Shuttered Dance Studio Leaves Wages Unpaid

A Brookfield dance studio that shut down without warning in November 2024 is now accused in a state lawsuit of owing six former employees more than $73,000 in unpaid wages. (wisn.com) The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development filed the case on April 21, 2026, against Brio Studios and its former owner, Amanda Winiecki, according to WISN. The suit says Winiecki kept urging employees to keep working while promising they would be paid later. (wisn.com) When Brio closed in November 2024, instructors told local TV stations their paychecks had already stopped clearing weeks earlier. Program director Jade Mattner told TMJ4 the last paycheck that cleared was in September, and said a promised $300 a day starting November 4 never arrived. (tmj4.com) Parents were hit at the same time. Brittany Arata told TMJ4 she had prepaid about $3,000 for team fees and about $1,000 for Nutcracker costs, while FOX6 reported she said her family was out $4,000 after classes stopped immediately. (tmj4.com, fox6now.com) The shutdown email to parents said classes were canceled “in light of” a recent cancer diagnosis involving the owner’s husband and said the studio would resume after Thanksgiving under new ownership. FOX6 reported the message did not identify any buyer and ended with the owner asking parents not to call, email or text her. (fox6now.com) By January 3, 2025, the dispute had spread to civil court. WISN reported that parent Cindy Christoph sued Amanda Winiecki, seeking more than $52,000 and alleging she had been promised a “lifetime membership” and told tuition and other charges were refundable. (wisn.com) Police did receive complaints, but that did not produce criminal charges. Brookfield police told WISN in January 2025 that they had taken 30 complaints and decided the studio’s actions were not criminal. (wisn.com) The studio’s finances had already drawn other claims. WISN reported in November 2024 that the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development was separately seeking more than $14,000 in late worker’s compensation payments, that Pius High School had sued over more than $13,000 in unpaid rehearsal-space rent, and that another lawsuit ordered the owners to pay more than $100,000 borrowed from an Illinois couple. (wisn.com) Wisconsin gives workers and former workers two years to file wage claims with the Department of Workforce Development, and the agency says it can investigate, try to settle disputes, and issue determinations on unpaid wages under state law. The same agency says employers generally must pay workers at least monthly, with no more than 31 days between pay periods. (dwd.wisconsin.gov, dwd.wisconsin.gov, dwd.wisconsin.gov) Some families have already moved on to a replacement studio in the same Brookfield location. WISN reported in January 2025 that former Brio teacher Avalon Gerdman opened Dynasty Dance there with her parents and said Brio families could finish the season without tuition charges beyond basic costume and competition fees. (wisn.com) The latest fight is now narrower and more concrete than the confusion that followed the closure: six former employees, one state agency, and a wage claim topping $73,000. For the parents and instructors who spent months asking where the money went, the next answers are likely to come from court filings, not studio emails. (wisn.com, fox6now.com)