Blue Dog Dance Super Staff 2024-2025
Our staff is committed to bring you the joy and excitement of dance. We have a variety of backgrounds in dance and life to serve you. All teachers have their own dance education and are trained internally at Blue Dog Dance. Staff certifications include Dance Teacher Pro, mUvMethod Stretching, Leap n' Learn, IntelliDance, Acrobatic Arts and CLI Studios. Our staff happily commutes from as local to Ms. Barbara in Maple Hills to Ms. Kaela in University Place to Ms. Irene in Redmond. Let us know how we can make your dance journey once that is right for you and your child.
There's nothing quite like finding your "thing" in life, or seeing those you love most find theirs. A joy-filled activity that simply makes you feel good, no matter what else you might be facing. A place to escape when the noise gets too loud and the world feels a little too big. A space to move your body, let loose, and be yourself. A passion that drives you to be your best self. A way to connect with those who share in the same joy.
Dance has always been that "thing" for me. Since the age of three, I've found passion and purpose through movement. I've experienced the power of dance to heal, to connect, and to transform. Most importantly, I've seen how coming together through dance brings light, laughter, and love into the lives of those around me - and what could be a more beautiful thing than that?
I started dancing as a little girl - mainly because I saw my older sister taking classes and I wanted to be just like her (typical youngest child). But quickly, dance became so much more than following in her footsteps. I continued to dance until high school when my family moved from upstate New York to sunny California. While attending college at California Polytechnic State University, I fell head-over-heels for dance yet again, and joined the college's dance company. Here, I took a teaching class and discovered my true calling - to share the gift of dance with others.
I went on to pursue a degree in Kinesiology, teaching dance at every opportunity that arose - local studios, schools, community events, and even prisons (yep, that story is one for the books!). Each time I saw the pure delight that dance brought to those around me, it solidified my belief that dance is a true unifier. It has the power to transcend age, race, gender, religion, and socioeconomic status. It is a language that we all speak, and it is a joy that we can all share.
Upon graduating, I taught tap at the university and established my very first dance studio for adults - In Motion. It was at our first recital that my partner, Kelly, proposed to me and slowly the chapters of my life began choreographing its own dance that has given me sanctuary, solace, community and connection ever since.
When we moved to the Pacific Northwest, I had visions of a career as a personal trainer (fitness has always been a big part of my life) but, of course, dance pulled me right back in and I was teaching at a local dance studio before we had even unpacked. As fate would have it, on one of my trips to the studio, I noticed a space for rent near my home in Maple Hills. I realized in that moment that I would either be driving past the space every day to teach in someone else's studio or I could take the plunge (yes, again!) and open my own studio in my community. I called the landlord, and just like that, Blue Dog Dance was born.
We named the studio Blue Dog after one of my daughter, Millie's, stuffed toys that encapsulated everything I wanted Blue Dog Dance to stand for. I chose an intentional name that was inclusive of everyone from ballerinas to hip-hoppers and aspiring kiddies to ambitious adults (no studio of mine was going to have the words "elite" or "exclusive" on the door).
Though we opened during the global recession in 2008, with our community's support, we've been able to build a thriving dance studio in the heart of Renton, Washington where we offer an inclusive, performance-based dance program to families from Renton, Issaquah, Kent, Bellevue and Newcastle. From a small start-up studio, we now have 20 staff members and 600 students who make fun-filled memories while enjoying their "thing", together!
From ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop to lyrical, contemporary, pointe, acro, and musical theater, everything we do at Blue Dog Dance is focused on making the physical, social, cognitive, and emotional benefits of dance accessible to people of all ages and abilities as we work towards fulfilling our mission to build stronger individuals, families and communities through dance education.
The past 14 years have been an absolute blast - watching our dance family grow, creating beautiful seasonal shows together, producing benefit galas for Seattle Children's Hospital and seeing hundreds of happy kids attend our summer camps. With an emphasis on inclusion, limitless creativity, strong leadership, interactive learning, and powerful community building, Blue Dog Dance is much more than just a place to learn how to dance...it is a movement.
From our family to yours, we invite you to come and experience the limitless potential of dance as we continue to empower our community to thrive, one dance step at a time.
-Barbara Walshe
Barbara and Kelly Walshe
FOUNDER / DIRECTOR
Barbara Walshe
Barbara Walshe is Founder and Director of Blue Dog Dance. She holds a BA in kinesiology with a dance minor and recently earned her MBA. She has taught for over 25 years in a variety of settings including high school, elementary schools, Cal Poly State University, private studios, prisons and more. She opened Blue Dog Dance in 2008 as a community dance studio close to her home in Maple Hills. While she is versed in all styles of dance, she is currently focused on tap and adult classes.
STUDIO MANAGER
Tiffany Orlando
Tiffany Orlando is the studio manager, and recital coordinator, and merchandise organizer, and studio seamstress, and show house manager, and account reconciler and the list goes on and on. She has been with Blue Dog Dance for over a decade. She has attended Dance Teacher Web and Boost conferences to sharpen her skills as studio manager. Occasionally, you may see her on her bike as she commutes to the studio.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Kyra Jackson
Kyra Jackson has been dancing since she was three years old and loves jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, acrobatics, tap and ballet. She has performed at multiple shows and competitions and plays the saxophone and clarinet. Ms. Kyra has been teaching for nine years at Blue Dog Dance and is certified in Leap n' Learn, mUvMethod Stretch and Acrobatic Arts. She has attended numerous dance teacher conventions. This year, Ms. Kyra is focused on AcroDance, is our Performing Group Director and Blue Dog Dance's Assistant Director.
ASSOC. DIRECTOR / INSTRUCTOR
Bella Walshe
Bella Walshe has been dancing for 17 years and dances hip hop, tap, contemporary and jazz. A recent Western Washington University environmental studies graduate with a minor in dance, she was a member of WWU's Dance Team. Bella has taken numerous master classes, has attended Dance Teacher Web conferences and Leap n Learn training. She has taught at Blue Dog Dance, WWU Dance team and Western's on-campus hip hop club, SINIHHA. Bella's dance inspiration currently comes from dance influencers including Bailey Sok, Delaney Glazer and Kenneth. Ms. Bella will be serving as our Associate Director, as well as, teaching hip hop and ballet/tap combo classes.
INSTRUCTOR
Kaela Delaney
Kaela Delaney has been dancing for over 30 years. She is trained in tap, ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical and modern. Ms. Kaela has studied with Sue Brumet, Sam Weber, Lynn Dally, Angelia Leung, and Stan Kahn. In college at UCLA, she was the assistant to teacher Lynn Dally for all the tap classes in the dance department. She taught creative dance for children at an elementary school off campus at UCLA as a part of her major of World Arts and Culture. She has been teaching dance ever since. She is certified in Leap n Learn, mUv Method and a CSSSA graduate. Ms. Kaela will be sharing her talents, teaching many classes this year, including working with our In Motion middle school dancers.
INSTRUCTOR
Tori Steinke
Tori Steinke has been dancing for 25 years. She knows ballet, jazz, and lyrical. She has studied at Backstage Dance, Woodinville Dance Academy, Exit Space, Kirkland Dance Center and University of Washington. She performed at the University of Washington from 2015-2018, Take Pause with Exit Space and Strickly Seattle. She holds a BA in accounting with a minor in marketing AND a BA in Dance from UW. Her own teachers along the way have shown passion and inspired her to pursue teaching, to which she excels and was named Blue Dog's Teacher of Year for 23-24. Ms. Tori teaches our littlest dancers up through elementary age and is the director of The 7 Fears of Julia Blue.
INSTRUCTOR / POINTE SPECIALIST
Susan Crandell
Susan Crandell has been teaching dance for 18 years. She has studied at Cornerstone, Pacific Chamber Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Susan has performed as a singer at district honor choir, all state honor choir and as soloist in school plays. She has performed the roles of Clara, Snow, Bear, Russian, Rat King, Mirliton, Spanish, and Sugar Plum Fairy in various Nutcrackers. You may also have seen her as a Seattle Seahawks Sea Gal. Susan holds a Bachelors in Business Administration - Management from UW and is currently working on a Master of Legal Studies - Compliance and Risk Management at Seattle University School of Law. At Blue Dog, Ms. Susan teaches pointe and pre-pointe and has directed Oz, A Blue Dog Ballet.
INSTRUCTOR
Millie Walshe
Millie Walshe has been dancing since she was 3 years old, and studies acro, ballet, hip hop, contemporary, and pointe. She is a proud member of the Royal Blue Dance Company. Millie has had the opportunity to dance in many dance competitions, Manhattan Dance Project and Dance the Magic parades at Disneyland. Her favorite dance quote by Martha Graham is "Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart." Previously Millie was a Teaching Assistant and Substitute Teacher for Blue Dog, and this past summer she attended Dance Teacher Web conferences. This is Ms. Millie's third year teaching and will be teaching acro, preschool dance classes and In Motion.
INSTRUCTOR
Sydney Walling
Sydney Walling has been dancing for 15 years studing jazz, hip hop, tap, lyrical and contemporary. She has performed in numerous Blue Dog Dance shows - including the Royal Blue Dance Company Galas. This is Sydney's 4th year teaching dance. She was also a teaching assistant for three years and has taught summer camps at Blue Dog. Sydney is a Hazen High School graduate and is working towards a degree in Elementary Education. She believes that dance is a beautiful way to express emotions and creativity while gaining a sense of community and confidence. This year, Ms. Sydney is teaching elementary lyrical.
INSTRUCTOR
Lauren Baccus
Lauren Baccus is in her third year teaching hip-hop at Blue Dog. She has danced hip-hop and contemporary at Blue Dog Dance and is an alumna of the Royal Blue Dance Co. Ms. Lauren has also trained at British Dance Academy, Backstage Dance, Rainer Dance and The Studio in Issaquah. Her favorite dance performance was back in 2019 with Blue Dog, dancing in Mi Gente. She said the style of hip hop was out of her comfort zone, but she ended up loving it! Ms. Lauren teaches hip hop for students in kindergarten through middle school.
INSTRUCTOR
Jackie Abbey
Jackie Abbey has been dancing for 13 years, and while she has trained primarily in ballet, she also dances contemporary and hip hop. A former dancer at the Academy of American Ballet, Jackie has danced at Blue Dog Dance for the past 8 years and performed in all our productions including, Polar Express, Julia Blue, Oz and the Royal Blue Dance Company Galas. She considers dance a phenomenal artistic and expressive tool that uses movement and music to communicate feelings, stories, and ideas. A recent graduate of Liberty High School, Jackie is currently studying at Bellevue College and is in her 2nd year teaching elementary ballet, lyrical and jazz at Blue Dog Dance.
INSTRUCTOR
Gretchen Aylor
Gretchen Aylor has been dancing for over 20 years and is trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, musical theater and Scottish highland dancing. At age 7, she auditioned for and attended the Atlanta School of Ballet and studied under the tutelage of Robert Barnett, Jill Murphy, and Gaynot Grange. At 15, Gretchen was a company member with Gwinett Ballet Theatre in Lilburn, GA. After high school, she attended American Musical and Dramatic Academy where she studied Musical Theater Performance. She has performed in numerous Nutcracker productions and musical theatre productions of The Sound of Music, Anything Goes, Annie and more! This is Gretchen's first year of teaching at Blue Dog, where she will be teaching adult ballet, In Motion and musical theatre.
INSTRUCTOR
Cora Myre
Cora Myre is a Liberty High School graduate and a student and dancer at Bellevue College. She has taken dance for many years and is an alumna of the Royal Blue Dance Co. Her favorite style of dance is Contemporary. Of all her performances, one of her favorites was a Royals dance from 2021 during the pandemic...Birds choreographed by Raney Welch, which was filmed at historic Fort Worden State Park. Ms. Cora is in her third year teaching and teaches creative dance, pre-dance, kinder ballet/tap and lyrical classes.
INSTRUCTOR
Charlotte Brown
Charlotte Brown has grown up dancing at Blue Dog Dance and practices jazz, contemporary and ballet. She has attended the Manhattan Dance Project and danced in Dance the Magic at Disneyland. Charlotte is a high school senior and a member of the Royal Blue Dance Co. She was a Blue Dog teaching assistant for 3 years, and is now in her third year teaching with Blue Dog.
INSTRUCTOR
Kalen Epping
COMMUNICATIONS / ADMIN
Stefanie Williamson
Stefanie Williamson is our Communications Coordinator and Graphic Designer. She assists with marketing, social media and photography and works mornings at the front desk. You might also see Stefanie taking an adult dance class at Blue Dog or performing “Hot Chocolate” in Polar Express. She has danced since high school and has taken a variety of dance classes in all styles, but her favorite is tap. When she's not at Blue Dog, she's either walking her dogs, spending time with family or watching rom-coms.
ADMIN
Ryana Jackson
Ryana Jackson is a Blue Dog alumna, and we are so glad to have her working the front desk as part of our admin team.
INSTRUCTOR
Mia Carbo
Mia Carbo had been dancing for 13 years and has taken classes in contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, jazz, musical theater. She is a proud member of the Royal Blue Dance Company and has performed in Polar Express, Royals Galas and at the State Competition for drill team. Ms. Mia has been a Teaching Assistant and also served as a substitute teacher for Blue Dog. This is her first year teaching, and she will be teaching hip hop for our kindergarteners and elementary dancers.
INSTRUCTOR
Melinda Wallace
We're excited to have Melinda Wallace back teaching at Blue Dog! Ms. Melinda will be teaching high school ballet this year.
INSTRUCTOR
Pharon Douwes
Pharon Douwes has been dancing for 16 years and knows ballet, contemporary, and jazz with some modern and lyrical. She has trained at The Rainier Ballet Academy, Blue Dog Dance, Bellevue College and Spotlight Dance Center. She has danced with the Royal Blue Dance Company and Bellevue College Dance Company. Pharon believes dance is a way to communicate feelings that cannot be expressed verbally, full of shapes and textures that can only be conveyed physically. At Blue Dog, Ms. Pharon will be teaching middle school ballet.
INSTRUCTOR
Beth Sidell
Beth Sidell has been dancing practically her whole life! She has danced tap, jazz and ballet since she was a child, and is in her 9th year dancing at Blue Dog, taking adult tap and hip hop. A graduate of Mercer High School, Beth attended Bellevue Community College and then the Art Institute of Seattle, graduating with a photography degree. She has run her own photography business specializing in portraiture. This is Beth's first year as a certified ZUMBA instructor, and she is member of the Zumba Instructor's Network.
WE’RE CREATIVE
We are constantly thinking a creative ways to keep you dancing.
WE’RE PASSIONATE
We all want to dance and want you to dance, too. We believe in the joy of dance.
WE’RE AWESOME
We pride ourselves in continually wanting to get better at what we do.