About Us - Nans Dance

Professional team collaborating on innovative solutions

Our History

Every studio has a different personality which develops from the philosophical framework from which they teach. In a low stress environment we employ family-friendly methods to build confidence in young people through teaching them correct technique first — then like stacking blocks, we keep challenging their bodies and minds to perform steps they never thought possible! All classes are taught by qualified, adult instructors!

Nan’s School of Dance began when Nan Holt Smith started teaching 40 students in her hometown of Yadkinville, NC in 1975. She and her husband, Chuck Smith, established the 1st Greensboro studio in 1982. Nan’s oldest daughter, Jennifer Grinwis, grew up in the studio, started teaching after college, and has been director since 2002. Jon & Jennifer Grinwis now own the company. Nan’s School of Dance is a family business of providing a service for other families in our community. We operate our locations in Yadkinville, Greensboro, and Kernersville, North Carolina.

The objective for our studio is to provide top quality instruction at a competitive price. The objective for our students is to encourage technical proficiency in their area of interest, but more importantly to build self-discipline, poise, and self-esteem. From September through May, we offer quality instruction in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, pointe, hip hop, praise & worship, zumba, pound, preschool, and athletic training at all levels. Our studios are equipped with cushioned, floating floors, mirrors, and barres designed specifically for dance and athletics in order to decrease injury.

Meet Our Faculty

Jennifer Grinwis

Owner / Director / Instructor

Nan’s oldest daughter, Jennifer, has been here from the very beginning! Our owner and director attended the 1989 NC Governor’s School in dance and participated in the Guilford County Junior Miss Scholarship Program in 1990 winning scholarships for her dance performance. She studied dance at UNC-G, and continues to further her training by enrolling in conventions and seminars. Other experience includes being a homeschooling mom to 4 children. Jennifer’s dance teaching experience spans 22 years.

Jon Grinwis

Owner / Athletic Training Coach

Jon grew up playing competitively in the sports of tennis, golf, baseball, soccer, football, and swimming. He has coached baseball for over a decade. His life experience with various traning programs and coaches gives him an array of styles to pull from for his classes which are tailored to the athletes enrolled. He is raising 4 children with Jennifer and stays very busy behind the scenes doing Nan’s School of Dance Business details.

Lauren Stroud

Instructor / Company Head Coach

Nan herself taught Lauren at our Yadkinville studio for fifteen years. She has her BA in dance from UNC-G. In high school and beyond, Lauren composed choreography, performed it, and won awards with her cheerleading team and show choir. At a competition in Atlanta, she was named All-Star dancer. Lauren started teaching here in 2000! When not dancing, her 6 children keep her busy.

Kayla Foster

Instructor

Kayla Foster started dancing at 2 years of age and hasn’t stopped since! She graduated from UNCG in 2020 with a BFA in Dance Performance and K-12 Teaching License. Kayla has been teaching weekly dance classes and choreographing competition pieces since 2015. She has been grateful to receive multiple choreography awards and first overalls throughout the years. However she believes the true focus should be on the students having an amazing, fun experience performing while improving their dance abilities. Kayla strives to provide a physical, emotional, and psychologically safe environment for her students to explore, experiment, and grow not only as dancers, but as individuals!

Georgia Grinwis

Instructor

Nan’s granddaughter, Georgia, began dancing here at age 2.5. She has attended many conventions and trained under choreographers from various arenas including, but not limited to “So You Think You Can Dance”. Her awards and accolades at a myriad of competitions through the years are illustrious. She started teaching here in 2022, and also has classroom experience through volunteering at church.

Molly Long

Instructor

Molly began her dance career here at age 5. She grew up dancing at competitions and winning awards in our Performance Company. She graduated with a BA in dance from Salem College in 2020. Her classroom experience is enhanced by her work with children at church. She is a Pre-School teacher during the day, and has been teaching here since 2018.

Kayla McBane

Instructor

Kayla started dancing with Jennifer at the Yadkinville studio when she was 3 years old. Now in her final year of a degree in kinesiology with a minor in dance at UNC-G, she is ready to share her knowledge. Through volunteering at church and training with us, she has experience with children of all ages. This is her 4th year teaching at Nan’s.

Ashley Simmons

Instructor

A dancer here at Nan’s since age three, Ashley has experienced many dance genres. She recently graduated from UNC-G majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Dance. She has many years of classroom management under her belt through helping at her church all her life and her position as a 4th grade teacher at Greensboro Academy. Ashley began teaching here in 2010, and stays busy at home with her 2 little ones.

Karamie Walsh

Instructor

She started her now 20 year dance journey ar Melanie Paschal’s Dance Creations and danced competitively for 9 years there. After she graduated in 2019, Karamie attended Louisburg College in dance and then was accepted into The American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York. Due to covid, she was unable to attend, but wouldn’t have it any otheray. Karamie has discovered that not only is performing her passion, but so is teaching and choreographing. Her goal with students is to encourage creativity and help find comfort and confidence in themselves through movement.

Sherry Yacuzzo

Instructor

With 28 years experience as a dancer/performer, instructor, choreographer and judge, she has been trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Acro and Musical Theatre. Sherry was a professional dancer and model for over 10 years in Lake Tahoe, NV, Branson MO, and NC. She studied under greats Al Gilbert, Frank Boem, Ron Lewis and Michael Darrin. Earlier training under wonderful teachers, the late Jacqueline Dorminey and Ray Hollingsworth prepared her well. Sherry has worked as a Judge for several National Dance Competition circuits for over 15 years.

Erin Young

Instructor

Dancing here since age 3, Erin has many years of dance training in all genres, but her favorite is tap. She earned many trophies and medals dancing in our Performance Company. She is currently a Liberty University student studying Crime Scene Investigation. Her work with groups of children at church gives her classroom management skills. 2023 is her first year teaching at Nan’s.

Hear it From Our Students

Where would I begin? I danced at Nan’s in Greensboro for 15 years and have now taught at the Raleigh studio for going on 3! At every turn, the women who taught me deepened the love and joy I have for dance but also showed me the kind of grown up I want to be. My dance teachers taught me how to listen, how to be creative, how to learn new things, how to practice hard things, how to meet people where they are, how to be both “real” and encouraging, how to laugh at yourself, how to respect yourself, how to work hard, and how to love what you do. I love knowing how to dance , but even more than that I love the family of role models and lifelong friends that IS Nan’s!

Stephanie Meter

“Your daughter’s a dancer? Oh, I bet that made her so flexible!” That comment, given so often through the years, always gives me pause. Well, yes, she is flexible…but that is far from all that 15 years of dancing “made her!” When that eager little girl finally got old enough to learn “to dance like ‘Singing in the Rain!’”, we were both thrilled! She learned to tap like Gene Kelly (well, mostly!), but she learned so much more.

She learned to listen; she learned to take turns; she learned to meet new people; she learned to be kind; she learned to discipline her body; she learned new words; she learned to perform strings of tasks, increasing her powers of concentration; she learned to work with a team; she learned the connections between music and story; she learned to tell a story with her motions; she learned to work hard; she learned to push past her “limits”; she learned to find joy in creating music with motion. My little dancer is now a lovely lady, and the woman she has grown into has been beautifully influenced by the dancer she became. Her new joy is teaching students of her own, passing down all the dividends her investment has accrued!

Lisa Bailey

I was a student at Nan’s School of Dance when I was 5 years old (31 years ago). Miss Vicki was my very first teacher.I continued dancing up until I was a senior in high school. I now teach 4th grade in Raleigh. One of the coolest things that has happened to me occurred several weeks ago when a colleague’s daughter and student at my school told me that she took at Nan’s in Raleigh. I proceeded to tap in the hallway. It is wonderful to see this dance studio reach and impact so many families!!

Mary Beth Gruenewald

I love to dance and I couldn’t imagine my life without dance. Nan’s not only offered me an opportunity to hone a passion, Nan taught me to be a leader. Nan, Chuck, and Jennifer believed in me and help me become who I am today. I cannot be more grateful.

Cynthia Ford

I was a student of Nan at the little studio in Yadkinville waaaay back int he 70s! Have great memories of dancing!

Jane Simpson

Get Started

Where Passion Meets Purpose

Our History

Meet Our Faculty

Jennifer Grinwis

Jon Grinwis

Lauren Stroud

Kayla Foster

Georgia Grinwis

Molly Long

Kayla McBane

Ashley Simmons

Karamie Walsh

Sherry Yacuzzo

Erin Young

Nan's Dance Gives Back

Hear it From Our Students

Our Locations

Greensboro Studio

Yadkinville Studio

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