vidadancers

Krystal began her dance training at Jo Noth’s White Oak Dance Academy in Blue Springs, Missouri. After graduating high school, she received both dance and academic scholarships to attend Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Dance. While she was at Stephens, she had the opportunity to choreograph many of her own pieces, one of which was chosen to be taken to the American College Dance Festival. Krystal has previously performed with professional modern dance company City in Motion for six seasons and has also previously enjoyed being a part of Gurukul, a professional East Indian dance company. She has choreographed pieces for City in Motion as well as VidaDance, and at the KC Fringe Festival in 2017, she premiered her first full-length production, The Yellow Wallpaper. In 2018, Krystal co-choreographed and co-directed VidaDance’s RISE. Bringing her first solo full-length VidaDance production to life in 2019, Krystal primiered Turning the Page at the KC Fringe Festival.

Mallory, a Saint Louis native, began dancing at the age of three and has been a dancer/aerialist/choreographer in the Kansas City area since 2010. Mallory received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, with an emphasis in Ballet, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Mathematics from Webster University. While in St. Louis, she started her professional career with MADCO (Modern American Dance Company) as a guest dancer and aerialist and as a dancer with Dances of India in Bharata Natyam technique. Since moving to Kansas City, Mallory has become a dancer with City in Motion Dance Theater, Kacico, Gurukul Indian Dance Company, and as an aerialist with Voler Aerial Academy and Kansas City Aerial Arts (where within one year, she went from trainee to apprentice). As both a Dancer and Aerialist, Mallory has been selected to perform at many festivals, theaters, and colleges across the United States including the Heartland Men’s Chorus’ Abbacadabra, 38th Annual Bachathon, Sling Dance Project in Austin, TX, JCCC Performing Arts Series, The Kansas City Fringe Festival, The Pitch’s Artopia, The Kansas City Zoo fundraiser events Jazoo and Earthly Evening, and Pythian Castle. Mallory has had the opportunity to choreograph for the Kansas City Women’s Chorus and presented choreography at Project Dance in Times Square, New York City. She works as a reporting anaylst, is a professional aerialist with Aerheart KC Circus Company, loves spending time with her fur-baby pets, and is currently also touring with Material Girl and the Fame Monster as a featured dancer. She is currently serving as the Director of Finances for Kansas City Dance Collective. 

Taylor found his love for dance while in highschool performing in musicals and show choir. Taylor has been seen in shows such as Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, and others during his high school career. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Southeast Missouri State University in 2014. While in attendance, he had the privilege to train with companies such as Jose Limon Company and Keigwin & Company. He also trained one summer at Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Some other artists and choreographers Taylor has also worked with are Victor Alexander and Maray Gutierrez. After college, Taylor performed the role of Laurie in the musical production of Little Women with the Acting Out theater company. Taylor premiered the role of Walt in the 2021 version of Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker. He is currently a company member with Kansas City Dance Collective.

Kirstie began her dance training at Blue Springs Ballet at a young age. After graduating high school, she received both dance and academic scholarships to attend Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Dance. During her time at Stephens, Kirstie studied both ballet and modern techniques under the direction of Elizabeth Hartwell, Jan Miller, and Deborah Carr. She has performed with Störling Dance Theater, City in Motion Dance Theater, and Gurukul Dance Troupe, and is also the owner and teacher behind Kansas City Dance, a private dance studio. With VidaDance, she has performed notable featured roles, including the lead role in RISE and the Snow Queen in Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker. She is currently serving as the Artistic Director of Kansas City Dance Collective. 

Breanna began dancing at Heart of America Dance Centre at a young age where she studied all different kinds of dance. She started off with the Homeschool Program which led to HADC’S Youth Ballet and Competition Dance Team, where she was cast in many lead roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She began teaching dance to special needs students while in high school, and then started teaching at two other studios. She then decided to go straight from high school into a professional dance career, and performed with various companies including Victory in Motion and as a soloist with Störling Dance Theater. She is thankful to be a part of VidaDance because she loves what it stands for: that everyone can dance and have a great time in doing so. She and her husband currently reside in Las Vegas, NV and she performs occasionally as a guest artist with Kansas City Dance Collective. 

 Jessica has been dancing for over 20 years and teaching dance for eight years. She received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Southeast Missouri State University in 2015. While there, she trained with top companies such as Keigwin and Company, Giordano Dance Chicago, and the José Limón Dance Company. She trained with Parsons Dance in New York for two summers, then moved back to Kansas City to train with Störling’s Artist Development Program. She has since traveled internationally to perform in Ireland, and is currently also touring with Material Girl and the Fame Monster as a featured dancer. She is currently a company member with Kansas City Dance Collective.

Joe started his dance training with Paul Chambers at the age of 19. He earned a BFA in dance from UMKC under the direction of Mary Pat Henry, Catharine Plavcan, Paula Weber and DeeAnna Hiett. Joe has performed with Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company for several years and with Störling Dance Theater in its production of Underground. He has performed the choreography of Bill T. Jones, David Parsons, Donald McKayle, Sean Curran, Milton Myers and Shapiro & Smith and many more. Currently Joseph is a Network Engineer and is the owner/instructor of Joe’s Ballroom Dancing in St. Joseph, Missouri. He also occasionally performs as a guest artist with Störling Dance Theater and teaches dance classes at The Dance Arts Center. He sends his thanks to VidaDance for the opportunity to work with them and wants to express a special thank you to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Joseph’s wife and five kids, and his friends and family for their love and support! 

Trenna started dancing as soon as she could walk, and trained at her mother’s dance studio, Hill-Top Dance Center in Shawnee, KS. She is a third generation dance teacher, choreographer, and professional dancer and hopes to pass on her passion and appreciation for dance to her two daughters, Sage and Venus. Trenna studied Dance Performance at Oklahoma City University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Performing Arts in December of 2017. While there, she performed several times with the American Spirit Dance Company and served as the Costumer’s Production Assistant as well as Assistant Wardrobe Mistress. In 2018, she performed as a singer/dancer at Worlds of Fun in the Holly Jolly Trolley show. Trenna then returned to her Alma Mater as an adjunct faculty member to serve as the interim Costume Shop Foreman in the Spring of 2019. Later that year, she joined VidaDance Company as a choreographer for Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker and is excited to also be performing professionally with the company this year. She also has been teaching dance alongside her mother, Tauna Keltner, for Lenexa Parks & Rec since 2018. Trenna is incredibly passionate about teaching dance and hopes to use her knowledge and experience to help mold the next generation of dancers. She began her VidaDance tenure by choreographing multiple pieces for Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker in 2019 before joining the company as a dancer as well in 2021. Trenna currently resides in Washington State with her family and perform occasionally as a guest artist with Kansas City Dance Collective. 

Jami started gymnastics at age nine and moved on to dance a few years later with Eagles Gymnastics’ dance fusion, training mostly in lyrical and jazz. She then trained in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and hip hop at VidaDance Studio, danced with her high school dance team for two years, and competed regularly in regional competitions. She placed in the top five overall in every competition she has ever entered, including winning first overall at Talent on Parade. She has also received a Perfect Showmanship Award and has been invited to compete in TOP Starz Performance Group with Talent on Parade Nationals for three years in a row. She is also a choreographer, who has set two pieces on VidaDance company members for National Dance Week Kansas City as part of its Catalyst program in 2017 & 2018, and has had two of her pieces performed in VidaDance shows at the KC Fringe Festival in 2016 & 2017. She is attending the University of Missouri and plans to obtain her degree in journalism, and maybe eventually open up her own studio. In summer 2019, she was selected to be an ambassador for the Kansas City Jazz Intesnsive. Jami began her student apprenticeship with VidaDance in December 2015, and in May 2018, was promoted to a full company member upon graduation from high school. In late 2019, Lindsey invited Jami to be the new Director for National Dance Week Kansas City, which Jami has successfully organized, led, and grown for the last several years. 

Ayana, born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, has been dancing since the age of three. She started learning at Expressions in Dance before moving over to Heart of America Dance Centre. She took part in HADC’s competitive team as well as their Youth Ballet company where she danced lead roles such as Waltz Queen in The Nutcracker. Ayana went on to continue her training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she graduated with her BFA in performance and choreography with an emphasis in modern. She has had the pleasure of being in works choreographed by Gary Abbott, DeeAnna Hiett, and Sabrina Madison-Cannon, as well as others. She’s also performed alongside Störling Dance Theater’s company members in their production of Underground for two seasons.

Erin started dancing at an early age at Maxine’s Studio of Dance in Southern New Jersey. In 2003 Erin was accepted into the Vineland Regional Dance Company where she received the opportunity of training under Kimberly Chapman, Daniel Marshall, Jeffrey Gribler, and many other great teachers. With the Vineland Regional Dance Company she had the privilege to travel all over the United States to perform and train. She attended summer dance programs such as Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Company, Craft of Choreography, and the Rock School of Dance Education. She attended the University of Missouri – Kansas City where she received the opportunity to perform in works such as Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies, George Balanchine’s Serenade and works by Paula Weber, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Mary Pat Henry, and many more talented choreographers. Erin graduated with a BFA in Dance and a minor in business during the summer of 2014. Also in 2014, Erin joined Störling Dance Theater, where she performed for five seasons. Erin is the Johnson County Campus Administrator for the Kansas City Ballet School, as well as on faculty for the school. In 2019, Erin was instrumental in bringing Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker to life as its Production Coordinator & Rehearsal Director. She is currently living in England with her husband and serving as the Development Officer of the Central School of Ballet.

Ashley Taylor, a native of northern Virginia, began her dance training at Ravel Dance Studio under the artistic direction of Janet Hall. She went on to earn her B.A. in Dance from The University of Alabama, graduating summa cum laude, where she performed with Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre, Tuscaloosa Community Dancers, and in Dance Alabama! student choreography concerts. She was one of two 2014 recipients of the Edith Barnes Award for choreography from the Department of Theatre & Dance. Following graduation, Ashley danced with Ballet Theatre of Maryland from 2014-2018, where she performed in multiple full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, Excalibur, The Sleeping Beauty, and Aladdin in addition to outreach programs and showcases. She has also been a guest performer with VidaDance Company, Charm City Ballet, Bowen McCauley Dance Company, and Vaught Contemporary Ballet. Ashley has conceived, choreographed for, and directed two evening-length independent dance concerts, Light in the Dark (2017) and Taking Wing (2019), both of which received rave reviews. Ashley is passionate about using the arts to tell meaningful stories with the intention of sparking deep reflection and spiritual conversation. She has traveled extensively around the world and has performed and taught dance in China, Japan, Ecuador, and Zambia. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Jesse, son Solomon, and daughter Eden. She has performed as a guest artist with VidaDance since 2018 in RISE, The Greatest Show at Fringe, and most notably, as the Cherry Mash Fairy & Christopher Elbow Chocolate Soloist in Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker. She has also choreographed for the company, setting the piece “Rainbow’s End” on its dancers.

Susan fostered her love of dance at Deena Shroyer’s School of Dance in Leavenworth, Kansas until the age of 16 when she decided to pursue dance at a professional level and began training at Kansas School of Classical Ballet under the instruction of Juan Pablo Trujillo. She attended many summer intensives including Webster University, Oklahoma City Ballet, and Fort Wayne Ballet. While she was still a young student, she began her professional career as an apprentice for Kansas City Contemporary Dance. Soon after high school, Susan danced at Fort Wayne Ballet for two seasons where she got to perform in productions such as Cinderella, Phantom of the Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and of course the cherished tradition of The Nutcracker. Susan is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is putting her training to good use teaching at the Kansas City Ballet School. Susan is currently a company member with Kansas City Dance Collective.

Sophie graduated from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri – Kansas City with an emphasis in ballet and modern. She was raised in Independence, Missouri and began dancing at the age of three under the instruction of Christine Palmer at the Craig Dance Studio of Independence. Sophie also danced with several other studios in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and co-founded the dance ministry at her home church. Sophie has loved to dance since she was a child, and particularly enjoys choreography and teaching. She danced competitively as a teenager, and began teaching and choreographing for other dancers at a young age as well, and was thrilled to have coached several worship dance troupes and solos that participated in National Fine Arts with the Assemblies of God. Sophie was the first person to receive the Award of Merit in worship dance at the 2009 Southern Missouri District Fine Arts competition. As a young adult, she had the opportunity to attend intensives at the Kansas City Ballet, Dramatic Truth School of the Arts and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago. She has performed in Deanna Hiett’s Ecifircas and Gary Abbott’s Breaking the Damn 2014, and was honored to have been chosen as part of a small group of UMKC students that were asked to perform in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria in the fall of 2014. Sophie has previously also perfomed professionally with Dramatic Truth Ballet Theatre for one season. With VidaDance, Sophie has performed many featured roles. Most notably, she has premiered the characters of Clara in Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker and Frankie in Turning the Page, as well as choreographed multiple pieces for Cracked! and other productions. She is currently a company member with Kansas City Dance Collective.