INSTRUCTORS
Hallie Rainwater (Owner/Director; Kinderdance, LAUNCH, Jazz; Competition Choreography)
Payton Castagno (Jazz)
Libby Cleavinger (Hip Hop)
Maggie Dethrow
(Modern, Body Toning)
Grace Dyer (Adult Ballet, Kinderdance 1)
Emma Gysbers (Jazz, Lyrical, Leaps/Turns; Competition Choreography)
Sonya Hendrickson (Tap)
Emily Lower (Musical Theatre, Lyrical; Competition Choreography)
River Manley (Ballet)
Molly Myers (Pilates, Creative Movement, Twinkle Toes)
Taylor Norrell-Campbell (Jazz)
Fran Patrick (Ballet)
Abigail Rainwater (Competition Choreography; Seasonal Instructor: Contemporary/Lyrical, Leaps/Turns, Jazz)
Sophie Richardson (Contemporary; Competition Choreography)
Melissa Roach (Adult Hip Hop)
Allison Roberts (Creative Movement)
Marie Robertson (Tap)
Emily Walters (Lyrical, Ballet)
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Hallie grew up in St. Louis, where she began dancing at the age of
five. She joined the Dancearts faculty in 1992, became the Director of children’s programming in 2003 and added the title of Competition Director in 2019. She recently stepped into the owner/director position in June of 2023. Hallie has performed in and choreographed for various professional regional theatres. Some of her favorite productions include Chicago, Cabaret, 42 nd Street, Crazy For You, The Music Man, Anything Goes and Kiss Me Kate. Locally, Hallie has choreographed for The Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater, TRYPS Children’s Theater, and most recently she choreographed Merry Ole’ Missouri for Show Me Theatricals. Hallie has also worked in the Columbia Public Schools for twenty years having taught English, and Arts Integration and is currently teaching Puppetry, Musical Theater Production, and Dance at Jefferson Middle School. This is Payton's first year teaching, but she comes from fifteen years of dance experience. She started dancing at Diane's School of Dance when she was three years old, dancing in all styles. She also danced for her high school dance team, The Park Hill Crimson Girls, all four years. She received "Dancer of the Year" at Diane's School to round her career there. She can't wait to share her love for dance with all of her students!
Libby is a recent graduate from Oberlin College where she studied anthropology, dance, and environmental studies. While at Oberlin, she studied many styles and techniques like contact improvisation, West African dance, samba, hip-hop, contemporary, and somatic studies. She is currently co-authoring an ethnography with Al Evangelista, an Oberlin dance professor, about his inter-generational creative movement class/ performance “Dance with Somebody” Spring 2025. In addition to departmental work, she also directed Vibe Dance Company, an all inclusive jazz and tap company, and Kinetik, an advanced hip hop crew, both on campus.
Maggie started dancing at the age of six at the Dorothy B. Gladding School of Dance in Newport, Rhode Island. She attended Stephens College to study dance with Harriette Ann Gray, John Marshall, Rebecca Harris, Amanda Kreglow, Fred Matthews, and others. She graduated in 1973 with a B.F.A. in Dance, joining the dance faculty at Stephens immediately afterwards teaching Modern technique, as well as some tap, jazz, and East Indian classes. She taught and performed at Stephens Perry/Mansfield in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She also toured with the Harriette Ann Gray Company from 1972-1976 and taught/choreographed for the Stephens Summer Institute until 2018. She is certified with A.F.A.A. (Aerobic and Fitness Association of America) as of 1996. Maggie joined the Dancearts staff in 1985, teaching Modern technique and choreographing for recitals and competition. She currently teaches three levels of Modern technique as well as Body Toning classes.
Grace graduated from Northwestern Univeristy in June 2024 and is currently a first year medical student at the University of Missouri. She began dancing at Dancearts when she was three years old and joined the competition team at age eleven. She enjoyed dancing competitively throughout middle and high school and is excited to return to Dancearts as part of the teaching team! She looks forward to sharing her love of dance with her students.
Emma began dancing at age eight and earned many scholarships/awards during her five years on the Dancearts competition team. Her most notable dance accomplishments include modeling in a photoshoot for the September 2021 cover of Como Magazine, dancing in a professional music video for the January Lanterns, and winning a choreography award from Edge Dance competition. Currently, Emma is a student at Mizzou studying health sciences to become a pediatric occupational therapist. Joining the Dancearts staff in 2021 has allowed Emma to stay connected with the Dancearts family and fulfill her love of teaching.
Sonya grew up in Minnesota dancing competitively at several studios throughout the Twin Cities, training in jazz, tap, ballet, musical theater, hip hop, and pom/high kick. She was a part of the Minnetonka Performance Dance Team in high school, as well as a member of the Keane Sense of Rhythm Youth Tap Ensemble in the fall of 2024. Sonya trained under the direction of Deane Tasler, competing tap solos for seven years, winning several first place overalls, judges choice and best musicality awards, and super tap champion. With her favorite style being tap, she has attended conventions and tap festivals, having taken classes with Ashley Gonzalez, Elizabeth Burke and other Dorrance Dance artists, Dianne Walker, Tommy Wasiuta, and many others. Sonya is currently attending the University of Missouri double majoring in Elementary Education and Spanish. She is excited to bring her passion and excitement for tap to Dancearts!
Emily grew up dancing in St. Joseph, MO at The Dance Arts Center under Marla Heeler, training in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and musical theater. She was also involved in community and high school theater productions, where she was able to perform in and choreograph for wonderful shows like Big Fish and Anything Goes. She graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in Economics, Statistics, and Political Science and is currently working as a data analyst for political and nonprofit fundraising. She started dancing again after college in St. Louis, taking classes from Resilience Dance Company and St. Louis Dance Theatre, and is now excited to be teaching students at Dancearts while continuing to train.
River began her dance career at Studio 10 in Liberty, Missouri when she was four years old, until her family decided to move to a tiny mountain town in Ouray, Colorado when she was six. Her love for dance was always there but got even bigger when she started dancing for Weehawken Creative Arts. She wanted pointe shoes so badly that she had dreams about them until she turned eleven and could finally get her first pair. She did ballet, pointe, and jazz until she graduated high school. She went on to study dance at the University of Colorado and was on the CU Freeski team. After her sophomore year, she decided to transfer to the University of Missouri to be closer to home and family, and she now studies nutrition and exercise physiology.
Molly is a Columbia native and took ballet for many years as a child. She has a passion and interest in early childhood education and wellness. Molly has a BS from University of Missouri in Human Development and Family Studies with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education and Child Life. She is also certified in Pilates and Pure Barre. Throughout the years she has taught pre-school, worked as a Child Life Specialist, held a fundraising position for Children’s Miracle Network, taught as a Pure Barre Instructor, and held a position as a Family Enrichment Specialist. Currently, Molly operates her own Pilates LLC. Becoming an instructor at Dancearts in 2023 was the perfect opportunity for Molly to blend her early childhood background with her health and wellness focus. Teaching Twinkle Toes and Creative movement is a delight.
Taylor is a senior at the University of Missouri studying early childhood education. She is from Houston, Texas and has been a dancer since she was two years old. She is so excited to be teaching at Dancearts!
Fran
Abby grew up as a student at Dancearts, beginning at age three, and was a member of the Dancearts Competition Team from 2015-2021. Since her first season choreographing for Dancearts in 2022, she has received multiple choreography awards at various regional competitions and has choreographed over twenty pieces for the team. She has also performed with numerous theaters throughout Missouri, including the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Gateway Center for Performing Arts, and TRYPS Institute at Stephens College. Abby recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She currently resides in New York City and choreographs and teaches for Dancearts when she's in Columbia.
Sophie is from Lee’s Summit, Missouri where she danced competitively since the age of 5. Graduating from Lee’s Summit North High School in 2022, Sophie was a four-year member of the Northern Stars Dance Team and served as captain her senior year. In 2022, Sophie earned the title of Missouri Dance Team Association first place senior soloist. She moved on to be a member of the Mizzou Golden Girls Dance Team for two years. Sophie is excited to share her love of dance and be a part of the dance community in Columbia.
Melissa began dancing at age three and joined her first competitive dance team at age six. She grew up performing different styles, including jazz, ballet, tap, poms, modern, and contemporary, but hip hop was always her favorite. Melissa moved to Columbia in 2013 to attend Mizzou, where she got a degree in Event Planning. She works as a talent buyer for Frank Productions, where she books concerts at The Blue Note & Rose Music Hall. Melissa was excited to be back in the studio in 2024, and is looking forward to teaching adult hip hop at Dancearts this year!
Allison is a senior at Mizzou studying child development. She has danced for sixteen years, both competitively and on her high school dance team. She is now in charge of dance for her sorority. She is looking forward to getting to dance with everybody!
Marie graduated Stephens College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She was a member of the Stephens College dance faculty for eight years and toured with the "Mid-America" and "Harriette Ann Gray" Dance Companies. She returned to Columbia in the early 80's to begin teaching at Dancearts. She became part owner in the early 90's and became the main owner in 2000 along with her co-owners Maggie Dethrow and Marisa Robertson. She teaches tap and choreographs award-winning numbers for the competition team. Her incredible tap teaching skills has earned her the title of the "Tap Queen!"
Emily attends the University of Missouri, majoring in nursing. She danced at Dancearts for eleven years and she danced on the competition team for five years. Last December, she danced in the Merry Ol’ Missouri Christmas show at Missouri Theatre and will be in it again this year. She has been teaching dance for three years now and specifically enjoys teaching lyrical, ballet, tap, and jazz. She loves helping young dancers to find their love for dance!
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