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. Every teacher has cleared a Life Scan background check and is certified in CPR. We also encourage and provide support to our teachers to continue their education to better themselves in the field which in turn betters the students.
Lieren king-Owner
Lieren grew up dancing at Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts when the studio was located on E Street in San Bernardino and is now honored to serve as its proud owner. A lifelong performer and educator, her journey with Looking Glass comes full circle as she continues the studio’s rich legacy while leading it into the future.
Between her early years as a student and eventually taking ownership of the studio, Lieren spent several years as a choreographer for Junior University and performed professionally at Candlelight Pavilion, appearing in 42nd Street and Singin’ in the Rain, where she also served as Dance Captain. In 2019, she made her debut at the Redlands Bowl as both a performer and choreographer for Singin’ in the Rain at the Redlands Bowl.
Lieren began teaching dance professionally in 2013 at a studio in Rancho Cucamonga, where she remained until taking over Looking Glass in 2020. She currently teaches adult Line Dance and Tap at the YMCA in Redlands and continues to work extensively in arts education, choreographing for Show Choir and co-choreographing high school musicals at Citrus Valley High School.
Deeply committed to her community, Lieren serves as an Ambassador with the Redlands Chamber of Commerce and has been accepted into the Redlands Leadership Class of 2026. She is passionate about fostering the arts locally while building strong community connections.
Lieren is proud and excited to carry on the legacy of Looking Glass Studio in honor of the teachers who shaped her both as an artist and a leader. She is eternally grateful to Ron Cocking, Gloria McMillan, and Kelly Uminski for the love, dedication, and vision they poured into the studio and its students since its founding in 1974.
Sarah Lopez-lead ballet instructor/studio manager
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.
Kate Feinberg Robins - ballet program director
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.
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.
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.
Suzanne cox - Lead Acro Instructor
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.
Liana harnitchek - Tap instructor
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.
francesca (Franki) Bossone - Advanced Lyrical instructor
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.
Avriella ford
Kelly rogers - adult tap & jazz
Kelly started dancing at the age of 3 and has loved every minute of it! She grew up in Redlands and was a part of the Dance Horizons (Redlands, CA) competition teams for 20 years as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She has been trained in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, hula, lyrical, and tap. Thommie Retter (of Broadway’s BILLY ELLIOT) was her tap teacher and mentor since the age of 14. Kelly has taught at studios here in the Inland Empire and taught tap and hip-hop in Agoura Hills for Retter’s Academy of Dance. She has a B.S. in the Recording Industry, and an M.A. in Higher Education and Learning & Teaching from the University of Redlands. She is a physical education teacher at Cajon High School in San Bernardino. Not only can Kelly teach many forms of dance, but she also has skills when it comes to technology. She edits music and has filmed dance instructional videos for MusicWorks, recital footage for Retter’s Academy of Dance, and many recitals for local dance studios in the area. Kelly is looking forward to bringing her style to so many new students and share her love of dance with students of all ages!