Our Teachers and Staff!
Angie McKenzie, Director
Owner and director Miss Angie, is in her 19th year of teaching here at Cody Center for the Performing Arts. Her enthusiasm for dance and the arts along with her friendly spirit extend far beyond the walls of the studio. Angie found her love for dancing at the age of 5 at Ladonna's School of Dance in Glendive, MT. Through the years she has studied many forms of dance including ballet, pointe, tap, modern, jazz and hip hop. As a young adult Angie decided to pursue a career in teaching dance because she always wanted to share the joy that comes with dancing and the beauty that it creates. She began as a student teacher with Ladonna Jimson and then later started teaching under the direction of Cindy Aune at CCPA. After training and teaching for 3 years, Angie purchased the studio in 2004 and became the director. She is always learning and working on her dance curriculum to help students grow in a way that is engaging and entertaining. Along with her love of dance Angie also enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, fishing and any time spent with her family. Angie’s husband Bryan works for the BLM in Cody and they have two boys Bradley and Stanley.
Laura Fambro Cook, Associate Director
Laura Fambro Cook dancer, choreographer, teacher, and producer who lives in Cody, Wyoming with her husband Rick and two children Trevor and Julia. A Texas native, Laura grew up dancing and baton twirling. She graduated from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas where she was a member of the dance team and head of baton twirlers. She was also a company member of the Angelo Dance Theater Jazz Dance Company. Laura earned her baton judging license from the National Baton Twirling Association.
In 1984 Laura started her position at Midland Lee High School, in Midland, Texas where she implemented a dance curriculum and served as founder and director of the Dixie Dolls Dance Team. After moving to Wyoming, Laura began a 13 year long career as professor and director of dance at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming where she taught jazz, modern, ballet, and social dance, and served as coach of the cheerleading squad. Laura founded and directed the Dance Electric Dance Team, which grew to be one of the leading dance programs in the region.
With the birth of her daughter, Laura retired from teaching at Northwest College to be a full time mom, and continues her longtime teaching position at the Cody Center for the Performing Arts. Today, she is in her 28th year at the center and serves as assistant director. Since 2005, Laura has been the producer of the Western Design Conference Fashion Show; a runway show that showcases the best of established and up and coming western fashion. Laura says her greatest joy is sharing her love of dance with her two kids.
Bethany Sandvik, Theatre Arts & Marketing Director, Dance Teacher
Bethany serves as CCPA's Marketing Director and teaches tap, musical theatre, intro to dance and creative movement. Sandvik is also the founder and Director of Studio Theatre at CCPA. She began her theatre career with Montana TheatreWorks as production stage manager for Damn Yankees. She then moved to Cleveland where she worked as a stage manager, actress, and director for Ensemble Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre and Moving Spaces Theatre Company. Bethany received her Masters in Arts Administration from Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2002. While in Philadelphia, she worked with Mum Puppettheatre and with the Drexel University Mandel Theatre. Bethany moved with her family to Cody in 2011 and began coaching/directing at Cody High School the fall of that year. Bethany served as treasurer for the Wyoming Educators of Secondary Theatre for four years. Bethany's award-winning "Cody Monologues" premiered at CCPA in 2016 and continues to run each summer.
Drew Murray, Music and Creative Movement
Drew Murray is working toward her Masters in Music Education at MSUB. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wyoming where she enjoyed performing and competing with several groups both in the US and internationally. She discovered her love for opera in undergrad and continues to participate in theatre in her home town of Cody and in Billings. Drew has appeared locally in Cody Community Theatre productions and played the role of “C” in Studio Theatre’s 2020 production of Three Tall Women. She teaches private voice lessons in the Cody area and loves exploring the unique vocal qualities each of her students possess. Drew is currently accepting adult and youth voice students at the Cody Center for the Performing Arts.
Katie Dallman, Valor Team Coach
Katie grew up in Portsmouth, NH and started gymnastics when she was 4 years old. She quickly learned the sport and went into competitive gymnastics with the YMCA under USAG where she won multiple state titles. From there she went onto Regionals, and into Nationals where she placed in the top 10 for 3 years. Katie was a level 10 gymnast when she stopped due to a shoulder injury. After graduating high school, she went into the Navy at 19 years old for six years. She is a combat Veteran who served in Afghanistan. She met her husband who was born and raised in Cody, and decided to move back to his hometown. They have three daughters. Katie started coaching Gymnastics in 2019, and since then, has dedicated herself to the competitive team in this small town. "Witnessing the girls reaching their goals, performing well, and watching their confidence grow is what makes it worth every day that I spend in the gym."
Growing up in a small town of Hooper UT dance was my favorite hobby. I also enjoyed hunting, riding horses and sitting the garden eating all the veggies! I have been dancing since the age of 3. Jazz, tap, hip hop and salsa all in elementary and drill team in High School. All-state dance team and drill mistress my senior year. I attended Weber State University where I cheered for 3 years. Moving to Cody in 2004 I became Cody High cheer coach and coached for 15 years. I enjoy coaching our Valor Team and look forward to watching our program grow. If I’m not coaching you can find me hunting, watching my kids in sports or traveling.
Kassie Smith, Valor Team Coach
Mackenzie Frey, Dance Assistant & Gymnastics Coach
Mackenzie has a dance and gymnastics background, including 10 years at Cody Center for the Performing Arts. She loves bringing in all the amazing things she learned in the company with her to teach others. When not coaching students, you can find Mackenzie spending time doing work for her Etsy shop, enjoying time outside, reading, and learning more things to incorporate in her lessons.
Michaela "Mo" Bell, Dance Teacher, Gymnastics Coach
"Growing up I have always looked up to my teachers and coaches. When the door opened to begin the journey to coach, I had to take up the position. I have been dancing at Cody Center of Performing Arts for 16 years. I want to show that gymnastics and dancing can be an outlet for the good and bad times. I am a huge Harry Potter fan with a few other fandoms on the side. Those fandoms show in the way I teach. I also want to create a safe place for everyone to blossom and become the best gymnast they can be. I also Assistant Coached for the Cody Color Guard. I want to become a personal trainer and a gymnastics coach for a career.
Karen Grimm, Gym Front Desk, Guest Dance Teacher
Growing up Karen learned a variety of dance including Tap, Jazz, African, Folk, Latin and Belly Dance. She first became acquainted with CCPA in 1995 when she enrolled her 2 children in kinder-dance. A couple of years later, Karen began helping with classes, taking classes and eventually teaching classes. She learned from such greats as Cindy Aune, Angie McKenzie, Elizabeth Miller and Will Grimm. This summer Karen was part of the acclaimed "Cody Monologues" where she honed her acting skills with writer/director Bethany Sandvik.
Go with a song on your lips and a smile in your heart...don't walk DANCE!
Elena Kitchen, Ballet Instructor
Elena grew up in Cody dancing at Cody Center for the Performing Arts from age 4 until graduation from Cody High School in 2012. After graduating from the University of Wyoming in 2016, she moved back to the Cody area and picked up teaching at CCPA as a way to get back into dance and help spread the love of the art to young students just like Miss Angie and Miss Laura did for her while she was growing up. Her favorite class to teach is ballet, and she strives to create a fun, welcoming atmosphere in her classes in order to promote an overall enjoyment of dance and foster positive relationships among the students.