Search

Kayla Daley - Owner/Director/Instructor

​Kayla has been teaching dance for 20 years.  She is originally from Hillsdale, Michigan and started dancing when she was 5 years old.  A passion for dance grew as she continued taking various styles and learned more about the artform.  She has studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Modern and Pointe, and she performed regionally and nationally as a competitive dancer for several years.  She became an assistant dance teacher at age 14 and taught classes of her own by the time she was a senior in high school.  She went on to pursue this passion for teaching and performing in college, attending Eastern Michigan University’s Dance Program.  In addition to the Dance Program, Kayla was Vice President for the university’s student-run dance organization Dance Forum, and she was also a captain on the university's dance team for a season.  Kayla’s noteworthy performances include being honored to perform and have her own choreography presented at the American College Dance Festival, performing in Italy at the Dance Grand Prix Italia, and being selected to perform for the university's Undergraduate Symposium.  In 2009 she was the recipient of the Dance Major of the Year Award. Kayla graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance (studio management) with a Business Minor in 2010 where she heavily studied both Ballet and Modern dance techniques.

Kayla has been privileged to teach at several dance studios and work with many wonderful students over the years.  She was a long-time teacher at Spotlight Dance Studio, Co-Owner and Co-Director of Spotlight Performing Dance Company.  During her time at Spotlight, she received several choreography awards and top overall scores for her competitive dances.  Kayla was also an instructor and head of the ballet program at Gift of Joy Dance Company.  She is now excited to have her own studio, Inspired Creations Dance Studio, where she can continue to share her love and passion for dance in a positive and uplifting environment.  

Kayla’s main focus as an instructor is to provide encouragement and inspire students to be the best they can be through quality dance training.  Her focus is on building a strong technical foundation, and she believes that repetition, along with hard work and discipline, will help students achieve success.  However, she has been quoted for saying, “Don’t just do the steps, dance them!”, encouraging her students to find a connection between the dance steps and music, and to use what they are feeling to “dance from the heart.”  She feels that dancing is truly a gift, and she hopes that others can use dance as a tool to help them through difficult circumstances in life, provide them with a method to express feelings through movement, or simply dance as a way to have fun and bring joy into the lives of others.  She is grateful for each day that God allows her to dance and share her passion with those around her.

Miss Natalie - Assistant Director/Instructor

Natalie has great love, passion, and appreciation for dance. This passion blossomed when she took her first dance class at 5 years old and it has grown and carried into young adulthood, leading her to pursue a degree in Dance Education. She studied as an apprentice under Kayla Daley who was her head ballet instructor for 7 years at Gift of Joy Dance Company. Natalie has studied ballet, pointe, lyrical, contemporary, tap, and hip hop. She has 6 years of teaching experience at Gift of Joy Dance Company, as well as substitute teaching advanced and competition tap classes at Teresa's Academy of Dance, head teaching preschool movement, ballet, tap, and hip hop classes at 2/42 Community Church’s School for the Arts, and head teaching ballet and contemporary classes at the Institution of Dance Arts. Natalie has been teaching at Inspired Creations since they opened and became the Assistant Director in 2024. Natalie is a certified Rhythm Works Integrative Dance instructor, a dance program geared towards teaching classes for children and adults with special needs. She has used that certification to co-teach child and adult Rhythm Works classes. Natalie is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level Three of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Natalies main goal as a teacher is to give students a solid technical foundation as well as instill in them the same love for dance that has been such a blessing in her life.

Miss Therese - Instructor

​Therese’s love for dance started at the age of three and continued to grow. She studied ballet, modern, and jazz at Ballet Chelsea, and early on she discovered her passion was for ballet. In high school she became a part of the pre-professional ballet company at Ballet Chelsea, and participated in many Nutcrackers and spring productions. She danced the lead roles of Clara, Sugarplum fairy, a swan in Swan Lake, and Hermia in Midsummer Night’s Dream. Along with performing in shows, she achieved level IV Cecchetti and won several awards at the Michigan Youth Arts festival at Western Michigan University. Therese graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a major in Art History and a minor in Dance. At Eastern she performed in several student productions including the lead roles of Black Swan in Swan Lake and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Therese plans on teaching and performing and she continues going to school.  

Miss Samantha - Instructor

Samantha fell in love with dancing at the age of 5 and has been dancing for over 15 years. She started her dance journey at American Dance Academy where she studied many styles including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, contemporary, and Hawaiian/Polynesian dance, while also competing on their competitive dance company for 11 years. She has also studied Irish step dancing at Michigan Irish Dance Academy where she has been a part of the Performance Troop. She has had many dance performance opportunities including the Detroit Opera House’s Nutcracker Ballet, Disney Performing Art at Disney Springs, and numerous college dance and theatre performances. She recently graduated from The University of Tampa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre and a Minor in Dance; and is furthering her education with a Master of Arts in Theatre from Regent University Online. 

Along with dancing, Samantha has a passion for singing and acting, and has been taking lessons for over 12 years. She has sung professionally in both Oakland and Livingston counties. While performing professionally, Samantha enjoys teaching voice lessons through her private studio, Samantha Bowling Studio, and choreographing for youth theatre companies. Samantha loves teaching children and adults of all ages and cannot wait to share her love for dance and the performing arts. 

Miss Lydia - Instructor

​Lydia's love of the stage began at three years old with her first tap dance routine. She has since studied all styles of dance, including ballet, tap, jazz, acro, lyrical, contemporary, musical theater, and hip hop, with her greatest love being tap dance. Beyond competing for six years, she is an active member of the Detroit Tap Repertory, where she has served as a dance captain and company assistant for the last seven years. Along with DTR, she has also performed with Tap Dance Detroit and Tap 24.7 in shows throughout the Detroit and Cleveland areas, including the Detroit Pistons Halftime Show, American’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Motor City Soles, House of Blues Cleveland, TapSpeak, Murder at the Tap’Ocho, Beatles on Tap, and live on TV. She has taken many master tap dance classes and has had the opportunity to learn from Savion Glover, Jason Samuel Smith, Diane Walker, Gregg Russell, Sam Weber, Brenda Bufalino, Miller & Ben, and many more modern hoofers. She has also worked as an intern for the Motor City Tap Fest. Her performance training extends into music and acting. She has trained with Interlochen Center for the Arts summer theater program and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art of London dynamic young actors program. Always moving, Lydia’s physical training also includes taekwondo, kick boxing, rock climbing, and yoga. Lydia enjoys working with people of all ages and is excited to share her love of dance and performance with her students.

Miss Sara - Instructor

​Sara Johnson has been teaching dance since 2020, and has fallen in love with it more each year. After growing up dancing at Gift of Joy, with Miss Kayla as one of her teachers, she began teaching all ages and dance styles - from ballet for two and three year olds, to tailored jazz classes for adults with special needs. Sara has danced both recreationally and competitively, and her focus is always on joy, expression, and growth through music and movement. She has performed in nearly a dozen Community Theatre of Howell productions and enjoys being involved both on and off the stage. Sara's goal in the dance studio is to provide a positive and upbeat learning environment where students feel safe to try hard things, make mistakes, and build a positive self image, all while learning foundational skills and fun choreography.

Outside of the studio, Sara enjoys knitting, sewing, running, yoga, and watching movies with her partner. She is currently working on building an impressive CD collection. As of December 2026, she will have her Master's of Cybersecurity from Eastern Michigan University and will be pursuing a career in cybersecurity while continuing to teach dance. 

Miss Bree - Instructor

Bree Bonney is a homeschooled student entering her freshman year of college who is excited to be sharing her love of dance with her students. Bree started dancing when she was three years old and has trained in all dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, acro, hip hop, lyrical, pointe, contemporary and mystical theater. She danced competitively for seven years and has attended many dance workshops and conventions throughout the state. Bree taught at Inspired Creations last year and also worked as a dance teacher's assistant for several years at her previous studio and was happy to assist the younger students here at Inspired Creations. 

Outside of dance, Bree trains in Taekwondo where she has earned her second degree black belt and has served as an instructor for five years. She also loves art and has been taking art classes at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit throughout highschool. Her favorite art forms include figure drawing, colored pencils, and pottery. Bree is going to pursue her love of art in college with Interior Design at Eastern Michigan University.

Miss Emily - Instructor

Emily is a homeschool graduate who has been dancing since she was three years old. She started dancing with Gift of Joy in 2011, where she took tap and ballet and later added hip hop. After joining inspired creations in 2022, she added lyrical and jazz and continued to train in all of those styles.

For the past two years Emily has been an assistant teacher at ICDS and is excited to begin teaching this season! She is especially looking forward to being able to share the opportunities she was given as an autistic child in dance. She wants every student to thrive in her classes, and to teach that dance is for everyone even if they've been told they can't.
​
Outside of the studio she has performed in several productions with Community Theatre of Howell where she expanded her love of performing and met some of her closest friends. She also enjoys swing dancing, reading, making chainmail, and spending time with her bearded dragon, spike.

Miss Jessica - Workout Dance Instructor

Hi, I'm Jess! I am excited to share my love of Dance Fitness with you! I have been dancing all my life right here in Howell, studying ballet, tap, jazz, & hip hop. After High School I started teaching dance for all ages. I also have always loved to workout. I first started dance cardio as an adult class for friends,  just using my own choreography. I then discovered the WERQ franchise, & fell in love! I became certified in 2023. I am also certified in Barre & FlyDance Fitness "Throwdown". 

Outside of dance I have been a massage therapist for 18 years. I love to go camping with my family & two dogs. We also have two cats. I enjoy cooking, reading, coffee, & being outside. ​

STAFF MEMBERS

Mr. Chris

Business Manager

Miss Melissa

Front Desk
Photo coming soon

Miss Susan

Front Desk
Photo coming soon

ADDITIONAL SUMMERTIME INSTRUCTORS

Miss Alexis - Instructor (Summer)

Alexis Gronow has been dancing for thirteen years, and is now entering into her junior year as a dance major in college. She has trained with several organisations, taught and choreographed for studios, musicals, and various summer camps, and is so excited to be on staff at ICDS this summer. She was a member on the Dance Express Competition team at Maria's School of Dance in Fowlerville for three years, she is currently studying with the dance program at Anderson University, and has attended many workshops and conventions with professional companies. 
​
Outside of dance, Alexis is also double majoring in Exercise Science and planning to go to PT school after graduation.
Privacy Policy  |  Copyright © 2026 Inspired Creations Dance Studio LLC.  All rights reserved.