Meet Your Host
Chelsea was trained as a studio dancer in the Denver area, and spent summers training with professional ballet companies, finishing her performance career as a professional ballet dancer in Colorado. Chelsea was also a successful high school dance coach for over a decade. She won multiple State Championship titles and was recognized as Colorado’s Dance Coach of the Year. Outside of coaching, Chelsea also has a Ph.D. in Sport Psychology and is a full-time instructor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2017 she launched an online educational resource for dance coaches called Passionate Coach. Her company provides digital courses and memberships to help dance coaches learn and thrive. She specializes in education for dance teachers and coaches as well as independent consulting with dancers in many areas of mental skills for athletes including confidence, resilience, motivation, and leadership.
Meet Your Speakers
Ashley Mowrey
Developing Body Confidence in Dancers
Ashley Mowrey is a Performance Mindset Coach and Educator helping dancers and dance teachers calm the mind and body, cultivate self-confidence, and create inner strength. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from The University of Arkansas, is an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation, a Whole Person Certified Coach through Coach Training World, a trained facilitator in Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Leadership Program, a specialist for Doctors for Dancers, and a blog contributor for Apolla Performance. Ashley has recently joined the faculty for Embody Dance Conference, a new convention coming August 2021. There she will lead workshops for all age groups, including parents and teachers, on mindset skills. She is also a Team Member of Dancer, 360, and is a contributor to their upcoming book. Ashley trained as a competitive dancer out of Dallas, TX before teaching and eventually directing a company and dance studio in Fayetteville, AR. It was during those years that she felt drawn towards the dancer’s mindset and the need for training and tools in the dance community to foster mental health and wellbeing. She sees clients in-person and via Zoom all over the country as well as travels (in-person and virtually) to studios for customized group workshops. Ashley has also been featured on Dance Studio Amplified Podcast, (Ep. 14), Dance Boss University Mastermind guest presenter, episode 58 of Dance Boss Podcast, and a recent episode of the Pointe to Rise Podcast.
Caitlin Sloan
Cultivating Critical Thinking in Dancers
Caitlin Sloan is a dance educator, nonprofit leader and former professional dancer based in Madison, WI. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Grand Valley State University and Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Missouri. Caitlin has been a dance educator for over a decade, most notably serving as Director of the School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet during which time founded the Missouri Contemporary Ballet Youth Ensemble. Following a 9-year career dancing with companies including Ballet Tucson and Missouri Contemporary Ballet, she founded The Brainy Ballerina. The mission of The Brainy Ballerina is to empower dancers to be curious, thoughtful, capable and prepared to meet the challenges of the dance world. Through virtual workshops, printable resources, and mentorship opportunities, The Brainy Ballerina gives dancers the tools they need to build a smart and sustainable career.
Cassandra Springs
Building Confidence Through Effective Goal Setting
Cassandra Pappy Springs is a business owner, choreographer, and dance educator currently living in Atlanta, GA. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, her breadth of dance experience has afforded her the opportunity to train and work with teachers, choreographers, dance teams and students across the nation. She received her early competitive dance training from Dance Productions Performing Arts Studio in Charlotte, NC and later pursued higher education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). There she served as a member and captain of the Spartan G's dance team and graduated in 2012, with B.A. in Dance and a K-12 teaching licensure in dance. She has trained in the genres of ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, modern, lyrical, west african, hip hop and heels technique.
As a competitive dancer, Cassandra held the title of Miss Dance of North Carolina in 2007. She also won the title of National Champion Senior Soloist at StarSystems Dance Competition in Las Vegas in 2008. After graduating from UNCG, Cassandra taught dance in the North Carolina Public School System for 7 years. She began her professional performing career as a member of Techmoja Theater and Dance Company, dancing and acting in productions such as “The Color Purple” and “Dreamgirls”. She has also choreographed and performed for international recording artist IYAZ, multi-platinum recording artist Ginuwine, and Grammy nominated producer/artist Imani. In 2019, Cassandra appeared as a dancer in the movie “Bolden!”.
Cassandra’s background in performance, dance education, and choreography led to the creation of her professional dance company, Elite DanceWerks LLC. (EDW) in 2016. The company began as a summer project and blossomed into an effort to reach and inspire dancers nationally. EDW’s services target dancers from the ages of 7 and up. The company specializes in private lessons, choreography, master classes, and consulting services. Some of EDW’s clients include Philadelphia 76ers Dancers, Elon University Dance Team, The North Carolina Black Film Festival, and East Carolina University Dance Team. Cassandra loves sharing her knowledge and passion for dance with students and clients hoping to inspire, motivate, and challenge them beyond what they believe they can be!
Currently, Cassandra is still growing the EDW brand. She also serves as the dance director of the Heritage High School Dance Academy in Conyers, Georgia and as a judge for Fusion National Dance Competition and Impact Dance Adjudicators.
Chasta Hamilton
Being Competitive Without Competing
Chasta Hamilton believes the performing arts can change the world, and she's on a mission to make it happen. As the owner and artistic director of Stage Door Dance Productions, Chasta is reinventing the dance education model by focusing on character development and community involvement in addition to technique and performance attributes. This journey is detailed in Chasta's inaugural book: Trash The Trophies: How to Win Without Losing Your Soul and her TEDx talk “You Weren’t Built to Break”. One of her favorite things is helping studios adapt new methods to reach their greatest level of meaningful impact.
Chasta is also the founder and president of the nonprofit, Girls Geared For Greatness, and the former founder and former editor of The Dance Exec. A 2007 Park Scholarship Alumna of NC State University, Chasta was also recognized by the Triangle Business Journal as a 2014 40 Under 40, and in 2016, a Women in Business, Future Star. Proud to call North Carolina home, Chasta lives in Raleigh with her husband John, their son Bash, and their Scottish terrier, Elvis.
Courtney Vanderheiden
Competing with Confidence
Originally from the Chicagoland area, Courtney has extensive experience in the school and all-star dance team industries! Courtney has studied various genres of dance, was a four-year member of the Harry D. Jacobs Dance Team, coached West Oak Middle School to a State Championship, and has been a well-respected dance adjudicator for the last 10+ years for organizations such as UDA, the Illinois High School Association, Varsity All Star, TeamDance Illinois, and the Indiana High School Dance Team Association. Courtney is also a judiciary member of the National Dance Coaches Association, longtime member of the Illinois Dance Officials Association and is currently serving as the President of the Alliance of Illinois Dance Adjudicators. And, most recently, Courtney started two dance businesses, the first being Team Dance USA, LLC, a dance-only event producing company that believes in providing comprehensive & detailed feedback from the industry’s most experienced dance judges, along with accurate and consistent scoring so that teams can continue to grow and work toward their competitive goals. Additionally, Courtney started Beyond the Score, a dance team consulting business, so that she can continue to work with teams to achieve their highest potential and exceed their competitive goals!
Erin Manske
Why Fairness sometimes feels like Favoritism and What to do About It
Erin Manske has been a high school dance coach for over a decade - big teams, small teams, all-girl teams, co-ed teams - you name it, she’s coached it. All of her teams have had two things in common: a strong team culture and a winning record, including numerous top 5 finishes in Wisconsin’s State Dance Championship. Most notably, in 2020 her team finished 4th place at the State Championship after a technical glitch left the team dancing without music for nearly 75% of their routine. Erin credits her teams’ successes to being intentional about opportunity, racial equity, and fairness and utilizing a character-first approach to coaching.
To further empower dancers and coaches, Erin used her background in research and data analysis to build a skills tracking app, The Tiers System. The Tiers System helps coaches build the teams of their dreams by bringing data and statistics to the dance team world. Erin develops and provides coaches with a progression-based training curriculum, and she is building an app for coaches to track dancers’ progress through that curriculum. Through The Tiers System, Erin has helped coaches across the country improve consistency, transparency, and equity in their coaching while empowering their dancers to be more motivated, independent, and intentionally focused on team culture.
Erin’s research was published in the peer reviewed Journal of Juvenile Justice. And, she was featured on the cover of Sun Prairie Neighbors Magazine highlighting the work she has done as a dance team coach and business owner in her community.
Erin also works with other teams in a range of roles. As a choreographer, her routines have placed numerous times at the state level. Her pom choreography won a national title and was awarded best choreography at a national competition. Erin was elected to and served on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Association of Cheer and Pom Coaches where she represented and advocated for coaches in her district. Erin also started a volunteer project, “Dairyland Dance Connection”, to connect high school dancers with collegiate dance programs in Wisconsin. Last season, all of the graduating seniors from Erin’s team went on to dance at the college level.
Gina McFadden
Dancer Health: a 360° Perspective
Gina is the author and editor of the upcoming book, Dancer, 360: A Whole-Health Guide to Uplift, Empower & Strengthen Every Dancer. She performed professionally with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Ballet Pacifica, State Street Ballet and the National Choreographers Initiative. She has been on the faculties of Boston Ballet School, New Jersey Ballet School and Grand Rapids Ballet School as well as adjust faculty at Grand Valley State University and Hope College. She has a BA in Business Administration and an AAS in Legal Studies, is a certified Holistic Life, Career & Executive Coach and is a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. She is based in Charleston, SC.
Katie Groven
Dancer Health: a 360° Perspective
Katie is also a Doctors For Dancers specialist and regular blog contributor for More Than Dancers, The Line Up and Apolla Performance
Kirsten Kemp
The Backwards Path to Building Confidence that Actually Works
Kirsten Kemp is a former professional dancer and Mindset Coach for dancers. A native of Corpus Christi, TX, Kirsten grew up dancing alongside her twin sister, Kelsey, training during the summers at programs such as San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. After training in the top levels of the Houston Ballet Academy’s year round program for two years, Kirsten chose to study on scholarship at the University of Utah where she graduated within three years with a BFA in Ballet and a Minor in Business Administration with top honors.
Kirsten then danced professionally with Oklahoma City Ballet for one and a half seasons, touring and performing corp de ballet roles with the company, before choosing to step away due to a persistent knee injury. After dwelling in intense training and professional environments for so many years, Kirsten’s innate passion for encouraging and supporting fellow dancers turned into her next career path.
Hence, in 2018, Kirsten began a Mindset Coaching practice, specifically designed to give dancers the mental support and strategies they need to develop a healthy and confident mindset that fuels their personal best level of performance.
Mary Beth Maas
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Mary Wendt
Panel Discussion: Developing the Confident Dancer off the Marley
Mary has been involved in the dance team industry for over 40 years as a coach and industry professional. A part of the original judging panel at The Dance Worlds, Mary is the Education Director for USASF Dance. She also serves as the Dance Scoring Director for the IASF, the International All-Star Federation and is the Panel Director for the Junior and High Kick Divisions. She has served as the Scoring and Adjudication Director as well as the Pom Category Advisor for the USASF. Mary has judged internationally and facilitated coach and athlete workshops. Additionally, she serves as the Associate
Director of Enrichment and Leadership where she has assisted in the development of workshops for coaches and athletes such as Bolt, March, Dance FUNdamentals, What’s your IQ Jr and Impact.
Mary is the former director/choreographer of the North Texas State University Songleaders and the Assistant Director/Choreographer for the Texas Christian University Showgirls, her alma mater, where she received a BS and MS in Kinesiological Studies.
A former Kilgore College Rangerette Lieutenant and TCU Showgirl Captain, Mary has been a director for several high school teams in Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, and
Washington. The Texas Dance/Drill Team Educators voted her as their youngest Lifetime Achievement Recipient and Hall of Fame Recipient. She is the executive director and former choreographer of the Citrus Bowl and worked for MA Dance as their Vice
President for over 35 years.
Mary has been married for over 32 years to Ted Wendt and has a son, John, a 2018 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Melanie Dailey
Fast Track to Coaching Confidence
Melanie Dailey made her first dance team over 30 years ago and since then she’s never stopped dancing, teaching, choreographing, and staging productions. As an instructor, choreographer, and director for Dancz America’s national camp, private clinic and instructional video program, Melanie has taught over 10,000 dancers. She has choreographed for and judged competitions at the local, regional, state and national level for the Missouri Dance Team Association, Indiana High School Dance Team Association, Oklahoma Dance Team Directors Association, Miss Kansas Drill Team Festival, North Dakota Dance and Drill Assoication, Dance Team Union and Headliners Dance Competition, and is currently working for the Missouri Dance Team Association as the site coordinator for their State Championship. She has had success in the commercial dance arena, choreographing and dancing in performances with country music artists Toby Keith, Emerson Drive and Jack Ingram, appearing in commercials, movies and television shows, and performing, choreographing and staging national industrials for Silpada Jewelry, Phillip Morris and the School Nutrition Association. She works with many dance teams on choreography, instruction and perfecting routines for competition. Her company, Larkspur Dance and Choreography, hosts a number of dance team events in the Kansas City area and a dance team podcast available on Spotify, iTunes, and all major podcast directories.
Misty Lown
Interview with Dr. Chelsea
Misty Lown is the founder, president, and energized force behind More Than Just Great Dancingā€€ - A licensed dance studio affiliation program that has a positive impact on over 100,000 dance students around the globe each week. She is also the owner of Youth Protection Advocates in Dance - an educational company.
Her dance studio, Misty’s Dance Unlimited, founded in 1998 and named a “Top 50 Studios in the Nation” by Dance Spirit Magazine has provided $500,000 in scholarship for dancers. Misty has been a speaker for every major dance industry event and has authored over 100 industry articles.
She is a sought-after speaker and business leader. She has been recognized as “Teacher of the Year” by Eclipse, “Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year” by the YWCA and awarded the “Pope John XXIII Award for Distinguished Service” by Viterbo University, the “Philanthropy Award” from the local Red Cross, the “President’s Award” from the La Crosse Area Development Corporation and the “President’s Award” from the Association of Professional Fundraisers.
Misty is an entrepreneur and builder at heart. In addition to her dance studio and licensing program, she owns a dancewear store, self-storage business and is a managing partner in a family real estate business. She is the author of One Small Yes an Amazon #1 Bestseller that has been translated to Korean and Indonesian. Misty’s favorite part of the day is spending time with her husband and five beautiful children.
Misty Nanna
How to Confidently Plan Your Dance Season
Misty Nanna is known for cultivating positive relationships among teammates and coaches in the dance community. She believes it’s important to keep nurturing those relationships to have motivated, enthusiastic and respectful dancers. Misty teaches you simple strategies to implement in your practice that will guide you to create a more positive "spirit" for your team.
Misty is currently the program director and coach for the Iconic AllStars Dance Team in South Elgin, Illinois. She started the program in 2020 from the ground up. Misty combined her 30+ years of dancing, and 20 years as a dance educator and fitness expert to help immediately take her program to the next level, leading both her teams to Nationals in Orlando, FL, placing third and fourth, as well as being awarded Division Champions. Misty attributes her ICONIC first year to her unique style of coaching and passion for making a positive dance community her #1 priority.
Misty was a four-year member of the University of Iowa Dance Team and Choreographer. Some of her highlights at Iowa were the MVP award, Choreography Award, Nationals Finalist and 1st in the region. She’s also had the pleasure of choreographing and teaching master classes for both nationally and state ranked collegiate and high school dance teams.
In addition to dance, Misty is an author, and owner of Mistyrockslife LLC. Misty is also a retired elementary school teacher of 17 years. While at home, Misty is the CEO to her three awesome kiddos and wife to Todd. She loves fitness, Hawkeye Football, vacations and anything related to DANCE!
Olivia Mode-Cater
The Confident Dance Teacher Formula: How to lead your classes with strength and clarity
Olivia Mode-Cater (she/her) is the Founder and CEO of Dance Ed Tips. She is an industry leader in dance education and dance entrepreneurship, having scaled 2 major dance brands over the past 4 years. She is also an accomplished presenter who has spoken on these topics to national and international audiences. Olivia’s work draws on her experiences as a veteran dance educator in all teaching settings: higher education, PK-12 schools, and studios. She is the former Director of Dance Education at Hofstra University. During that time, their dance education program was recognized on a national level as one of the Top 30 Dance Programs in the United States for their high-quality dance teacher preparation training. In addition, Olivia is passionate about mentoring others, having coached over 100 dance teachers to discover their personal teaching philosophy and vision in dance.