Rachel Nicoli-Martin

Rachel grew up in Ottawa, Illinois, dedicating her life to her passion for dance. She began dancing at Jeannie Marie School of Dance and continued there until she attended Columbia College in Chicago. While working on her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance at Columbia, she had the wonderful opportunity to work and dance with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Trisha Brown, David Dorfman, Liz Lerman, and many professional dance companies from around the world. She is very excited to share all that she has learned from these accomplished artists.

Since her graduation from Columbia College, with honors, Rachel has been dancing for a Chicago based modern company called The Dance COLEctive. She has also performed with Anatomical Theatre and Breakbone Dance Company. She has also had the fun opportunity to dance for films such as Roll Bounce. She plans to continue her association with these groups of professional dancers, as she believes this affiliation will contribute to personal growth for her and her students.

While living in Chicago, Rachel enjoyed teaching dance for the Chicago Childrens Museum, The Chicago Park District, the Jewish Centers of Chicago, and for the Chicago Public School District.

She spent many summers and winter weekends with Marching Auxiliaries and Dance, which is based in Dallas, Texas. She was invited to join their staff after high school graduation. For the past ten years with M.A., she has traveled the country extensively to teach, judge, and choreograph young dancers at summer camps and at the Capitol One Citrus Bowl.

After teaching and performing for years in Chicago, taking advantage of a variety of dance classes offered there, meeting and dancing with extraordinary artists, and traveling extensively, she was ready to close her suitcase and continue her dance career in one place. After much consideration, she was drawn back to her hometown to fulfill her dream of opening her own dance studio, Adagio. Since relocating, she has been married and added a daughter, Maya, to her family. She is thrilled to be opening Adagio's door for the fourth year.

Barbara Wirz-Ellsworth

Piano Instructor

Barbara is a European trained Dalcroze Eurhythmics instructor and pianist. In 1980 she earned a Bachelor and Masters of Music with emphasis on Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Music Education at the State College of Music in Cologne, Germany, and in 2003 a Masters of Music at Northern Illinois University. She studied piano performance under Prof. Donald Walker and Dr. Theodore Edel. She is also a licensed pre-school educator.
 
Her teaching career began in 1978, and over the years she has established extensive and profound teaching experience in the area of music education, piano and Dalcroze Eurhythmics with all ages in a wide spectrum of educational and therapeutic settings.
 
Currently, she offers Dalcroze Eurhythmics programs nationwide, and has been employed as visiting faculty and clinician for Northern Illinois University, DePaul University in Chicago, Music Teacher National Association, Illinois State Music Teacher Association Conference and many others. She maintains a private piano studio and teaches piano and Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Community School of the Arts NIU. She is an active performer of chamber music, and author of the book, The Golden Carousel- An Introduction to Classical Piano Music for Young Children, published in 2001 in Germany.