Turn Up the Music, Turn Up the Fun!
What started in Lonnie Liddell’s living room in 2008 has grown to become a life force within the community. Under her direction, Sisters Dance Academy is a place where everyone of all ages and skill levels can experience the joy and magic of dance.
Studio Location
Ray’s Shopping Center
625 N Arrowleaf Trail, Sisters
Office Hours
Mon-Thur 3:30-8:30 p.m.
Fri 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Phone
(541) 719-1208
Meet the Joy-Makers!
Our teachers and staff are simply incredible. They are highly trained, dedicated professionals with hearts of gold. They not only inspire a love of dance movement and fitness, but they also foster an inclusive environment that builds confidence and determination.
LONNIE LIDDELL
OWNER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
From Bellingham, Wash. Lonnie is trained in classical ballet, lyrical, jazz, tap, hip hop, and ballroom. She danced with The Morca Dance Academy, Vision’s Dance Company of Canada, The Nancy Whyte School of Ballet, and Elizabeth Roper’s School of Ballet. She studied dance at Eastern Washington University and Brigham Young University. She and her family moved to Sisters in 2006 when she began teaching locally. She taught out of her home before opening SDA in 2009. She is best known for her warmth, enthusiasm, and ability to foster an inclusive community of dance.
KAYLA WILLIAMS
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER
Kayla's dance journey began in jazz, then branched into ballet, hip hop, tap, modern, and contemporary. She has a B.S. in Dance from the University of Idaho, an M.A in Teaching from Oregon State University, and specializes in fitness and injury prevention. Kayla has taught across Central Oregon, Idaho, and even Shanghai, China, and cultivates a passion for dance and the arts in her students. She has performed with many great dance artists including Bill T. Jones, Sherry Zunker, Christopher K Morgan, and Susan Hadley. She has been with SDA since 2013.
SHANNON ABERO GUERRERO
HIP HOP
Shannon discovered her love for dance during high school in San Jose. After graduating with a BA from California State University, Long Beach she toured with the Asian Singers, Memoirs of a Geisha, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and worked with Nike. She performed at Monsters of Hip Hop, The House of Blues in LA, and was a member of the Funkenometry Dance Company. She has trained with Wade Robson and Tabitha and Napoleon (So You Think You Can Dance), and Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake’s choreographer). She moved with her family to Bend in 2011 and sharing her love of dance with SDA since 2013.
ASHLEY GAONA
HIP HOP
Born and raised in Bend, Ashley is know for her musicality, which she honed at COCC while studying music education and conducting, and while singing in several productions of the Obsidian Opera. She has studied at DNCR Academy and with world-renowned hip hop choreographers. She danced with Dirtball, the Hot Shots, Globetrotters, and Lady Dice. She has taught at Sisters Dance Academy since 2018. She truly believes she has the best job in the world because there is nothing better than spreading the joy of dance.
AVA WILEY
PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLES
Ava is a master of dynamic and inventive movement and technique across genres. She has quickly established herself at Sisters Dance Academy since joining in 2024. Ava grew up dancing at The Vibe in Bend and graduated Bend High School and then Oregon State University. Beyond dance, Ava is also an avid photographer including outdoor dance-themed portraits.
ALLISON BOHRER
HIP HOP
Teaching, dancing, and community building come naturally to Allison. As the founder of Commonplace, the homeschool collaborative in Sisters, she brings that same positive, engaging approach to Sisters Dance Academy. As a mom to three dancing daughters — one in each of SDA’s teams! — she creates age-appropriate choreography that fosters confidence and a love of movement.
LIZ LOPEZ
JAZZ, LATIN JAZZ
Liz is a versatile dancer with a deep appreciation for both technique and performance. She studied ballet, jazz, tap, flamenco, and acrobatics from age three to 18 at Zaydance Studio in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She also studied classical ballet at the Raymond Mauge Thoniel Ballet School to advance her ballet technique and artistic expression. Throughout her training, she fell in love with Latin rhythms, including salsa, Latin jazz, flamenco, and tropical dances.
Liz leverages the breath and depth of her training to teach her students to perform with elegance, passion, joy —and lots of energy! This is because dancing is more than a passion for her. It allows her to share not only movement and technique, but it is her way of expressing love, culture, and rhythm and building confidence and creativity. Dance has brought so much to joy to her life that she wants to inspire every student to discover their own love for dance. Since moving to Sisters in 2024, she has enjoyed bringing the beauty and excitement of Latin dance to our community, while spending quality time with her family.
RACHEL LILLEY
JAZZ, BALLET, LYRICAL, CONTEMPORARY
Rachel considers SDA home, having grown up dancing at the studio since it opened when she was four years old. She danced in the Performance Ensemble for eight years, and taught at SDA during her last two years of high school. She studied dance and math at Oberlin College, where she earned a B.A. She loves incorporating elements of musical theater into her choreography, which is inspired by years of performing in choir and musicals, including Newsies at Bend’s Tower Theatre and The Ordering of Moses at Carnegie Hall. She is committed to making her classes as safe and effective for dancers as possible, using sports science research to continually improve her teaching methods. Her eye for detail allows her to bring out the best in each dancer. She is so excited to be back home, sharing her love of dance at SDA!
BECCA LIPUMA
CONTEMPORARY
Becca fell in love with dance at a young age and grew up dancing in Fort Collins, Colorado. She has trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and contemporary and started teaching dance in high school. While earning her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science at Grand Canyon University, she continued teaching and dancing on several dance companies, including Tap 24/7 and Justin Giles’ Soul Escape. During this time, she also worked for Nexstar dance competition. After starting a career in the world of wildlife rehabilitation and education, Becca moved to Bend, Oregon. She’s been living in Sisters since 2024, and is thrilled to be a part of the SDA family!
MADDIE
HIP HOP, URBAN CONTEMPORARY
Maddie’s positive and encouraging teaching style allows dancers to develop their self-expression and to build their confidence with rhythm and musicality. Before moving with her husband to Bend in 2026, Maddie taught for over 10 years in Olympia, Washington, and danced with Audacity Cru, and adult hip hop crew in Seattle. Beyond dance, she also loves expressing her creativity through her interior design business, paddle boarding, biking, and exploring Central Oregon.
KAMRYN SHERMAN
Jazz, Contemporary
Kamryn has a special place in her heart for small town dance studios. She discovered her love of dance at the age of seven in the small California town where she grew up. She spent 13 years training and competing in contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballet, and musical theater, and won the Ms. Senior Starquest title in 2019. When she began teaching and choreographing in college, she thrived on the opportunity to create fun, safe, and supportive spaces for young dancers. Through dance, she strives to help them gain the self-confidence and determination they need to not only succeed in the studio and on stage, but also in their lives beyond dance.
JENICA COGDILL
OFFICE MANAGER
Jenica grew up dancing and has always loved being involved in the arts, dance, and stage management. She started managing the backstage production of SDA recitals when her daughter began dancing with Miss Lonnie in 2017. In 2022, she stepped in to help run the front office. In 2023, she took a break from her career in digital experience management for global companies such as Google, Facebook, and Nike. to launch Central Oregon’s only dance store: Move It Dancewear in Bend.
SARAH KADEN
FRONT OFFICE
Sarah is the dance mom extraordinaire to three daughters who all dance at SDA. We are so lucky to have her helping in the front office after school.