Meet our instructors.

Laurie Walter, Owner

Laurie's love of dance started during her first ballet class at the age of nine. She began her own teaching experience at fourteen, organizing and teaching ballet and jazz classes in her hometown. Laurie graduated from Luther College with a BA in dance and has spent the last fifteen years studying, choreographing, and instructing dance.

Newelle Dalton

Newelle began dancing at the age of 5 and from the moment she started she fell in love with the magic of dance. She started teaching dance classes at the age of 14 at Cooling Dance Center in Vinton, Iowa, and assisted her dance teacher for 5 years. She has danced for 14 years and also danced competitively for 9 years. Newelle will be a sophomore elementary education major and dance minor at Luther College. She trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre.

Skyler Schneider

Skyler began dancing in 7th grade, taking ballet, pointe, contemporary, hip hop, and jazz classes throughout middle school and high school. She also did dance team during high school, as well as competitive dance her junior and senior year of high school. Skyler is a junior Elementary Education major at Luther College. She’s really looking forward to teaching hip hop!

Jennifer Kost

Jenn has experience with a wide variety of dance styles over the years and is excited to join the Crave staff this year! A 2012 Luther Grad, Jenn and her family returned to the beautiful Driftless area two years ago. When she's not homeschooling her three kids or doing Spanish translation work, Jenn enjoys gardening, hiking, foraging, making art, and enjoying the fabulous arts and culture that Decorah has to offer. 

Lilly Chen

Hannah Batterson

Hannah began dancing when she was three taking ballet, and has since taken pointe, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, and tap. She also has been a competitive dancer since second grade. In middle school, Hannah was Young Clara in the Minnesota Ballet’s The Nutcracker at GBPAC. She has been an assistant instructor in her home studio for 4 years. Hannah is a Freshman International Studies major at Luther College minoring in dance. She is a member of the Luther Dance team as well! She’s really looking forward to teaching at Crave and sharing her love of all things dance!