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Becky Harfst-Owner/Director
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 Becky has been the owner and operator of The Dance Connection, Webster City, for twenty years. Sheis the mother of Brady (16), Hannah(13) and Max(8) and wife of Kent. Becky began dancing at age five in Omaha, Nebraska, and studied with professional instructors and at various schools across the country. After moving to Webster City as a sophomore in high school, she continued studying dance in Webster City and Ames, as well as owning her own studio in Eagle Grove. As a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Liberal Arts, emphasizing in Dance and Child Development, she was active in the dance department and served as vice-president and president of the Iowa State Dance Company, Orchesis. She was awarded the Anna R. Toman Award, which is an annual award presented to one dance student by the Iowa State dance faculty each year. After college, she toured professionally with Dance Co’motion Dance Company. In 1989, she opened The Dance Connection in Webster City. Since then, Becky and her students have won numerous awards at various competitions, including Best Choreography, High Score Performance awards and several Judges’ Choice awards. She also has choreographed for several shows at the Webster City Community Theatre. She feels blessed to have a job that allows her to dance and to work with children. She hopes to make this another great year at TDC!!!!!!!!
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Renee McKinney-Instructor
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MCKINNEY—Renee is returning as an instructor for the third year! Renee is known as our own little “prima ballerina” around the studio. She is a beautiful dancer and has been with The Dance Connection since she was six years old. She has competed in numerous regional and national competitions, winning high point awards with her groups, and has been a familiar face on stage in several productions of The Nutcracker Ballet in Ames. Renee danced with the semi-professional ballet company, Iowa Youth Ballet. In addition to teaching in Webster City, she will also be seen on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s in Iowa Falls. We are so happy to get Renee back at TDC so she can continue to teach our dancers to be beautiful ballerinas and so much more!!
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Grace Chelesvig-Instructor
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Gracie is back as our Hip Hop instructor!! She has been assisting with classes since she was in 7th grade and began instructing classes two years ago. Grace is a dynamic dancer with a dynamic personality and has been with our studio since she was a “baby”. She has competed in several regional and national dance competitions and has won numerous awards with her groups, including high point awards. In addition to teaching Hip Hop in Webster City, she will be attending ICCC in Fort Dodge and is a member of the ICCC Dance Team! Grace is a passionate dancer and we are so glad she is “sticking around” TDC to share her special talents with us!!
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Kristin Elm-Instructor
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This will be Kristin’s second year as our Tumbling director! Kristin thrives on being busy. As well as working at the studio, you can also see her performing with the ICCC Dance Team in Fort Dodge! Kristin has been dancing at the studio since she was a “baby’ and has competed and won numerous competitions with her groups, including high point awards. We look forward to having Kristin make time in her schedule to share her wonderful talents with us at TDC!!
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Melissa Bock (AKA-The Oz)-Instructor
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Melissa came to our studio two years ago as an adult tapper/hip-hopper and ended up teaching a high school class for us! Which she did a beautiful job! She began dancing in Sioux City, her hometown, and continued dancing at ISU. GO CYCLONES! She was very active in the dance department as dancer/choreographer while attending college and held various offices in Orchesis. She was also active in ISU’s hip-hop club. On top of her busy college dance life, she graduated with an engineering degree. Melissa’s “quirky” personality and creative mind is exactly what the studio needs! TDC will continue to see Melissa this year as she is again teaching her high school class as well as a hip hop class, adult class and assisting Becky with the modern rehearsals! Her “real” job takes her to the Fort Dodge airport and we are so glad the “Oz” decided to make time to share her creativity and talents with us for another year!
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Lee Ann Weaver-Dance Instructor
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 Lee Ann started dance lessons at age three and continued through college. She was an assistant student instructor in high school for the Ann Foler Dancers, Leocarto School of Dance, and Joan Newton School of Dance. She majored in Theatre Arts and studied dance for one and a half years at East Carolina University where she took acting classes with Sandra Bullock! She was involved in many theatre productions and musicals in North Carolina, the Minneapolis area, and Iowa and served as a board member of the Webster City Community Theatre. She has worked with kids in many areas including dance, theater, church and a school volunteer. LeeAnn is married to Dr. Rick Unger and is the proud mother of Caitlin, Colin, Annie, and Olivia Weaver and step-mother to Mandy, Heidi and Emily Unger. *WOW* The Dance Connection is fortunate to have Lee Ann return for her 11th year of teaching our “babies”! TDC loves you!!
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ANN SAMPSON-Instructor
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Ann was born and raised in Pocahontas. She was on the high school dance/drill team all 4 years. In 1989, she attended UNI and received a degree in Elementary Education/Early Childhood Development. Ann then taught in the Clarion- Goldfield Schools until 2002. Her husband, Mark is a Licensed Public Accountant and she and our 4 children live in Eagle Grove. (Justin 11 years old; Hannah, Megan, and Kaitlin 7 year old triplets). The girls have been taking dance at the Dance Connection for the past 4 years. In the Fall of 1993, she started the Eagle Grove Drill Team and coached for 14 years. During that time, the Eagle Grove Golden Stars, competed annually at the Iowa State Dance/Drill Team Championships held in December at Veterans Auditorium. Every year Golden Stars consistently placed in the top 3 in their divisions and won several State Championships and Runner-up Titles in the categories of Pom, Jazz, and High Kick. In 1996 the Golden Stars won the honors of performing at the FedEx Orange Bowl on New Years Day in Miami Florida. In 2003, the Eagle Grove Golden Stars competed at the National level for the first time and won the titles of High Kick Champions and Runner-ups in the Pom division. While in Tampa Florida that year, they also performed at the Outback Bowl Game on New Years Day and then performed again in 2007 at the Outback Bowl Game on National Television in a sold out stadium of 48,000 football fans. Every year the Golden Stars had a select few girls audition and make the All-Iowa Honor Drill Team that performed at the Girls State Basketball Tournaments. In 2007, Ann hesitantly decided to retire from coaching to spend more time with her family. She looks forward to working with the Dance Connection dancers and giving them the opportunity to learn more about the High Kick style of dance. The Dance Connection is proud to have Ann join our staff and we look forward to seeing what “she has up her sleeve”!! Welcome to TDC, Ann!!
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KRIS MCKEE-Instructor
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Kristin, a Webster City native, began dance lessons at age seven. After high school graduation, she owned and operated her own dance studio in Eagle Grove where she taught tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, and tumbling to students of all ages. After graduating from UNI, she taught high school Spanish locally for 12 years. She would often designate one day a year to teach her students various Latin dances. Kristin has enjoyed working with children thru school, church, and community organizations. One of her biggest thrills is sharing her love for dance with her own family. In recent years she has enjoyed participating in the adult dance classes, taking ballroom dance lessons with her husband, and assisting with her daughters’ dance classes. When not dancing, Kristin can be found spending time with her wonderful husband, Don, and their four active daughters, Harleigh, Kyra, Bronwyn and Shaelyn. She is very excited to teach dance again and looks forward to working with the great students and parents at the Dance Connection. We welcome Kris to our TDC Staff and know she will be a wonderful asset to our studio! Have a great year, Kris!!
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Joa Hayes-Instructor
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Joa is the daughter of Ted and Jeri Hayes. She has 2 older brothers, Matt and Brandon. Joa has been with The Dance Connection for 18 years. *WOW* She’s won numerous awards at the National level, including high point awards. Her choreography has also won High Point and Judges Choice awards at various competitions throughout Iowa. In high school, she was involved in cheerleading, show choir, softball, a class officer, Student Council, WCTV, taught private piano lessons and assisted Becky at the studio. She is a 2006 graduate from WCHS and will be attending Central College in Pella again this year and performing with their award winning dance team! Even though you might not see Joa at the studio during the school year, she was seen this summer choreographing our competition routines with Becky. TDC is thrilled to have Joa sharing her exceptional talents with us!!
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The Dance Connection
1317 Beach Street P.O. Box 393 Webster City IA 50595 515-832-2170
617 Washington Avenue Iowa Falls IA 50126 641-648-3017
©2005-2009 The Dance Connection Design by OHP Marketing Services
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