Sara Drake Budd is the owner/director of Drake Dance Academy.
Sara Drake Budd (Owner/Director)
Sara Drake started dance training at the age of three and began choreographing musicals for Silver Creek High School Theater at 14. She majored in BFA Dance Performance at Ball State University where she was a member of the ballet company for four years. After college she began her professional career dancing at Kings Island. Since then she has toured with magician Steve Zigmont and spent a year dancing in Anthony Reed's Magic Show in Saipan. She danced for five seasons in Branson, Missouri. Her credits there include The Shoji Tabuchi Show, Brett Daniels Magic and Beyond, Dino's Christmas Spectacular (which was nationally televised), and the Clay Cooper Show. She worked for two years as a dancer / showgirl in the world famous Folies Bergere in Las Vegas. Her television credits include dancing parts on "The World Series of Poker", "Chris Angel Mindfreak", "The Academy of Country Music Awards", "Dino's Christmas Special" and "The Surreal Life All-stars". Sara has been teaching and assisting dance classes for 30 years and opened Drake Dance Academy in 2010.
Valerie Canon (Advanced Ballet Instructor)
Valerie Canon earned her BFA from the University of Oklahoma in Ballet Performance. Valerie danced with Louisville Ballet and has danced professionally in France, Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, and Indiana. Some of her favorite roles include: Giselle from Giselle, Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen from The Nutcracker, Coppelia from Coppelia, among others. She has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years for ages two through adult. When she is not teaching, Valerie enjoys acting, singing, dancing, directing, and choreographing for local theater companies. Valerie has three daughters, Athena,Calliope and Artemis (baby ballerinas in training) and a wonderful husband, Dan, who is very supportive of all of Valerie’s artistic endeavors. “Ballet is not technique but a way of expression that comes more closely to the inner language of man than any other.” - George Borodin
Karis Wigland (Advanced Hip-hop)
Karis Wigand started her dance career at the age of 4 At Dance Central Academy of Performing Arts where she continued to further her dance studies for 14 years in multiple styles of dance including contemporary, lyrical, ballet, hip hop, clogging, jazz, modern, and musical theater. She started dancing competitively with her studio at the age of 7 and has competed in many styles throughout those years. Along with dancing at Dance Central Academy, she also danced on her local high school dance team and competed in the styles of Pom, hip hop, and jazz. She is now currently a division one athlete on the Bellarmine University Dance team where she attends college.