Barefoot Dance Studios

We offer a vibrant year-round program featuring a variety of styles, including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Musical Theatre, Hip Hop, Modern, Acro, and Tumbling. Our stunning recitals and performance opportunities make every moment memorable, connecting our dancers to the community and beyond!

We offer a vibrant year-round program featuring a variety of styles, including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Musical Theatre, Hip Hop, Modern, Acro, and Tumbling. Our stunning recitals and performance opportunities make every moment memorable, connecting our dancers to the community and beyond! With four state-of-the-art dance studios, we’re excited to help you find the perfect schedule for your family.

Preschool and Kindergartners Grasshoppers (Mini Hip-Hop) begins dancers off with basic Hip-Hop skills for children. This fun and high energy class is a jumping off point for our youngest students. Students learn age/level appropriate choreography. Each class meets once a week and performs in our annual recital.

In this class children will learn beginning positions, skills, and gymnastics terms, along with basic body awareness, coordination and balance, flexibility, communication, and social interaction. This class meets once a week and performs in our annual recital.

Mini Tap begins dancers off with basic Tap skills. This class is a jumping off point for our younger students. This class meets once a week and performs two dances in our annual recital. Combine with Creative Movement 2!

Creative Movement 2 Ages 4-5 - Kindergarten Creative Movement 1 and 2 combines a focus on basic dance technique along with creative locomotive exercises for beginning dancers. These classes meet once a week and perform in our annual recital.

Creative Movement 1 Ages 3-4 - First Year of Preschool Creative Movement 1 and 2 combines a focus on basic dance technique along with creative locomotive exercises for beginning dancers. These classes meet once a week and perform in our annual recital.

Morgan Pettyjohn is an accomplished dancer and dedicated apprentice with the South Dakota Ballet, where she continues to refine her craft. With 15 years of experience at Barefoot, she has trained with prestigious institutions such as Colorado Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and South Dakota Ballet, and worked with renowned companies and choreographers like Synthesis Dance and Moraporvida.

Garrett Amirehteshami co-teaches Musical Theater at Barefoot Dance Studio with his wife, Miss Kate. A two-time national champion with Los Alamitos High School’s Show Choir, including a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Garrett also performed with the ensemble in a production of Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl featuring Corbin Bleu, John Stamos, and Nick Jonas.

Miss Rian has been dancing since the age of seven and has over four years of experience in dance education. She trained at Barefoot Dance Studios until her junior year of high school. While she has experience in ballet, lyrical, hip hop, jazz, and tap, her true passion lies in contemporary and modern dance.

Miss Hannah grew up dancing and competing at Barefoot Dance Studios from ages 3 to 18. She discovered her passion for teaching three years ago and has been inspiring students ever since. Miss Hannah has experience in a wide range of styles but especially adores Tap, Modern, and Ballet.

Miss Katelyn grew up in the Black Hills and has been dancing, choreographing, and involved in theatre in the Rapid City community since 2009. She was part of Barefoot’s first competition team and has been teaching dance for 5 years.

Miss Sarah Pettyjohn began dancing as a child in New Mexico, studying classical ballet at Ballet de Santa Fe, Dance Arts Los Alamos, and the University of New Mexico, where she also explored modern dance, flamenco, and salsa.

Mary Ann Hodnett pioneered hip hop dance education in the Black Hills, she freelanced as a choreographer on the East Coast and created a preschool curriculum called Miss Cupcake’s Yoga Hoop Dance. Now back home, she is eager to share her extensive experience.

Mary Ann Hodnett will be teaching Early Childhood classes. She is a Rapid City, SD native, captained the Cobbler Coeds Dance Team before graduating cum laude in Dance Management from Oklahoma City University. During college, she competed in the Miss America Organization.