Centre Stage Teachers and Assistants
Since opening in 2002, we have become masters of our craft. Our teachers have college degrees, mostly in educational fields. Between us we have a combined 70 years dance experience. We seek continual education in our fields each year, looking for new ways to improve. Because of that, we are continuing to expand our offerings based on how we can best serve the Mount Vernon area. We also have a strong set of teaching assistants, who are training to one day lead classes themselves or add to their resume their valuable experience with us in the classroom.
Shannon Owens
Owner, Director, Instructor, Coach,
Meltdown Manager, Professional Parent Organizer
Chaos Coordinator and "Glitter in Human Form"
Ms Shannon is celebrating 41 YEARS DANCING!
Ms Shannon is originally from Springfield IL, where she took classes starting at age 4 from the award winning Jan's Dance Studio. While there, she was part of their original Dazzler dance company and competition team. Several of her peers have gone on dance professionally. She has taken class with some of the most acclaimed teachers and dancers around!
She has also performed at Disneyland and several local events around Springfield IL. After high school, she studied ballet, modern, jazz and tap at Illinois State University, where she was part of the ISU Dance Theatre Company for 4 years. She holds a degree in education (Science and Math) with a Dance Minor. Ms Shannon continues her education every year through various conventions and conferences for dance teachers and studio owners. She is now a Team Leader for a studio support group herself, helping other studio owners and teachers throughout the year and teaching at their conference! She loves to be able to combine her two passions: dance and teaching! When not running the studio, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and three kids.
Emily Sledge
Ms Emily trained at Sonya's Gotta Dance Studio starting at age 5. While continuing to dance through High School and college she competed in various competitions including Nationals in Pigeon Forge ,TN, and performed at Disney World. Her last several years of dancing with the studio she taught several classes of tap, ballet, jazz, and tumbling. She graduated SIUE with a teaching degree in biological sciences. She has three children, two in college and one in high school. Her passions include dance, the outdoors, and being with her family. She is very excited about teaching and sharing her passion of dance again!
Bethany Lorenzini
Bethany started dancing at Centre Stage at the age of 7 and trained with us for 12 years. After graduating high school, she received an Early Childhood Certificate and an Associates of Arts degree from Rend Lake College. She then went on to receive her Bachelors in Elementary Education from Grand Canyon University. In her professional experience, she coached a high school dance team in Centralia for several years as they competed in pom and hip hop. She loves working with kids and is excited to share her love of dance with them!!
Ava Polk
Ava Polk has been dancing with us since 2014 and is now a senior in high school. She is one of our most dedicated dancers, never missing class, assisting Ms Shannon in most of her other classes, and also is one of our Competition Team rehearsal queens, cleaning several solos and group numbers for us. Her attention to detail and love for children make her a fantastic teacher!
Emily Decker
Emily lives in Mt. Vernon with her family. One of her daughters is part of the Centre Stage competition team, and the other three kids have also participated in dance and tumbling over the years. Emily grew up doing gymnastics and still enjoys it. She has taught gymnastics and tumbling for almost 4 years, and she's excited to get creative and teach some new students!