Miss Katie Owings, Founder, Owner and Artistic Director of Inspiration Dance Academy, has been involved in the art of dance for more than 21 years. Her passion for teaching dance stems from a long history of learning and performing. Katie attended Dance Educators of America, Inc. at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she obtained her teaching certification in Dance Education. Katie was a part of the Dance Education program at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She is also a Dance Theatre Alumni at UW-RF. Her performance credits include: The Pantages Theatre, The State Theatre, The Phipps Center for the Arts, The Northrop Auditorium and The Roy Wilkins Auditorium. During her nine years of competitive dance, Katie received various honors and awards. She has performed in Dances, Chances & Circumstances at the Phipps Center for the Arts, has taught for the Academy of Dance located in Cottage Grove, MN and has also performed in Bob Fosse productions and several year-end recitals. Katie was a judge for Triple S Dance competition in March of 2007. In the summer of 2008, she was asked to host dance camps for Century College's Kaleidoscope program. She continually stays up-to-date with the latest dance trends through her participation in master classes and conventions. Katie makes it a priority to bring the art of dance into schools where funding does not allow for such dance programs to take place. In addition to teaching at the studio, she is currently working non-profit with inner city schools to expose youth to the many wonderful elements of dance. 
Miss Alex Owings has been involved in the art of dance for more than 14 years. She is trained in jazz, ballet, hip-hop, modern, tap, creative movement and belly dance! Her true passion is in teaching youths and adults belly dance and hip-hop. She is skilled, trained and qualified in both Caribbean and Middle-Eastern Belly Dance. Her performance credits include: The Pantages Theatre, The State Theatre, The Phipps Center for the Arts, The Northrop Auditorium, the Roy Wilkins Auditorium and various belly dance venues throughout the Twin Cities. She has performed in Dances, Chances & Circumstances at the Phipps Center for the Arts, has taught for The Dance Factory located in Forest Lake, MN and has also performed in numerous competitions and year-end recitals. She loves to bring the joy of dance into the lives of all her students!
Mr. Matt is IDA's Studio Manager and has been involved in IDA since the very beginning. He graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in Special Education and taught in the Saint Paul school district, until one day when his wife, Miss Katie needed more help at the dance studio. He was happy to join the crew! Mr. Matt especially enjoys his time on the dance floor. He has been in IDA's adult co-ed tap class for 2 years. He is very excited to be a part of Inspiration Dance Academy and is ready to answer your questions!
Miss Sylvia Schourek is originally from Houghton, MI and has been dancing
for 15 years, with experience in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern, Hip
Hop and Tap. Throughout her career, she has performed in numerous
dance productions, musicals and operas. At Western Michigan
University in Kalamazoo, MI, where she earned her BA in Dance with a
second major in Art, she had the privilege of working with such
artists as Diane McIntyre and Robert Battle. While attending she also
performed in several guest artist, faculty, and student works,
including at the American College Dance Festival, as well as being a
member of Hip Hop ConnXion-Rhythmic Soul Project. Additionally, she
produced choreography for annual student concerts and her own 45
minute Honors Thesis presentation. Last year, she was the Artistic Director of the Superior School of Dance in Hancock, MI where, in addition to teaching classes of ages, she choreographed for and performed in a full length production of "The Nutcracker" and an original production, "Who's Really Who in the Wild West". She is so excited to be teaching at IDA!
Miss Lara Manthei is IDA's Marketing Consultant and has been involved in dance for 16 years. She is trained in ballet, pointe, lyrical, modern, tap and jazz but has picked up hip-hop along the way and is now a student of Miss Alex’s belly dance! She graduated from Northwestern College in St. Paul with a BS in Graphic Design. Though she loves Twins baseball, she mostly attends sporting events to cheer on the dance teams. She loves assisting IDA with fresh new ideas!
