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Our Fine Arts Teaching Team

Abigail  

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Miss Henninger grew up in a home that was constantly filled with the arts. Her mother a master pianist, her father a play write and director, sister an opera singer, brother a song writer and musician and her youngest sister with down syndrome loved it all! Abigail's love of the arts runs deep into her roots and is excited to see Magnum Opus School of the Arts continue to grow during the third season.

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Miss Henninger founded Magnum Opus, the professional company, in 2017.  She was been dancing and teaching professionally for the last 18 years and has been certified in adaptive dance from Boston Ballet, as well received certification from American Council on Exercise. Regardless of the class she is teaching, Abigail focuses on anatomically placed positions to prevent injury, any future pain, and to lengthen and strengthen the mind, body, and spirit. 

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She has taught around the country striving to bring joy into the studio and onto the stage. Abigail pushes students to have a strong work ethic and discipline, all while learning to enjoy the arts. Miss Henninger is thrilled to bring a faith based professional studio to the Madison area and is excited to engage with students and their families for years to come. 

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Lauren

  

When it comes to teaching, what Lauren loves the most is its ability to impact others. As an instructor, she hopes to share her love of dance and inspire students to develop their own passion for the art form. She works to establish a positive environment that encourages creativity, confidence, and self-expression. Understanding that each dancer is a unique individual, she prioritizes personalized attention while using a variety of approaches, including imagery, physical demonstration, and verbalization, to appeal to multiple learning styles. Lauren believes in emphasizing a strong technical foundation for the dancers to build upon as they grow as artists.

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In 2019, Lauren joined Magnum Opus as an apprentice and was promoted to Company Artist in 2020. Lauren has graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a focus in Arts Management.

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Gracie​

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Gracie Staggers has loved theatre and dance from a young age. Many old videos can be found of her dancing around the kitchen and performing in-home plays that she wrote and directed. She received the bulk of her theatre training from Debut Theatre Company and Lost Marbles Theatrics, both in Fort Collins, Colorado. Gracie’s formal dance training started at Celebration Ministry of Arts in Fort Collins and transitioned to Lighthouse Dance in Loveland, Colorado, where she danced the lead pointe role of the Angel Gabriel (“Gabrielle”) in the Christmas production “Nativity.” She has experienced firsthand how theatre and dance training are mutually beneficial and is excited to pass on this knowledge to her students.


Gracie formally began teaching dance in 2019, instructing ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre. She has also enjoyed other instructional roles, such as choreographing for church Christmas musicals, teaching dance at sports and music camps, and coaching short scenes or theatre camps. As a teacher, she is passionate about helping students push past self-imposed boundaries to grow both in their technique and love of the arts. Most importantly, she desires to facilitate an environment that allows students to reflect the creativity of their Creator. Gracie joined Magnum Opus as a Trainee in 2022 and is excited to dance as a Company Apprentice for the 2023/2024 Season. She is humbled and thrilled to continue to teach at the School of the Arts and perform in the company for her third season.

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Clara​

Clara 

Clara began her dance instruction at age 7, in Wichita, KS. She took at Wichita State University College of Fine Arts Institute before moving to study under Jill Landrith until high school (Ballet Wichita). While still in school, Clara returned to WSU to expand her training, studying ballet under Denise Celestine, and modern under Regina Klenjoski and Cheyla Clawson Chandler. Throughout high school and after, Clara attended several summer programs to enrich her training. A few she participated in were American Ballet Theatre, Kansas City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Tulsa Ballet. In 2018, she moved to Kansas City to train with Kansas City Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Division. She was able to perform with the company for three productions and finished out the year 2020 as a graduate from the program. 

 

After returning to study under Landrith at Metropolitan Ballet Wichita, Clara then moved to Magnum Opus to join the company as an apprentice. As a dancer and teacher, dance and music have intertwined a lot in Clara’s life. While first beginning in Ballet, she had the opportunity to study music alongside her dancing, and practiced in piano, violin and drums. Frequent performances at her school were something she loved doing growing up, including playing with her Dad and siblings in various recitals. Clara loves to focus
on the technical aspects of music training while diving into the richness and beauty that comes from it apart from dance. She hopes to share more opportunities with the students at Magnum Opus School of the Arts in both music and dance.

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JoAnna

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JoAnna was born in Shelton, Washington where her dad was an associate pastor and mother was a worship leader. She grew a passion for music watching her mother on stage. She then moved to Madison, Wisconsin when she was 6 years old and was heavily involved in church, helping start a worship team for youth group from 12 yrs old until she graduated high school, learning to play keys and singing backup vocals. When she was 12, she also discovered she had a passion for teaching.


JoAnna got her bachelor's degree in Social Science Education with a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language at Evangel University. Upon graduating, she moved to Daegu, South Korea where she taught English for 3 years.

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When JoAnna returned back home, she got connected at City Church. She ran into a similar situation when she was younger, the young adult group needed a worship team. She filled in with different instruments, and fell upon her passion of playing drums. She has been playing cajon for 6 years, and when she became involved in International House of Prayer, she learned to play the drum set, which she has been playing for the last 2 years.

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Robert


Robert Rockman graduated from UW Madison with a degree in Percussion Performance and a certificate in Dance Performance. He studied all forms of dance for 11 years prior to enrolling at UW. Since the age of 6, Robert has been involved with Sun Prairie Civic Theater in Sun Prairie and First Wing Family Theater in Deerfield. Starting as an actor in these shows, he quickly took on roles in most all the departments including scenic arts, backstage crew, set design and construction, lights/sound, choreographer, and assistant director. This work continues to inform how he thinks about and teaches stage presence and teamwork.
Robert is currently employed at Isthmus Instruments in Madison, also teaching tap, and varying levels of contemporary technique at studio 3D in Lake Mills and is the timpanist at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison.


In his free time, Robert enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking and pretty much anything else outdoors. When not outside he can be found playing board games or hanging out with his family

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