Toree grew up in her mother’s dance studio in Marshalltown, IA. 

There she was given the opportunity to begin her teaching career as well as pursue pre-professional dance training. Through those years, she competed in dance competitions winning local and national titles. This allowed her to travel with conventions and assist choreographers all over the U.S. Toree choreographs for school dance teams and competitive teams in the Midwest. She now resides in Chicago, where she is a dance teacher at Forevermore Dance in Theater Arts. She recently graduated with a BFA in Dance at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. There, she has been able to premiere her own choreography on the Dance Center stage. She also was able to travel internationally with the school to attend “Camping,” a summer intensive in Paris where she was able to take class, perform, and teach.

Brittany O'Shea was born in Cedar Rapids Iowa 32 years ago. She danced at Studio Dance from age 6-14 and had been involved in different dance classes before that. At 14 she became involved with cheer leading and show choir for her high school years. She followed her fiance/now husband to Iowa State to get her bachelors degree in marketing. They moved to Marshalltown over 9 years ago and started their family. 2 girls and 1 boy (and a dog). Brittany's two daughters have been involved at the studio since they were three years old. Brittany has operated an in home daycare for the past 8 years and has spent a large portion of her time volunteering at the school. This is her first year as a dance instructor at The Dance Konnection. Brittany loves reading, crocheting, spending time with family, Iowa Hawkeyes, and watching all the dance and talent shows on TV. She even named her eldest daughter after a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance.   

Miss Sarah Schutt fell in love with dance at the age of 8 when she was enrolled in an afterschool program. She then went on to take studio classes with Miss Kimberlee Kups-Benson at the Dance Konnection. From ages 8 to 20 she danced in the genres of ballet, lyrical, jazz, character, and tap. During that time she also danced competitively, was a student teacher for three years and taught her own classes at the studio for two years. She then went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education at Iowa State University and Master’s Degree from Viterbo University. Miss Sarah has been a general education classroom teacher for 10 years and is starting her 6th year as an instructional coach. She strives to create a student centered class in all genres, focusing on growing her dancers from the inside out. Miss Sarah is excited and proud to be back at the Dance Konnection teaching tap, jazz, and ballet this year.

Miss Katie Sharer is 28 years old .  She has been working at the hospital for the past 10 years where she also Met her fiancé Zac. Katie is originally from Marshalltown, IA and had grown up there her whole life. She attended Marshalltown High school and graduated in 2008 where she was also a member of the MHS dance team. she began student teaching at The Dance Konnection at the age of 15 , she then became an assistant teacher when she graduated from high school. Shortley after that she began instructing her own classes with the dance studio in 2012. She was a member of the DK competition team from 2003-2010 where she has received many Awards. Some of these which are, placing in the top ten of her age group and category , receiving judges choice awards for showmanship and grace.placing 2nd overall 2 years in a row as Miss sophisticated production in 2005 & 2006.also 2nd over all in her age group at Talent on Parade National Finals in 2009. She has also been apart of many award winning groups/ team productions and line performances from the DK comp team In the past years.  Katie has attended Many classes and Dance Camps around the U.S from some of the most popular and talented instructors. including Las Vegas, New York, Kansas City, Chicago , Cedar Rapids and Des Moines and she is grateful for all of those opportunities given to her to make her Dance education bigger and better!! She enjoys learning from the instructors around her as well. also Katie loves and is proud to be apart of the Dance Konnection for so many years and to have the opportunity to share her talents and her love for dance with others. It couldn’t make her more happy to watch others grow as dancers and wonderful people!

Miss Kristin grew up in State Center, IA. She started taking dance when she was 4 years
old from Kim Knox and Miss Kimi who was Miss Kristin’s student teacher at the time. Miss
Kristin graduated from West Marshall High School. While attending high school she was a
football cheerleader all four years and was a basketball cheerleader for 3 years. After high school
she attended MCC for 2 years and transferred to Iowa State University where she received her
BA in dance. While at Iowa State she was a member of Orchesis 1 and performed in many shows
and was Historian for the group. While being a part of Orchesis 1 she attended American College
Dance Association. After graduating college, she moved to the Quad Cities to teach dance. She
taught at two different studios, Academy for the Performing Arts from 2007-2014 and
Expressions of the Quad Cities Dance Academy from 2014-2022. While teaching at both studios
she had helped with the competition teams and had choreographed a few dances. After living in
the Quad Cities for the last 15 years she decided to move back to be closer to family. Miss
Kristin is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern and pointe. In her spare time, she has been
working on her house she just bought, reading, spending time with her Siamese cat, Athena,
hanging out with friends and family. I am proud to be back teaching where my love of dance
began!

 Alyson Swartzbaugh was born and raised in Carthage, Illinois, where she started her dance journey at the age of four. Alyson grew up dancing in studios until she reached high school. From her freshman to junior year, she made the dance team, and was made captain her senior year. She then went on to John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois, where she graduated with an Associates of the Arts Degree. While she was there, she made the dance team all three years, and she also joined a new studio during this time. From such a young age, Alyson has always had a passion for how the body moves, so she decided to take her education to the windy city. Alyson graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Dance and a minor in Business Management. With her degree, she wants to bring in the knowledge she has learned to all her future students’, but most importantly, Alyson hopes to pass along her passion for this wonderful art. In addition to teaching, Alyson works full time as a receptionist at Ames Ford Lincoln in Ames. On her days off, she enjoys spending time with her husband Spencer, and their three cats, Nebula, Castor, and Pollux. The four of them keep her very busy!