Our Staff

Gina Dewey

Owner & Director

Gina has been dancing all of her life, however, she started Irish dancing in 2003 with her daughters.   She enjoyed competing as much as they did and achieved Open Level status in competition.   She has always been an avid teacher, so it was natural that she began teaching Irish Dance in 2008 and helped her students with competitions and performing.  Over the years the NLIDA has gone from just a traditional school to professional student dance company, and so much more.

Elizabeth Dewey

Owner, Studio Manager, Director

Elizabeth Dewey grew up in Cadillac, MI loving to dance. She started her dance journey at a small local studio at the age of three. Throughout her childhood she traveled to Traverse City and later Grand Rapids for classes. Elizabeth did the majority of her classical ballet training at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet under the instruction of Petricia Barker, Attila Mosolygo, Mindy Mosolygo, Maria Kurowski, Michael Auer, and many more. She also studied for several years at Ballet Etc. in Traverse City under Thomas Morrell. She spent her summers frequenting dance intensives, such as; Ballet Magnificat!, The Grand Rapids Ballet, and the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet. At age 17, Elizabeth was excepted as a trainee with the premier Christian ballet company Ballet Magnificat! There she danced and performed under the tutelage of Kathy Thibodeaux, Jiri Voborsky, Sol Maisonet, Hannah Beaver, Cassandra Voborsky, etc. After dancing with them for two years and serving a the trainee costume mistress, she took a job in Florence, Italy running an art gallery that used art, music, and dance to share the gospel.

Elizabeth is certified and continues to certify in many different dance certifications. She is certified in the Vaganova Method of Ballet Level 1, and she continues to work on the further levels. She is certified in PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique) levels 1 & 2, as well as PCT(Progressing Contemporary Technique).

Irish Dance has also been a huge part of Elizabeth’s life. She grew up dancing and competing under the Ardan Academy of Irish Dance (then The Heinzman Academy of Irish Dance). She also grew up dancing and performing with the NLID. She is now a certified Irish Dance instructor (TCRG) under WIDA.

Elizabeth has been teaching dance since she was 16, and has taught a variety of styles. Though her main love is to teach Ballet, she also enjoys teaching Irish, Contemporary, Lyrical, Worship, and more. Elizabeth is also a seamstress and loves costume design. She creates and compiles all costumes for our companies and school.

Jubilee Hoekwater

Teacher & Assistant

Jubilee started dancing at 3 years old with the Northern Lights Irish Dance academy.  She is one of 9 siblings, 7 of whom dance(d) with the NLID.  She has been performing and competing since she was 4, and has been assistant teaching since she was 12. Jubilee’s main love is Irish dance, but she has also studied contemporary dance and ballet. 

Although she graduated high school in 2021, Jubilee continues to dance, compete and perform with the NLID.  She made the decision to start teaching last year, and we are excited for her to take on some of our Irish dance classes! 

Jubilee recently became a certified natural health practitioner, and is furthering her education in natural medicine.