Our Instructors

Kathleen Massot

Kathy, owner of the Dance Center of Kirkwood, has an extensive background in performance and teaching. As a young girl, she performed in the children’s chorus of the St. Louis Municipal Opera. Kathy then performed with the St. Louis Civic Ballet for 9 years and was a guest artist at the International Festival of Youth Orchestration in Aberdeen, Scotland. She also performed at the Saddlers Wells Theatre in London, England. Kathy then attended the National Academy of Arts and danced professionally with The National Ballet of Illinois. After moving to New York City, Kathy danced with the Leon Felder Dance Company.

She performed with the Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, and soon became their co-rehearsal director as well. While in Laura Dean’s company, Kathy taught at the University of Iowa and at the University of California.

In 1987, Kathy performed in the AIDS benefit at the Lincoln Center with Master of Ceremonies, Mikhail Baryshnikov. This benefit was organized by Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins. For three summers, she performed at the American Dance Festival at Duke University in North Carolina. Kathy performed throughout the United States in many theaters, including City Center, The Joyce Theatre, and The Lincoln Center. She also performed throughout Europe with a total of three extensive tours.

Kathy teaches ballet, pointe, tap, and jazz at the Dance Center of Kirkwood, and her dancers have won many awards in local competitions. She has also won Best Choreographer Awards. Her students were chosen to perform in Dance St. Louis Spring Festival at the Edison Theatre for three years. She has taken choreographic composition classes at Webster University. Kathy was also a docent for the Educational Impact program for Dance St. Louis.

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I-Chiao Shih

I-Chiao has been a member of the Dance Center of Kirkwood ballet ensemble for the past fourteen years and has participated in numerous local and national competitions. She has taken master classes from notable instructors at Webster and Washington Universities, including ballet masters from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet and the Houston Ballet. She is a former member of the Slaughter Project, a modern dance company founded by Cecil Slaughter.

I-Chiao has also studied and performed with Pilobolus Too and was one of the few chosen to perform in their Cirque du Ballet Gala. Her most notable role includes the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Dance Center of Kirkwood’s annual production of the Nutcracker. I-Chiao also teaches ballet, tap, and tumbling at the Faith Academy of MontessorI.

Erin Warner Prange

Born and raised in St. Louis, Erin Warner Prange holds her B.A. in Dance and Spanish from Colorado State University and her Masters of Fine Arts in Arts Management and Leadership from Webster University.

In 2006, Erin taught dance for the Boston public school district through the Topf Center for Dance Education, and danced with Fusionworks II in Providence, RI under the tutelage of Deb Meunier and Stephanie Sanford.

After moving back to St. Louis, she worked as aTrek Dance Collective’s Education Program Coordinator, and worked as the head coach of the dance team and color guard at Webster Groves High School.

Erin founded the modern and contemporary programs at the Dance Center of Kirkwood, and was a company member of the Slaughter Project under artistic direction of Cecil Slaughter before joining The Big Muddy Dance Company in 2011. Erin has had the privilege of working with talented artists such as Chung-Fu Chang, Lee Cooper, Jody Weber, Marcus Schulkind, and Christien Polos in her study and training. Throughout her 5 seasons as a company dancer for The Big Muddy Dance Company, she has had the honor of dancing in choreographic works by renowned artists such as Lou Conte, Sam Watson, Harrison McEldowney, Lauri Stallings, and many more. Erin has also served as Executive Director for The Big Muddy Dance Company since 2013.

Meredith Smith

Meredith began dancing at the age of four and soon joined the Dance Center of Kirkwood. As a young teen, she participated in the NSAL ballet competition and performed with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Meredith attended college at the University of Oklahoma and received her B.F.A. in Ballet Performance and her B.A. in Journalism/Public Relations. She performed with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Carmina Burana, and Young Choreographers Showcase, among others.

Meredith has also performed The Nutcracker with the Kansas City Ballet in the Snow and Flower Corps. She also worked for the Kansas City Ballet doing public relations and marketing. Meredith has been a principal dancer with the Dance Center of Kirkwood in The Nutcracker. She also taught ballet, tap, and jazz for the Dixie Bell Dance Center in Shawnee, Kansas as well as taught ballet at the Kansas City Ballet School.

Wendy Ballard

Wendy holds a BFA in Dance from Webster University, an MA in American Culture Studies (with a focus on American dance and performance) from Washington University, and is a licensed massage therapist.

She has performed and taught dance for over two decades around the greater St. Louis area and Austin, Texas, and currently teaches tap courses at Washington University and the YMCA. Wendy approaches classes with a mixture of strict technical focus and encouragement of individual expression.

Her future plans include pursuing her PhD with a focus on the history of American percussive dance and the role it continues to play in social and political speech and protest, as well as starting a tap company. She enjoys a good joke and has a dog named Ruby.

Jessie Philbrick

Jessie began dancing at the age of three in Wheaton Park District’s “Creative Movement” class, and from that day on, she was hooked. Her formal training began with Salt Creek Ballet, where she studied ballet, jazz, character, modern and more under Zhanna Dobrovskaya, Sergey Kozadayev, Angie Keneipp, Van Collins, and others.

After high school, Jessie continued her dance training at Butler University department of Dance, majoring in Dance Pedagogy. While at Butler, Jessie performed corps, soloist, and principle roles in main stage productions of the classics, such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, as well as numerous world premiers of contemporary works, including The Streamlines Project, a site-specific installation made possible by the National Science Foundation for which Jessie was a performer and assistant choreographer.

After graduation from Butler University in May of 2017, Jessie joined the Big Muddy Dance Company where she is thrilled to be dancing as a member of their Convergence Trainee Program.

Kimmy Stevens

Kimberly Stevens of Bradenton, Florida received her early training at Diane Partington Studio of Classical Ballet. She then trained year round in the preprofessional program with Miami City Ballet School. Kimberly performed in George Balanchine’s Swan Lake as well as George Balanchine’s Serenade. Ms. Stevens spent three summers training with Pacific Northwest Ballet School. In her professional career Kimberly danced with Sarasota Ballet in their trainee program. She was also a Richmond Ballet II member performing Lead Flower in Nutcracker, Fiancé and Swans in Swan Lake, Malcolm Burn’s Classical Symphony and Georgia Girl in Val Caniparoli’s Djangology. Before dancing with Missouri Ballet Theatre Kimberly danced with Ballet San Antonio. While with Missouri Ballet Theatre, Kimberly has performed Brides in Dracula,Sea Snakes in Little Mermaid, and Spanish and Chinese in Nutcracker. Kimberly teaches ballet, pre pointe, pointe, and conditioning.

Corinne Weber

Corinne Weber is originally from Crescent Springs, Kentucky, and recently graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Wright State University. There she performed works by Dwight Rhoden, Crystal Michelle-Perkins, and Gina Walther. While in school Corinne also danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II. She was also a part of the Complexions Contemporary Ballet Pre-Professional Program in the Fall of 2017. There she worked with Desmond Richardson, Dwight Rhoden, Jae Man Joo, and Ido Tadmor, performing their pieces at the Joyce Theater. Corinne is currently a trainee at the Big Muddy Dance Company for their 2018-2019 season.