About us
A welcoming home where every child belongs
Inspiring students to love dance and the arts for a lifetime.
Kids are the mission
Providing safe spaces for kids to flourish. Building confidence, providing enrichment, encouraging creativity, and teaching life lessons through arts lessons with our professional staff. Inspiring students to love dance and the arts for a lifetime with age appropriate music, movement and attire.
We offer a diverse range of programs, from dance and acro to piano, cheerleading, theatre and after school care. Led by certified instructors, our team brings expertise, compassion and dedication to every class and activity.
At Inspirations Academy, we are committed to the highest standards in teaching, safety and care. Families can trust that their children are not only learning and growing, but also building confidence, friendships and lifelong memories.
Miss Mary Ingersoll founded Inspirations in 2007 with a mission of sharing technique and appreciation, inspiring students to love dance and the arts for a lifetime. This legacy of love for the arts and positive growth in the community lives strong as hundreds of students have experienced dance, music and art instruction over the years. In her words, I want the children in Northwest Missouri to have excellent arts instruction that enriches their lives.
A peek inside our studio
Our values
Kids are the mission. These are the values we teach, practice and hold ourselves to every day.
Better Is Always Possible
Positive Role Models
Excellent Service
Age Appropriate
Supportive
Encourage Creativity
Dance Lessons Teach Life Lessons
Give Back to Our Community
All Children Have God-Given Worth
What sets us apart
Two shows every season
Inspirations produces two annual shows, winter and spring, in a professional theatre. Every student is invited to perform. We have professional costumes, lighting and stage direction that make our students the star of the show. We also perform around the community including Andrew County Fair on the Square, Savannah Homecoming Parade, Moila Shriners and more.
Giving back
We are proud to support The Andrew County Food Pantry, Backpack Buddies, YoungLife, and many school PTOs.
Inclusion
All dancers are welcome in our classes. The Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City recognized Inspirations and Miss Mary for excellence in inclusion of all children in dance classes.
Professional instructors
Our instructors make our dance studio the best in the area. With years of experience, and tried and true curriculum, our dance classes are top notch. Our tumbling classes use the Acrobatic Arts curriculum, with a focus on safety. Our staff regularly attend training and continuing education events. Inspirations is an affiliated member of More Than Just Great Dancing, following best practices in the dance industry with the top 300 studios from around the world.
Meet our team
We are fun people, who work hard and put kids at the forefront of everything.
Miss Mary
Owner
Dance class has been the best part of Miss Mary's week since she was in kindergarten. She is an award winning choreographer, a certified instructor with Acrobatic Arts and Tap Roots, and a certified coach with More Than Just Great Dancing. Miss Mary makes magic in tap and jazz classes, teaches the Leadership Academy, choreographs for the competition team, develops new programs and ensures success across all of Inspirations. She has taught her students for decades that you can only control yourself. Nervous is an ok feeling. It just means you think it is important to do a good job. And the most important thing is to smile and have fun.
Miss Sydney
Operations
Miss Sydney is our Manager of Operations at Inspirations. She works completely remote from Wisconsin. An experienced dancer, teacher, program manager and choreographer, Sydney attended the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts, graduating summa cum laude with a BFA in Contemporary Dance and Choreography. She visits Inspirations occasionally as a guest instructor and choreographer, but works daily behind the scenes managing all the details that make your experience with us top notch.
Miss Bee
Art
Originally from New Zealand, where she was a primary school teacher for 17 years, the last 8 of those as an art specialist, Miss Bee is pleased to offer Bee Creative at Inspirations, art classes for children aged 7 to 14. Bee had her own art studio, Bee Creative, in New Zealand, teaching up to 40 kids a week the joy of creating art. Now living in Missouri, she is excited to inspire the young artists in Savannah and the surrounding areas to create masterpieces.
Miss Raychel
Acro
Miss Raychel started her love of tumbling as a gymnast in her younger years. She later became a cheerleader and started coaching tumbling and cheer at age 16. She has taught tumbling in many different settings including dance studios, cheerleading teams, and even dojos. Raychel loves teaching kids and watching their love for tumbling grow, and her excitement and energy in the classroom are contagious.
Miss Shira
Dance and theatre
Miss Shira grew up in Neosho, Missouri where she danced from the age of 3 through high school. She was a very active performer and dancer including show choir, color guard and theatre. Her love for performing carried on through college where she was in numerous theatre productions and also participated in show choir. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a degree in Mass Communication. Shortly after college she relocated to Saint Joseph and has called the area home ever since. Her favorite styles of dance are jazz and lyrical, but she teaches all ages and styles.
Mister Trey
Musical Director
Mister Trey brings his musical talents to Inspirations as Musical Director for the Theatre Program. Students may recognize his voice from community events, including singing the National Anthem at Kauffman Stadium. He works with our theatre students on Tuesday nights, sharing his expertise and encouragement as they bring each show to life.
Miss Amanda
Dance
Miss Amanda brings her understated excellence to the studio each week. You will rarely hear her raise her voice, but her students know she is serious. Amanda grew up in Smithville, Missouri where she studied dance throughout her childhood and teen years. She choreographs for the competition team and teaches ballet, pointe, lyrical, jazz and tap. Amanda graduated from Northwest Missouri State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education and now teaches preschool at an area public school. She has been active in the Northwest Dance Company and Campus Ministries.
Miss Nichole
Dance
Miss Nichole grew up dancing from age 5 through her senior year of high school. She experienced all techniques of dance from ballet, tap and jazz, to acro, modern, contemporary and lyrical. While she loved all techniques, tap is her favorite thanks to an amazing tap teacher and mentor. Miss Nichole participated in the competition team at her studio and performed at many competitions, including the 1999 Orange Bowl halftime performance and on the Tomorrowland Stage at Disney World. She shares her love of dance with her daughter Grayson, who has been dancing since she was two and a half.
Miss Rebecca
Front desk
Miss Rebecca has a friendly face to greet you each time you enter Inspirations. She is becoming an expert in our programs after careers in nursing and social work. She is a dedicated mom to Megan, a collegiate swimmer.
Miss Ginny
Piano
Miss Ginny has played as a church accompanist around the area for many years. Upon her retirement from the lab at MOSAIC, Miss Ginny was excited to share her love for music with students at Inspirations. She enjoys seeing her students progress and improve in proficiency each week, especially when they practice.
Miss Charli
Dance
Miss Charli is working toward a degree in Early Childhood Education at Northwest Missouri State University. She spent the last 12 years as a competitive dancer at Eva Moore's Performing Arts Center, where jazz and contemporary became her favorite styles. This year she teaches ballet, tap and jazz at Inspirations. She is looking forward to building relationships with her students and helping them grow as dancers and as people, while continuing to grow as a teacher and dancer herself.
Miss Susan
Dance
Miss Susan is from Savannah and a seasoned kindergarten teacher who grew up dancing and is thrilled to be living her dream of teaching dance. She loves making every class fun, energetic and full of smiles. This year she teaches Tutu Twirl, Little Dancers and an elementary combo class at Inspirations. Outside the studio she leads a classroom of kindergartners at North Andrew Elementary School, and is a busy mom and Mary Kay consultant.
