Meet the Faculty

 Brittney Wakefield
BYU Youth Dancesport Program Director & Youth A Team Director

Brittney is originally from Orem, Utah and started ballroom dancing at the age of twelve in the BYU Youth Ballroom Program. She grew up competing on the Youth Teams, as well as competing in all styles individually. One of her greatest competitive achievements was winning the U.S. Youth National Ten Dance Title and U.S. Youth American Title in 2002. She danced on the BYU Tour Team in college and toured the United States, South Pacific, Ukraine, Western Europe and Asia.

She met her husband, Craig, when they were on the BYU Youth Dancesport Junior B Team at age 12. Brittney and Craig directed the Timpview High School Ballroom Program for two years growing it to more than 250 students including 6 competitive formation teams, several of which placed in the top five in Division I of the National Dancesport Championships. She is ISTD Licentiate certified in Ballroom & Latin styles of dance. Brittney has coached 5 out of the 6 Junior & Youth teams in our program during the past nine years of coaching in the Youth Program, and has coached the Junior A Team to several National Championship titles.

In addition to ballroom, Brittney has coached multiple genres of dance/tumbling for the past twelve years, teaching preschool students through adult. She has a Bachelor's Degree from Brigham Young University in Marriage/Family/Human Development and has taken numerous courses focusing on child psychology and development. Brittney is entering her tenth year of working in the Youth Program and loves working with all of the dancers and families every year.

​Julie Peterson
Youth B1 Team Director​

​Nathan Stevenson
Youth B2 Team Director​
Julie began her ballroom dance career at BYU and toured with the Ballroom Dance Company for two years which included competing at the British Formation Championships in Blackpool, England.  She was a four-time undefeated Amateur Standard Champion at BYU and also a two-time United States standard finalist. While at BYU, she served as the company’s president and also received the highest Gold Bar Standard Medal’s Exam score earned at the University.  She and her partner then went on to be placed in the top-twelve in the Professional Rising Star Standard Division.  She and her husband owned a dance studio where their teams earned multiple National titles. In their last, year they prepared 11 medleys to compete at United States National competition.  She is thrilled to be a part of the BYU Youth Dancesport Program.
Nathan is from Provo, Utah and has been dancing ballroom ever since he was twelve years old. After 2 years in a school dance program, he joined BYU Youth Dancesport and danced there for 4 years. After this, he went to BYU where he participated as a member of the Ballroom Dance Touring Company for 4 years. He was able to travel with the team around the United Sates, England, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, and Germany in addition to competing at Blackpool becoming a British Latin Formation Champion in 2019. Also during his time on the team he was the co-president of the Ballroom Dance Company for 2 years and selected to represent BYU at the Chinese Vienna Ball in Austria in 2020. He has also competed individually in the Ballroom, Smooth, and Latin styles where he has been a US National Amateur Smooth Finalist multiple times. In addition to dancing, he graduated BYU with a degree in Experience Design and Management with a minor in ballroom dance. Nathan loves formation dancing and is very excited to be a part of the BYU Youth Dancesport Program this year!

Brandon Keck
​​​Junior A Team Director

Brandon is currently a student at Brigham Young University and is proud to be a member of the BYU Ballroom Dance Touring Company. After 15 years of high level training and competing, he has won the National Amateur Smooth Championship 3 times and is an Under-21 Ballroom finalist. Brandon comes from a family of accomplished formation dancers and directors and hopes to use his talents to inspire youth students in their journeys through dance. One of his favorite experiences has been winning the British Latin Formation Championships in 2019 with the BYU Ballroom Dance Touring Company and wants to help as many students as possible build the skills required to also enjoy the blessings of participating in the BYU Ballroom Dance programs.
​

Logan Barnes
​​​Junior B Team Director

Logan is from Rigby, Idaho. He is currently a student at BYU working towards his BA in dance. He is a proud member of the BYU Ballroom Touring company. He got started with dance when his parents signed him up at the age of 5. He has been dancing and training for 20 years. Logan is now a National Cabaret finalist for 4 years as well as a national Rhythm finalist. He served a mission in Perth, Australia. Logan met his wife while taking a dance class at BYU. They are now happily married, and they compete in the rhythm category together. He is very excited to be a part of the BYU youth program.

​Kaylee Patillo
​Junior 7th Grade Director

Kaylee is currently studying at BYU. She has just begun the dietetics program and is very excited about her major. She is part of the BYU Touring Company and loves every minute of it. She is the current United States Amateur Smooth Champion along with her partner Brandon Keck, they have won the title together a total of three times. Kaylee recently got married and is loving married life. She is a nerd for Marvel and loves movies and TV shows. She also plays the piano and enjoys singing. Kaylee served a mission in Tallahassee Florida and adored it. She loves dancing and is excited about coaching this year. 

​Kim Friess
Pre-Teen A Team Director

Kimberly is a Utah native who loved participating in sports, but when she found ballroom as a sophomore in high school, there was no looking back. She quickly found her place on the BYU Tour team and toured to Ukraine, China, Western Europe (England, Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland, & Italy), Thailand and Vietnam. During her time at BYU, she served a mission to Italy, met her husband through ballroom, and graduated with her Bachelors degree as Valedictorian and
her Masters degree (both in Social Work).

Kimberly’s highest ballroom competitive accomplishments were placing 2nd in the BYU Amateur Ballroom Finals and 2nd in the US Nationals Amateur Smooth Finals. She also taught as a student teacher and was awarded top BYU Student Dance
Instructor. Since graduation, she has coached multiple formation teams as well as other teaching experiences, currently works part-time as a mental health therapist, and loves raising her two boys. Her passion for dance, people, and teamwork makes being a part of the BYU Youth program the perfect combination!

Sean Moe
​​​​Pre-Teen B Team Director

For Sean, it all started when his mother "forced" him to take a ballroom workshop when he was 12. Now he can't imagine life without dance. As an alumnus of the Pleasant Grove High School team and later BYU's Touring company, he has competed and performed throughout the U.S. and internationally in Europe and China. Sean's achievements include U.S. National titles in Amateur Smooth, Rhythm, and Lindy Swing; U.S. National titles in both Ballroom and Latin for the Preteen Formation teams he coaches with his wife; and BYU Student Teacher of the Year. He is ISTD certified at the licentiate level for both ballroom and latin styles, and you can sometimes find him tapping his toes while judging at a local ballroom competition. He's been teaching and coaching since 2006 and he loves to share his passion for music, movement, and teamwork with dancers of all ages. When asked about his favorite dance he said, "Today it's Waltz."

Laurel Hornberger
​BYU Youth Dancesport
​Program Administrator

Laurel Hornberger works in Conferences and Workshops at
BYU as an Assistant Program Administrator.
She, and various student planners, help the director with the
​logistics of the Youth Dancesport program.  ​