Instructors | Robert Thomas Dancenter, Dance Center, Ballet, Gymnastics, Ames, Story City, Iowa

Our Instructors

	Lisa Luiken-Woxell Lisa began dancing at the age of three under the instruction of Connie Jo Wilson. She continued her training with Janet Morse, Robert Thomas, the Des Moines Ballet School, and Central Iowa Dance. Lisa has been teaching since 1987 and is a Dance Master Certified Instructor. She has taught at Connie Jo Wilson's School of Dance, The Dancer's Workshop, the Newton YMCA, Carol Tetmeyer Dance Studio, and Stacey's School of Dance. She has performed with the Iowa Dance Theatre, the Nutcracker Ballet (CY Stephens), the Neuman Project, the Barnstormers Flightline, and with Dance Olympus on tour. Allie Arends Allie Arends of St. Charles, Illinois, has studied Irish Dancing since the age of 4. At the peek of Allie,s career, she competed at the regional, national and world level, and won several titles throughout her 11 years as a competitive Irish Dancer. Allie received her training under Ann Lavin-Cassidy, a former British National Champion, and Emma Lavin, a 4-time World Champion. Ann and Emma run the Lavin-Cassidy School of Irish Dance in Palos Heights, IL. After competing successfully for 11 years, Allie began teaching at The St. Charles School Of Dance at the age of 15 until she left for Iowa State in the fall of 2005. Along with teaching Allie traveled and performed with several Irish bands, including New York based Lenahan. Today Allie is a Journalism Major at Iowa State University, and is an Irish Dance instructor at the Robert Thomas Dancenter in Ames, IA.			Maureen McGrath Maureen McGrath, a native of Des Moines, graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Dance and Apparel Design. Before joining the Dancenter, she taught jazz, tap, ballet and tumbling in Des Moines for over ten years. She began teaching for the Robert Thomas Dancenter in 2000 and has been in charge of the Dancenter Dancers competition team since 2001. Since assuming the competition program, Maureen has taken the Dancenter Dancers from a team of less than 20 dancers to over 60 dancers from Ames, Iowa Falls, and Fort Dodge. Under her direction, the team has won numerous first place, high point, top soloist, and top team awards at competitions in Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Kansas City, and Omaha. This year, the team will compete in over 70 solos, duets, group, and production dances in jazz, tap, lyrical and musical theater categories. In addition to creating the choreography, Maureen designs the competition costumes and has won numerous awards for both choreography and costuming on both the regional and national levels. Two of her solo dancers have won first place honors in the large school division of the Iowa State Drill Team Association Solo Contest, competing her choreographies against over 75 dancers from all over Iowa. Maureen also teaches all levels of jazz, tap and combination classes in the Ames, Iowa Falls, and Fort Dodge studios. She has choreographed the Russian and Arabian parts in the Iowa State Center Nutcracker for the past four years. Maureen continues her personal dance education every summer, training in New York City with Master Teachers including Suzi Taylor, Joe Lanteri, Doug Caldwell, Joe Tremaine, Mike Minery, Jason Parsons, Frank Hatchett, and Michele Asaf. She is a certified instructor and by Dance Educators of America.

	Ellen Mullen Ellen (Crawford) Mullen started teaching Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, and combo classes at the Robert Thomas Dancenter 25 years ago! She has taught all ages at all levels. An Ames native, Ellen started dancing as a child under the instruction of Ann Dirksen; her training continued and passion for dance grew under the instruction of Terry Thomas and, especially, Robert and Miyoko Kato Thomas at the Dancenter. She was later a Ballet major at the University of Utah, studying also in New York City, at Ballet West, and the Joffrey Workshop at the U. of Iowa. Ellen was in the first cast of the Iowa State Center/ Dancenter's Nutcracker Ballet and continues to relish the opportunity to share the joy of dance with her students. It must be genetic, because her daughters now study at the Dancenter and help her teach! Ellen also teaches for the College of Business at Iowa State University, holding a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota.			Leah Phipps X-reme Tumbling and Trampoline Leah has been involved with tumbling most of her life, having done both recreational and competition power tumbling and trampoline. Not only has Leah been involved with recitals, half-time shows, and grand openings, she has also competed all over the state of Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, and Florida. Leah was tumbling State Champion two consecutive years and won National Champion at Disney Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida in 1996. Leah began coaching for Robert Thomas in 2004 and has since attended all USTA (United States Tumbling Association) State and National Congress meetings. She has her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Certifications in levels Sub Beginner-Elite tumbling, trampoline, and double-mini and is CPR certified. Leah has completed courses such as; Tumbling Upper Level Skills with Thomas Hamblin, video training courses on What Judges Look For with certified judge and USTA executive chair Patty Lingenfelter, Taping and Wrapping Injuries and Prevention with Jason Diepen, and has taken several ‘hands on’ tumbling spotting courses. Throughout her years with Robert Thomas/X-treme Tumbling and Trampoline, Leah has had the opportunity to coach many AAU and USTA State Champions. This 2008-2009 year alone the clubs gymnasts earned 10 Junior Olympic gold medals and their fist 2nd place all around top scoring team trophy for Sub-Novice tumbling. Leah is excited to have had such a successful year since Melissa and her bought into the company last August 2008. She looks forward to the new challenges ahead and can’t wait to get to work! Leah Phipps is also a State Certified Sign Language Interpreter for the Deaf. Leah worked the past four years with the Des Moines Public Schools and is currently a full-time Educational Interpreter at Boone High School.

	Inna Kuznetsova Innah (Inna Kuznetsova) is a professional Egyptian dancer and an Oriental(Egyptian, Arabic) Dance teacher from Saint Petersburg, Russia. She started dancing ballet when she was 5 years old and since then dancing has always been a part in her life. Innah has studied the art of Oriental dancing with master teachers from Russia, Egypt and Germany. Oriental dance originates in the Middle East. Innah dances Egyptian Raks Sharqi style of Oriental dance which was established in Egypt in the beginning of the 20th century as a mixture of ballet with classical Oriental moves. Innah goes to Egypt every summer to participate in Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival, a major event for Oriental dancers from all over the World.Innah has participated in many festivals in Russia, Germany, the USA, and Egypt. She won the third prize in Berlin Oriental Dance Festival in 2006 and got an award for the Egyptian category in the Oriental Dance Festival in LA in 2007.			Melissa Hocking X-treme Tumbling and Trampoline Melissa is the co-owner and head trampoline and double mini coach at X-Treme Tumbling and Trampoline. Melissa has a lot of experience as a coach, coaching high school cheerleading for several years. Melissa has been coaching trampoline and double mini at Robert Thomas for the past four years. She has her Bronze, Silver, and Gold coaching certification to coach all levels of (Beginner-Elite) trampoline and double-mini. Melissa has attended many coaching courses for trampoline and double-mini such as; Skill Progressions, Somi Positions, videos on What Judges Look For, and hands on spotting training. Melissa has trained under clinicians such as; Bobbi Grant-Beggs, former world champion, Patty Lingenfelter, USTA Executive Chair, and Thomas Hamblin. Melissa has coached children of all ages and skill levels. In her coaching career she has help train over a dozen State Champions, three National Champions, and 10 Junior Olympic gold medal winners. Melissa is excited to be a part of X-Treme Tumbling and Trampoline and looks forward to the new competition season! Melissa Hocking is a 1995 graduate of Iowa State University. She has been teaching for the past 15 years and is currently a Science Teacher at Webster City High School.

	Vanessa Cortes X-treme Tumbling and Trampoline Vanessa Cortes is a 22-year-old junior at the University of Northern Iowa, double majoring in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education as well as a minor in Spanish. Vanessa has been involved with trampoline, double mini, and power tumbling since the age of 8. Vanessa was a former competitor with The Power Zone out of Nevada, IA under the leadership of Bryce Whitmore. Vanessa has had the opportunity to travel to multiple competitions including National Team Tryouts in Las Vegas, AAU Junior Olympics, and USTA National Championships across the United States. Vanessa has won many National Championships at various levels and events including; synchronized trampoline, individual trampoline, and double-mini. Vanessa is safety certified, helping her provide a safe environment for each gymnast that she coaches.			Christina Duea Biography coming soon!

	Sean Freitag Sean Freitag is a senior in Computer Engineering / Pre-Med at Iowa State University. Sean has been ballroom dancing for four years, and teaching for two. In his competitive career, he has been a collegiate nationals runner up in 2007, and a collegiate nationals champion in 2008. When Sean has time away from his studies, he fills his position as President of Iowa State's Cyclone Ballroom; a student organization which promotes ballroom in Ames and the greater Iowa Area.			Taylor Irvine Taylor Irvine began dancing at the age of five under the instruction of MariJo Starnes in Nevada, Iowa. She came to the Robert Thomas Dancenter at the age of eight and continued her dance training. Taylor has been involved in the Dancenter Dancer Competition Team, Iowa Youth Ballet, XL Ballet, combination classes, and The Nutcracker Ballet. She has attended multiple workshops including The Pulse, West Coast Dance Explosion, and American Dance Projekt. She is currently a part of XL Ballet, Iowa Youth Ballet, and Iowa State University's Hip Hop Club (DubH). Taylor has been a teaching assistant for years, but this is her first year teaching independently. She will be teaching Hip Hop at the Robert Thomas Dancenter this fall for the first time and is stoked to see some new faces join the Dancenter!!

	Clare Bloggett Clare Blodgett of Dubuque, Iowa has been Irish dancing since 1993 when she joined the Claddagh School of Irish Dance in her hometown. She has competed and performed across the Midwest as well as performed in places such as Disney World, Six Flags St. Louis, Ireland and with Irish bands Gaelic Storm and Altan. She also spent 5 years as an instructor at her school. She recieved instruction from Ann Schroeder and Barbra McNulty (TCRG) who founded the McNulty School of Irish Dance in Chicago, Illinois. Between Schroeder and McNulty there are over 450 enrolled in Irish dance in northern and central Illinois as well as Iowa. Clare is currently a junior at Iowa State University majoring in Political Science and International Studies.			Beau Parrish X-treme Tumbling and Trampoline Beau Parrish a 2009 Iowa State University graduate with his Bachelors of Science in Community and Regional Planning. Beau is also currently employed at Old Chicago, and Abercrombie in Des Moines. Beau has been a part of tumbling, trampoline, and double-mini for over 10 years. He got his start at Power House Tumbling in Geneseo, Illinois and then moved to Patti’s Gym in Kewanee, Illinois where he had the chance to train under Patti Lingenfelter, the current USTA Executive Director. Beau has had many achievements during the 10 years he was involved with competition tumbling and trampoline. Beau is a 6 time State Champion in tumbling, and has won various state titles in trampoline and double-mini. Beau qualified for the Junior Olympics on several occasions. In one Junior Olympics Beau won Gold for tumbling, Gold for double-mini, and Bronze for trampoline. Along with coaching for X-Treme Tumbling and Trampoline, Beau plans to obtain his judging certification through the NTJC and USTA, and start judging in upcoming competition seasons. Beau is very excited to be back here working with X-Tream Tumbling and is looking forward to a great year getting to know everyone!