Marcia Taylor

Marcia Taylor is the owner/director/principal instructor of THE DANCE STUDIO OF MISSOURI, THE DANCE STUDIO OF KIRKSVILLE, and THE DANCE STUDIO OF IOWA, located in Pella, Iowa. Marcia is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a renowned Conservatory with more than 100 years of history that has produced musicians and dancers known around the world. In addition to her BFA degree in dance, she also holds a degree in early childhood education, which is invaluable in designing and implementing her widely modeled age-appropriate high quality curricula for young dance students.

Her academic and professional training is in ballet, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical, creative movement, liturgical, choreography, folk and acting. She has even taught hip hop and college gymnastics and tumbling. Her advanced formal dance training comes from The American Dance Center, Dupree’ Dance Academy in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Dance Center, Alvin Ailey, Chicago Dance Connection, and The Ballet Workshop and Seminar (London, England). Marcia is one of the few (and among the first) dance instructors who has earned formal dance certification from the State Department of Education.

Marcia’s performance and choreography credits are equally impressive. She is a former Miss America contestant, after being selected as Miss Missouri, where she was the Overall Talent Award Winner as a dance soloist. She is also a former Kansas City Chiefette for the Kansas City Chiefs NFL team. She has also been a featured dancer in Hollywood variety shows and national telethons and has appeared as a soloist or dancer with Theater at the Vis, Crown Center Goes Hollywood, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Dance, Kansas City Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” and the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, to name a few. She has also been principal choreographer or featured choreographer for Ibsen Dance Theater, Miss Missouri Pageant, America’s Junior Miss Pageants, Theater at the Vis, Kansas City Chiefettes, and People in Motion Dancers, to name a few.

Over the past twenty-five years Marcia has served on the dance faculties of three colleges and universities, including Truman State University in Kirksville and Central College in Pella; and she has owned, directed, and served as principal instructor of her own dance studios, including THE DANCE STUDIO in Kirksville, Missouri (present) and THE DANCE STUDIO OF IOWA in Pella, Iowa (present) and, formerly, DANCE ELECTIVES in Kansas City. In addition, she has been principal dance instructor of the nationally renowned Young Audiences Program in Kansas City, Instructor of Dance with the Kansas City Magnet School of the Performing arts, and Director of D.A.N.C.E., LTD., an academic and performance program of dance and movement for public, private and home school children in four states. She has directed the award winning PEOPLE IN MOTION DANCE COMPANY at her Kirksville Studio for several years and is giving increasing personal attention to the relatively newly-formed CHRISTIAN DANCE COMPANY at her Studio in Pella.

In addition to her extended dance family that comprises several thousand former and current dance students, her own family is husband Terry, who assists with the management of the Studios and is a writing consultant; daughter Skyler, who recently signed her first contract with a professional Ballet Company; daughter Callan, who plays professional basketball in Europe (and former dancer); and son Matt, who is a certified personal trainer and former collegiate soccer and basketball player.

Randall Chambers

In addition to training since the age of 6 at The Dance Studio of Kirksville as a member of the People In Motion Dance Company, Randall has studied with dance professionals at the Kansas City Ballet School Summer Intensive Program, the Broadway Bound Dance Camp, and several regional dance conventions. She was admitted to the Joffrey School summer intensive programs in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance, invited to the Broadway Dance Center in New York, and has performed with the Minnesota Ballet Company in “The Nutcracker” and “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream.”

As a competition dancer, Randall’s self-choreographed solos have earned 1st Overall, Top 10 placements and Judge’s Choice Awards, and her performances have been further recognized with scholarships to attend The One Dance Convention, selection to travel as a Z-Crew Demonstrator for DanZa Dance Conventions, and as a 3-time member of the Cutting Edge Performance Team at EDGE Nationals. At only the age of 12, Randall’s self-choreographed  performance was awarded the Worlds of Fun FestivalTop Dance Routine Sweepstakes Award.

During her tenure as a KHS Dance Team member, she was selected as a UDA All American dancer and served as a captain her senior year. Randall has been a teaching assistant for classes and summer camps, choreographed for the KHS Dance Team and taught/choreographed award-winning competition solos, duets, and group dances. As a titleholder in the Miss Missouri’s Outstanding Teen Program, Randall has earned High Point Talent Awards.  Randall looks forward to pursuing a future that includes sharing the joy of dance with others through teaching, choreography and performance.

Mikayla Dennis

Mikayla Rae Dennis has been dancing since the age of two, finishing her high school years with Cartesion Dance Academy in Pennsylvania. Throughout her time with Cartesion, Mikayla participated in the Big/Lil sisters mentoring program, idance4acure 12-hour overnight annual marathons to benefit pediatric cancer patients, and Cartesion’s performance company from 2012-2018. She then obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Cellular Neuroscience with minors in chemistry and dance and honors in neuroscience for completing an independent research thesis from Moravian University. Throughout her time at Moravian, Mikayla participated in Tap Ties (tap company), the American College Dance Association (ACDA) national convention, performed at Disney, taught fundamentals through advanced adult dance classes at a local studio, participated and was a scholarship recipient of the Desales Summer Dance Intensive Program, and was a member and choreographer for the Moravian Dance Company.

Mikayla is a first-year medical student at ATSU KCOM who plans to subspecialize in pediatric neurology or physiatry upon graduation. She particularly enjoys teaching tap and ballet, focusing on educating students on vocabulary and technique.

Hadlee Ryan

Hadlee Ryan has been dancing since the age of four years old where she began her dance career at Blue Springs Ballet. She is classically trained in ballet as well as classical jazz. At the age of ten years old she joined Monarch Conservatory of Performing Arts and immediately joined their competition team. Once she made the competition team she was immediately brought on to their Premier Elite Senior Team. While competing at Monarch she competed in many rigorous competitions statewide as she traveled also for Regionals and Nationals. 

Once Hadlee made her way to highschool she auditioned for her highschool dance team, Truman Starsteppers, a nationally-ranked NDA team. Hadlee made varsity as a Freshman and continued her career in dance at Monarch Studio as well as her highschool dance team all four years of her highschool dance career. She also juggled running Varsity Cross Country those four years,  as well.  In Hadlee’s sophomore year, her dance team was ranked sixth in the nation for Small Varsity Gameday. In Hadlee’s Junior year, she was a National Champion for her classical heels jazz duo. In her senior year, Hadlee placed Top 5 in a Senior Elite category with over 50+ entries for her Senior solo. 

Hadlee is attending Truman State University as a Freshman and will be Majoring in Nursing and minoring in Spanish in the Professions, as well as Biochemistry. Hadlee was selected as a member of the Dance Team at Truman State University’s  Showgirls!

Hadlee has had a deep passion for dance since a very young age and is so excited to be a part of The Dance Studio/People In Motion Instructional Staff. Some of Hadlee’s favorite styles include Ballet, Heels, Jazz, and Contemporary. She loves to share her passion for dance with our students in her classes, small groups, and individual dancers at The Dance Studio of Kirksville!

Emma Stanley

My name Is Emma Stanley and this year I am junior at Truman State University studying Exercise Science. I started dancing at the studio when I was three years old with Mrs. Marcia. I began competitive dance whenever I was in third grade. From there I did competitions all the way up until I graduated high school. I won many top scoring awards along with special judges awards. I was also on my high school dance team where I held leadership positions and got multiple All American UDA awards.

After leaving the competitive dance world I started teaching at the studio. I have choreographed multiple top scoring numbers with several receiving judges awards. I also help choreograph for the Kirksville Dance Teams state routines, with numbers placing in the top five.

Genesis Watts

Hello!  My name is Genesis Watts. I have been dancing for over 14 years, and I have been teaching for 7!  I grew up dancing in this studio.  I have taken master classes through competitions and dance convention.  Through all of these opportunities, I’ve had the ability to grow so much as a dancer and an instructor.!  

I have taught for two different studios and have choreographed for the Macon High School Dance team.  I have also choreographed several musicals for the Macon R-1 High School.  I have won 4 choreography awards throughout my years of teaching.

My favorite style of dance to teach is contemporary.  I love building something unique to put on a stage.

One of my favorite parts about being a dance instructor is watching others grow and improve! I love to see the love for dance in others that I also have.

Brooke Havens

Brooke Havens has been dancing since the age of three years old and began her dance career at Nicole’s School of Dance in Ankeny, Iowa. She danced at Nicole’s from 2003-2015 and joined their elite competition team at the age of ten. During this time she competed in various competitions and conventions in the Des Moines Area as well as traveling to neighboring states for national competitions. In 2015 Brooke left Nicole’s School of Dance to continue her training at Dancin’ With Roxie for her final high school years. While at Dancin’ With Roxie she continued competing and traveled to Las Vegas to compete in Radix Nationals. In addition, Brooke has been very involved as an instructor at Dancin’ With Roxie teaching classes such as technique, tumbling, hip hop, lyrical, tap, and jazz. Brooke also was a member of her high school dance team from 2014-2018 competing in state and national competitions and bringing home multiple state and national titles. Her dance team attended elite NDA summer camps as well as NDA nationals in Orlando, Florida. Currently, Brooke is a biology major at Truman State University as well as a member of the Truman Showgirls! Throughout her dance career Brooke has developed a love for teaching and watching her students grow. Some of her favorite styles include lyrical, jazz, and poms.