Artistic Exchange Dance Studio
Artistic Exchange Dance Studio
Dance enables you to find yourself & lose yourself at the same time
Dance enables you to find yourself & lose yourself at the same time
Meet Our Staff!
Megan VanSon:
Megan is the owner of Artistic Exchange Dance Studio and is humbled and blessed to be able to work with so many dancers! This will be the studio's 6th year in operation, and she never thought that the studio would boom to what it is today!
Megan started dancing at the age of 4 under the direction of Michele (Privratsky)Schulthies at School of Dance and Performing Arts here in Dickinson. This is where her love for dance started and grew! Once Michele moved out of the state, Megan had the privilege of learning from MANY different instructors. Dance studios came and went in Dickinson and at the time it seemed devastating every time. Looking back, it was somewhat of a blessing because Megan was able to learn different styles from different teachers. Megan studied ballet, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, tap, jazz, drill, African, geometrics, liquid, breakdancing and competed for many years.
Upon graduating high school, Megan went to NDSU in Fargo and started her degree in Child Development. She coached for Ben Franklin Middle School in Fargo for 2 years before moving back to Dickinson and taking over the Midgettes high school dance team. Here she started the junior high dance team and the high school JV team. Megan coached the high school for 6 years.
In 2014 she opened Artistic Exchange Dance Studio with 75 dancers the first year. Today our doors welcome over 265 dancers. Megan could not do this without her amazing support system! Her husband, children, parents and friends and family! The staff of the dance studio is an amazing blessing to every student and to Megan. There is no way this studio could run without them!
Megan truly believes that it takes a village to teach and develop a dancer! Megan travels to learn from many professionals still to this day and will continue to do so. This brings exciting and new ideas to our studio. Megan knows that every staff member brings something special to this community and Artistic Exchange Dance Studio is better for it!
Here's to an amazing year and we welcome you all to our studio!
Skyler Foss:
Miss Skyler is 21 years old, and a junior at Dickinson State University majoring in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. She works at ABLE as a DSP working with individuals who have intellectual disabilities. Skyler also teaches hip hop for 6 to 7 year olds and 8 to 9 year olds as well as ballet class for 8 to 9 year olds! She LOVES teaching these classes! Miss Skyler have been dancing since before she could walk! She danced at three studios throughout her dance career and was on the varsity DHS dance team all four years in high school. She was also on the junior high dance team. Skyler always knew she wanted to continue her dance passion and teaching dance was the perfect way to do that! When she's not doing school work or dance, she loves spending time with her dogs! We are so thrilled to have Skyler back on our team! You can see the love for her students and the love they have for her!
Krista Brandt:
Krista’s dance career started in 2006 when she signed up for recreational hip hop classes at the local dance studio. Just after a few months of dancing, her cancer relapsed and despite everyone telling her to quit dancing she continued on and switched from hip hop to lyrical for a slower pace. Dance became her escape from reality; her therapy. Shortly thereafter, she began her competition journey competing jazz, modern, lyrical and hip hop. After high school graduation, Krista formed a beginning competition team, consisting of children ages 5 to 10, and received several placement and judges choices awards. After two years of coaching her team, she decided to take a couple years off to focus on her family but recently jumped back in joining the AX family in 2018! This will be Krista’s 2nd year teaching the beginning level competition teams, Artistic Tots & Artistic Sweethearts.
Tayler Chock:
Tayler Chock started dancing at Heartland Dance Studio at the age of 3 in Brainerd Minnesota and later moved to Just For Kix Studio under the direction of Cindy Clough at the age of 8. She continued to dance there until she graduated from Brainerd High School. She took classes in high kick, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, and ballet. Tayler was also a 4 year member of her high school dance team “The Kixters”. She competed in both high kick and jazz throughout high school. After moving to Dickinson North Dakota she than was a co-coach with Megan VanSon for the Dickinson Midgettes and attended nationals two years with the high school team before starting at Artistic Exchange. Tayler is going into her 3rd year at Artistic Exchange and she is doing choreography for and working with the competition groups. She also taught the Nationals team last year where she received Category Winning awards for her lyrical duo. We are so thrilled to have Tayler on our staff and know that she is invaluable to us! Please show her some love!
Timothy Dobbins:
Timothy Dobbins is currently the ballet teacher at Artistic Exchange. He started his ballet training in Fargo and trained at Gaspers School of dance and Camria Ballet Academy. He then wanted further his ballet education and at the age of 14 decided to train at The Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington, CT. There he would stay in a dorm and dance classical ballet for 40 hours a week as well perform various ballets including Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Les Sylphides, Don Quixote, and Sleeping Beauty. During his off-season Tim would continue his ballet training at Ballet Arizona, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Next Generation Ballet where he would find his new home. At the age of 17 Tim became a trainee at Next Generation Ballet in Tampa, Fl. In Florida, Tim would continue to dance for 40 hours a week and perform regularly in ballets put on at the Straz Center. These included Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Balanchine’s Donizetti, and Cinderella. However, after an injury Tim decided to be closer to his family after they moved to Dickinson, ND and has found a new way to express his love for ballet through teaching. He is eternally grateful for every moment he has for sharing the knowledge that he has learned over his many years of dancing onto the next generation of children.
Lisa Lombard:
Lisa Lombard lives in South Heart with her dog Jax! She is originally from Wisconsin (GO PACK GO!) and moved to Dickinson in 2014 to be closer to her then 1st and only grandchild. She has 3 adult children and now 4 grandkids!
Lisa works at Prairie Rose Elementary as a special education paraprofessional. She has worked in the education field for 20 years between Head Start, Elementary level and High School level throughout the years in Wisconsin and North Dakota. Lisa was a gymnast thru middle school and made the high school dance team as a freshman. She was the team captain her senior year. Her daughter Morgyn started dance at the age of 4 and Lisa was a very active dance mom – always volunteering for recital duties! Lisa coached the Northwestern Tigers High School Dance team for 3 years prior to moving to ND. She attended many summer intensive classes and Just for Kix camps in Brainerd MN. Her team qualified for State 2 of the 3 years she coached POM. Lisa also judged neighboring towns try outs during her time as a coach. In Lisa’s spare time, she loves crafting, photography and spending time with her family – especially her grandkids!! Lisa’s granddaughter Addilyn has been with Artistic Exchange Dance Studio for 3 years and Lisa is so excited to join the AX team as a beginning ballet teacher. Instilling the love of dance with patience and positive/encouraging energy. She says it’s the best age to simply watch their love of dance start to grow and to see the smiles on their faces when they are so proud of their accomplishments and achievements.
Tiffany Johnson:
Tiffany Johnson is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher who recently graduated from The University of Minnesota with a BFA in Dance. She began dancing at age 7 with the local Just for Kix program, slowly transitioned to being a founding member of the local junior high dance team, continued with the varsity dance team throughout her 4 years of high school and also became a founding member of the competitive team at the Artistic Exchange Dance Studio. She has experience in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, modern, open, high kick, and pom. She has been teaching and choreographing for local studios and dance teams for 6 years. Tiffany also has experience in solo, duet, trio, and group choreography and has taught students who range in age from 3-18 years old. Tiffany is so excited to be back at the Artistic Exchange Dance Studio and can't wait to see all the dancers grow!
Madison Twardoski:
Madison is 19 years old, from Dickinson, ND, going through BSC for Nursing and is a Stay-at-Home Mom. If she’s not at home with her dogs and family, she’s at the gym! She has danced for 14 years. Madison started out with recreational than after a couple years she was competing. Having competed in lyrical, contemporary, jazz, open, modern, musical theater, tap, and hip hop. She was a hip hop teacher for 2 years during that time! Dance has always been a passion of hers and Madison is glad that she gets to share that with everyone!
