Studio Director

Lori Rupp is a highly experienced studio director with a diverse background in dance education. She holds a Master’s in Education and has had an impressive career in the dance & Cheer industry:

Utah Sports Hall of Fame Member

Utah High School Dance Drill Team State & National Champion Coach

Director of the University of Utah Crimson Line Dance Team and Cheer Squad

Director of the Nightline Professional Dance Company

Choreographer and Director for a variety of high-profile productions, including bowl game halftime shows, Pro Bowl, Olympics, & worked with various performing artists

Dance Studio Owner

National Judge at competitions in Utah, California, Texas, Florida, Iowa, and more

Co-Owner of RC Competes

Lori's approach to mentorship emphasizes the importance of foundational skills and technique. She is dedicated to supporting students in discovering and achieving their goals. With her wealth of experience and commitment to nurturing young talent, Lori Rupp is a valuable mentor in the dance community.

Company Team Lead

Milan’s dance journey began in Portland, Oregon, where she fell in love with various dance styles, from Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, and Contemporary to Hip-Hop and Freestyle. She has worked with multiple dance conventions as a professional assistant, traveling across the United States for nine years, and engaging with countless kids and studios. Her passion for dance led her to professional opportunities where she has worked with renowned choreographers and dancers. As well as performances in live and televised events for Nike and Adidas, that highlight her versatility and commitment to the craft.

Beyond assisting and performing, Milan has taught and choreographed professionally since 2015, sharing their expertise in cities like Portland, Orange County, Spokane, Dallas, Nashville, and Coeur d'Alene. She has a knack for creative storytelling through dance, choreographing pieces in various styles for both competitive and recreational settings.

Her extensive training includes years at Dance Vision Dance Studio, Chu This Dance, Modas Dance, The Edge Performing Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Movement Lifestyle, Offstage Dance Studio, and Millennium Dance Complex, specializing in various dance styles. Recognized as a Senior Radix Core Performer, Maximum Velocity Artist, member of the Celebrity Crew, and a 541 Homie, Milan is passionate about nurturing dancers, fostering a love for dance and technique, and guiding them to discover the valuable lessons dance offers. She is excited to continue sharing her passion and expertise with the 509 Collective!

Jazz/Contemporary Co-Lead

Hello, my name is Jefferson. I’ve been dancing since I was 3 and gymnastic since I was 8. Dance is not just movement to me; it's a language that speaks from my soul. With every step, I express emotions, tell stories, and connect with others on a profound level. The rhythm becomes my heartbeat, guiding me through a world where creativity knows no bounds. Each dance is a journey, a fusion of technique and emotion, a canvas where I paint my dreams in motion. I’ve done all different type of styles of dance but my passion is contemporary. I’m currently enrolled at GU for my masters in Clinical mental health. Go bulldogs! I have a golden doodle puppy who is the love of my life named Benson.

Cheer Coach

My name is Heather Bass. I am super excited to join the 509 family as your cheer coach. I have been coaching cheer for the last 12 yrs. I have coached at the high-school varsity and middle school levels. Along with a unified team that included kids with and without disabilities. I also cheered at my high-school, Riverside. I am married and have a daughter, Natalie who was a competitive dancer as a child. I have 2 grandsons Atlas (5) and Beckett (3) they live in Pennsylvania with Natalie and her husband.

Studio Assistant Director

Hi! I'm Makena Day! I grew up dancing in Spokane and can't wait to be back in the Spokane dance community! I've been dancing since I was 3 and can't imagine my life without it. My main styles of dance are Ballet and Modern, and I've also done Contemporary, Jazz, and Flamenco! In high school I was choreographer on the Lewis and Clark Tiger Drill Team, where we competed in Military and Kick. I've been living in New York City for the last two years and graduated with an Interior Design degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. While in NY I danced at Steps on Broadway, went to tons of Broadway shows, and nannied! I just moved back home to Spokane, and am excited to be starting at Eastern Washington University to earn my bachelor's in Early Childhood Education!

Tumbling Coach

Jenna Hickson is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and coach with a rich background in competitive dance and cheerleading. With 22 years of experience in dance and 12 years spent competing at the national level, Jenna has honed her craft across various dance styles. She began her career as a dance instructor at the age of 16, sharing her passion and expertise with students of all ages.

Jenna’s competitive cheerleading journey includes a standout tenure at North Idaho College, where she helped lead her team to a second-place finish at the USA Nationals Collegiate Cheerleading Competition. Currently, Jenna is going into her second year as the head competitive cheerleading coach at Lewis and Clark High School, where she successfully piloted the competitive cheerleading program. Jenna is both tumbling and stunt certified, and continues her education regularly.

Choreography is where Jenna truly shines, and she thrives in creating dynamic, creative routines in both dance and cheerleading. She loves creating innovative, high-energy routines that blend technique, creativity, and storytelling.

Ballet Faculty

Olga Loktev is a dancer, choreographer, and a certified dance instructor. She began her dance training at the age of 3, starting with classical ballet and building on with acrobatic arts, contemporary and modern dance techniques. Understanding that dancers should be versatile and adaptable, she broadened her skills by adding different styles of movement (character, hip hop, flamenco, jazz) into her training, including kinesthesiology, history, and pedagogy of dance. She participated in various performances, art festivals, talent shows, and dance competitions, receiving the highest achievements. Olga continued her studies with renowned national and international dance institutions and companies including Bolshoi Ballet, Complexions Ballet, The Juilliard School, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, José Limón (growing into Limóns second company), not counting a handful amount of summer intensives, workshops, and master classes with influential people of the dance industry, to name a few Alonzo King, Mark Morris, Valentina Kozlova, Sascha Radetsky, Tracie Stanfield, Eric Campros, Desmond Richardson, Laura Careless, Corvino sisters and others. Being an advocate for dance as a therapy, she puts a big emphasis on observations of human development, relationships, and conflict resolutions, incorporating it into her choreographic creations and classroom setting. Her teaching approach is to help each dancer build confidence and reach their best potential while keeping the strong technique basis. When creating, she aims for her choreography to have a deep meaning and help people understand and improve their emotional intelligence. Olga is currently a freelance choreographer, dancer at Vytal Movement, a Spokane local contemporary company, employed dance instructor, and is working towards her double major in psychology and communications. 

Camp/Class Faculty

Audrey's dance journey began in Bend, Oregon, where she fell in love with a variety of dance styles, from jazz to contemporary. She continued her dance education at Gonzaga University earning her BA in Dance Pedagoy, and continuing to perform in Spokane through shows like "Rising Tide" in Spokane.

Beyond her degree, Audrey has specialized education in the Brain Dance and Dance for Parkinson's.She enjoys choreographing pieces in jazz, modern, and contemporary styles, focusing on creative storytelling for both competitive and recreational dances. She's been sharing her passion for dance for over eight years across Washington, Idaho, and Oregon for dancers aged 3 through 80.

Audrey is deeply passionate about nurturing dancers, fostering their love for dance and technique, and guiding them to explore the valuable lessons that dance has to offer. Now, she's excited to join Spokane's dance community, bringing her love for dance and teaching to the studio floor.

Faculty Mentor/Adjunct Faculty

Cynthia Grant formally trained, she earned a Bachelor's in Fine Arts degree in dance at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. Cynthia started professionally dancing while touring with Fusion Dance Company, and then getting her break from Stiletto Entertainment, aboard Holland America Line cruises. While aboard the MS Ryndam, Cynthia had the pleasure of being a guest showgirl for the World Poker Tour's main event, aired on The Travel Channel. In 2005 she relocated to Las Vegas, where she performed nightly in The Masquerade Show in the Sky at the Rio All Suite Hotel. She then performed with The Magic of Rick Thomas and then dancing and performing for Nathan Burton Comedy Magic at the Flamingo hotel as well as Legends in Concert at the Harrah’s Hotel. Cynthia also toured with Kenneth Blake’s Showstoppers: Can’t Stop the Beat show. Cynthia’s television credits include a guest showgirl for Nathan Burton's magic trick "7 days, 7 Showgirls, 1 Box", filmed at the Aladdin Hotel for E! Television, as well as on the Canadian Television show “Ultimate Dream Day”, Masters of Illusion, Ellen DeGeneres Even Bigger, Really Big Show, Extra with David Hasselhoff, Vegas.com Commercials, Americas Got Talent and she was also profiled for "Latin Eyes", a San Francisco based show. In the midst of all her work, Cynthia has always found time to teach her love of dance to children of all ages.

She has proudly taught for the last 25 years, 9 of those as Artistic Director, and in sharing her passion and love with students of all ages. She looks forward to the opportunity of mentoring young and talented teachers in the greater Spokane dance community.

Adjunct Faculty

My friends call me Ari, I grew up in Waitts Lake and Cheney Wa, As I started dancing for studios at a much older age of 9 l fell in love and knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life!

I have been traveling across the united states every weekend for 8 years and I currently work and train with celebrity dance as a Lead dancer and staff member, I am a featured assistant with Art of Movement and have been a pro-assistant with Revel, Activate your Artistry and this next dance season I will be assisting with Veloctiy as a MVA+ assistant, and I will also be working/training with princess cruise lines this fall.

I have been choreographing professionally at competition level since the age of 15 choreographing winning solos and duos for myself and others.

My favorite type of dance is Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary but I really love every style!

My training has been extensive in ballet, contemporary, musical theater, lyrical, jazz, tap, hip hop, and modern.

I have toured as a main backstage dancer with young hip artists -Kash and King, and have worked closely with amazing choreographers such as Marinda Davis, Fred Odgaard, Katelyn Gaffney, Kassidy Bright, Jose Soto, Sophia Lucia, Kirsten Cooper and many many more!

I have been recognized as a MVA top 10 national velocity winner, showstoppers magazine dancer across America for Washington state, radix core performer winner, Nuvo breakout artist winner, 24/7 Non Stop dancer winner, monsters agency award and most likely to go further in industry awards, Hollywood Vibe national finalist, YAGP top 12-Contemporary and many more scholarship wins for many different competitions and conventions!

I also have worked as an model, influencer, ambassador and actor for many different companies like Rac n Roll, Zulily, Addidas, Coldest Water Bottle, Faviana Fasion Designer, Rebel Athletic Cheer, Pas De Duex Photo, Rock your Hair, Selfie World LA, Girls Life Magazine, CosiG StudioWear, Sally Miller Fashion wear and many more!

I am excited to share my passion and love for the arts with the dancers at 509 Collective!

Tap Faculty

Ursula Hood fell in love with tap dance when she realized it was a way to make her voice heard as a shy kid. For 16 years since then, her passion grew as she danced for fun and sport through different genres, eventually branching out into teaching.

Most recently, she created and led the by-students, for-students tap group as part of the Dance Club at Gonzaga University for two years.

Outside of dance, Ursula earned her Bachelor's Degree in Broadcasting and Economics and has been writing television news in Spokane for over two years.

Ursula now performs and teaches tap and line dancing in the Inland Northwest.

She truly believes that anyone can and should dance!

Traveling Faculty/Competition Consultant

Jenni started dancing at the age of 3 and teaching at the age of 14. In high school, Jenni joined her high school drill team and became a leader and choreographer her first year. Following high school she joined the Crimson Line Dance Team at the University of Utah, where she was both Vice President and President of the program. Her experiences, opportunities and talents grew as she performed on the biggest stages of the world for Barack Obama, Carnegie Hall, the All State Sugar Bowl, March Madness, Disney etc. Since college Jenni has coached, choreographed and judged for a variety of high school drill teams and studios, as well as college programs. Finally, she performed professionally for Nightline Dance Company for many years. Jenni’s focus is now on her family and she greatly enjoys teaching and seeing her students succeed.

Jazz/Tap Faculty

Kayliana, aka K.O. within the dance community, started dancing at the age of 7 at a studio in San Diego, CA focusing on hip hop and after a couple years joined the competitive side of the studio. She started to get introduced to other styles of dance throughout middle school and high school such as ballet, jazz, modern and contemporary. With hip hop being her main focus and passion she started choreographing and teaching her peers in high school as a hip hop club leader and intermediate dance class assistant. Her high school dance teacher gave her her first paid teaching opportunity by having her come back after she graduated in 2013 to help teach and assist as a seasonal hip hop instructor.

Not long after that she started to take classes at a local community college in order to pursue her official Dance Instructing Certification. In which she trained in a variety of dance styles ranging from ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, tap, hip hop, middle eastern and ballroom. She also was on their Dance Touring Ensemble for multiple semesters where she trained more in contemporary and musical theater dance styles.

During that same time she started training in more street styles of hip hop hoping to feel more comfortable as a freestyle dancer. By attending local dance sessions and dance battles as well as taking class here and there to learn more of the history and culture. The styles she has focused the most on over the years have been waving, animation, popping as well as vogue and waacking.

Aside from guest teaching at her old high school she was also hired to teach in more than one YMCA dance department and a few other local dance studios as a regular instructor as well as teaching private lessons up until 2020. She then moved to the Spokane area with her husband and surprisingly met her new dance family only within a couple months. She has been a part of the local street dance scene ever since, but has taken a break from teaching. In more recent years she has also started to pursue professional character entertaining at music festivals through Insomniac and can't wait to explore more of that world. She's looking forward to joining the 509 collective team, so that she be that much more involved with this growing community!

Lead Latin Ballroom Faculty

Mindi Sheer teaches, performs and creates community dance projects in the Inland Northwest.  She is a somatically-based dance educator and artist who teaches Latin ballroom, salsa, club dances, social ballroom, all forms of partner dance, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Movement Analysis methods (Laban) and leads movement choirs.  She uses Latin technique, metaphor and somatic concepts extensively in her work with students. She enjoys the expressivity, passion, theatricality and sensuality of Latin music and dance. She is a 3-time National USA DanceSport Champion in International Latin Ballroom and started teaching in 2012. She has  trained extensively in Latin ballroom, smooth (ballroom), swing, salsa, Afro-Cuban, Flamenco, contemporary, jazz,  and Brazilian dances ,  Currently, she teaches dances that help illuminate the history of Latin dance and music in the US, directing the  pop-up show ‘Havana to New York’. Her former works include site-specific performances in Atlanta and Spokane for an international dance project. She holds an M.S. in Geography and a B.S in Biology and had a successful career as an ecologist. Mindi is a CLMA (Certified Laban Movement Analyst) and RSME/T (Registered Somatic Movement Educator / Therapist). 

Hip Hop Faculty

Hi! My name is Nwannediya, but my friends call me Winnie for short. I started my dance journey self-taught at the age of 8 years old. Teaching myself dance techniques from all styles, up until 12 years old when I joined my first dance studio. I joined the teen/senior hip-hop group, which kick-started my experience in conventions and competitions. Years later, I joined the dance team at Rogers High School, where I became co-captain my sophomore year and captain my junior through senior year. I also danced competitively while simultaneously on the high school dance team, which furthered my training abundantly from teaching different age groups.. I have choreographed award-winning solos for myself and other hip-hop creatives. I've received scholarships from multiple conventions such as Monsters of Hip Hop, Radix, Hollywood Dance Jamz, etc. My senior year, I auditioned to be a DJ Pro-Assistant with Hollywood Dance Jamz and joined the crew in 2024. Assisting choreographers such as Cat Rendic, Jordan Dodderer, etc. I currently study at Whitworth University with a major in Psychology and a minor in Pre-nursing, and I am also a certified caregiving assistant. I am so excited to be a part of 509 Collective and create with you all!