Rise Up School of Dance

✨ Meet Heidi! ✨

Heidi is RUSD’s Executive Director! 🧑‍🩰

Bringing 15+ years of leadership experience in education, nonprofit management, and community programs, Heidi is a former early childhood educator and program director. She studied ballet as an adult, giving her a unique perspective on both the joys and challenges of dance. Heidi is passionate about creating opportunities for dancers to grow in artistry, character, and confidence. She believes deeply in the transformative power of the arts to inspire, unite, and empower communities, and loves seeing students discover their unique gifts and flourish both on and off the stage. Her leadership helps foster the warm, supportive culture that makes Rise Up School of Dance a place where every dancer feels valued and encouraged to reach their potential.

Fun fact: Heidi is a serial crafter, always doing all sorts of fun crafts, including crochet, cross stitch, beading, weaving, painting, and making jewelry!

✨ Meet Miss Erika! ✨

Miss Erika is one of RUSD’s incredible instructors! 🧑‍🩰

Erika has been a teacher at Rise Up School of Dance for the last 3 years and was an adult student at the studio for 2 years before that. She grew up in Tucson, AZ and outside Boulder, CO and has been dancing since she was 4 years old. Erika has training in jazz, tap, ballet, acrobatics, and lyrical/contemporary. This year, she will be teaching tap and our Clara’s Storybook Nutcracker Battle Scene rehearsals at RUSD. Erika is a regulatory coordinator at a foot and ankle biomechanics research lab at the U during the day and still enjoys taking classes at RUSD and in the community when she isn’t teaching. Most weekends you can find Erika either on the couch with her pets or at her sewing machine.

Fun fact: Erika loves nail polish and paints her nails at least 30 times a year!

✨ Meet Miss Amy! ✨

Miss Amy is RUSD’s Community & Events Director and one of our incredible instructors! 🧑‍🩰

Amy began her training at Ballet West Academy and Salt Lake Ballet Conservatory before continuing her education through summer intensives with Houston Ballet, Odyssey Dance Theatre, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Amy furthered her professional training as a two-year trainee with Alonzo King LINES Ballet under the direction of Karah Abiog and Alonzo King. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers including Sidra Bell, Nathan Trice, Kevin Iega Jeff, Maurya Kerr, and many others. She teaches ballet, contemporary, improvisation, and composition, and has shared her knowledge and passion with students at Millennium Dance Complex, eMotion Dance, Rowland Hall, Kids’ Community Ballet, and Rise Up School of Dance since 2017. In addition to teaching, Amy has created original choreography for local productions and dance performances. Above all, Amy believes dance is about more than technique—it’s a place where students can discover confidence, express themselves authentically, and experience the joy of movement in a supportive and encouraging environment.

Fun fact: Amy grew up figure skating competitively and was a flower sweeper at the 2002 Olympics!

✨ Meet Miss Allie! ✨

Miss Allie is one of RUSD’s incredible instructors! 🧑‍🩰

Allie received a Bachelor of Science in Dance Education at Southern Utah University. She is a professional dancer, and a dance educator. Allie fosters creativity in the world’s youth by incorporating writing, drawing, and other tools in her teaching. Allie has worked under the direction of Southern Utah University’s Theatre, Dance and Arts Administration, which has provided her with opportunities to grow. She started dancing at age four at Christina’s Corner Dance Studio in Lindon, Utah. She continued her studies at Lake Houston Performing Arts Center. These experiences led to her graduation from Southern Utah University. Allie loves sharing her passion for dance and choreography with students of every age, helping them develop into confident, joyful dancers.

Fun fact: Allie once did a 30-minute solo piece where she ate jelly beans and made the audience throw paper balls at her!

✨ Meet Miss Abby! ✨

Miss Abby is one of RUSD’s incredible instructors! 🧑‍🩰

Abby trained at the Ballet Academy of Texas in the American Ballet Theatre curriculum and performed with the Ballet Ensemble of Texas in soloist roles. She earned a BFA in Ballet, with coursework in pedagogy and coaching, and a BS in Psychology from the University of Utah. Her experience includes performing in both classical ballets and original contemporary works by nationally recognized artists. She also enjoys choreography and created Already, Not Yet, an original contemporary ballet piece. Abby began teaching in 2022 and joined Rise Up School of Dance in the summer of 2023. She loves the studio’s positive, supportive culture and focuses on teaching holistically—helping students grow as dancers and individuals. Using her knowledge of anatomy, she tailors corrections to each student’s needs, inspiring artistry, creativity, and confidence in every class.

Fun fact: Abby broke 9 bones growing up, but still managed to keep dancing! Luckily she hasn’t broken a bone since she was 12!

Welcome back!! We hope you and your families had a fantastic summer break! We are so excited to get back to dance today! We’ll see you in class this week!🧑‍🩰✨

🎀📣CALLING ALL PARTY PARENTS📣🎀

Love to perform? Join our cast for Clara’s Storybook Nutcracker! Come with or without a partner and be assigned a “family” that attends Clara’s holiday party. The role consists of primarily acting and small sections of beginner-friendly partner dancing for the 20-minute opening scene of the show. 🎁

No audition or prior dance experience is required. We’ll teach you everything you need to know! All rehearsals take place at Rise Up School of Dance from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Fridays from late August to December. There is no cost to participate, and all costumes and shoes will be provided. If interested or to see the full rehearsal schedule, please email [email protected]. ❤️

🩰❄ Clara's Storybook Nutcracker Auditions ❄🩰

All students currently enrolled in Levels 2A-Adult (any dance style) who are interested in additional performance opportunities are highly encouraged to audition for character roles in Clara’s Storybook Nutcracker! 🧑‍🩰

Auditions will take place on August 8th from 6-8pm following Back To Dance Day. A panel of guest judges will assist in casting the following roles: Snow Queen, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Thumbelina, Clara, Mother Goose, Rat Queen, Soldiers, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, Little Bo Peep, and more! We hope to see you at auditions on Saturday! ✨

✨Ready to start dancing?✨

Enroll in an introductory class at Rise Up School of Dance! There is still space in many classes across all levels and styles. Classes start August 10! Enroll at the link in our bio! 🩰

Not sure which class is right for your dancer? Reach out and we’d be happy to help! 🧑‍🩰

Experience a dance community where you and your family will be seen, known, loved, and valued. We’d love for you to join us! 💖

RUSD staff (we missed you, Miss Allie and Miss Abby!) met today for our annual staff retreat! We spent the day preparing for the 2026-2027 year and starting preparations for Clara’s Storybook Nutcracker in the winter. We’re so excited to see everyone at Back to Dance Day on August 8 and for the start of classes during the week of August 10! Enrollment is still open if you haven’t enrolled in classes yet. We’d love to have you! ✨🩰