About Our Studio
Westside Dance Company opened in 2017 in Overland Park, Kansas and has been home to many dancers since. We quickly opened in a short few months on 127th and Metcalf where we grew our student base rapidly. By the summer of 2019, we moved locations for a bigger studio space off 135th and Antioch, behind Hyvee.
Our studio space is located inside a building with 2 other businesses. Westside has lots of windows to bring in the natural light as well as two viewing windows for parents to watch their dancers. We have a comfortable waiting room and a dancer’s lounge with individual cubbies and a table for eating or doing homework on breaks.
Westside’s studio space is large, filled with mirrors and windows along with built-in ballet barres and a sprung floor. A sprung floor absorbs shock and is considered the best kind of floor for dancers. The floor enhances performance and greatly reduces injury to the hips, knees, and ankles.
Westside Dance Company is known to be a studio that treats every dancer, parent, and instructor with the utmost respect. We have kind and patient instructors for our little ones but also instructors who push our more advanced dancers to become the dancer they want to be. Westside has formed a reputable competition team as well as enjoyable once a week classes.
Westside continues every year to represent well at local and national competitions. We go into every competition as it being another chance to perform and have always walked away with a good attitude and often, many awards. Within the last couple of years we have won choreography awards, costume awards, won “best of show” placed in the top five, won the 2020 excellence in artistry award, and lastly, became the Star Dance Alliance Regional Champions, to name a few.
Here at Westside, we take pride in being a smaller studio in the area. This makes all of our dancers feel like family and we don’t treat our dancers as just another number. There is time in class for individual coaching and plenty of space to always dance full out. Instructors build genuine relationships with our dancers and parents and also help each dancer achieve their goals.
Meet the Faculty
Shelby West
Studio Owner & Competition Director
Shelby West has been a dancer for over 20 years, training in multiple different styles. She was a competition dancer herself, winning many prestigious titles, awards and scholarships from notable competitions, conventions, and teachers like Stacey Tookey, Caroline Lewis-Jones, Chris Jacobson, and Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo. She is currently the Head Dance Coach at Ottawa University and social media director of the professional dance company, Kansas City Contemporary Dance where she has performed as a chorus member, soloist, and choreograher for 6 years.
Shelby is the owner and competition director of Westside Dance Company. She has worked professionally with Melissa Thodos and Laura Gates of Thodos Dance Chicago and has danced in their touring show, performed in Modern Night at the Folly, danced alongside Kansas City Aerial Arts, and was in a music video with local artist “Of Tree.” Shelby has choreographed for multiple studios in the Kansas City area and has been recognized for her work prior to opening Westside where she has continued to win choreography awards. She has also choreographed for local high school dance teams and their soloists. Shelby is the Head Dance Coach at Ottawa University and Assistant Dance Coach at Indian Trail Middle School.
Shelby graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelors in Dance, where she was a part of Unity Hip Hop Crew, Rock Chalk Revue, and the University Dance Company. She has worked under many choreographers, including but not limited to, Sonya Tayeh, Fred Odgaard, Brooke Pierotti, and Ryan Warren. Lastly, Shelby has been hired to judge at local dance competitions.
Shelby has a great passion for dance and loves to perform and be at the studio every night with her students.
Kristin Stallbaumer
Instructor
Kristin Stallbaumer began her dance training at the age of three with The Royal Academy of Dance curriculum. She later studied and performed with the youth company of The Mill Ballet School under the direction of Mark and Melissa Roxey, and it was there Krsitin danced with special needs populations through the Wheels and Bodies in Motion program. Upon moving to Kansas City, Kristin danced with local youth companies before attending the University of Kansas where she graduated with degrees in Dance and Psychology. While at Ku, Kristin performed with The University Dance Company and The Bowery Dancers. She has performed pieces by local artists at the Salina River Festival and Lawrence Arts Center Choreographer’s Showcase. Kristin has completed a MA degree in School Counseling and Ed. S. degree in Mental Health Counseling. Both at UMKC. She has counseling experience in elementary, middle, high school, and alternative school settings and currently works as a high school counselor in the Blue Valley School District.
Nicole Bruewer
Instructor
Nicole Bruewer is from Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, where she trained at her home studio Releve Dance Academy under Kim Generally, Kendal Surdyke, and Mackenna Bennet for 12 years. During that time, Nicole was a member of Releve's competition team and performed in several roles in their Spring Productions, such as The Wizard of Oz, Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Aladdin. Nicole has also trained with Kristen Sudeikis Dance, Ken Brasom and Liz Hartwell from Springfield Ballet, Manuel "Lukky" Harvey from Kansas City, along with many others. Since graduating from Camedenton High school, Nicole trained for a semester in the Missouri State Dance Program under Ruth Barnes in the Fall of 2020, before transferring to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she'd been accepted into the UMKC Dance Conservatory, and trained with DeeAnna Hiett, Tobin James, Karen Brown, and Caroline Dahm. While living in Kansas City, she has continued her education while teaching dance classes at Westside Dance Company in Overland Park and training with Kansas City Contemporary Dance Company.