Stephani Thomas has been dancing for as long as she can remember. With over 20 years of dance education, she has studied many styles including ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, broadway/character, pointe, lyrical, pom, tumbling, and more. While in high school Stephani competed with her studio team and high school team winning state and national awards for technical points and choreography. She also competed with her high school show choir and student directed/choreographed the underclassmen. Stephani has had many years participating in and coaching recreational programs as well as competitive teams.

After graduation, Stephani moved to southern California where she studied at California Pacific College of Performing Arts and participated with The Young Americans. While there she took classes in education, psychology, stagecraft, voice, dance, acting, and more earning her a performance certificate. In her 2 and a half years with this group Stephani worked with children in Orange County, California, and traveled internationally to Germany, Holland, and Japan to teach music and dance to children of all ages and backgrounds. Miss Stephani has performed in more than 60 professional shows with this group. When you include her numerous recital, theater, and competition performances, she has totaled hundreds of performance opportunities in her life so far.

Performing and touring was a wonderful experience, but being “just a voice on the phone” was not the role she wanted to play in her family. Upon returning to Iowa, Stephani has had plenty of “big girl” jobs including teaching preschool, counseling troubled youth and young adults, and managing a swimming school. No matter what she was doing, she was always drawn back to teaching dance. After choreographing for show choirs, coaching dance team, working with Special Olympians, teaching tumbling and other dancing skills, and performing and choreographing for a professional indoor football league, she decided she could not fight it anymore and is now dedicating her time to make teaching dance a full time profession.

As Yume Dance Studio begins it's third season, Miss Stephani is so impressed with the progress her students have made. Not just in the technical aspects of dance, but in their personalities and life goals as well. It is so rewarding to see students gain confidence and self worth and it is an honor to help teach them these all important life skills.

Miss Stephani could not be more thrilled with the continuous support the community has shown already and is looking forward to making dance, tumbling, and more a part of the lives of the children in southwest Iowa for many years to come!