JDF Elite Dance Academy

Jennifer Forst

Owner and Artistic Director

Director of Elite Companies, Instructor of Dance I-V and Private Instruction 

            Mrs. Jennifer Forst is thrilled to share her passion and enthusiasm for dance through JDF Elite Dance Academy. She has gained experience in the dance community through both studio dance and dance/drill team and has now realized the goal of owning her own business!

          She has been dancing and performing for 29 years and has been teaching for 16 years. She is versatile in ballet/pointe, jazz, musical theater, and lyrical with her specialties being drill prep, tap, hip hop and modern/contemporary.

            Mrs. Forst was a high school Dance Team Director for 7 years. While under her Direction for 5 years, the Sam Rayburn HS Tex-Anns expanded their experience in various competitions including trips to New York and California. They earned National and Regional titles at various competitions.  She also founded the JV Starlette Dance Team which has turned into a successful recruiting tool for the Varsity program. While at Rayburn Mrs. Forst was the writer of the Pasadena ISD Fine Arts Dance Department Dance I-IV curriculum as well as created hiring questions for dance director candidates of PISD. Before SRHS she was the Director of the Bryan HS Shy-Anne Dance Team and the 2006 National Champion Novice Team the Westbury HS Blue Diamonds Dance Team. 

      Before her experience as a Dance Team Director, Mrs. Forst was born in Irving, Texas and started dancing at the age of 2 at Dana’s Dance Academy. While there, she studied ballet/pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop and musical theater. She was a member of the Academy Dancers, which performed throughout the community and was chosen to attend the National Tap Convention. Jennifer also studied at Jill Regean’s Dance Studio as well as Riley’s Dance Studio.

          She was a member of the Toy Tiger Drill Team at Irving HS for 4 years. While there, she served as a Lieutenant for 3 years and was a member of the elite jazz group, Swingers and Kick Company. She choreographed dances for Spring Show yearly as well as competed in the solo, duet, officer, ensemble and team categories at all dance competitions and placed. During her high school career Jennifer achieved the award of All Star Dancer which allowed her the opportunity to perform at the Florida Citrus Bowl and was awarded Who’s Who in Dance in 2000.

       After high school, Mrs. Forst became a member of the professional dance company 5 Degrees of Dance out of Frisco, TX. She then attended Sam Houston State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance with a minor in Psychology. While there she studied, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, modern, choreography, musical theater, stage lighting and costuming.  She was a member of the Spectrum Dance Company where she had numerous performance opportunities.

         Jennifer has worked for the national dance company MA Dance for 10 years. She has held the position of Clinic Director, choreographer for camps and competitions, head dance instructor, and judge at regional competitions and staff auditions. Mrs. Forst has traveled to many different states working with high school and middle school dance teams. For the two years she has been asked to take on the task as a presenter for a Director’s Workshop at MA Officer Camp. She has also been a Judge for Dance Spotlight USA competitions.

         Mrs. Forst has had extensive experience teaching at several dance studios. She has been an Instructor of hip hop, jazz, competition team and technique at three dance studios: Dana’s Dance Academy, Irving, TX, Dance Dynamics, The Woodlands, TX, and Memorial Dance Studio, Houston, TX. She has also been an instructor for Bonnie Siscoe School of Dance in the areas of Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern/Lyrical, Sr. Company, leaps/turns, solos and trios. She has also taught various styles at Dance Expressions.

        As a professional choreographer, Jennifer has been a Master Class Hip Hop instructor for Texas City HS, hired to correct and clean routines for high schools in Dallas, choreographed dances for middle school and high school dance teams in Dallas and Houston, such as, Lanier MS, Irving HS, O’Connell HS, Westfield HS, and Dobie HS, hired to choreograph for many solos and duets for students on dance teams in Dallas and Bryan and she has been hired for the last 7 years by O’Connell High School to choreograph their competition dances.

Mrs. Forst’s other accomplishments are as follows:

• Director/Choreographer 2012 National Champion WebTV Final Showdown Winners (Showstoppers)
• Director/Choreographer 2012 Overall Senior Small Group Regional Champions (Showstoppers)
• Choreographer of "To Build A Home" Eye of the Storm Most Creative Concept Award (Thunderstruck)
• Choreographer of "Tore My Heart" Eye of the Storm Best Overall Choreography Award (Thunderstruck) 
• Director/Choreographer 2011 Overall Senior Small Group Regional Champions (Showstoppers)
• Director/Choreographer 2010 National Grand Champion Medium Officer Line (Showtime)
• Director/Choreographer 2010 National Grand Champion Large Ensemble (Showtime)
• Director/Choreographer 2010 Grand Champion Medium Team (Champion Dance)
• Director/Choreographer 2010 Grand Champion Medium Team (Showtime)
• Director/Choreographer 2010 Grand Champion Medium Officer Line (Showtime)
• 2010 Best in Class Jazz and Modern
• Choreographer for 2008 Overall National Champion Private Team (MA Dance)
• Director/choreographer of 2008 National Champion Large Team - Lyrical (MA Dance)
• Director/choreographer of 2007 National Champion Medium Team - Modern (Champion Tours)
• Director/choreographer- 2006 Overall National Champion Novice Team (Contest of Champions)
• Best Overall Choreography 2005 (ADTS), 2007-2010 (MA Dance, Champion, and Showtime)
• Choreography Awards 2005- present for Lyrical, Jazz, Modern, Pom, Hip Hop, and Novelty
• National Dean’s List at Sam Houston State University 2003 and 2004
• Who’s Who in Dance 2000

She continues her education in dance by attending several conventions throughout the year including TDEA (Texas Dance Educators Association), Tremaine, West Coast Dance Explosion, JUMP, NUVO and The Pulse Dance Conventions! This enables her to enhance her dance curriculum and style by learning from premiere dancers and choreographers such as Shane Sparks, Mia Micheals, Brian Freedman, Wade Robinson, Dave Scott, Tyce Diorio, Sonya Teyah, Travis Wall and many more.

Kristen Gordon

Director of Cheer Program, Creative Movement and Acro

Bio and Pic Coming Soon!

Ashley Cook

Ballet Instructor and Private Instruction

Bio and Pic Coming Soon!

Latasia Turner

Adjunct Teacher    

Latasia “Ms. Tasha” Turner is excited to join the staff at JDF Elite Dance Academy to share her dedication and passion for the art of dance. She is very versatile in jazz, musical theatre and lyrical with her emphasis in ballet/pointe, tap, hip hop, and modern contemporary. 

Ms. Tasha has been a performer for 22 years and dedicated dance teacher for 12 years. Ms. Tasha attended Prairie View A & M University where she was a member of The Classic Dance Ensemble Company for 2 years.  She then followed her passions and transferred to Sam Houston State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance with a minor in Spanish. While at SHSU she studied, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, folk and social dance forms, dance history, modern, choreography, musical theater, stage lighting and costuming.  She was a member of the Spectrum Dance Company and Chi Tau Epsilon Dance Honor Society. 

Ms. Tasha works as the Director of the Dance Program at McReynolds Middle School in the historically upper fifth ward area and loves working with inner city youth. Ms. Tasha has taught and choreographed a number of dances throughout her journey so she is overjoyed to make the JDF family her  home. She believes dance is the most ephemeral and immediate of the arts and it exists in the moment of its performance and is then gone, so always DANCE your HEART out!

STUDENT ASSISTANT PROGRAM

 Yoselin "JoJo" Gonzalez

 Yoselin has a natural talent for dance! She has been dancing for 5 years under the instruction of Jennifer Forst. Her dance education includes ballet, lyrical, jazz, modern, prop, novelty, hip hop, contemporary, pom, military and kick. Her specialties are hip hop and contemporary. 

 Yoselin began to discover her passion for dance as a Freshman at Sam Rayburn HS. Through out her four years of dance education she was a member of the JV Starlette Dance Team and Varsity Tex-Ann Dance Team. As a Varsity member Yoselin was the Colonel for two years. She was the first ever Junior Colonel for Sam Rayburn HS. During her reign as Colonel JoJo helped lead her team to numerous Regional Championships. In 2010, her officer line also received the honor of Medium Officer Line National Champions! 

 Yoselin regularly attends conventions and competitions to continue her dance education. Yoselin has had the honor of being a member of the TDEA All State Dance Team for 2010 and 2011.  She has studied under choreographers such as Mia Micheals, Wade Robinson, Dave Scott and many more.  

 In addition to her accomplishments as a dancer, Yoselin maintained a 3.85 GPA and graduated 6th in her class. She was a member of Student Council, National Honor Society and a prominent leader in her school! She is a positive role model for any student and exudes her love of dance through every class she assists as one of our top student assistants!

Amayriani "Mannie" Hernandez

Bio Coming Soon!

Ariel Sepulvado

Bio Coming Soon!

Kennedy Nguyen

Bio Coming Soon!