Betsie Andrews

Betsie was raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and trained with Christine DeLazzaro White and Ronn Daniels in ballet, tap, and jazz from the age of six. In her teens, she was a charter member of the Ft. Lauderdale Civic Ballet Company. Since tap's resurgence across the country, she has renewed her love of rhythm tap studying with legendary tappers from all over the world.

She was director of Andrews Dance Studio 3100 for 20 years before founding ArtisTree in 1998. She is also Arts & Education Coordinator for Hutchinson's Fox Theatre and designs the Fox's By the Bus Informances for schools. She is also director of Prairie Nutcracker, a biennial holiday event at Hutchinson's Historic Fox Theatre, and serves on the Board of Prairie Nutcracker Foundation.

She received her elementary teaching degree from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois as well as majoring in International Political Science. She is also an alum of Semester at Sea (formerly World Campus Afloat).

After college, she danced professionally as a Rockette in New York's Radio City Music Hall, flew with Eastern Airlines, and taught school in Boston, Massachusetts and Rome, Italy. Marriage brought her to Hutchinson in 1975 where she taught 4th grade for two years in the Buhler District. She continued teaching arts programs at Union Valley School developing "ArtWorks" programs for schools.

She has choreographed for area high schools, Family Children's Theatre, Follies, Hutchinson Theatre Guild, and continues to perform locally.

Betsie and her late husband George have two grown daughters responsible for the founding of Toddler Tree preschool and Studio 3100, and today are fellow gardeners of the ArtisTree idea.

Sarah Snider

Sarah began her dance training at the age of 6 at Studio 3100 with 'Miss Betsie' Andrews. During her training with Studio 3100 and later with ArtisTree, Sarah also studied under 'Miss Emily' Skala Hull, 'Miss Katie' Williamson Flindall, 'Miss Melanie' Green, and 'Miss Marla' Blickhahn. She is also a charter cast member of Prairie Nutcracker.

Sarah graduated from St. Gregory's University, Oklahoma as a scholarship recipient and with a B.F.A sum cum laude in Entertainment Management with an emphasis in dance. While attending St. Gregory's, she trained under Liz Reiter, of the Gus Giordano Jazz Company, and Kim Oplotnik, ballet instructor from Oklahoma University. Sarah participated in St. Gregory's dance company and performed at several venues including the American College Dance Festivals.

After graduating in May 2006, Sarah was hired by St. Gregory's as their ballet instructor and beginning jazz instructor. Sarah also became the director of the first St. Gregory's University Dance Academy for students ages 4-16.

Sarah and her husband, Preston Snider live in Buhler. They have four children - Cate, Simon, Will and Anna - who spend much of their week in the studio dancing, helping out, and spending time amid their extended ArtisTree family.

Marla Blickhahn

Marla was raised in Anaheim, California and trained in the Los Angelos area in a variety of disciplines and teachers including jazz with Joe Tremain, ballet with Stanley Holden and ethnic dance at Orange Coast Community College.

She joined the staff of ArtisTree's Dance Branch in 2003 sharing the richness of her California training and teaching experiences.

She, her husband, Henry, Director of Christian Education for Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hutchinson, and their son have lived in Hutchinson, Kansas since 1999.

Marla is also owner of Necessities, Past, Present & Future, a popular outdoor and indoor antique shop in Hutchinson's antique district & Voila! a vintage boutique housed in the Parkside Building adjacent to ArtisTree.

When she's not at home, in her shop, on ArtisTree's dance floor or the stage of a local theatre, she can be found reading a good book, at the movies, antique-ing or shopping.

Marie Maugans-Coleman

Marie studied dance with Patrick and Jennifer Crommet from the Royal Winnapeg Ballet, Carol Iwasaki of Ballet West, and Annette Thornton, Artistic Director of the Newton Dance Center. She has studied with various dance teachers including Thalia Mara, William Christiansen, and Rosella Hightower.

She was a dance instructor and choreographer for over 25 years at The Newton Dance Center, Bethel College, and with Newton Community Theatre and a number of area high schools and colleges before moving to Hutchinson in 2005. Artistree has been her dance home ever since.

Full time she is a nurse practitioner at COMCARE of Sedgwick County. Her husband is Dr. Robert Coleman, a podiatrist in Hutchinson since 1985. Seven children and eight grandchildren keep her busy between working full time, gardening, and dancing.

Rhiannon Vieyra

Rhiannon was born and raised in Hutchinson, KS, and is a graduate of Artistree. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Wichita State University with a BA in Dance and a minor in Exercise Science. She is the George, Dick, and Harry award recipient of her graduating class within the WSU dance department. Rhiannon has received two Koch Cultural Trust Enabling Grants to aid her in training with Parsons Dance in New York City, and Paul Taylor Dance Company in Baltimore, and has also studied with Martha Graham Dance Company, Williams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and Limon Dance Company through summer intensive programs.

Rhiannon is a current company member with Regina Klenjoski Dance Company (RKDC) based in Wichita, KS. Rhiannon has performed with RKDC, Metropolitan Ballet Wichita, Ballet Salina, Prairie Nutcracker, SmackDab Dance Lab, and at the Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis with RKDC. While at WSU and with RKDC she has worked with choreographers Tristian Griffin, Chad Michael Hall, Darell Grand Moultrie, Mary Lynn Graves, Jammie Walker, Julie Fiorenza, Sabrina Vasquez, Cheyla Clawson, Nick Johnson & Denise Celestin. In addition to teaching at Artistree, She also teaches in Wichita at Jill Landrith School of Dance, and is the ballet coach for 316 Gymnastics Academy. Rhiannon is also a level 1 certified instructor in Progressing Ballet Technique.

Mara Whitaker Klenda

Mara began her ballet training at the age of three in Tacoma, Washington. She has studied with David Howard, George de la Pena, Rebecca Wright, Kimberly Glasco, Boston Ballet School, Wichita State University, and chiefly with Nancy Hervey and Jill Landrith at Nancy Hervey School of Ballet in Wichita, Kansas.

In 1989, Mara joined Ballet Wichita, formerly Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita, as a junior member. In 1995 she was promoted to soloist, and to principal in 1998. Her roles include Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop Fairy, and nearly every other female role in "The Nutcracker", Effie in "La Sylphide", Mazurka in "Les Sylphide", "Paquita", Little Swan in "Swan Lake", Coppelia in "Coppelia" and many others. Mara created roles in Jill Landrith's "Merlin's Song", "Blue", "Torch", and others. Mara also worked with guest choreographers Sean Duus of Kansas City Ballet and Rebecca Wright, formerly of American Ballet Theatre. In 1999 Mara was awarded the Kansas Cultural Trust.

Mara has been a ballet teacher and choreographer in Kansas since the late 1990s. She has been on staff with ArtisTree for over 10 years as Ballet Mistress and now shares the role of Ballet Mistress with Miss Jill. She loves to read and practices Pilates and yoga in her spare time.

Mara and her husband, Chris, are the proud parents of two sons, Digby and Bodie. In the Spring of 2019 Mara became Associate Director and Ballet Mistress of Ballet Salina under the Direction of Tamara Howe, Director of Tamara's School of Dance.

Laura Rocco Mourn

Laura's dance training is rooted in ArtisTree (then Studio 3100) with "Miss Betsie" Andrews. While dancing at Studio 3100, she also studied under "Miss Marian" Fey, "Miss Kara" Davis, "Miss Lori" League, and "Miss Jacque" Eaton. In her early years as a dance instructor with Studio 3100, Laura was also a member of Mosaic Dance Group under the direction of Smruti Patel.

She began assisting dance classes under Miss Betsie while in high school & continued teaching dance at ArtisTree while attending college. She graduated from Sterling College with a degree in elementary education.

She and her husband, Justin Mourn, are charter members of Prairie Nutcracker.

In her 19 years in education, she has taught 2nd, 3rd and 5th grades, as well as junior highschool, in Kansas and Colorado.

She currently teaches agriculture education to area elementary classes as well as teaching her own children.

After living in Denver, Colorado and south central Kansas, Laura, Justin, and their children, Charis and Benjamin are pleased to find themselves back on the plains of Kansas and back at ArtisTree for her 14th year of dance instruction.

Brandon Medeiros

Brandon Medeiros is a 31-year-old breakdancer (better known as “Bboy” or “Breaker”) from Massachusetts. At 29, he decided it was time to see what the world had to offer and ended up in Hutchinson with the intention of sharing awareness of true hip-hop culture and to hopefully inspire a hip-hop community to grow among those willing to learn through breaking classes.

Though primarily a breaker, Brandon has been exposed to multiple styles of the hip-hop dances, as well as taken choreography classes. In the years of being immersed in the hip-hop culture, Brandon has won competitions that he and his dance crew “Swift Charakterz Kruh” competed in. Brandon has gained many experiences from teaching in studios, after school programs, and Boys and Girls Clubs. He was even allowed the opportunity to tour and perform with The Funky Bunch (formerly known as “Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch”) as one of their backup dancers.