Our Teachers

Amy has danced at Central Dance Academy under the direction of Tina Hansen since she was 3 years old. She attended Wayne State College and graduated with a major in Fashion Merchandising and a minor in Music. While in college, Amy continued dancing at a studio in Wayne and was a cheerleader for the college all four years. Amy also coached the LCHS Dance Team for nine years.

She works in the office at Le Mars Community High School during the school year. When she isn’t at the studio or school, she enjoys spending time at Okoboji with family and friends or watching her kids grow up. She is married to Gabe Davis, and they have two wonderful children, Kyndal and Kemper.

Amy is excited to be back at CDA as a teacher and co-owner. She has enjoyed getting to know the wonderful families that make up the CDA family and can’t wait to learn more.

Beth started dancing at the age of two under the direction of Tina Hansen. During her time dancing at Central Dance Academy, she was a member of the CDA Company and participated in numerous conventions, competitions, and scholarship auditions. She has been teaching for 21 years at Central Dance Academy. Beth is also the Director of the CDA Company. Her choreography has won many awards: Best in Show, Best Choreography, Most Entertaining, and many other awards. Beth has also choreographed many winning routines for area dance teams, and her dancers have placed in the top 10 at State Individual Dance Team. She has also worked with local college dance teams and judged competitions.

Beth is a certified Dance Masters of America member and a certified NAIA Judge. Whenever the Company travels to conventions, Beth continues to take classes and learn from some of the best teachers in the country. Beth is a certified Dance Masters of America member and a certified NAIA Judge. Beth’s love of dance continues to grow each year she teaches, and is excited for another fantastic year for CDA!

Beth and her fiancé, Scott, are the proud parents of three beautiful girls, Lilly, Lainy, and Maisyn.

Dance Masters of America

Dory Parkin has been a lifelong resident of LeMars. She grew up doing dance and gymnastics at a local studio from a young age and competed in both for several years. Eventually began teaching both and was the manager of a studio for eight years. Her background covers a wide range of Modern, Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Tumbling, and Artistic Gymnastics. Following that time, Dory taught at CDA and Contemporary Dance Studio in Sioux City. Dory will offer a Modern class, an adult jazz class, and assist with advanced tumbling classes.

Dory began work at Wells Enterprise in Le Mars. She is currently a production Supervisor at the South Plant. After some time away, Dory is excited to return to dance and share the love with more children.

At home, she and her husband Josh love playing with their son, Elliot. And Dory is an avid bicycle rider and does RAGBRAI every year.

Katie has been dancing for 27 years and teaching for the last 13. She took dance classes under the direction of Tina Hansen at Central Dance Academy for 15 years, where she was a member of the Performance Company and taught classes. Katie has choreographed for various high school and college dance teams in the surrounding area and has coached the LCHS dance team and other teams for the past seven years.

Her choreography has received awards such as Best in Show, Best Choreography, Most Entertaining and 1st place at State Dance Team. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2013 with her B.A. in dance and from WITCC in 2018 with her A.A.S. as a Physical Therapist Assistant. Katie is also a certified NAIA Dance Judge and enjoys judging competitions in her free time.

Brittany danced at Central Dance Academy under the direction of both Tina Hansen and Beth Ruden for 12 years. While at CDA, Brittany completed many classes including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop and Tumbling as well as being a Company member for three years. Following high school graduation in 2014, Brittany attended Iowa State University. Here she continued to dance in various clubs while earning both a Bachelor of Animal Science degree and Master of Business Administration degree. 

Brittany returned back to Le Mars for work and is currently employed with The HANOR Company as a Veterinary Assistant. When the opportunity to return to Central Dance Academy as a teacher presented itself, Brittany couldn’t say no. She is eager to be teaching Lyrical ½ and Lyrical ¾ this year!

In August of 2020, Brittany married her husband, Carter Lake. They love to spend time outdoors with their three dogs – Beau, Cash and Freckles.

Cassidy has been taking dance and gymnastics most of her life at local studios and gyms. She started gymnastics at the age of two and dancing at the age of seven. She competed in both for several years, earning many awards for both. Cassidy started teaching dance and gymnastics as an assistant and eventually started teaching her classes. In all four years of high school she was a member of the LCHS Dance Team.

After graduating high school, Cassidy was happy to join the CDA staff and looks forward to continuing teaching at the CDA!

Kristin has been active in music and dance her entire life. She studied dance at Mary Helen’s School of Dance in Webster City, IA starting at age 4. She grew up being very involved in dance and countless musical activities.

She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music education from the University of South Dakota. Previously, Kristin was a Choral Director in Sioux City, IA, and Vermillion, SD, where she directed many choirs, show choirs, and different musicals. During that time, she was an active choreographer for her musical groups and spent her free time judging Show Choir Competitions in the area.

Currently, Kristin is the elementary general music teacher at Clark and Franklin Elementary in Le Mars. She enjoys spending time with her very busy family when she is not at school. She is married to Mark, and they have three great kids, Tyler, Tanner, and Tessa. Kristin is excited about taking her love of music and dance to the next level and is honored to teach musical theater classes at CDA.

Madi has been dancing for the last 18 years and has been teaching the last eight years. She has recently graduated from Buena Vista University, where she majored in Business-Human Resource Management and was also a member of their dance team.

Madi was part of the Central Dance Academy company for eight years and can not wait to be back teaching where her love of dance started. She is married to Zach Campbell and has a handsome baby boy named Kruze. Madi will teach company classes and rehearsals, Ballet III, Jazz III, and Tap III.

Rachael is a recent graduate from LCHS and has been dancing at CDA since she was 3 years old. She was a member of the CDA Company for nine years and participated in various conventions and competitions. She participated in various classes such as ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and tumbling throughout her years. Rachael has won many awards and scholarships.

Rachael was also a part of the LCHS dance team during high school for two years. Rachael will teach Twinkle Stars, Sapphire Ballet Tech, and Ruby Contemporary Rehearsal. She is the proud mother of her sons, Hudson and Milo. Rachael is excited to continue her dance career as a CDA Faculty Member!

Paige started her dance career at Central Dance Academy and has been dancing for the past 16 years and was a member of the CDA Performance Company for 10 years. While competing with CDA, Paige held the title of Miss Teen of Dance Masters of  Mid-America Chapter 47 and has received multiple awards and scholarships. She participated in varsity football cheerleading and dance team all four years of high school and was captain her senior year. At the Iowa State Dance Team Solo  competition, she placed in the top 10 all four years of high school and was crowned the Division 4 winner in 2014.

 She was a University of Nebraska-Lincoln cheerleader before  transferring to USD. Paige is a recent graduate from the University of South Dakota where she majored in Business.