Meet the Faculty

---

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

​​Julie Peterson
Administrative Assistant

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 & Youth A Teams to more than 10 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 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 Stevenson
Youth B1 Team Director​

​​Laura Stirland
Youth B2 Team Director​

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!

Laura is so excited to be a part of the BYU Youth program this year! Laura graduated from BYU with a Bachelors degree in Dance. She spent several years on the BYU Ballroom Dance Company and was fortunate to represent BYU at Blackpool this year!

Laura has had a passion for dance since her childhood. She is a two time U.S. National Finalist in Pre-Champ Ballroom and Smooth. Outside of ballroom,

Laura has trained in many other genres including gymnastics and acrobatics. She has 10 years experience teaching many styles and loves her students.

​When Laura isn’t dancing, she’s enjoying time with family and friends or finding bodies of water to adventure in.

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.
​

Shanden Hoffman
​​​Junior B Team Director

Bio coming soon!

​Kirstyn Jarvis
​Junior 7th Grade Team Director

Kirstyn began ballroom dance at age 14 under the direction of Paul Winkelman at Alta High School.  She danced with BYU Youth Dancesport her junior year of high school, then went on to receive multiple scholarships with the BYU Ballroom Dance Company at BYU.

Kirstyn graduated from BYU with a B.A. in Dance— Ballroom Dance Emphasis. After graduation, she moved to LA to train with Heather Smith and Victor Veyrasset. While there, she became a Certified Pilates Instructor. She also trained in NYC with Thomas Papkala and Giampierro Gianico, and teaching Pilates at Sports Club LA (UES).
 
Kirstyn taught ballroom at BYU from 2003-2011, where she taught many classes (Dance 180, 280, 185, 285, 184, 284, 382, 384, 488, 489). She coached performance teams as well as in the BYU Youth Dancesport program, where she coached both Preteen A and Junior A teams (2004-2009). Kirstyn also enjoyed coaching top ballroom couples at the amateur level. He favorite year was when she had the opportunity to design and implement a Competitive/Conditioning class (489) for the top standard couples. She is ISTD certified in both Latin and Ballroom. While teaching at BYU, Kirstyn taught pilates in L.A., SLC and NYC.  Ballroom is her first love, but Pilates comes in at a close second!  She has a reformer/tower in her home and instructs privates Pilates clients in her home studio.
​
Kirstyn moved to Colorado where she took a break from teaching to raise her three girls—but she still enjoyed dancing in the kitchen with them. She taught her girls the “running man” and “Roger Rabbit!" Kirstyn is overjoyed to be back in Utah, near family (and ballroom)!  She is excited to have all 3 of her daughters dancing in the BYU Youth Dancesport program this year. She’s looking forward to getting back into coaching by leading the Sevies Team 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, teaches private lessons, works part-time as a mental health therapist, and loves raising her three kids with her adventurous husband. Her passion for dance, people, and teamwork makes being a part of the BYU Youth program the perfect combination!

Megan Moe
​​​​Pre-Teen B Team Director

Megan was introduced to ballroom at BYU, when her RA needed her hair done. It was love at first sight, and she's been passionate about the sport ever since.

​She worked her way up the BYU ballroom program, making the tour team, competing in Blackpool, England, and touring Europe and China. She served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Samara, Russia, served as the BYU ballroom club president, received high honors in her gold bar ballroom exam, and after graduating with a BS in Public Health was asked to coach the BYU preteen team with her husband, Sean. Together, they coached their teams to 6 Division 1 national titles in 4 years. Megan is ISTD licentiate certified in International Latin and Ballroom styles, and has been coaching or teaching preteens for 15 years.

She is excited to be back with the BYU program, and truly loves working with these energetic and enthusiastic dancers! 

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.  ​