Meet The Team
Marissa Lauren
Owner/Instructor
At the young age of 23, Marissa began her journey owning Our Haven Dance Studios and Havens Heels Company. Marissa has been training since the age of three in various styles of dance including Hip Hop, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Lyrical, Contemporary, Heels, and Ballet. She is passionate and empowers her students in finding their confidence to mold their technique and express themselves in a judgement free environment. Using her love and technique of dance, combined with her infectious laughter, Marissa finds joy in inspiring and motivating others to become the best versions of themselves.
P.S. her classes are not all fast. Your body can do a lot more then you think, you just have to give her & YOURSELF a chance.
Kelly Anastasopoulos
Instructor
Kelly will help you unleash the potential you didn’t know you had. She will challenge you to test your limits and to grow, and she’ll be the first one to hold your hand along the way ( — or your body up as you try something crazy on the pole 😛 ).
She loves to share her passion with others, and is energized by helping her students succeed. She is sensitive, understanding & passionate, and will guide you to greatness if you dare to reach for it. She finds joy in empowering her students, and helping them humbly embrace where they are at while working hard for their goals!
Coral Olesen
Instructor
Coral loves to engage her students in sensual movement; encouraging her students to harness their sexuality as she guides them through slow and slinky transitions, learning to love every part of your body and use what feels best for you in your flow. Displaying that all parts of the body can be used to enhance your performance and your technique.
Coral demonstrates that with enough passion and devotion you can see anything through. You don’t need to be confident or strong to take your first class but I can promise you’ll take away a little bit of both of those things every time you leave the space.
Laura DiPelino
Instructor
Come willing to work hard & play hard.
Chris Thompson
Instructor
Chris creates a space to allow her students to feel confident and empowered. She will invite you to fly in the face of your hardest goal and push you through, while also having a super fun time (of course)! She will be there for you mentally and physically, literally holding you up on the pole or pushing you through a spin combo. Chris loves to get stronger through dance and loves sharing her passion for it with her students. She is your biggest cheerleader and is there when you need her most.
She will not only cheer your on while you reach for your holy grail but she will also help you understand how special and great you are just where you’re at. She loves to watch her students amplify their talents in dance and life, and she just wants to them to succeed while having the best and most memorable time!
Kelsey Amanda
Instructor
Kelsey is a teacher with Haven’s Heels Company, teaching beginner and advanced beginner classes. She’s been teaching heels dance for 5 years, and loves any chance to shake her booty. Kelsey enjoys being active and any class with her will get you a workout along with choreography. Kelsey is passionate about empowering her students to feel confident and SEXY!!! Classes with Kelsey are often in the style of hip-hop, twerk, or slow and sexy. She would love to have you come and check-out a class, share some laughs, and connect with others in the incredible Haven community!
Kelsey teaches Heels (Advanced Beginner).
Melissa Terepora
Instructor
Melissa brings energy, confidence, a contagious smile and her joy of dance to a room. As a classically trained dancer, technique is at the forefront of her teaching, giving you the skill to be a better dancer. Her choreography is dynamic, sensual and expressive.
As someone that has been a dancer all of her life she continues to show others that age, ability or size should never stop you from tearing up the floor and following your passion!
Melissa teaches Heels (Advanced Beginner).
Kathleen McClelland
Instructor
Kathleen is a Havens Heels teacher and is excited to share her passion with others. In her class you with build technique, strength and confidence. With Kathleen’s kindness and caring nature, she is here to help you reach your goals. She encourages everyone who attends to be in the moment with their body, their sexuality and their emotions. Havens Heels is a safe space and she wants that to be known.
Kathleen does enjoy slow and sexy, but will throw in a mix of everything. She hopes that you will come try a class so that you can see what the community is all about.
Kathleen teaches Heels (Beginner).
Sydney Kelly
Instructor
Sydney loves to hold space for her students, and encourage them to express themselves freely and accept themselves wholly. Sydney has trained in dance since the age of 5, versing in dance styles such as contemporary, lyrical, jazz, ballet, heels and hip hop. Alongside dance, Sydney has practiced Yoga for 10+ years and graduated Yoga Teacher Training in 2020. Since then she teaches Yin, Vinyasa, and Hatha Yoga styles. She combines her dance and yoga training to help develop her students to train holistically, for the mind and the body. Sydney likes to be goofy, open-hearted and spread joy with her students. No matter if they are dancing up a storm or calming their mind in her yoga classes, she loves to be apart of their journey.
Libby Ives
Instructor
Libby is a lifetime mover and shaker. From martial arts, to ballet, to hiking, to pole dance, to freestyle movement, being able to explore what her body is capable of doing continues to be an adventure. As a pole coach and performer with over a decade of experience under her belt, Libby finds her greatest well of curiosity comes from observing the variety of students that populate her classes. Being able to customize her approach to instruction based on how each individual learns best is her specialty. In pole dance, as in life, everyone follows their own unique path, and Libby genuinely believes (from ongoing personal experience) that a coach’s job is to nurture the exploration of those winding pathways, not pave them into rigid roads.
