Zips Dance routine for national championship features two special choreographers

When the members of the University of Akron (UA) dance team step on the floor for the 2026 College Classic competition in Orlando, Fla., they'll have plenty of Zips energy and talent on their side.

They'll also have a powerhouse routine that was co-choreographed by UA alumna Natalie Minns '20 '23, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with a business cognate, and was a Williams Honors College student. She also has a Master of Business Administration from UA.

Minns' co-choreographer for the UA Dance Team routine was none other than Gianna Martello, who appeared frequently as a choreographer on the hit TV series "Dance Moms."

The Zips will show off their special routine during the College Classic, which will be held April 10-12 at the Orange County Convention Center. It will be the second time in recent weeks that members of the dance team will be in Florida - they joined the Zips men's basketball team for its NCAA first-round tournament game in Tampa, Fla.

In November 2025, Minns and Martello visited the UA campus to work on the routine with the current Zips dance team and Lauren Hesley, the UA spirit teams coordinator and head dance coach. It was Hesley who invited Minns and Martello to choreograph the Zips routine.

Since graduating from UA, Minns has been working as a dancer, teacher and choreographer alongside some of the biggest names in the industry, including Martello. The two frequently travel all over the world together and work side by side not only behind the scenes choreographing routines and running workshops, but also in front of the camera.

A Cuyahoga Falls native, Minns decided on UA because she wanted to find a local higher education option with a dance program and the opportunity to study business. UA's Bachelor of Arts degree with a business cognate is designed to offer students a broad learning experience in dance, including ballet, modern, tap and jazz, supplemented by business studies. This program prepares students for dance studio management, graduate studies in the fields related to dance such as arts management, dance history, physical therapy, dance therapy or dance ethnology, as well as teaching in private studios.

"I knew I wanted to study dance, but I was interested in the business side of it too. Your body can't dance forever," she said. "I looked at a few local schools, but UA was just the right option for me."

Minns also joined the UA dance team as a freshman, and found the pom, hip-hop, jazz and gameday styles of dance to be a valuable counterpoint to what she was learning in the more academic setting.

She got to know Martello as a teenager, traveling to Pittsburgh for public classes and workshops.

After her graduation from UA, Minns moved to Los Angeles - with Hesley's encouragement - to pursue a career in dance. Minns signed with an agent and reconnected with Martello, who by this time was working internationally as a choreographer and instructor. Martello invited Minns to join her as a workshop assistant and soon the two were traveling together across the country - and the world. In the past year, Minns has been an assistant to Martello at classes in Belgium, Poland, France, Brazil, England, Canada and Mexico to teach, and judged a national competition in Australia.

They have also appeared in several unique opportunities in front of the camera, such as dancing during New York Fashion Week and in music videos, including "Dance Moms" star JoJo Siwa's "Karma" - which has more than 55 million views on YouTube - and "Serendipity" videos. The latter video was released on Tuesday, April 7.

"I have always had a special relationship with Natalie and knew she was going to be something great when she was a freshman on the team," Hesley said. "Watching her pursue her dreams and travel the world doing what she loves brings so much joy to my heart and makes me such a proud coach."

For the UA dance team's 2026 competition routine, Minns and Martello shared choreography duties. They worked with the Zips for two days in November 2025, and also taught a public master class while they were in Akron. Minns was excited to work with her alma mater's dance team and was encouraged by what she saw after working with the Zips just a few times.

"It already looked like something," Minns said after she and Martello spent their first day working with team. "Sometimes we're in a room with dancers and we can see they have a lot of work to do. But with this group, you could already see the vision. It already looked really appealing to the eye."

Martello, who has more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram, was excited to be on the UA campus too - she has recently been moving into choreographing college dance team routines, so she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to work with the Zips.

"I'm always trying to evolve," said Martello, who grew up in Pittsburgh and was a competitive dancer before she started her choreography career. "There's always something new to learn."

The routine has been a good challenge for the team, and Hesley said the Zips are ready for the national competition.

"We are so excited to perform the routine this weekend," she said. "It is very hard and it takes a lot of athleticism, but the team has worked really hard and is excited to perform and make Natalie and Gianna proud."

Minns' time at UA set her up on her career path. She has some big goals in mind, including more work in front of the camera … and she'd love the opportunity to dance at a major event such as a televised award show, on a major TV network, or an international-level event like the Super Bowl.

"My experience as a student here definitely prepared me and was the right choice for me," she said. "Some people will go off and move into a dance career and not do college, but for me it was the right fit. I grew up, gained a lot of independence, learned a lot about dance and trained in many different styles, and learned so much from the professors here."

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