MADISON AUDETTE

Madison Audette started dancing at age 4 in her hometown in Illinois. Upon moving to O’ahu, she continued her training at James B. Castle High school’s Performing Arts Center, studying under Natalie Jolly Uehara and Kelly Wadlegger. She then went on to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she graduated in May 2022 with a double major in Dance and Anthropology. 

While at UHM, Miss Madison attended the Asia Pacific Dance Festival Intensive in 2019, taught by Kumu Hula Michael Pili Pang, Ask Dance Company, and Dancers of Damelahamid. She also attended a workshop led by Yung Yung Tsuai Lerner, a former dancer and teacher for the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. In the spring of 2022, Miss Madison’s choreography was presented at the Hawaii State Art Museum. Her performances with UHM include Integral Bodies, directed by Peiling Kao; In Sphere, by Kumu Hula Vicki Holt Takamine; and Co-Motion, a collaborative piece with Tau Dance Theatre’s director Peter Rockford Espiritu.

Miss Madison was a teaching and performance assistant at Castle High School with Kelly Wadlegger before joining KDA’s team in 2018 as a teaching and administrative assistant. She spent three years as a teacher trainee under Miss Amy before taking on her own classes in 2021. She enjoys passing on her love of dance to the next generation of dancers, and when she is not teaching, she can often be found at our front desk helping our dancers with finding their class or fitting a pair of shoes.

JENNIFER GAGE

Ms. Jennifer has 25 years’ experience teaching all levels of ballet, contemporary, pointe, and jazz. Hailing from the midwest, she spent 13 years as Artistic Director and Founder of the Alliance Dance Company, and 3 years as Owner and Founder of NorthSide Dance Theatre. From 2017-2019, she served as the Academy Director for the Todd Rosenlieb Dance Center, and served as Ballet Mistress/Rehearsal Assistant for Joel Hall and Dancers (2002-2004), Ballet Enter Nous (1996-2007), and Ballet Theatre North (1995). She trained with prestigious programs, including the Joffrey Ballet in NYC, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Ellis-DuBoulay School of Ballet, and the Baker-VanCura Dance Conservatory. As a dancer, her career spanned 30+ years performing and guesting throughout the Chicago area.

As a teacher, Ms. Jennifer strives to give her students an age-appropriate and level-appropriate class, emphasizing the importance of placement, technique, and detail in order to prevent injury and help our dancers achieve a sustainable relationship with dance.

KIRSTEN GARNER

Ms Kirsten is a licensed physical therapist assistant with an extensive background in dance. She started dancing at the age of 4 after begging her mother to start lessons. She went on to compete with a team based in Houston for the next 12 years performing in multiple genres of dance. At 16, Kirsten joined the pre-professional ballet company BalletForte to continue pursuing her love of ballet. Kirsten earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in dance from Sam Houston State University in 2016. Kirsten continued performing and teaching for the next 2 years before going back to school for physical therapy in 2018. After graduation, Kirsten continued to teach while incorporating the things she learned to help prevent injury and improve technical progress in her students. Kirsten hopes to continue sharing her love of dance and knowledge of kinesiology with students of all ages to help them become the best that they can be. 

JENNY RILEY-DOYLE

Ms Jenny started ballet classes at the age of 10 at her hometown theater in Nordhausen (former East Germany) where her ballet training was based on the Vaganova system (Russian ballet style). She went to college in Kaiserslautern from 1995-1999 to study business administration where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in business. She continued her dance training at several ballet schools in the area including  the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern where she also took on acting roles in "Der weiße Rössl" and "Black Rider". At age 20, Miss Jenny started teaching preballet and beginning ballet students at the Fairy Tale Dance Studio in Ramstein, Germany.

Upon moving to California, Ms Jenny trained at the Academy of Ballet in San Francisco and the San Francisco Dance Center with many teachers from Russia, America and England. She became certified as a Ballet Master with Dance Masters of America, Inc at the age of 25. She worked at the Travis Air Force Base Youth Center as the Ballet Director and Artistic Director where she taught all ages and levels and put on several productions like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake with about 100 dancers.

After moving back to Germany, Ms Jenny taught ballet, pilates, and yoga at several studios and fitness centers. She also participated in many dance workshops in Germany and worked with internationally renowned teachers. In 2010, she opened her own studio for Dance, Yoga and Pilates and German lessons in Kaiserslautern - "Grace Studio” - and ran it successfully for 8 years serving the German as well as American military community. In 2015 and 2016, her studio won the Stars and Stripes readers award as "Best Dance Studio" in the area.  Her students also performed for charity events and at festivals. The school grew to a student number of 500 and gave her the opportunity to work with more than 80 dance and yoga teachers from all over the world.  Five of her ballet students got accepted into the very prestigious ballet academy in Germany "Akademie des Tanzes, Mannheim" which prepares students for a professional career. 

In 2018, Ms Jenny moved to Hawaii where she has taught at Ballet Hawaii, Page Academy of Dance, Kroc Center, Destination Dance, Queen Emma Ballet, Hawaii Ballet Theatre, and Pas de Deux Hawaii.