Meet Our Staff
Kristin Peterson Iovino, (Ballet, Pointe, Pre-Ballet, Contemporary, Creative Movement, MAD Co. Youth Company Director) owner and director of MotionArts Dance Academy, is a native of South Bend, Indiana. Her dance career accidentally started when she moved next door to a dance teacher at the age of 8! She received her training in ballet and modern dance at Southold Dance Theater under Bonnie Bolini Baxter and Joann Barkes. Kristin was a Southold Dance Theater company member from 1989-1992, performing in a variety of ballet and modern productions including the lead role of Clara in The Nutcracker. She attended St. Olaf College where she danced and performed for 4 years with the St. Olaf Modern Dance company under Janice Hawes Roberts. While at St. Olaf, Kristin had the opportunity to work with guest artists from around the United States as well as attending The American College Dance Festival.
After graduating with a degree in sports medicine from St. Olaf in 1996, Kristin returned to South Bend becoming the Associate Director of Dance for the Conservatory of Dance from 1996-2000, teaching ballet, pointe and modern dance. She also served as a rehearsal director for Conservatory’s student company. In 1997 Kristin joined Southold Dance Theater’s Adult Ensemble which provided dance outreach, education and performance in schools for grades K-6 as well as performing company repertoire and creating new choreography for company dancers. Kristin has guest taught for Culver Academy and St. Mary’s College, also serving as a guest choreographer and student choreography adjudicator for St. Mary’s Student Dance Company.
In 2000 Kristin and her husband Gabe moved to Bloomington, she attended nursing school and worked at IU Health's Bloomington Hospital on the Orthopedic Unit as an RN from 2002-2013. Kristin served as ballet “coach” to Bloomington United Gymnastics from 2001-2003 as well as offering private instruction. In 2014 she took a position as a ballet instructor at Windfall School of Dance and January 2015 was named the Director of the school. She loves to create programming that gets kids and adults excited about dance technique and dance performance. Partnering with MCCSC School Aged Care Program in the fall of 2015, Kristin created an after school dance program still used in MCCSC’s after school care programing, introducing dance to hundreds of area students.
In August of 2016, Kristin opened MotionArts Dance Academy to help fill a need she saw in the dance community in Bloomington. MotionArts' focus in contemporary dance and classical ballet training for children, teens and adults makes it unique. Whether a dancer is looking for a serious program, or a fun class to take once a week, all our dancers receive the same quality of training and feedback. The goal of MotionArts is to provide quality dance education with an emphasis on perfecting technique, while igniting the passion and joy to create and perform! We hope you join us!
Kenzie Carruthers (Jazz 3 & 4) is a sophomore at Indiana University pursuing a degree in Contemporary Dance. Kenzie has trained for over 17 years in various dance styles as well as worked with multiple choreographers from around the United States. Ms. Kenzie loves teaching children and adults the art and beauty of dance!
Emily Crowder (Contemporary) is a sophomore at Indiana University studying exercise science with a minor in dance. She has danced for 16 years, studying styles from contemporary and ballet to tap and jazz and everything in between. Emily is dedicated to making a positive impact on younger generations of dancers. She has been teaching dance classes for 3 years and is excited to continue instilling the joy of dance in her students at MotionArts!
Samantha Hyde (Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet Sub , African Dance) Samantha Hyde is a native of Akron, Ohio and holds a BA from Denison University in Dance, Black Studies and History. At Denison University, she studied under Stafford Berry Jr. of African American Dance Ensemble (Durham, NC). She served as a Department Fellow, Research Assistant, and Teaching Assistant, as well as completing a senior thesis titled “An Exploration of Dance Education within Public Education and Community Organizations.” Samantha spent the summer of 2012 at Bates Dance Festival interning in the Young Artist Program (a festival-run arts summer camp for local students). She is an alumnus of a Denver-based AmeriCorps program, having served a year at a small arts-education non-profit. Samantha went on to work with Colorado Ballet for 4 years, originally as an Outreach Faculty member, in 2014 she became the Education Programs Manager and in 2016, she became the Director of Education. She served as a selected member of the Colorado Dept. of Education (CDE) Content Collaboratives Committee forDance, has published a unit of study for CDE and presented at the 2015 Colorado Dance Education Organization (CoDEO) conference. Samantha relocated to Ohio in late 2017 in order to pursue personal goals such as travel to Guinea, West Africa for intensive dance and drum study. She recently graduated from Indiana University with a dual Master's degree in Library Science and African Studies. Samantha is currently a librarian for the Brown County Library!
Joy Jones (mini-MAD Director, Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Youth Company Choreographer, Costume Designer) began dancing after watching her big sister take class and then begging to be included. After that, she was hooked. She studied ballet in Southern California for fifteen years and then added modern into the mix. Joy went on to dance and choreograph with regional modern dance company, Mt. Movers, in Johnson City, Tennessee from 1993-2000. She even managed to work dance into the thesis for her graduate degree. Joy has taught dance to both children and adults throughout the years and enjoys teaching lyrical dance at MotionArts. Joy is also the Director of our Mini-MAD Youth Company for dancers 9-11!
Savanna Klee (Tap & Jazz) began dancing at the age of three at Fitzsimmons Dance Factory in Rochester, New York. She trained and competed in all styles of dance – ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, hip hop – but tap has always been the style that comes most naturally to her. She continued dancing in college at the Notre Dame Dance Company where she also taught beginning to advanced tap classes for all four years of her undergraduate experience. Savanna recently moved to Bloomington to pursue a master's degree in education at Indiana University and is excited to continue teaching and sharing her passion for dance at MotionArts!
Bekka Potter (Adult Ballet, Pointe, School Assistant) You may see Bekka around the studio not only teaching ballet, but also helping at the desk, answering questions and organizing and assisting with performances. A Bloomington native, Bekka began dancing at age four. She studied primarily ballet, including attending intensive summer programs in Maine and Idaho. In high school and college she began to study other dance styles and forms of expression, including colorguard, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, tap, and Irish step dance. She has now been teaching ballet for over ten years and believes it's never too late to begin or return to dance. Bekka particularly enjoys ballet history and teaching classical ballet variations. She aims to provide a challenging but positive environment where beginning through advanced dancers can explore and grow as performers, technicians, and artists!
Katie Shepherd (Monday Ballet 3) is a 2002 graduate from the IU Jacobs School of Music with a degree in Ballet Performance and an outside field in Applied Health Science. While at IU, she was privileged to study under the world renown ballerina Violette Verdy. Her training began in Jamestown, NY at the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet and continued to the Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington, CT, Erie Ballet School in Erie, PA and Mercyhurst College. Throughout her years dancing she attended summer school programs at the San Francisco Ballet, Chautauqua School of Dance, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts. Later on, she received her master’s degree in Applied Health from Indiana University and currently works at the IU Student Health Center. Her daughter Maggie is also a student at Motion Arts.
Lucy Sheppard (Ballet 5, Pointe, Company Class) is a student at IU where she is pursuing a BS in Ballet with an outside field in arts management. Lucy is originally from Columbus, Georgia and trained under Alice Sheridan at Dance Arts Studio. She eventually moved to Tampa, Florida where she was a trainee at Next Generation Ballet under artistic director and former NYCB principal Phillip Neal. During the summers, Lucy has danced at Miami City Ballet School and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet!