Meet the Faculty

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Betsy Denney
BYU Youth Dancesport Program Director

Betsy Denney has a BA in Dance from Brigham Young University. She is certified with the ISTD in licentiate ballroom and latin. She is an adjunct faculty faculty member in the Dance Department at BYU where she teaches technique classes and coaches one of the performing teams. Betsy is a 2–time United States Amateur Smooth Champion, BYU Amateur Ballroom Champion, United States Youth 10–Dance Champion, and United States Youth Ballroom Champion.  She started ballroom dancing on a formation team at the age of 12 and then came to BYU where she had the privilege of touring with the Ballroom Dance Company for 5 years.  As a student, she received the top BYU Student Dance Instructor. During that time, she was able to compete with the team in Blackpool, England 2 times. She and her husband Karson also competed professionally in the American Smooth style where they placed in numerous rising star and open professional finals. Betsy started teaching in the BYU Youth program in 2001.  She has coached teams at the Pre-Teen, Junior, and Youth levels and now enjoys her role overseeing the Youth Dancesport Program.   She loves working with all of the youth and parents in this great program!!!

​Karson Denney
Youth A Team Director​

Karson started ballroom dancing at the age of 10 and it has been a big part of his life ever since. As an amateur competitor, Karson was the 2-time United States 9 Dance and Rhythm Champion, United States American Smooth Champion, and a BYU Amateur Latin Finalist. He had the opportunity to dance on BYU's touring team for 4 years and competed with them in Blackpool, England where they won the British Latin Formation Championship. Karson and his wife Betsy competed professionally in the American smooth style where they placed in numerous rising star and open professional finals. He is licentiate certified in both the latin and ballroom styles with the ISTD. Along with his extensive experience as a dancer, he has a Bachelors Degree in Global Studies and Masters Degree in Mass Communications.  He is an Artist Manager at BYU's Performing Arts Management where he is an Artist Manager for BYU groups including BYU's Ballroom Dance Company.  He has been teaching in the youth program since 2003 and truly enjoys it!

​Brittney Wakefield
Youth B1 Team Director,
​Junior 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 ten dance individually. One of her greatest competitive achievements was winning the U.S. Youth National Ten Dance Title in 2002. She danced on the BYU Tour Team in college and toured the South Pacific, Ukraine, Western Europe and Asia. She met her husband, Craig, through ballroom dance and has been happily married for five years.  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. 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 has been teaching in the BYU Youth Program since 2013.

Misha Crawford
​​​​​Youth B2 Team Director

Misha is from Highland, Utah, and has been dancing since she was 8 years old. She danced through BYU's youth program and then came to BYU where she participated as a member of the Ballroom Dance Touring Company for 4 years. With the team, she was able to tour throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, competing twice in the Blackpool British Latin Formation Championships. As an individual competitor, she is a world and U.S. Amateur Smooth finalist and an Amateur Rhythm champion. She has taught technique classes in the Department of Dance at BYU for 4 years, while coaching various formation teams and couples throughout Utah and Idaho. Misha met her husband Spencer on the touring company, and they have been married for almost 2 years now. Along with her passion for dance, she is currently a certified family life educator and a graduate student in BYU's Marriage, Family, and Human Development program. Misha is excited to be a part of the BYU Youth Dancesport Program this year!
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Brandon Keck
​​​Junior B 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.

​Kaylee Christensen
​Junior 7th Grade Director

Bio Coming Soon.

​Julie Peterson
Pre-Teen A 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.

Kimberly Friess
​​​Pre-Teen B Team Director

Kimberly is a Utah native who loved participating in sports, but when she discovered ballroom as a sophomore in high school, there was no looking back. She quickly found her place on the BYU Tour team traveling to Ukraine, China, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and England, where she helped her team win the British Ballroom Formation Championship. Her love for people led to a mission in Italy where she taught some of the very same people she had performed for years earlier. Upon her return, she danced one more year on the BYU Tour Team where she met her husband and finished their final tour to Thailand and Vietnam. Kimberly’s individual competitive accomplishments were placing 2 nd in the BYU Amateur Ballroom Finals and 2 nd in the U.S. Nationals Amateur Smooth Finals. Kimberly graduated from BYU as valedictorian in Social Work with a minor in Ballroom Dance. She continued on at BYU, completing her Master of Social Work. While attending BYU, she taught ballroom dance classes and was awarded Top BYU
Student Dance Instructor. Since graduation, she has coached multiple formation teams and couples. Her love of dance, people, and teamwork makes being a part of the BYU Youth program an exciting opportunity!

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.  ​