Check Our Calendar of Events:
1701 Eyelet Road
Dixon, IL 61021
815-284-6489
centerstagedanceco88@gmail.com
TAP / BALLET / LYRICAL / HIP HOP / JAZZ / CONTEMPORARY / TUMBLING / YOGA PLUS A GREAT WORKOUT FOR SENIORS!
NOT JUST DANCERS...
OUR FUTURE
At Centerstage we believe dance is an art form that provides expression, celebration, exploration and transformation for all ages.
Centerstage has been in business since 1988 and has had thousands of dancers over the years. Each student at Centerstage is a unique individual that we welcome and include in our dance family, helping them to find the creativity inside themselves.
Our goal is to provide quality training through caring, professional instructors in a friendly,
family-oriented atmosphere. We strive to promote strong self-confidence, self-respect, discipline, and appreciation through the art of dance.
We hope to inspire our community with dance performances to motivate, educate, and develop an appreciation of this fine art. It is through our mission that we will create "change" in our world's future through our dancers.
Meet Our Staff
Kayla Bowlin - Owner & Director & Instructor - She grew up in a small town in Illinois and began dancing competitively at the age of 4. Kayla has been trained in many styles of dance including jazz, lyrical, ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, tap, open, and jazz-funk. At age 20, Kayla signed with The Movement Talent Agency and moved to Los Angeles where she pursued a professional dance career while training at The Edge and Millennium Dance Complex. After moving back from Los Angeles, Kayla found her love for teaching back at her home studio Centerstage Dance Company in Dixon, IL. where she has been teaching and choreographing for the competitive program since 2017. Kayla choreographs for other studios in the area, teaches master classes, and travels as a staff member and choreographer with Celebration Talent Competition. She also teaches at Celebration Talent’s conventions. Kayla specializes in contemporary, lyrical, and jazz. Throughout her career as a teacher, she has watched her students receive accolades such as scholarships, the highest levels of adjudications, 1st overalls, grand national champions, and dancer of the year title winners. Her 2019 team was also a final nominee for The Industry Dance Awards. Kayla’s choreography has been recognized on both regional and national levels for its artistic excellence. Her favorite thing about teaching is instilling the passion and fundamentals she has gained over the years into her students. The most rewarding part is watching her students grow and achieve goals they never thought possible!
Cheryl Moeller is goin into her 38 year with Centerstage. She opened in 1988 and has recently stepped down as owner but stayed as an instructor! Cheryl lives in Dixon with her husband Matt and lab Archie. Matt & Cheryl have 2 boys age 25 and 20 who as they get older have found that brothers can be friends too! Cheryl has choreographed for many musicals, auditioned & made the group “Up With People” but was too young to travel with them, has had groups perform at many local events and competitions across the US, and has donated time and money to many local charities. After high school, Cheryl graduated Sauk Valley Community College as a licensed practical nurse. She uses some of her nursing skills to help dancers and her adult workout students with ways to best help, protect and recover their bodies. Cheryl considers her students as “her kids” and celebrates their successes right along with them whether it’s on stage, at school or in the classroom! Centerstage is on their 3rd generation of education young dancers and it is so much fun to be a part of families who have come back to CS as adults.
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Molly Dvorak was born and raised in Dixon, IL, and grew up at her hometown dance studio, Centerstage Dance Company. Molly started dancing at the age of 2 and has been teaching dance for 15 years. She was trained in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical and jazz funk. Molly continued her training as a professional dancer when she moved to LA and then New York City for school, taking classes by world renowned choreographers. Molly has also worked for Celebration Talent Competition as a staff member and as an assistant . As a teacher, she specializes in jazz, lyrical and contemporary. Molly enjoys sharing her love and passion for dance with her students. She is proud of each of her dancers as they reach their goals and accomplishments in life.
Courtney Richardson fell in love with dance at the age of two. She started dancing competitively at the age of six, found her way to Centerstage in the mid-90’s and has been here ever since! As a young dancer Courtney won several awards at her local studios and also convention scholarships while taking classes at many weekend to week long conventions throughout the Midwest, California, Las Vegas and Florida. She started teaching for Cheryl in 1997 and throughout her young adult years also took on teaching jobs at S&R Dance in Freeport for about five years and even had her own dance studio in Oregon named Elite Dance Force for seven years. As an experienced competitive teacher she has won many awards for choreography, entertainment, judges choice and high points. Courtney’s favorite style of dance is tap but she also specializes in jazz and ballet. Courtney also works a full time job as a Senior Manager of Supply Chain Finance for a multi-national food manufacturing company. She leads a global team of many costing and operations reporting analysts and attributes much of her leadership success to her almost three decades of experience teaching dance. Courtney resides in Dixon with her husband and daughter who also share her passion for dance. You can find Matthew behind the scenes at all Centerstage events working as a prop dad and vlogger. Her daughter Jordan started dancing at Centerstage just weeks shy of her second birthday, has been in the competitive program since she was four and is now an assistant teacher.
Ellia Escobar began her dance journey at Centerstage when she was 2 years old. She started dancing competitively at the age of 5 and has been in love with it ever since. Ellia is still dancing competitively this year while also teaching and assisting. Throughout her dance career, Ellia has been awarded many judges awards, scholarships, and been placed in the high point overalls for her solos and group dances. Ellia has been trained in jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop, lyrical, and contemporary. Ellia’s favorite thing about teaching is helping her students achieve their goals and watching them love dance just as much as she does. She is so excited to be apart of the teaching staff this year and can’t wait to see her students shine. Outside of dance, Ellia is enrolled full time in Sauk Valley Community College and also works part time at Culvers in Dixon Illinois. She has currently been added to staff at My Play Village in Dixon. Ellia is excited to continue helping youngsters!
Nevaeh Mighell grew up in her hometown of Dixon il and graduated from Dixon High School in the year of 2023. She started dancing at centerstage at the age of 4 and she has been dancing with centerstage for 15 years. Nevaeh danced recreational for many years before joining centerstage’s competition team in 2015. Nevaeh has been assisting with centerstage since the age of 15 and started teaching on her own at the age of 18. She has earned many different judges awards and has placed in overalls at competitions. Nevaeh has also received many great scholarships through centerstage throughout her years of dancing. She is currently still dancing on our competitive team to finish out her love for dance for one last year. Outside of Centerstage, Nevaeh is currently attending Sauk Valley community college to become a Radiology Technician and currently works part time as a Pharmacy Technician at Walgreens in Dixon. Nevaeh has a lot of passion and love for dance and can’t wait to share all of it with her students throughout her years of teaching.
Brandan Lumzy is a ERYT-200 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) RYT-500 (Registered Yoga Teacher) certified through the Yoga Alliance. Brandan has been teaching yoga for over three years and has been loving every minute of his yoga journey. Brandan teaches various forms of yoga from Restorative, Yin, Hatha, Vinyasa, and Chair yoga classes which is geared towards senior citizens or people who have problems getting up from the floor or for individuals who have limited mobility and balance. When he’s not instructing classes he’s constantly honing his skills by taking continuing Ed classes. When Brandan has free time he enjoys all things sports, spending time with his family, walking his Shiba Inu Luna, and also spending time in nature.
Violet Wingert found Centerstage in 1989 and has been part of our CS family since. She is a mother of 5 girls and a grandmother of 10 awesome grandkids. Violet is very proud of all our dancers at Centerstage and calls each one of them her kids. Violet has been in our Centerstage office for a very long time, with warm greetings and happy smiles, she is there to help try on shoes or give a tour for a new dancer. She has also taken some classes herself, tap is her favorite, although she did some basic ballet in the past, some jazz, clogging and tried hip hop. Currently she is involved in Adult tap, Workout class and she takes Yoga, all at Centerstage! She will fill in as instructor sometimes for workout and tap. Although she talks about getting older and maybe leaving Centerstage to the younger crowd, she won't.... as her friend, Cheryl told her.... if Dolly & Cher can still rock it, so can we!