Faculty

Shelly Christy

Director/Owner

Sweaty Shelly’s Natomas Dance and Fitness studio is a personal dream come true. As a little girl dancing ballet, tap and jazz, I fell in love with the joy of moving to music, and the rush of performing on stage. At home when I wasn’t dancing around the house, I would watch and move along with my mom as she did workout videos in our living room. I loved the energy of the videos, how the class members would interact with each other and the teacher, and as soon as I was old enough, I wanted to find a place where I could both pursue my love of dance and take fitness classes to keep me in shape.

When I found a place to take both dance and fitness classes, I realized that I was going to need to teach in order to pay for the classes I wanted to take. Teaching and taking classes all day, I realized that I found more joy watching my students work hard and achieve their dance and fitness goals than I did with my own. I developed a teaching philosophy rooted in happiness, where the only two goals of every class should be to SWEAT AND SMILE!

Over the past 17 years teaching at numerous locations here in Sacramento, it is my guarantee that at Sweaty Shelly’s Natomas Dance and Fitness everyone will feel valued, and every customer can be a part of a fantastic community of dance and fitness enthusiasts. Parents can enjoy a fitness class while their children enjoy a dance class, and students of all ages can sweat and smile while building a community that achieves their goals together.

Christina Kisela

Instructor

Christina’s love for dance started at 7 years old. Growing up Christina trained at Hawkins School of Performing Arts, under the direction of Deirdre Hawkins. She has trained extensively in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical, and Musical Theatre. After graduation Christina continued her training at the Boston Conservatory, studying Musical Theatre. Her credits include, Sacramento Music Circus, St. Louis MUNY, Disney, Core Contemporary Dance, and the 1st National Tour of ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. While Christina is professionally trained, her true passion lies in teaching and inspiring today’s youth. Christina has been teaching for over 14 years and cannot imagine doing anything else. When she is not in the studio you can find her home with her husband Chris, and their two boys Ace and Duke.

Gina Grodin

Instructor

I started dancing when I was 4 years old and have loved every minute of my training. I began competitive dance as a teenager and was trained by Shelly Christy and Christina Day in contemporary, jazz, and musical theatre. I have also trained in ballet, tap, and hip hop. Shortly after graduation, I began student teaching with my mentor Shelly! To further my dance education I am taking local adult classes and I will be pursuing a degree in dance. I am incredibly excited to share my love of dance and teaching!

Brittney Almendariz

Instructor

Brittney Almendariz, a native of West Sacramento, started dancing at the age of two. In addition to her early tap and ballet classes, Brittney trained and competed in gymnastics for Pozsar’s Gymnastics, under Geza Pozsar, Trudi Kollar and Nicole Price, where she won multiple medals throughout the region and state. Brittney has participated in The Nutcracker with the Sacramento Ballet since 2003. Her love for ballet grew and she grew, which forced her to make a difficult decision to withdraw from gymnastics and to continue her ballet training at Deane Dance Center. Brittney was part of the Crockett-Deane Ballet Company for four years, where she trained under Barbara Crockett, Allyson Deane, Don Schwennesen, Richard Shi, Irena Karoulina, Linda Yun, and Joy Almendariz. She also participated in (Regional Dance America) RDA for four years where she traveled to Montreal, Spokane, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Brittney danced with the Sacramento Ballet from 2014-2018 and became a part of the Sacramento Kings dancers in 2018