Annaliese has loved music since she was a little girl. Always dancing around in the living room to the radio, Annaliese started dancing at age 2. As she grew, so did her love for music. At age 6, she began piano lessons. She sang in the choir, played flute and piccolo in the band, and taught herself guitar throughout elementary and middle school. In high school, she stepped up to help lead the choir and also pushed her comfort levels by competing in solo and small group vocal contests. During late middle school and high school, she studied piano under Arlene Kruger, a former piano professor at Augustana University. During this time, she competed in numerous competitions, earning multiple superior ratings. She expanded her skills to include choral accompaniment and wedding piano. She also let her love of music be expressed through dance, dancing professionally with programs in Canada, Kansas, and Michigan throughout high school. 

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As she left Minnesota to continue her education at the South Dakota School of Mines, she refused to let music go. She kept tied to dance by becoming an instructor at the Academy of Dance Arts as well as captain of the Hotrockers Dance Team for South Dakota Mines. Her musical passion continued through the choral program on campus where she was a scholarship recipient from 2022 to the present. She is also the choir council president, helping to advocate for the importance of music on a rigorous engineering campus. Annaliese is a double major in biomedical engineering and nanoscience as well as biology. She plans to attend medical school, continuing her ties with music throughout it all. When not working on schoolwork or teaching, she enjoys reading and hiking. 

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Annaliese has been a dance instructor for 7 years, and she has been playing piano for 15 years. She continues to learn more about music every day, and she looks forward to sharing her love of music with new piano players!