Wednesday, June 5, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
25
ood
Sisters Dance Academy marks 10 years on the hardwood
This year marks Sisters
Dance Academy9s 10th anni-
versary and Lonnie Liddell,
owner and artistic director,
couldn9t be more excited and
humbled by how the studio
has grown over the years.
Liddell began teaching
dance over 12 years ago after
moving her family to Sisters.
When Liddell and her family
first moved to Sisters in 2006
there was a small studio in
town called <Dancerfly= run
by Sundi McClain. Liddell9s
oldest daughter, Makenna,
was 5 years old at the time
and Lonnie really wanted
to get her involved in dance
classes.
Upon finding Dancerfly,
Liddell said, <I was so excited
to find a dance studio in our
little town. Makenna started
taking classes right away and
I starting taking adult classes,
too. Sundi was such a vibrant,
positive person, someone I
was so happy to have met
and to start dancing with! She
could tell that I had dance
training and immediately
approached me about teach-
ing classes. This is where
my dance journey in Sisters
began.=
Lonnie had studied dance
her whole life, focusing
mainly on ballet and later-
on studying tap, jazz, and
hip hop. After heading off to
Brigham Young University in
1997, she continued her dance
education as well as starting a
degree in recreational therapy,
hoping to incorporate using
her love for dance in work-
ing with children who have
special needs. Lonnie and her
husband, Peter, started a fam-
ily while in their early 20s
and Lonnie decided being a
full-time mom while her chil-
dren were young was very
important to her. Their fam-
ily moved from Spokane,
Washington, to Pleasant
Grove, Utah, and then with
a desire to put roots down in
the Northwest, relocated to
Sisters.
Only about nine months
after starting classes and
teaching at Dancerfly, owner
Sundi McClain moved and
closed her studio. Lonnie,
with three young children in
tow, didn9t feel like it was the
right time for her to run a stu-
dio, so began teaching classes
out of her home for her chil-
dren9s friends. She would
move the furniture aside,
and with hardwood floors
in the living room it worked
for a short time as a make-
shift ballet studio. Eventually
the interest grew and with
her family a little older, she
decided it might be time to
expand to renting a space. At
the time, Cascade Fitness had
a perfect studio space with
wood floors, ballet barres and
mirrors. The Sisters Dance
Academy was born 4 and
officially opened it9s doors in
January of 2009.
The studio started with just
25 students but continued to
grow and offer more classes
and more styles, eventually
outgrowing that space. In
2012, on the cusp of having
her fourth baby, Lonnie took
the big leap of faith to sign a
lease on a larger space in the
Ray9s Shopping Center, that
PHOTO BY KIMBERLY MANLEY / EMILY GREEN
Sisters dancers will showcase on June 22 at Sisters High School.
afforded the ability to have
two studio spaces within the
unit. After settling in and
the student base continuing
to grow, the dance academy
took a new step in 2014 with
organizing its Performance
Ensemble. This is an audition-
based dance team, with the
emphasis on performing in
the community and compet-
ing once a year. It started off
with just a handful of danc-
ers, and now the Performance
Ensemble comprises two
teams 4 a Junior Team com-
prised of seventh- and eighth-
graders and a Senior Team,
comprised of high school
students 4 a total of 25 very
talented dancers. The Junior
and Senior Performance
Ensemble, under the direc-
tion of Kayla Williams and
Lonnie Liddell, recently com-
peted at the Turn it Up dance
competition on the University
of Oregon campus, and came
home with high scoring
trophies.
The Sisters Dance
Academy was also presented
the Showmanship Award 4
an award that honors one stu-
dio for being positive and sup-
portive of other dancers, help-
ful and easy to work with and
really gave it their all during
the competition. This award
is truly an honor to receive as
there were over 20 other stu-
dios and teams competing.
The Sisters Dance
Academy, now with approxi-
mately 220 students, offers
classes for 18-month-olds
through adults, in styles
including ballet, tap, jazz, hip
hop, contemporary, Irish and
high fitness. The academy
strives to provide a friendly,
positive environment and is
continuously striving to adapt
to the needs of this grow-
ing, amazing town of Sisters.
The Sisters Dance Academy
will be celebrating it9s 10th
anniversary at their upcom-
ing year-end performance at
the Sisters High School on
June 22, with a matinee per-
formance at 1 p.m. and an
evening performance at 6:30
p.m. The show is entitled,
<Let9s Celebrate 3 A Decade
of Dance in Sisters!= This
PHOTO BY KIMBERLY MANLEY / EMILY GREEN
Lonnie Liddell started teaching from her home —and now has a thriving
dance studio in Sisters.
performance will be high- Dance Academy hopes the
lighting some of the favorite whole town will join in the
numbers from the past 10 fun, entertainment and cel-
years, so will truly be a walk ebrate together! Tickets are
down memory lane. It will $12 for teens and adults,
also be showcasing some new $7 for children age 12 and
and exciting numbers that are younger. Tickets are reserved
sure to bring joy to your heart seating and can be purchased
and make you want to dance online at www.danceinsisters.
in your seat! The Sisters com or at the door.
CarGo
Bike Rodeo!
Join us for a FREE,
family-friendly,
1/2-day event that
invites the community
to show off their own cargo bike, try
a cargo bike for the fi rst time, enjoy music, food,
beverages and more!
The event is for avid cyclists,
cargo-bike adventurers, and
anyone who is cycle-curious. You
don’t need a bike to attend,
just come enjoy the day!
AT BEND ELECTRIC BIKES
233 N. HILL ST., BEND
www.bendelectricbikes.com
541-410-7408