Northeastern Dance Instructor Rachel Burton began her early dance training at Chicago City Ballet School, Ellis-DuBoulay School of Ballet, and was a scholarship student at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. As a student, she also took dance classes at Columbia College and through The Ruth Page Foundation. As a professional dancer in the Chicago area for 15 years, Rachel has performed with some of the area’s leading companies including Concert Dance, Inc. and Melissa Thodos and Dancers.

Over the course of her dancing career, she has performed on three continents, participating in dance/arts festivals in the U.S., Peru and Scotland. A Northeastern Illinois University alumna, Rachel graduated with a concentration in dance from the University Without Walls program, which allowed her to incorporate her extensive professional work into her degree. Within the dance program at Northeastern, Rachel teaches beginning and intermediate ballet and modern dance, as well as the University’s general education dance courses. She also coordinates the Preparatory Dance Program, which offers classes to children and adults from the community-at-large. A passionate teacher of dance, Rachel assists Dance Education, by placing and mentoring Northeastern dance students who wish to gain experience in teaching dance.