Our Teachers

What makes the Looking Glass Studio stand out from others are our teachers. Our teachers are talented, experienced, and passionate about the art of dance.

Lieren king-Owner

Lieren grew up dancing at Looking Glass when the studio was on E Street in San Bernardino and is now the proud owner. Between dancing at Looking Glass and taking over the studio, she spent numerous years as Choreographer for Junior University and she performed professionally at Candlelight Pavilion in 42nd Street and Singin’ In the Rain, as well as was Dance Captain. Lieren also choreographed and was in Singin’ In the Rain at the Redlands Bowl in 2019. Lieren started teaching dance at a studio in Rancho Cucamonga in 2013 and was with them until she took over Looking Glass in 2020. Currently, Lieren teaches Line Dance and Tap dance for adults at the YMCA in Redlands as well as is choreographing for Show Choir and co-choreographing for the High School musicals at Citrus Valley High School. Lieren is proud and excited to be able to continue the studio and the legacy in honor of the teachers who shaped her into who she is today. She is eternally grateful to Ron Cocking, Gloria McMillan, and Kelly Uminski for all of the love they poured into the studio and the students from its start in 1974.

Sarah Lopez-ballet department lead

Sarah started dancing at Looking Glass at the age of 3. She always had a deep love and passion for classical ballet and trained with all of the best LGSPA ballet instructors, as well as other ballet companies through summer intensives. Sarah is the current head of our ballet department and enjoys progressing her students through our program with confidence and passion.

Annette R. Wagner-musical theatre department lead

Annette began training at the age of 4 in tap and ballet, and later in jazz and vocal. She joined the Looking Glass Studio over 20 years ago, where she continued training in tap and jazz. Some of her most memorable experiences in performing include the Redlands Bowl dance products, the Riverside Community College Dance Program, Cal State San Bernardino Drama Program, Looking Glass’ “Looking Good”, as well as various Inland Empire organization performances. She has directed and choreographed children’s and adult musicals for various faith based organizations in the Inland Empire. Annette earned her B.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in theater of the arts from CSUSB.

Liana harnitchek

Liana started her dance training at the age of 3 and continued to attend the Looking Glass for 15 years. During this time, she was trained in many areas of dance, including jazz, tap, hip hop, ballet, and musical theatre. Some of her most memorable experiences were performing with the TAPS ensemble in Looking Good productions, as well as with the IMAGES jazz ensemble at the Mission Inn Festival of Lights and at Disneyland. After numerous classes and performances, Liana is excited to join the LGSPA staff, teaching Kinder Theatre. She looks forward to this opportunity to share and instill her love of dance with her students. She is currently a student at Cal State University San Bernardino, working toward a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Shelby Mallory-jazz department lead

Shelby started dancing at age 4 when the Looking Glass Studio was located on 'E' Street in San Bernardino. She grew up taking jazz, ballet, tap and hip hop for over 15 years until she joined University Dance Company at CSUSB. At CSUSB, she was on the traveling competition team for two years until she tore her ACL and meniscus while doing a jump. She took a summer off to have surgery and recover. After that, Shelby returned to dance to teach and choreograph. She has choreographed for philanthropy events with dance teams at CSUSB, winning three competitions in a row. Shelby currently teaches a mix of jazz and hip/hop while working full time in marketing/communications for Blue Shield of California.

Samantha French-acting department lead

Samantha started performing in Redlands at the age of 5. This is where she developed her love for all forms of acting and theatre. She continued to take acting classes and perform in plays across the Inland Empire. These plays include: Tartuffe, Antigone, Henry V, and Doctor Faustus. In 2018, she traveled to The Globe in London to undergo a Shakespearean Acting Intensive. More recently, she has received her B.A. in Theatre & Film from UC Riverside and her M.A. in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz, where she also taught acting class and theatre history. Samantha is very excited for the new adventures at Looking Glass.

Suzanne cox

Suzanne started dancing at the age of 17. She went to UCR where she received her BA in dance. She has studied ballet, pointe, tap, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, contact improve, jazz, contemporary with many professionals. She has taught various forms of dance since she was 19 years old. She has learned from many professionals over the years. Suzanne started learning circus acrobatic arts at age 28. She first started learning how to lift and be lifted from Brennan Mejia (Power Ranger star ). Later took other forms of acrobatics with the American acrobats where she learned more intense lifts, condition, aerial silks, arm balancing and Lyra. She has also learned from various professionals in the circus realm. She has studied the program and received her certification in acrobatics for dance from Acrobatic Arts in Las Vegas in 2018. She has taught acrobatics for dance for 5 years including big classes to do extreme lifts for dances.

francesca (Franki) Bossone

Franki began dancing at the age of 13 and has extensive experience in both the training and teaching of jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, tap, and ballet. She was a member of a competitive dance team for many years and continued her dance career on a D1 team at the University of San Diego.

Kate Feinberg Robins

Kate danced with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet (now Ballet Excel Ohio) and trained ballet with Nan Klinger in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. She also studied dance in summer intensives at School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, North Carolina School of the Arts, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Richmond Ballet, BalletMet, Ballet Hispanico, and Ballet Cristina Helena. She has taught the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and was Founding Director of Find Your Center dance and martial arts school in Pasco, Washington. She is an aspiring fiction writer, and has a PhD in Linguistic Anthropology. She currently runs the Find Your Center Wellness Arts website, as well as teaching at Looking Glass Studio.

Robert Anaya - Hip Hop Department lead

Avriella ford