photo and edit by Austin Boyles
Quinn Self
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Quinn started his dance education at the age of 11 at Powerhouse Dance in Olathe, KS under the instruction of Carrie Schmidt. During his junior year of High School, Quinn began training at Above the Barre Dance Academy under the instruction of Chelsie Klein. Throughout the past 5 years, he has worked with numerous choreographers, including Talia Favia, whom he had the opportunity to perform for in her show "The Difference Between Actions and Words" at Dancer Palooza in Los Angeles, CA. Quinn has also worked with choreographers such as Jenn Freeman, Gil Mata, Brandon Swaney, and Matt Luck. In addition, Quinn has taught and subbed at numerous studios including Mia's Elite School of Dance, Perception Dance Company, Miss Maria's Premier Dance, and Radiant Dance Studio. He has a passion for teaching and choreographing and has set numerous groups and solo routines for studios and dance teams both locally and nationally. During his senior year of highschool, Quinn traveled and assisted Tremaine Dance Conventions and Competitions as a Performance Program Company member. Here Quinn assisted industry professionals such as Keri LaGrand, Derrick Schrader, Tony Bellisimo, Marty Dew, Tiffany Maher, Meghan Sanett, Laurie Johnston, and Emily Zachary-Smith. During this time, Quinn also became a member of Defy Dance Project, a pre-professional company founded by Haley Kostas, offering additional performance opportunities to young artists in the Kansas City area. At the age of 18, Quinn opened Ignition Dance Academy. Over the past years, he has has won numerous awards for his choreography, concepts, and costume design and has produced national winning routines. Quinn’s love of dance is the union of art and athleticism. His passion and mission in dance is to create routines and dancers that redefine ideas by pushing innovation, dedication, and heart.
Kelly Long
INSTRUCTOR
Kelly has been training for 18 years in and around her hometown of Overland Park, Kansas. At the age of 14 she began competing locally and nationally at Above the Barre Dance Academy , under the direction of Chelsie Klein. Throughout her time there, she was given various opportunities to work with well-known choreographers including Talia Favia, Matt Luck, Jenn Freeman and Hailey Hoffman. Additionally, Kelly performed a Talia Favia piece in her professional show “The Difference Between Actions and Words” at DancerPalooza in Los Angeles, CA. During High School, she was a member of the Blue Valley High School Dance Team under the direction of Katie Burris. This is when Kelly started her choreography journey as she created multiple solos, duos, and group routines for her team to compete in the three years that she was a member. Upon graduating high school, she auditioned and made the Kansas State University Classy Cats Dance Team under the direction of Dr. Tracz and Sara Heptig. Within the two years of time on the team, she has had the opportunity to dance in front of crowds of 50,000 people, perform at the 2019 Liberty Bowl, and multiple Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments. The summer of her junior year of college she auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Of the 1,500 people who auditioned, she was 1 of 20 women to be invited to the DCC Training Camp 2020. And now, with her heart full of love from her past two years teaching and choreographing at Ignition Dance Academy, she could not be more excited to continue to share her love of dance this season!
Isobel Langham
INSTRUCTOR
Isobel began her dance training at On your Marx dance studio at 11 years old. At the age of 14, Isobel begin training at Ignition Dance Academy and has been training in various styles ever since. Isobel was a competitive dancer for 6 years and received many honors and accolades with her teammates. She has also trained in voice as well as musical theatre and served as dance captain in many musicals and received the National Champions title in voice at TOP nationals. She has participated in the Rockettes and Broadway Dance Center winter intensives. Isobel is currently majoring in dance performance and psychology at the University of Kansas. Through the university she is a member of the University Dance Company, where she has served as choreographer assistant to the head of the department and has displayed many original pieces of choreography. Isobel loves teaching because she appreciates instilling confidence within her dancers and helping them not just become amazing dancers, but amazing people as well.