Our Staff
Kathy Welch is the Director and Founder of Dance Force, LLC and Dance Force Kids. Her company is the largest mobile dance company in Northern California which teaches thousands of children at multiple locations throughout the bay area. Kathy has created several dance scholarship programs which has enabled hundreds of children to take dance classes.
Kathy is a former San Francisco 49er Cheerleader and San Jose Saber Cat Arena Football Cheerleader. She danced for San Jose's first Professional Roller Hockey team- The Rhino's and San Jose's first indoor soccer team- The Grizzlies. She has been a back up dancer for Carlos Santana, Huey Lewis and the News, The United States Mayor's Ball, Joe Montana's Retirement Ceremony, the Make a Wish Foundation, and the World Cup of Soccer. Kathy is an NFL Alumni Member. Kathy has been dancing all her life. She has also been a judge for several dance and cheer competitions and try-outs. She has volunteered her time and dance class donations to several charities. She was formerly the National Account Director for a $6 billion dollar company. Kathy has formerly worked as a Business to Business Director and Director of Sales. She is also a proud mother of three children.
Tara is a native of Alma, Michigan, and has been dancing for over 20 years. She has extensive training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Pointe, and Lyrical, and has studied with teachers such as Mia Michaels, Joe Lanteri, Sherry Gilpin, and has performed in works with the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. Her studies confirmed what she already knew: that she was destined to be a dance teacher! Tara’s BA in Dance has taken her all over the central Michigan area for eight years, working with students of all ages in dance studios, theaters, and schools, before moving to the Bay Area to continue down the same path.
Her performance and choreography credits include 42nd Street, Godspell, Giselle, The Nutcracker, White Christmas, Annie, and Fiddler on the Roof, to name a few. Tara has received many commendations for her choreography, both during her college career and after graduation. Tara enjoys teaching students of all levels and abilities, and wants to share her love and passion for dance with everyone in her class
Sarah began her passion for dance at the age of five at Schumacher's School of Dance. She specializes in ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary. She continues to teach and co-direct the dance program at her alma mater, El Camino High School in South San Francisco, for the past ten years. She attends the annual Pulse on Tour Teacher Workshop in New York City to learn new teaching techniques from the best choreographers and teachers in the dance industry and fellow teachers and studio owners around the world. She continues to spread positivity and love for dance to our younger generations.
Kathy Welch- Director and Owner/Founder
Tara Roberts- Instructor
Sarah Chinn- Instructor
Rachel Duran- Instructor
Christine Maldonado is a choreographer, director and dance instructor who specializes in contemporary dance, musical theatre and creative movement.
Christine earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with a minor in Theatre from San Jose State University in the spring of 2005. Immediately after graduation, she developed a career in the performing arts as a professional stage actress for professional theatres all over the San Francisco bay area. She has performed with Bus Barn Stage Company, Paramount’s Great America, 42nd Street Moon and the cast of Tony and Tina’s Wedding San Francisco, to name a few.
Since 2002, she has served as a dance/drama instructor for multiple teaching environments such as dance studios, theatre companies, after-school programs, recreational centers, corporate facilities and private events. These experiences have earned Christine a reputation for being able to teach dance effectively to all ages and abilities.
Christine is driven by her personal mission of serving the community with her passion for dance. Apart from working as a children’s dance instructor, Christine is the founder/owner of CM Dance Company. CM Dance Company specializes in private dance instruction and custom choreography for special events in the Silicon Valley. She is also studying to become a certified yoga instructor and is discovering new ways to effectively teach people how to move their bodies on and off the dance floor.
Christine Maldonado- Instructor
Noelle Campos- Instructor
Noelle Campos began her classical ballet training at the age of five in her homeland, the Philippines. Her family migrated to the United States in April 2002, and she continued her training at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts located in Daly City, California. Ms. Campos participated in various classical ballet productions as a lead dancer, and also had the fortune of traveling to Scotland for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. In order to continue her training, Ms. Campos decided to pursue her college education at San José State University, with Dance as her major and Nutrition and Food Science as her minor.
Though ballet was her main focus, she studied modern, jazz, improvisation, and choreography under the instruction of Gary Masters, Fred Mathews, Heather Cooper, Jill Yager, Dominique Lomuljo, Raphaël Boumalïa, and Britt Juleen. She was accepted into The University Dance Theatre in 2014 under the artistic directorship of Gary Masters and Raphaël Boumalïa, and also had the opportunity to work with Michael Uthoff. Ms. Campos received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance on May 2016, and she hopes to grow in her career by continuing to flourish in her artistic endeavors.
Yao Dang- Instructor
Yao Dang originally from Beijing, Yao looks forward to a lifetime in dance as an educator, creator and performer. Yao began her professional dance training at age 11 at the Secondary School at Beijing Dance Academy. She received her BFA in Dance degree with an Honors Award for Excellence in Performance from Beijing Normal University. Recently, Yao earned her M.F.A. in dance at Mills College, California, and in 2015 she received the Mills Dance Department Outstanding Performance Award. Her dance forms include ballet, modern, contemporary, Chinese folk dance and Chinese classical dance. Yao has a passion for dance education and watching kids learn in a fun, creative and safe environment. Yao loves to contribute to their growth as dancers.
Rachel has been a Dance Force Instructor from 2011 to present. She has pursued her love of teaching dance for over 10 years. Throughout her life she was a competitive figure skater, including travels to the Intercollegiate Nationals in Ohio, San Jose, and New Hapmshire. She has recieved many awards for her figure skating including a Nationals Best of Showcase award. She now loves to coach and choreographer as well. She has worked as a pre school assistant and loves working with children, teaching them dance and life lessons.
Veronica Vasquez- Instructor
A San Jose native, Veronica started dancing at the age of 4 and is trained in Contemporary, Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Cheer, Tap, Liturgical, Hip Hop, basic ballroom dance and various fitness formats. Veronica has been trained by known instructors and choreographers in the area such as Danny George, Teresa Hawker, Nina Haft, Eric Kupers, among others. Growing up, Veronica was super involved in the Worship Dance team at her local church, Cathedral of Faith, and had the honor to perform in their mega Holiday productions. Also, she was a member of the, "Dance Ensemble," modern dance company while attending CSU East Bay. Veronica began teaching dance at age 16, through the City of San Jose Community Centers. Since then, she has taught dance for a wide range of kids including special needs throughout the Bay Area. Some affiliations include, School of Arts Culture, Starting Arts, Dance Academy USA, Veronica's Art of Dance, YMCA and Summit Public Schools. She has also choreographed for various dance, cheer groups and special events in the area.
Among the highlights of Veronica's teaching experience, she owned a small dance studio for a few years called "Veronica's Art of Dance," where she had the opportunity to learn firsthand how to run a dance studio. Veronica has also taken competition teams to compete and in 2010 received a Judges award for best choreography from Thunderstruck Competition.
She has attend various seminars such as the ZIN convention, Dance Teacher Summit, Dance Life Seminar; and experienced learning from dance-fitness icons such as Beto Perez, Gina Grant, Rhee Gold, Mandy Moore, Sue Sampson, Kathy Blake and Beverly Spell.
Fitness is also a strong passion of hers and she holds various group fitness and personal training certifications including Zumba, Pilates and Spin. Her fitness background includes teaching at various commercial, corporate and specialty gyms in the Bay Area and Sacramento.
Currently, Veronica has joined the Terrace of Los Gatos team as Fitness Coordinator, helping seniors thrive through wellness classes and personal training. She is also part of the Medifit team at Adobe site and of course part of Dance Force Kids! You can find Veronica at different City wide sites; she hopes to have the pleasure of teaching your child!