Jackie Major
Jackie began her dance training at the age of 3 with the late Lynn Francis Burchett. At age 8 she was crowned Little Miss Twirl of Tennessee where she was able to travel to the 1980 Winter Olympics for an apprerance. At age 9 she modeled for Murray Bicycles, had a role in “When Your Hot Your Hot” starring Jerry Reed and Burt Reynolds, in Nashville and made an appearance at The Grand Ole Opry. In 1984 she began taking from Cindy Bedwell- Livbjerg until 1989. She was one of Cindy’s first teachers. In the fall of 1989 she attended The University of Tennessee where she was accepted to their dance company, and performed with the City Ballet in their production of Cinderella. She continued training at Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University. Jackie has a bachelors degree in Business from Bethel College. She has taught the love of dance for 25 years and hopes to encourage other dancers to follow their dreams. Jackie is also married to Jeffery Major and they have 3 beautiful children Carleigh, Hunter and Samantha. She looks forward to many years TOGETHER & STRONG!
Lauren Ankersoe
Lauren danced under the direction of Charlsie Halliburton her first 5 years in dance and completed the rest of her training at Clarksville Dance Force with Cindy Bedwell-Livbjerg. During her years dancing she attended many dance conventions, workshops, and competitions and trained with world class teachers such as Joe Tremaine, Frank Hatchett, Steven Boyd, Doug Caldwell, Desiree Robbins and Dan Karaty (So You Think You Can Dance) guest judge. Lauren taught dance at The Dance Force since 2003. She loves dance and hopes she has inspired her students to love it also. Some of Lauren’s greatest accomplishments are her two beautiful daughters Isabella and Ariana along with her loving husband Ulrich. Aside from owning the studio Lauren (who has a degree in multimedia design) and her husband who is also a designer run Ankersoe Innovative Marketing LLC providing marketing products to businesses worldwide. Lauren’s joy of teaching children. She looks forward to many years TOGETHER & STRONG!
MaryLu Browder
MaryLu danced as a child in Germany and Texas. After moving to Tennessee she attended APSU and married her husband Jeff and had four children,Lauren, Ben, Caroline and Andrew. Having two girls and two boys her time was divided between baseball games and dance recitals. MaryLu, who has many years experience in finance, took on the job of bookkeeping at The Dance Force. She is very warmhearted and always there for all dancers. She looks forward to many years TOGETHER & STRONG!
Chi Johnson
Chi Johnson is a native of Nashville who started dance training at the age of 7. Her professional dance career began at 16 on the televised Country Music Awards Show performing with Dwight Yoakum. While attending Brentwood High she continued to perform with Nashville artists, Diamond Rio, Chris Cagle, Ray Stevens, LeAnn Rimes, and Faith Hill. At 18 she moved to Los Angeles California and has been featured in movies, commercials, television specials, industrials and performing with artists: Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Lenny Kravitz, Yolanda, Jack Black, Nick Lachey, Barry Boswick, Mike Myers, Tom Jones, Big and Rich, Heather Locklear, Kid Rock & Brendon Frazier to name a few. Commercials and industrials include: Pizza Hut, Best Buy, Maybelline, Nike, Skechers, Flexi Shoes, Haagen Daz, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, Dom Perignon Champagne, Fruit of the Loom, Radio Shack, Sega, Microsoft, Shaklee, GMC and Wyndham Resort Bahamas. Live stage performances on the Grammy Awards, Miss USA Pageant, Hollywood Report Awards, VHI Awards, and AFI Life Time Achievement to Shaun Connery plus performances at theme parks, resorts and live Las Vegas shows has contributed to Chi’s diverse resume. Her 4 USA and world tours with former Beatle Paul McCartney has taken her around the world performing for millions of people. www.MySpace.com/BookingChi
Kate Kastelnik
Kate Kastelnik has been dancing with Nashville Ballet since 1999, where she has performed various soloist roles. Kate received her early dance training in her hometown of Bethlehem, PA, and then went on to Point Park University where she earned her B.A. in Dance. Kate has taught ballet for the Metro Parks Summer ice skating program, and has guest taught at Hermitage Dance Academy and the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet before joining the faculty of Dance Force in 2008. She is so proud of her students!
Brendon LaPier
Brendon LaPier graduated from Mercyhurst College in 2002 under the direction of Tauna Hunter, with a B.A. in teaching/choreography. Mr. LaPier started dancing in Glens Falls New York with McGuire Ballet Company and has been dancing for 17 years. After college, he came to Nashville Ballet as a Company member. His most memorable roles include Chieftain in Salvatore Aiello's The Rite of Spring, Pastoral Duet in Paul Vasterling's Messiah, and the Doctor in Wes Chapman's Dracula.In addition to his work at Nashville Ballet, Mr. LaPier runs and owns Nashville's LaPier Photography Company. He is on the Board of People's Branch Theater.
Carmen Ryan-Butler
Carmen began dancing at the age of 3 years at the Jessie Lowes School of Dance in Hamilton,Canada. She continued to dance throughout her childhood, and through high school. Upon graduating high school she toured Canada and the United States, and worked on the cruise ship "Cunard Princess" with Illusionist Peter Menning. Carmen eventually moved to the United States and began teaching for Cindy Bedwell-Livbjerg and the Gibson family in 1997. She has seen many changes over the years, but the one thing that has remained the same is her love for the students she teaches. Carmen has been a teacher in the Clarksville area longer than many of her students have been alive. and she has completely enjoyed watching many timid young dancers grow into amazingly strong young men and women. Carmen's oldest son Cory, is a 2009 graduate of Rossview High School. She is also the mom of Alexis and Shane Fallon, both members of The Dance Force of Clarksville's Senior Company. This is Shane's first year as a competitive dancer, and Alexis' first year as a teacher. She is very proud of all of her children and their many accomplishments as they, too, become amazingly strong young adults.
Caroline Browder
I have danced for 16 years, in which 12 of those were competitively with The Dance Force. This year has been an amazing year, I have been blessed to teach so many amazing dancers this year and can't wait to see the turn out for next year. I am so glad that I got to take the position head over petite company it truely has been a rewarding experience. I am so proud of all my dancers and how much they all have progressed in such a short amount of time, this year has flown by. I hope to see you all at summer camp and if not there at fall registration! A thank you goes out from the bottom of my heart to the wonderful directors who have made this studio possible and given all of our wonderful dancers a place to call their dance home.
Amanda Caudill
Amanda Caudill has been dancing since she was 6. She has traveled around the Southeast competiting. She was Senior Dancer of the year for LA Underground/ Starlight Productions with that she spent a month with LA’s top choreographers and teachers. Amanda loves teaching all ages. She wants all of her students to learn & have a great time. She has been married for 5 years to her husband Keith and they have a 2 1/2 year old son Austin. Goodluck to all of my dancers.
Nikki Loos Peterson
Nikki Loos Peterson has been involved in dance and competition for 17 years. She began her dancing career at Clarksville Dance Academy (currently The Dance Force of Clarksville) under the direction of Mrs. Cindy Bedwell-Livbjerg. She went on to become captain of the Austin Peay State University Pom Squad, where she danced for 4 years. She is a Clarksville native and graduate of Austin Peay State University. In 2004, Nikki was crowned Miss River Queen and went on to compete in the Miss TN USA Pageant, where she was a semifinalist in 2004 and 2005. Upon graduation, she moved to Charleston, SC where she was Director of Sports Marketing and College Dance Team Coach for the College of Charleston. Currently, Nikki is Special Events Coordinator at APSU, Director of the Miss River Queen & Teen Regional Pageant and dance teacher/choreographer for The Dance Force of Clarksville and Montgomery Central High School. Nikki recently became Mrs. Tennessee.
Justin Byrk
Justin Byrk is a native of Clarksville who started dancing at the age of 5. He was inspired to take the dance floor by the late great performer Gregory Hines. Justin has danced under many wonderful instructors from a number of studio both local and away, such as The Dance Force, LDC, DC Dance Factory in Nashville, Broadway Dance Center and STEPS both in New York. He has also taken acro from Action Gymnastics in Clarksville. Justin danced competitively for 11 years where he won numerous awards and scholarships. Justin loves to dance. He believes it is a good and positive way for anyone to maintain health. He also believes that dance is an artistic way of expression and creativity. Justin hopes that he too inspires others to dance.
Sara Quinn
My name is Sara Quinn and I have been dancing with this studio for 9 years, and teaching for the past 4 years. I graduated from Rossview High School. I was also a part of the Rossview Dance Team for 3 years. Sara attends Austin Peay State University and is a member of their Pom Squad. I also hope to be working in Disney World, in their intern program.
Wil Ladd
Graduating this year William Stewart Ladd has been dancing for over ten years for the Dance Force of Clarksville. William started taking hip-hop classes and after 3 years he decided to start competing under the direction of Cindy Bedwell-Livebjerg. William has received numerous scholarships and has choreographed several dances that have recived several awards from various dance competitions such as UDA,Dancexplosion,StageOne,Applause Talent, and Masqureade.He recently was titled Mr.DanceXplosion 2009 of Nashville. William has choreographed not only his solo but solos for the other dancers at the studio. William plans to attend APSU next year to minor in dance and major in mass media and looks forward to coming back to the Dance Force of Clarksville to teach and choreograph For the Best Dance Studio in Clarksville .
Kasey Panczer
Kasey Panczer has been dancing for thirteen years, nine of those years with The Dance Force of Clarksville. Ms. Kasey has been assisting/teaching for seven years and enjoys being a positive role model for all of her “little girls.” Her greatest joy is having a student finally achieve a step or move that they have been working on for a while. Kasey has received different awards throughout her years of dance, her most treasured being Ms. Teen Dance Explosion of Nashville in 2007. Kasey is graduating fourth in her class with a 4.0 GPA. She will be attending Austin Peay State University starting this coming fall,
majoring in Wellness Promotion and minoring in Dance. She has also received a position on the APSU Pom Squad. Kasey cannot wait to begin her college experience, but is happy she will continue to be a part of The Dance Force Family.
Alexis Fallon
Alexis Fallon was born in Coral Springs, Florida. She then moved to Clarksville when she was 3 years old. She began dancing at Clarksville Dance Academy, what is now The Dance Force of Clarskville, when she was 3. When she was 5 she began assisting with her mother as well as other teachers. At the age of 7 Alexis began competiting on the competition team “The Force”. She is now 16 and has been dancing for 13 years. She is a part of Senior Company at The Dance Force of Clarksville. Alexis attends Rossview High School, where she is a part of Rossview’s Dance Team.
