Jamie Straatsma
Jamie Straatsma is the owner/operator of Breakout Dance Studio and lead instructor. Jamie was born in St. Louis, MO and started dancing at the age of 5 years old. She attended jazz, tap and ballet classes at a local family owned and operated studio with her two older sisters from the age of 5-14 years old until she moved to Alaska where she continued her dance education into her 20’s. While dancing in St. Louis, she competed in several dance competitions and watched her two older sisters compete not only in dance but the NCAA. Dance and cheer were very big influences in her family’s life as well as sports. On top of dance classes, Jamie also played softball, basketball and volleyball and is a very high energy individual to say the least.
A move to Fairbanks, Alaska at the age of 14 introduced her to the Summer Arts Festival where she had the opportunity to dance under instructors from all over the globe. She has had the pleasure of working with Broadway instructors as well as former Rockettes.
In 2010 Jamie created the first hip hop program in Fairbanks for children ages 5 and up to attend as there weren’t hip hop classes at any local studios for children at that time. Jamie has been teaching hip hop classes for ages 5 and up since 2010.
She traveled to Las Vegas in 2010 to get her Zumba certification and Zumba Kids certification so she could offer a dance aerobics class for children as well.
Jamie is thrilled to have her own studio now and expand the genre of classes that she offers! While she’s been teaching hip hop since 2010, jazz and tap are her passion as well and she’s thrilled to now be offering jazz, tap, ballet and hip hop classes as an official CLI Studios partner studio!
Jamie received her certification through CLI Studios in 2019 and 2020, received her Youth Protection Advocates in Dance (YPAD) certification in 2020 and will be receiving her Junior Acro Certification through ADTA in 2021! With the new addition of our Music Program, she is working on her Music Theory certification in 2021 as well. Jamie is so excited to share all that she has learned with her students!