Welcome to Dance Expressions!
Home of the Tiny, Mini, Junior, and Senior Expressions Competition Dance Teams. Congratulations, Lori Downey, on your 26th year of coaching the Butler Kickline!
Haleigh Gross
Haleigh is 16 years old and a Junior at Butler High School in Vandalia. She has been dancing at Dance Expressions since she was three years old. Haleigh joined the Tiny Expressions team in second grade where she also danced as an officer. She then joined the Mini Expressions Dance team and danced as a lieutenant and an officer. After her time on Minis came to a close, she spent one year on the Vantasia Dance Team. She soon joined Senior Expressions and has danced as an officer as well in the last two years. Haleigh has also enjoyed being a part of the Butler Kickline. She is going on her third year. During her sophomore year, she served as co-captain, and now as a junior, she will be Captain of the Butler Kickline. Haleigh has enjoyed many styles of dance to include: tap, ballet, pointe, contemporary, and jazz. Although her favorite style is contemporary, she enjoys all genres. In 2019 Haleigh was awarded Ms. Showcase of Stars at the Showcase America Unlimited Pageant. She has participated in numerous contest both with Showcase and other studio contests and received numerous awards and honorable mentions. She has been dancing as a soloist for almost 10 years. Haleigh is involved in other sports as well. She played select soccer at a very competitive level for many years. She is also a competitive inline speed skater. She just attended the regional competition and was the regional champion for her area. Haleigh enjoys Marvel / Avenger movies and her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. Her favorite subjects in school are Science and French. Haleigh is interested in being either a Photographer or work in the Physics / Engineering field when she gets older.
Addison Caldwell
Addison is in the 5th grade at Smith Middle School and will be 10 years old this dance season. She has been dancing for 8 years. Her favorite style of dance is currently jazz and ballet. She also loves contemporary. Her favorite subject in school is science and she really enjoys art class. Her favorite thing to do is spend time with her dance friends making up choreography and drinking Starbucks together. When she grows up, she hopes to be a dance teacher and choreographer at Dance Expressions Dance Studio which is her favorite place to be. This summer she plans to spend a lot of time with friends, going swimming, and participating in dance and church camp. Addison had a great year and she was honored and excited to win 1st place in at three events. Some special awards she received were “Up & Coming Star” and “Most Entertaining”. Her favorite dances are the ones with her dance besties because she loves to be on stage with them making people smile.
Allison Oakes
Allison is in 3rd grade at St. Christopher School in Vandalia. Her favorite subjects are art, music and computer. She has been dancing at Dance Expressions since she was three years old and this will be her sixth year at the studio. Allison has been on the Tiny’s competition team since 1st grade. She became an officer for the team her 2nd grade year and this will be her first season as a soloist. She loves all styles of dance, but her favorites include hip hop and tumbling.
When she’s not dancing, Allison enjoys reading, writing original stories, singing, arts and crafts, swimming and spending time with her family and friends. She loves going to Cold Stone Creamery to create different combinations of ice cream flavors and often brings it back home to watch Bob Ross and America’s Got Talent, her favorite TV shows or A Wrinkle in Time, her favorite movie. She has a huge love of all animals and hopes to one day become a veterinarian.
Allison is so honored to receive this award. She loves her dance family and can’t thank her teachers and coaches at Dance Expressions enough for inspiring her. The friendships, experiences and lessons learned will be taken with her throughout life!