Meet Our Team
Madison Lucas
Studio Owner
Rising Heights Dance is founded and owned by Madison Lucas. Growing up in the Kalama community, Madison began dancing at age 14 in Longview, WA and learned many great skills and genres, but focused on her passions of ballet, lyrical, and jazz as she progressed to an on pointe ballerina and advanced dancer. She has been dancing for 14 years and has been teaching for 6 since she left college at BYU-Idaho majoring in theater and minoring in dance pedagogy. She was able to participate in many different showcases and productions in college to prepare her technique to share with dancers as well as took classes in muscle movement, dance technique and teaching skills. She is a Progressing Ballet Technique certified teacher and will continue her own training as she teaches others. She is excited to bring dance back to her hometown and is honored to own Rising Heights Dance!
Jasmin Lindholm
Managing Director
Jasmin has been the partner in establishing Rising Heights from the ground up. She grew up in Kalama with Madison, re-connected after college, and eventually became the biggest supporter in encouraging Madison to take this next step in her dance career. You will often see her in the office managing most of our day to day operations such as our dance software, website, social media, and many other tasks that keep our studio running. Aside from being Madison's best friend and business partner, Jasmin has a Masters Degree in Counseling with an emphasis in school counseling, as well as a bachelors in Psychology and minor in Child and Family Studies. She will be using her education to train staff to provide a safe space and encouraging positive mental health to all of the students.
Courtney Thach
Instructor/Competition Director
Courtney started dance classes at age 3 and quickly fell in love with it. She joined a competitive dance team at the age of 7 and continued competing in several genres until the age of 18. During high school, she studied ballroom and swing dancing and was able to work with other studios in the area aside from her home studio. As a senior dancer, she was able to substitute and teach private technique and tap classes. After high school, she continued her dance career at the collegiate level performing at sporting events and in competitions against other college dance teams. This will be her first year officially teaching students and she is excited to share her passion of dance with the students at Rising Heights Dance.
Angel Erickson-Anaya
Instructor
Angel was born in California and grew up in Woodland, WA. She began dancing when she was 7 years old, finding that jazz and tumbling were her favorite classes! In her free time she enjoys paddle boarding, spending quality time with friends and family, and going on drives. This will be her 4th year teaching dance. She is so excited to be teaching all different levels, and extending Rising Heights' classes to the community of La Center! She's also looking forward to growing her dancing and teaching skills at Rising Heights Dance.
Noelle Horrocks
Instructor
Noelle has a bachelor's degree in dance from Brigham Young University and has performed with DancEnsemble. She is experienced in many styles of dance including ballet, jazz, and lyrical. She has been dancing for 22 years and has many years of teaching as a TA and college understudy while earning her degree. She is joining us for her third year teaching in the Washington area. In her off time Noelle enjoys time with her beautiful family, and being active in her church and community. Noelle is recently certified in Acrobatic Tumbling and will be establishing our tumbling program as well as sharing her love of dance to students of all ages!
Jessica Sahim
Instructor
Jessica has lived in this area almost all of her life. She has an amazing husband and 3 wonderful kids; her son who's in college in Hawaii, her daughter Kaleena (Peter Pan from last year's production) and her little soon to be first grader Kylie. She has loved to dance since she was little, and opened her own studio in 2001 in Woodland. Her dancers performed all over including representing Team USA at an international dance competition in Canada. After 10 years of owning a studio she decided she needed more time for her family, so she closed the studio and decided to teach for someone else instead. She has loved being able to continue sharing her passion for dance with children for the last 28 years. Things she loves... K-Pop, sunshine (but not too hot), hiking, kayaking and spending time with family.
Delenn Hollander
Instructor
Delenn started with dance and rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 3 in Tigard, Oregon. At the age of 6 she joined the competitive acro and rhythmic gymnastics teams while dancing recreationally. She was taught by Carla Webber, a radio city Rockette in the 60s. At 8 she joined the performing company at Westside Academy and started competing in tap, jazz, hip-hop, ballet, and contemporary. She traveled nationally and internationally from 8-17 years old earning her first national title at 10 and international title at 11. In 2011 she started at the Arts and Communications Magnet Academy in Beaverton, OR and was a part of Dance West. She learned from Terry Brock, a trailblazer in Tap, and others in folk dancing, ballet, and contemporary. She moved back to the PNW in 2021 and started teaching private dance lessons until she joined Rising Heights in May of 2023!
Hallie Earnest
Instructor
Hallie grew up dancing in Longview, WA starting at the age of 3. She’s been dancing for 12 years and danced competitively for 4 years. Her favorite styles of dance are tap, jazz, and lyrical. She is currently attending LCC to get her prerequisites to transfer into a radiology program to become an x-ray technician. She is very excited to be teaching so many different levels at Rising Heights Dance and seeing all of her students learn and grow.
Robyn Dalke
Instructor
Robyn has a heart for dance, especially ballet. Growing up in Vancouver, Washington, she started training at a young age. With a strong focus on ballet, Robyn also studied other forms of dance, including jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, and modern. She has both performed in and choreographed for numerous recitals, competitions, and productions. At Western Oregon University, where she minored in dance, Robyn found a passion for movement exploration and teaching. For well over 10 years, Robyn has been teaching dancers, young and old, how to strengthen their technique, hone in their skills, and enjoy the expressive art form of dance.
Jon King
Instructor
Jon has over 20 years of experience training and teaching Martial Arts. He currently holds a 3rd degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate, one of the few Krav Maga Black belts in the PNW awarded by Krav Maga Worldwide, and extensive experience in both Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Judo. Jon has been training kids, teens, and adults in martial arts for 15 years as a head instructor. In his spare time he is a published indie game developer. Jon also enjoys being outdoors, and has been a volunteer outings leader for Latino Outdoors for the last 2 years.
Kaleena Sahim
Junior Instructor
Kaleena has been in dance classes since she learned to walk, being in her first class at 9 months old. She has taken classes in many different styles but enjoys modern and contemporary the most. She has been on competition teams since she was five and loves the family like bond that forms in the studio. She is currently attending Lower Columbia College to get get her AA. Outside of dance she likes to read and try different hobbies like crocheting.
Jewly Parkhurst
Front Desk
Jewly comes to us with over six years of Administrative Assistance experience in a variety of fields including veterinary, manufacturing, and trades. She absolutely loves organizing and managing the day-to-day details, and expediting systems for maximum efficiency! Growing up in the northwest while traveling domestically and internationally, she’s lived in Kalama with her family for the past 8 years. She loves being part of the community, and often attends the local events, festivals, and shows with her family. In her free time, you might find her hiking, camping, kayaking, baking, crafting, or listening to audiobooks. With two middle schoolers and one elementary school kiddo at home, she is a huge proponent of the immeasurable value of extracurricular activities, and is so excited to be part of the Kalama dance community!
Candice Lee
Front Desk
You will find Candice in the front office. Like a true PNW born girl, she loves being outside, but the Pacific Ocean has her whole heart. She also loves reading, skin care, crafting, going to the YMCA, Pinterest and Disney. Her goal in life is to always be better than she was yesterday. She always tries to come with the attitude, if she doesn't know the answer, we will find it together. She has 20+ years of customer service in different roles. She held her CNA license in WA and OR for 18 years and took care of her elderly parents. She's also held an Esthetician license in WA for the past 5 years. She's worked in geriatric care, as a Make-up artist in cosmetic departments with both Macys and Nordstrom, and most recently came from European Wax Center where she worked on the corporate side as their Lead Associate and Trainer. She also has countless volunteer hours with the Longview school district, free clinic, woman’s shelter and the Advisory board for HUD. She currently resides in Longview with her two children, her love Hans, her best boy Opie (dog) and a cat (Kiki) and will see you at our Kalama Location.
Melissa Thompson
Social Media Manager
From behind the scenes, meet Melissa. Her personality consists of being an animal lover, adventurer, music enthusiast, designing and crafting, starting new hobbies on a whim, and being born and raised in the most majestic corner of the country (PNW). Towards the end of working 7 years in customer service, she obtained an Associates Degree in Applied Science for Digital Design and has been working as a Graphic Designer and Social Media Manager for the last 5 years. Art of various forms has always been a huge part of her life, including painting, basic drawing, and singing. She's looking forward to continuously learning and growing as an individual, and for the Rising Heights community.