MEET THE ARTISTS

 Sophie graduated from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri – Kansas City with an emphasis in ballet and modern. She was raised in Independence, Missouri, and began dancing at the age of three under the instruction of Christine Palmer at the Craig Dance Studio of Independence. Sophie also danced with several other studios in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Sophie has loved to dance since she was a child, and particularly enjoys choreography and teaching. She danced competitively as a teenager, and began teaching and choreographing for other dancers at a young age as well. As a young adult, she had the opportunity to attend intensives at the Kansas City Ballet, Dramatic Truth School of the Arts, and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago. She has performed in Deanna Hiett’s Ecifircas and Gary Abbott’s Breaking the Damn 2014 and was honored to have been chosen as part of a small group of UMKC students that were asked to perform in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria in the fall of 2014. Sophie has previously also performed professionally with Dramatic Truth Ballet Theatre for one season.  With the Kansas City Dance Collective (formerly known as VidaDance), Sophie has performed many featured roles. Most notably, she has premiered the character of Clara in Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker and Frankie in Turning the Page, and choreographed Teabiotics for Cracked! and Party Scene in the Fringe! Festival 2022. 

 Susan fostered her love of dance at Deena Shroyer’s School of Dance in Leavenworth Kansas until the age of 16 when she decided to pursue dance at a professional level and began training at Kansas School of Classical Ballet under the instruction of Juan Pablo Trujillo. She attended many summer intensives including Webster University, Oklahoma City Ballet, and Fort Wayne Ballet. Susan began her career at Fort Wayne Ballet where she danced for two seasons. While in Fort Wayne she got to perform in productions such as Cinderella, Phantom of the Opera, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and of course the cherished tradition of The Nutcracker. After moving back to Kansas City Susan danced with Vidadance in their production of Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker. Susan is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Susan enjoys using her training to teach for the Kansas City Ballet School. Susan is excited to be dancing with Kansas City Dance Collective for their premiere season! 

 Paco graduated from the Conservatory of Dance and Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, pursuing his degree in Dance Performance (Classical Ballet & Modern) and Choreography. He was honored to have performed The West Side Story for the Grand opening of the Kauffman Performing Arts Center. During the seven years he’s been in Kansas City he’s choreographed for many events including The Filipino Community, The Medical Ball, The September Affair. Paco has also been the choreographer for the Wyandotte and Johnson County Cotillion and various church productions. He’s been a featured dancer with the Allen Meyers Jazz Orchestra. He was coach and choreographer for the Bishop Miege High School Dance Team during 2009-2012. In June 2012 the team was invited to NDA Nationals in Orlando FL for the first time in the schools history!

Paco’s dance and choreographic past work history has been in Branson MO, The Country Tonite Show, The Osmond’s Brothers Show and Anthony and Veronica Magic Show. In Las Vegas NV, he danced professionally at The Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino, The Aladdin Hotel & Casino, The MGM Theater, and at The Magic Castle in California. He was also represented in Jazz and Hip-Hop with the famous Bobby Ball Agency in Los Angeles CA, appearing in commercials for Miller Light, Gap, Dr. Pepper and he was featured in the Dance & Fitness Magazine of West Hollywood CA. He worked as a dancer on a Cruise ship for Norwegian Cruise Line the “Majesty”. He’s modeled for Talent Unlimited Agent and did commercial print work and television commercials like Applebee’s, AMC Theater and on YouTube “Karobics” fitness. Currently he’s performed with Storling Dance Company “Underground” at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center the past five years and “Child of Hope”. He’s currently training in competitive Ballroom under Rafael Labrado in  “American Rhythm” and “International Latin”.

 Jessica has been dancing for over 20 years and teaching dance for eight years. She received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Southeast Missouri State University in 2015. While there, she trained with top companies such as Keigwin and Company, Giordano Dance Chicago, and the José Limón Dance Company. She trained with Parsons Dance in New York for two summers, then moved back to Kansas City to train with Störling’s Artist Development Program. She has since traveled internationally to perform in Ireland, and is currently also touring with Material Girl and the Fame Monster as a featured dancer. 

Taylor found his love for dance while in highschool performing in musicals and show choir. Taylor has been seen in shows such as Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, and others during his high school career. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Southeast Missouri State University in 2014. While in attendance, he had the privilege to train with companies such as Jose Limon Company and Keigwin & Company. He also trained one summer at Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Some other artists and choreographers Taylor has also worked with are Victor Alexander and Maray Gutierrez. After college, Taylor performed the role of Laurie in the musical production of Little Women with the Acting Out theater company. Taylor premiered the role of Walt in the 2021 version of Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker. 

 Mike began his performing and dance journey later in life than most people do. He joined Dramatic Truth in 2000 to play the role of Joseph/Jesus in their production of The Mystery of Christmas (The Nutcracker variation telling the true story of Christmas) and has continued to play these roles ever since. In 2015, he was asked if he would like to take some dance classes. So, at the ripe old age of 55, he enrolled in Ballet (his first teacher being Sophie Yancey), Men’s Ballet, Pas de Deux and some non-traditional partnering classes. He has performed in several pieces with Dramtic Truth, including Dethroning The Prince, The Book of Esther as well as several other group and partnering pieces. In 2017, he met Lindsey Dinneen at The Mystery of Christmas. In 2018, he was asked by Lindsey to join VidaDance as a guest performer for a show called RISE for the Kansas City Fringe Festival. Later that fall, he performed a pas de deux with Lindsey for the VidaDance Studio Open House. In 2019, he performed in Cracked! A Reimagined Kansas City Nutcracker in the role of Drosselmeyer and When in 2021 for a virtual Fringe Performance. Mike would like to thank VidaDance for giving him the opportunity and privilege of performing with some incredibly talented people and for all the encouragement from them along the way.  

Kristin began dancing at the age of 4 at Valley View Dance Studio. There she trained in many different styles of dance including ballet, jazz, tap and acro. At the age of 8, she began competing in dance. Upon completing high school, Kristin continued sharing her love of dance and became a teacher for both recreational and competition students. Currently, Kristin is pursuing two careers as she is passionate about both dance and special education. Kristin has had the opportunity to combine both of these by volunteering with Gabby Lucas House of Dance in their special education dance program. Currently, Kristin is in her second season with Kansas City Dance Collective. She began as an apprentice with the company in 2022 and KCDC is very excited to have her as a company member in 2023. In addition to teaching and performing, Kristin is currently working to complete her master’s degree in Special Education. Her dream is to one day start an inclusive dance class program.