. She is currently in her ninth year at Ottawa Township High School as a Special Education teacher and Reading Specialist. Sarah danced on Illinois State University’s competitive dance team in college. She starred in the Maud Powell Festival as Peter Pan and performed in Nutcracker performances conducted by Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra. Miss Patty even hired Sarah out as a folk dancer in her younger days. Sarah choreographed for Shepherd Middle School poms as well as parallel coached the OTHS pom and cheer squads. She was selected to work as a Universal Dance Association (UDA) instructor providing summer dance camps for high school dance teams. Sarah volunteered to choreograph for Pirates Invade the Ballroom and performed many dances for community events including Easter Seal Telethons. Sarah recently limited her dance teaching and coaching hours to spend time with her growing family. She loves to dance at home with her son Hunter and daughter Gianna “Gia”. Currently, Hunter is a new student for Miss Patty and staff and Gianna will be registering in a few short years. Sarah hopes to instill her passion and commitment for dance into her children. Her goal is to teach her children dedication, discipline, sense of community, and importance of involvement as Patty did for her, in hopes that it will transfer over to the extra-curricular activities they enjoy growing up. Sarah created lifelong friendships with her dance family and continues to gain additional (younger) dance friends as she loyally returns to teach with Miss Patty for “one last year”, year after year. Joely Harden  Joely was born and raised in Ottawa, Illinois. Her love of dance originated at a local dance studio bring-a-friend day when she was four years old! She was able to continue dancing through high school both in the studio and also as an Ottawa Pomerette. While attending the University of Iowa for her freshman year of collage, Joely was able to participate in dance there, before transfering to Illinois State University. During that time, She stepped into the roll as dance instructor at the studio teaching various ages of Ballet, Jazz, Tap and ipP Hop all while working toward her degree, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology. After graduation, she returned home to Ottawa and took a short break from danceto enter the work force. In 2009, she found her way back to dance and found a home teaching Jazz classes for Patty. Joely enjoys working with the dedicated staff and wonderful families here at Gray's. Through the years, she has also spent time as the Marquette Academy Crusaderette Coach and participated in Pirates Invade the Ballroom. She has also expanded her family to include two children, Quinn and Emmett. Quinn has continued the tradition of dance and is now a teacher in training at Grays!
Sam Trumbo 
Sam has been dancing at Gray's school of dance since the late 1990's and has been part of the dance family ever since. Her knowledge of dance includes a variety of styles including; ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, pointe, and tumbling. Outside of the studio Sam led the Ottawa High School dance team from 2010-2012 and later went on to coach the competitive dance team at Streator High School from 2013-2014. She continues to spread her love of dance to children of all ages. Lauren Walker  My name is Lauren and I am thrilled to be back at Gray’s School of Dance this year! I began dancing at Gray’s in 2000 and continued through high school graduation in 2016. During my time at the studio, I was a Pirate Pom, danced in IVSO’s Nutcracker, competed in Pirates Invade the Ballroom, and choreographed for theater at OHS. My favorite styles of dance are ballet, pointe, and tap. After high school, I attended Illinois State University to study special education and was a member of the Redline Express Dance Team! This included dancing at home football & basketball games and traveling to St. Louis for the MVC tournament! I’m currently a junior high special education teacher in LaSalle. I’m looking forward to teaching and learning alongside your dancers this fall!  Jamie Woods
Hey dancers - I'm Miss Jamie! I've been a part of the GSD family since 1986!! I started teaching in junior high and have had the opportunity to teach all ages from preschool to the ladies class. My favorite subject is tap and has been since dancing to Yankee Doodle Dandy when i was 8! Teaching has always been such a special gift that I hope to continue sharing with you all for many years! |
Katherine Burns  Hi everyone, I’m Miss Katherine! I’ve been dancing since I was three years old and haven’t stopped moving and grooving since then. I’ve always loved performing and competing, so I’m excited to get back into a studio and join the GSD family. I’ve always loved tap and getting back to the beauty and basics of ballet. I love working and helping create special memories for children, so I’m jazzed to now be able to do that at GSD through dance! I’m so excited to start this new dance season with everyone
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