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Our studio
Bringing joy through dance
TC Dance strives to offer a diversified program of dance to all age groups and abilities. Our goal is to provide a complete curriculum for the students, stressing a quality dance education, regardless of future plans in the dance world. We strive to do what is best for each student so that he or she may grow technically and personally.
TC Dance provides a happy atmosphere in which young people can develop not only strong dance technique but also a healthy body, confidence, musicality and creativity.
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Maude-Jo Yerrick
Director/Owner
Maude-Jo started dancing at TC Dance the very first year it opened, over 35 years ago. She began teaching when she was a junior in high school and continued to teach while she completed her Associate of Science in Business from IPFW, with a minor in Dance and Dance Pedagogy. She was involved in the Miss America scholarship program for three years, winning 3 preliminary pageants and the talent award for her tap routine at Miss Indiana. Maude-Jo has been featured on the TV show Dance Fever on ABC Family. She performed in the onboard production shows for Royal Caribbean, has been a magician’s assistant and a back-up dancer for an Elvis impersonator, has chorepgraphed many regional and national awarded dances, and most recently, choreographed the nationally released feature film Carol. Maude-Jo loves sharing her passion for dance with all the talented students at the academy and is proud to call TC Dance her home. Maude-Jo and her husband Ryan are excited to be the new owners of TC Dance Academy!
Meghan Nowels
Front Desk Manager/Teacher
Meghan has been a teacher at TC Dance since 2020 and is excited to step behind the desk and begin her new journey as the new Office Manager. She is very excited to step into this expanded role and work more behind the scenes while continuing to teach. Meghan is honored to teach at TC Dance where her journey with dance began. Meghan danced at TC Dance for thirteen years and was a part of the competition team for 9 years. Meghan began choreographing her sophomore year of high school when she began working with Jo Drudge and Gaslight Children’s Theater. She choreographed six musicals during her time with Gaslight. Meghan is a graduate of IUPUI where she majored in Tourism and Event Management and minored in Philanthropic Studies. While in college Meghan was a part of a dance company called The Moving Company at IUPUI. During her time with the Moving Company Meghan served as Secretary, President and served as a student choreographer all four years of her undergraduate studies. She is very excited for her fourth year of teaching and her first year behind the desk!
Christine Rash
Teacher
Christine was the founder, owner with her husband, and director of TC Dance Academy for the Performing Arts. She is a graduate of Ball State University where she majored in physical education and dance. Christine began the Academy in 1989 with 39 students and 35 years later the enrollment has grown to 903 students! Dancers under her direction and choreography have received top honors in regional and national dance competitions, pageants, pursued collegiate degrees in dance, professional status and acclaimed television exposure. Over the years, Christine has received local and national recognition and awards. Christine and her husband, Skip, are proud to have recently transferred the ownership of the Academy to one of Christine’s protegees - Maude Jo Yerrick and her husband Ryan. The relationship between Christine and Maude- Jo began 35 years ago when Maude- Jo started dancing at the Academy. Christine is now semi-retired and continues to teach tap dance one day a week. Together, Christine and Skip have three children and five grandchildren.
Darilyn Ruse
Front Desk
How can it be that I’ve been a part of this dance studio for over 37 years? I’m much too young for that! I began as a custodian and costume coordinator then started working at the desk part time. I then became the assistant director, office manager, and now I am semi-retired and work the front desk one day a week. I am married to RJ and have 3 children. Most importantly, I am also a grandma to three wonderful granddaughters! Oh wait…I’m much too young for that too! When people ask me “What do you do at the dance studio?” I reply “Everything but dance!
Shelby Carmichael
Dance/Tumbling Instructor
Shelby Carmichael has been teaching dance and tumbling at TC Dance since 2017, but her journey with the studio started long before that. She grew up dancing at TC, training in ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, lyrical, and hip hop. Over the years, she’s had some amazing experiences—like attending a 6-week intensive at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, performing in The Nutcracker with the Russian Moscow Ballet, and competing at both regional and national levels with her TC Dance team. Shelby also has a strong background in gymnastics, having competed for many years at her mother’s former gymnastics school, TLC Gymnastics Center. She’s been teaching tumbling for over 15 years and loves helping students build strength, confidence, and new skills. In college, she danced for two seasons with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and earned the title of Miss Limberlost through the Miss America Scholarship Organization. She graduated from Purdue University Fort Wayne with a degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication. When she’s not at the studio, Shelby works as a licensed Paraplanner and Client Service Representative at AMI Investment Management. She lives in LaGrange with her family and loves being part of the TC Dance community. Shelby is so excited to continue sharing her passion for acro and dance with all of her students!
Lynette Farrington
Dance/Tumbling Instructor
Lynette Farrington is passionate about dance, especially ballet. Lynette started her teaching career at the Patricia Krus School of Dance in Garrett, IN where she taught all genres, and was the head ballet teacher at the end of her 16 years teaching there. Lynette then opened Turning Pointe Dance Academy in 2005. She was devoted to all aspects of the business for the past 15 years. During Turning Pointe Dance Academy’s history, she was honored with numerous choreography, entertainment, costume and overall awards. The studio was award winning with its competition team that included 8 national championships and 3 victory cup awards. Lynette is a judge for the Star Dance Alliance where she judges dance competitions regionally and nationally throughout the country. She has also choreographed for Eastside Jr/Sr High School for the past 20 years for junior high and high school show choir and musicals and DeKalb Middle school for 12 years also doing show choir and musicals. Lynette started dancing at age 4 at Sara’s School of Dance in Angola, IN then was a student at the Patricia Krus School of Dance in Garrett, IN. She danced with the Young Michigan Dancers while in high school. Also during her high school years, she was given the opportunity teach dance on her own with local children in the town of Ashley, IN where she grew up. Lynette continued her dance education at Ball State University where she was a member of the university’s Dance Theatre and IPFW where she completed the dance minor degree. Lynette holds a teaching certification from Cecchetti Counsel of America, the Italian method of ballet, and is a certified instructor for Acrobatic Arts. She continues to stay educated herself taking classes at the Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the American Ballet Theatre New York. Lynette lives in Auburn with her son, Alex Dudash. Alex has danced for 16 years and graduated from Garrett High School this year. Alex will be attending Columbia College Chicago where he will be double majoring in dance and business. Teaching dance has always been Lynette’s passion and she is looking forward to sharing that passion with the students of TC Dance.
Sydney Hamblin
Dance Instructor
Sydney Hamblin is ecstatic to be entering another year of teaching at TC Dance! She grew up dancing at TC Dance for 13 years and was a part of the competition team for 11 years. She attended many regional and national dance competitions, conventions, master classes and performed in numerous theatre productions at East Noble High School. Aside from TC, Sydney is a senior at Purdue University Fort Wayne where she is studying communication with a journalism concentration and a minor in public relations. She hopes to become a book editor after she graduates! In her free time, Sydney enjoys going on walks with her dog Murray, reading, painting and spending time with friends and family. She is so excited to enter her first year of teaching at the studio she has called home for so many years. She hopes to instill her passion for dance into her talented students and give them a place to have fun and express themselves.
Kim Berkley
Dance Instructor
Over the past 20 years she has enjoyed sharing her passion for dance with all of her students. She is also an alumni of TC Dance. During Kim's teaching career her dancers have received many regional and national titles, pageant titles, and professional careers in dance. Kim received her Bachelor's Degree from Ball State University with high honors Magna Cum Laude. She majored in Dance Performance and minored in Dance Education and Business Management. While at Ball State she performed and choreographed for the Ball State Dance Theatre. During her senior year she was awarded Dancer of the Year and the Senior Choreography Project Award along with several other awards for her dedication to dance at the collegiate level. Currently Kim resides in Fort Wayne with her husband Rob, their son Blake, and twins Sullivan and Noelle.
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Christina Mast
Dance Instructor
Miss Christina grew up dancing at TC Dance. She graduated from Anderson University in 2019 with degrees in Secondary Mathematics Education and Dance Complementary. After graduation she returned to her hometown of Ligonier, IN. That fall, she began teaching math at Warsaw High School. Then, in the fall of 2022, she was hired by her alma mater, West Noble, to teach math. In 2020, she began teaching dance classes at TC. After taking a year off, she returned and is now entering her fifth year.
Ashley Miller
Dance Instructor
Ashley Miller began dancing when she was 3 years old. She trained in tap, jazz, ballet, and contemporary at the Patricia Krus School of Dance in Garrett, Indiana. She became most passionate about tap due to her love of rhythm and motion. Ashley attended countless dance conventions where she took classes from nationally renowned instructors and choreographers including Laurie Johnson, Ryan Lohoff and the Emmy nominated choreographer, Greg Russell. While in high school, Ashley's self-choreographed tap solo was recognized for its excellence by Dance Olympus where she won Regional Champion and further went on to compete for "Dancer of the Year" in New York City. She also auditioned in NYC and was picked to be a V.I.P. Dancer for the 2004 Summer Dance Olympus Convention Tour. During this tour she traveled the country and took daily classes in all styles of dance with the nation’s foremost elite choreographers, assisted these choreographers on the convention platform, performed routines in the faculty show, and was a mentor for hundreds of aspiring dancers. Ashley began her teaching career in 2008 at the Turning Pointe Dance Academy after finishing her Bachelor of Arts degree at Indiana University, Bloomington where she majored in biology and minored in sociology. She also competed in IU's ballroom dance team while attending school. During Ashley's teaching career, her tap students have won six National Championship titles. She has been recognized on four occasions as an Outstanding Choreographer by the Star Dance Alliance. She is dedicated to spreading her love of rhythm, sound and motion with the students of TC Dance.
Becca Patton
Dance Instructor
This is Becca's sixth year teaching at TC Dance. She feels blessed to be surrounded by amazing students, staff and parents each and every week. Becca grew up dancing at TC Dance for 15 years. Throughout her dance career, Becca spent 9 years competitively dancing, attending many master classes and conventions and also spent 2 summers at the Radio City Rockette Summer intensive. She has also choreographed several musicals and been a member of a few dance troupes. Aside from TC, Becca is a Trine University graduate, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree. She is currently studying in Manchester's Master of Athletic Training program. Becca loves teaching her students and looks forward to always having the love of dance in her life.
Julie Sizemore
Dance Instructor
Julie Sizemore celebrates her 7th year teaching at TC Dance! She is the founder of Dazzle Dance and Cheer in Muncie Indiana. She has taught dance and been choreographing national award-winning dances for over 30 years. Her former students can be seen in professional dance companies all over the country. Julie continues to train with guest artists and attends conventions and workshops to stay up to date with the current dance trends, to learn new styles, and to gain knowledge of the current methods in the dance medicine world. She is certified in Progressive Ballet Technique and has completed many other courses on the proper training of dance athletes through safe stretch, strength, and technique. She is also proud to have worked personally with many amazing tap professionals over the years, honing her skills as an accomplished tap dance choreographer and educator. These tap teachers include Brenda Bufalino, Kaelyn Gray, Mike Minery, Mark Goodman, Cory Finn, Ryan Lohoff, Anthony Morigerato, Greg Russell, and Charles McGowan. She wants her students to know how proud she is of all their achievements this year!
Jenna Zabona
Dance/Tumbling Instructor
Miss Jenna is a proud TC Dance alumna and a 2020 graduate of East Noble High School. Over her ten years at TC, she loved competing at both regional and national levels, performing in East Noble theatre productions, and attending prestigious dance conventions. Miss Jenna was also a member of East Noble's gymnastics team, where she blended her unique tumbling skills into her competitive dance routines, a passion that continues to shape her style today. She has performed in The Nutcracker with the Moscow Russian Ballet, modeled for Motionwear dance and gymnastics apparel, and showcased her talent on the Miss America's Outstanding Teen stage in 2018. Jenna is a recent 2025 dual graduate of Trine University, where she earned both her bachelor's degree and M.B.A. During her time at Trine, she served as captain of the High Voltage Dance Team, leading her team to a national championship title in Division III Hip Hop at the 2025 College Classic. Outside of the studio, Jenna is Miss Limberlost 2025 and very involved within the Miss Indiana Organization. She is thrilled to be returning for her 5th year of teaching at TC, where she hopes to continue inspiring young dancers to chase their dreams.
Amanda Caywood
Tumbling Instructor
Miss Amanda is elated to join the TC Dance group as an instructor for the tumbling classes. She began gymnastics at the age of 6 and competed through her senior year of high school. She had the pleasure of competing in Florida and making the National Tumbling team. Since high school, she has earned a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and continued her love of gymnastics through coaching. She has continued to assist her high school gymnastics teams, coached at the CCC as well as many other places.
