About Chehalem Valley Dance Academy: McMinnville Location…

We offer classes in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop for ages 3 and up. Our programs focus on developing life skills as well as dance skills for the recreational or pre-professional dancer.

We employ the most qualified instructors that share the same pillars of leadership and expertise in their field. At Chehalem Valley Dance Academy, we believe that through dance training, every person can realize their true potential.

Our session runs from Sept. 15^th – May 20^th and culminates in our Annual Showcase. Dancers will have one costume per class to purchase that will be theirs to keep following the showcase.

As a family of CVDA, you are invited to participate in Parent-Watch-Weeks and Bring-A-Friend Weeks, as well as other events at the studio and out in the community.

Our staff believes that dance skills are life skills. Joining CVDA will grow every person’s self-confidence, discipline, respect, perseverance, leadership, active listening skills, and ability to set goals and achieve them.

“Our staff is incredible. We have earned regional and national recognition for our work as instructors, choreographers, writers, and performers and have also appeared on TV, radio, stages, and in the classroom across the U.S. You won’t find a more balanced, community-invested, professional and experienced staff.” -Kristen Coats, Director of CVDA

	Kristen has created original works for performing companies, dance teams, musicals, theater productions, talent shows, pageants, and competitions. Her choreography has earned her 10th overall at Rainbow Nationals as well as four other regional choreography awards. Miss Kristen’s students have gone on to dance professionally, attend college on scholarship, perform on professional dance teams, captain worship dance teams, attend professional dance schools, compete in pageants, and become dance instructors. Her extensive training began locally and includes the Edge PAC in Los Angeles. Miss Kristen is a First Degree Black Belt and a certified SHARP instructor. As a young performer she earned regional and national honors including scholarships and titles, trained with top choreographers, was President of her Thespian Troupe, and raised over $25,000 for Dorenbecher Children’s Hospital. She is the Owner/Artistic Director of Chehalem Valley Dance Academy Newberg and McMinnville locations.
	Brynn attended Western Oregon University where she received her B.A. in Dance. She performed in Washington, D.C. with Rainbow Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center for Nationals at the American College Dance Festival. Miss Brynn originally began her training at CVDA and is a former Senior Performing Company dancer. She is a certified Callanetics Instructor.
	Kelli Pinkerton has danced professionally with Cornish Dance theatre in Seattle and with Eugene Ballet company under the direction of Toni Pimble. She has preformed original works by Pat Hon and has also danced roles in the “The Nutcracker,” “Swan Lake,” “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Cinderella” and many others. Kelli has taught and coached many of her students on to professional careers, as well as having students on scholarships in many colleges. Kelli is excited to be joining the CVDA teaching staff. Miss Kelli teaches ballet.
	Rjay Sugden Carey Has been performing and taking classes in dance, voice, and acting for most of his life. He was in several performance groups in his youth, which were hired through out the country to do shows for every thing from national conventions to audiences with royalty and presidents. He also attended a high school of performing arts where he had numerous opportunities to hone his art. He has worked as a dancer/singer on cruise ships and at theme parks and choreographed for several nation-wide pageants including holding seven different titles of his own. He has taken master classes and been invited to workshops for all genres of dance and work and been taught by the cast of Broadway shows (Chicago, Smokey Joe’s Café, Will Rogers Follies, and Chorus Line to name a few). He is trained in and able to teach tap, jazz, ballet, modern, hip-hop, clogg, Latin, ballroom, Folklorico, Flamenco, and much more. Though he has experienced many styles and genres of dance his first and true love is and will always be musical theater. He is thrilled to be one of the newest staff members of the Chehalem Valley Dance Academy and looks forward to working with the other instructors and teaching the next generation of dancers.
	Lindsay Freeman is currently a student at Western Oregon University. She is studying early childhood elementary education with an ESOL bilingual endorsement. She has been training in dance for 15 years, has competed in pageants and performed in her high school’s musicals and plays. She has been an office clerk at Freeman Mfg. in Newberg for three years. Lindsay is the McMinnville Office Manager