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Kris Stein: Executive Director
Kris established Dance By Kris in 1996. She has been dancing all her life and developed a love of teaching early in her teens. As a dancer she has won many awards and scholarships, but her love and passion has always been to teach! As a teacher and studio owner she has received many awards in choreography, studio spirit, and numerous top studio awards including an FDC national top studio award. Her students have developed a love of dance, won titles, overall championships, gone on to dance with the Timberwolves, college dance teams, and professional dance companies. Many have also gone on to share their love of dance and teach. She loves watching her students grow into amazing men and women, and seeing the impact dance has had on their lives! In the classroom, Kris invests herself in her students and works to help them become not only amazing dancers but amazing people! By surrounding herself and students with great teachers, a positive environment, and a love of dance she hopes to share all the benefits of dance with each and every student who walks through the Dance By Kris doors. |
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Brenda Richardson
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Jayden Stein
Jayden Stein started dancing right here at Dance By Kris at the young age of just seventeen months old! She has continued throughout the years and is now a member of the studio’s Senior Company. Her desire to share what she loves led her to become an assistant teacher at the age of twelve. Jayden is currently in her third year as a recreational dance teacher. Graduating high school a year early, Jayden plans on starting college this winter. Studying and competing in many styles of dance, she has found much success earning titles in both regional and national competitions. Her persistence and hard work as both a soloist and a team member has earned scholarships, overall placements, and invitations to perform in various shows and competitions across the country! She has performed in the Twin Cities Tap Festival as an Elite Tap Feet member for four years. Jayden has also performed at the Kidz Rock Festival located in Branson as a duet member for two years in a row. Although Jayden loves to perform onstage, she also has a passion for sharing what she loves! Jayden can’t wait to get to know the children in her classes and see them improve and grow throughout the year! |
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Kyle Gross
Kyle has received over 12 years of extensive training at Dance By Kris, including tap, jazz, ballet, musical theater, lyrical, and hip hop. While on the Dance By Kris competition lines, Kyle received numerous overall high score and special judges’ awards through his solo and group routines. He also won the national “Mr. Masquerade” title in 2011. Kyle is a graduate of the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management with majors in Marketing and Supply Chain Operations Management. While at the U of M, Kyle danced with “MinnesoTap” – the University of Minnesota’s tap dance company, serving as both President and Artistic Director. He was also a contemporary dancer for Breaking Boundaries Dance Company in Minneapolis. Kyle is entering his eighth season of teaching at Dance By Kris. As a teacher, Kyle has received numerous choreography awards, costume awards, and overall high score placements for his routines. He enjoys teaching his dancers about accountability, work ethic, and communication in addition to dance technique. Kyle is looking forward to sharing his passion for all styles of dance with his students! |
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Laura McMorrow
Laura grew up dancing at Yackel Dance Studio where she studied jazz, lyrical, ballet, and tap. She danced on their competition lines for 12 years. Laura continued her dance training at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Laura was a member of Dance Theater for 3 years at the university. She received a degree in Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, and Dance Education. Laura joined Dance By Kris in 2016 as a recreational teacher. She has 5 children of her own, 2 of them are in competition and 1 in recreational classes. Laura enjoys sharing her passion for working with children and bringing the love of dance our younger dancers. |
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Lauren Gross
Lauren grew up dancing at Woodbury Dance Center where she studied jazz, lyrical, ballet, and tap. As a competition dancer, Lauren's solos placed in the top ten at competitions such as Hall of Fame and Showbiz. Lauren continued her dance training at the University of Minnesota where she graduated with a Bachelor of Individualized Studies with concentrations in Dance, Holistic Health, and Cultural Studies. During her time at the U of M, Lauren danced professionally for University Dance Theater, Eclectic Edge Ensemble, and Breaking Boundaries Dance Company. Lauren also worked as a competition instructor and choreographer for Lake Area Dance Center where she received numerous choreography awards for both solos and small groups. Lauren joined the Dance By Kris family in 2014 as a regular instructor and choreographer for all ages. Body awareness, character, and connecting lessons learned in dance to everyday life are some of her most passionate teachings. Lauren also enjoys making costumes for our competition line dancers. She loves sharing her knowledge and excitement for dance with the Dance By Kris students! |
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Leah Westlund
Leah grew up dancing competitively at Spotlight Productions Dance Studio where she was trained thoroughly in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and musical theatre. She had a growing passion for dance at a very young age and it followed her all the way into adulthood! Hairstylist by day, performer and teacher by night, her life is never dull! She loves sharing her passion with her students and seeing their “lightbulbs” click. Before founding her own performance group, "Red-Hot Rascals" and becoming a teacher at Dance By Kris, Leah performed with teams and companies such as: Breaking Boundaries Dance Company, MN Timberwolves Dancers, Collide Theatrical Dance Company, and MN Timberwolves 612 Crew. She has also danced on stage with Lizzo, Vanilla Ice, Pharrell, Har Mar Superstar, and more at various events! She continues to learn in life: whether it’s yoga, cooking, web design, small business growth, or how to be a better cat mom…Her thinking cap and need for expansion is always on. |
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Lee Violet
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Madeline Bojar
Madeline, “Maddie”, has received 18 years of training in styles ranging from jazz, lyrical, tap, ballet, pointe, and contemporary. While dancing competitively, Madeline also spent time on performance groups such as Keane Sense of Rhythm and Hopkins Youth Ballet where she had the opportunity to specialize, and perform, within a specific style. Madeline graduated from the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University in 2017 with a B.A. in Economics. While completing her degree, Madeline taught competitive teams, solos, and small groups within a local studio. Madeline loves the ability to help students try something new, and see the happiness and joy dance can provide to those around her. |
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Selwyn "Sully" Talley
What’s up my name is Selwyn Talley a.k.a Selly and I'm 25 years old and originally from Mississippi but relocated to Minnesota in 2005. For as long as I can remember I've always had rhythm but never really got into dance until the year 2010 in my high school's dance department. I'm very versatile and can adapt to just about any style of dance, but the one style I would say I'm more passionate about is Hip-Hop. Some of the things I’ve been blessed and excited to be apart of and experience was performing with local dance crew shapeshift at we day and being a super bowl live dancer. I’ve also done a few competitions and small college and high school performances. The most recent show I was apart of was called listen which was a show put on by local choreographers. |
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Shannon Fahey
Shannon, originally from New York, received a BA in Dance from Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania. She has taught ballet and pointe for 22 years to both recreational and competitive dancers. Following graduation, Shannon danced professionally with Ballet Long Island, Huntington Ballet Theatre and Continental Ballet. She has performed in several classical ballets such as Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppelia and Swan Lake. Shannon enjoys sharing her passion of ballet with her students and looks forward to her 2nd year at Dance by Kris. |
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Tottiana Duffy
My name is Tottiana Duffy. I’m 22 years old. I’m from Apple Valley Minnesota, and I recently graduated from Hamline University with a Legal Studies degree. I have been dancing, performing, choreographing and teaching for an accumulation of about 8 years. I have experience in multiple styles of dance, but I am, mainly, a hip hop dancer/teacher. Most of my dance career has consisted of small scale performances and teaching gigs. For two years I coached Eastview High School’s step team, and I was a dance instructor at Turning Pointe Dance studio for a while. In February of 2018, I received one of my first big performance opportunities when I auditioned and was selected to be a Superbowl Live Experience dancer. Also, I was able to perform in a show called Mixtape Side B, and, more recently, a show called LISTEN. Aside from performing, I’ve, also, won a few competitions, one being Bollywood Dance Scene’s Hot Indian Dance Off Finals where my group placed second two years in a row. Besides teaching and performing, I spend quite a bit of my time in the studio choreographing new material and taking or teaching classes/workshops whenever I can. My biggest hope as a dancer and teacher is to build a community where dancers not only are able to be part of an atmosphere where they can grow in their craft, but to, also, build a place where identity and difference are welcomed. As a teacher, I believe and thrive on the fact that it’s not only about helping grow a skilled and well-rounded dancer, but to, also, help develop an individual with humility and compassion for things outside of dance as well. Hopefully, by, first, being a role model, I can do more than just dance and teach dance, but actually make a difference in the lives of the youth I work with on a daily basis. |
Additional Instructors:
Leah Eastman
Sheena Krebsbach
Leah Eastman
Sheena Krebsbach