For more than two decades, Miss Kari has been creating classes where students can learn strong technique, build confidence, and—most importantly—feel like they belong. Her teaching style changes with the students in front of her: energetic and imaginative with her youngest dancers, high-energy with her boys and hip hop classes, and encouraging but challenging with her older students. Kari holds a Dance Education minor from the University of Wisconsin–River Falls and has been certified through Dance Educators of America and Acrobatic Arts. She is also a member of the National Dance Education Organization and holds multiple fitness certifications, including personal training. Her choreography experience extends beyond Creative Motion to competitive show choirs, school musicals, cheer squads, UWRF Dance Theatre, The Chicago Club Cabaret, and more. But after more than 20 years of teaching, Kari knows that a great class is about much more than steps. She continually adapts how she teaches to the way today's children learn—using creativity, imagination, humor, and plenty of unexpected ways to make technique click. Proper terminology might share space with a hip hop move named after fast food, and sometimes the lesson plan changes because that's what the students in the room need that day. At the heart of Kari's teaching is a belief that every student deserves a place where they feel safe, known, and encouraged to be themselves. She sets high expectations while leaving room for hard days, big feelings, different learning styles, and individual personalities. Kindness and respect are non-negotiable, and confidence is every bit as important as what happens on stage. One of her favorite Creative Motion moments was realizing that eight second-generation students were performing in the same show—children of students she had once taught herself. For Kari, there may be no better measure of what Creative Motion has become than families choosing to come back and share it with another generation. Outside the studio, Kari loves traveling (especially anything Disney!), creating new things, experimenting with gluten-free sourdough, and spending time with her best buddy, Bruno.