Staff

Darcy is a life-long Alaskan and has lived on the Kenai Peninsula for over 20 years. Born to a dance coach of over 30 years, Darcy’s love for dance was instilled in her from the beginning as she literally grew up on the dance floor. Many of Darcy’s core values were instilled from watching and later becoming one of the hundreds of dancers her mother coached on the internationally and nationally ranked dance team, The Chugiak Chaparrals.

Dance instilled the value of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, discipline, and teamwork and Darcy aims to develop those same values in the dancers that come to Forever Dance Alaska. Darcy has a love for teaching. She received Bachelor Degrees in both Secondary Education and English in 2000 from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Darcy also has a passion for health and fitness. She lead dance fitness classes at The Fitness Place for 3 years and taught Zumba Fitness courses at KPC as an adjunct instructor.

Darcy is married to her wonderful husband, Aaron, and they have 7 great children. Dance is a huge part of the Swanson household with 5 children currently dancing at the studio. Darcy is so grateful to be a member of our incredible community and is honored to continue the legacy of excellence in dance for the next generation.

Elizabeth grew up in the Oregon coastal community of Florence. She began her dance training at the age of nine and has pursued a career in dance performance, pedagogy and production. She also holds an Associate of Science Degree in Retail Management from Bassist College in Portland, OR. Elizabeth has worked at the studio since relocating from the Copper River Valley to Soldotna in 1997, where she owned her own dance studio in Glennallen for 10 years. For her first eight years Miss Elizabeth taught jazz, tap and combination classes to studio and company dancers as well as choreographing for the Aurora Dance Companies when they prepare to perform and compete for special events and travel.

Currently she works with the staff and students performing administrative duties and managing the day to day operations of the studio. Elizabeth also helps produce the studio’s large productions every year. She is especially thankful that both her daughters, Kacia and Kylie, have had the privilege to train with the Aurora Companies and have followed their passion for the love of dance and are pursuing careers in the dance.

Lyra Sexton was born and raised in Soldotna, Alaska and graduated from Soldotna Highschool. Lyra began her dance training at the age of three and became a competitive dancer at the age of six training in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, musical theater, acro and hip hop. Dance has provided Lyra with many opportunities to travel to Los Angeles, and Orlando where she has taken classes from well-known choreographers such as Blake McGrath, Randi Kemper, Phil Wright, and Akira Uchida. Lyra started training as an assistant teacher at Forever Dance Alaska at 13 and fell in love with teaching. Lyra has been able to teach dance at a children’s boarding school in Chang Mai, Thailand and has taught as a substitute teacher for many seasons at Forever Dance Alaska. Lyra is excited to share her passion for dance as a full-time hip-hop teacher at her home studio.

Grace Larson began dancing at the age of three at Vergine’s Dance Studio, where her passion for dance began. She progressed as a dancer in studio classes, eventually earning a spot on the pre-professional company.

Grace studied under Miss Kacia Oliver for 4 years as a student teacher. During her time as a company member, Grace had the opportunity to take part in many workshops, master classes and competitions such as Dance Excellence and Nuvo. While attending Dance Excellence, she was offered a spot at the Young Americans College of the Performing Arts. She performed her first professional role as Dew Drop in “The Nutcracker” in Cleveland, Ohio after graduating from Soldotna High School.

Grace’s debut year as a teacher for Forever Dance Alaska was in 2018. Grace completed her “Developing Dance Teacher” program through International Dance Teaching Standards (IDTS) and now teaches ballet and combo classes.

Grace’s goal in teaching is to inspire young dancers in their love of dance and to dream outside their small-town walls.

Bristol was born and raised in Soldotna, Alaska. Bristol has a love for the arts and started taking art classes in high school. After graduating from Soldotna High School, Bristol attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She continued her education in art throughout college and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in April of 2020.

Bristol and her husband, Tony moved back home to Soldotna where Bristol worked as a PreK/Kindergarten teacher at The Study. Bristol took some time to start their family and welcomed their daughter, Kaia in January of 2022. Bristol loves the Alaskan outdoors and enjoys hiking, creating and selling her artwork, reading and yoga. Bristol is excited to bring her love for children and the arts to Forever Fine Arts Preschool and can’t wait to see the children of the peninsula thrive and grow.

Molly Iverson was born and raised in Kenai Alaska, beginning her dance career at Encore Dance Academy. Molly has studied tap, jazz, modern, and contemporary, but will tell you that ballet holds a special place in her heart.

Molly furthered her dance education and passion for ballet through training and performing with Anchorage Ballet. During her time as a student she trained under faculty and dancers from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, New York City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Carolina Ballet. 
She has enjoyed expanding her ballet repertoire by learning and performing works from Giselle, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

Molly began her teaching career at Encore Dance Academy, working with students of all ages. She continued her teaching experience during her time in Anchorage, where she focused on working with creative movement and pre-ballet students before returning to the peninsula to continue teaching and collaborating here.

Most recently Molly has spent two seasons as a ballet, jazz, and contemporary instructor with Xpressions Dance Academy in Idaho.

Molly is excited to be back in Alaska and continuing to share her love of dance!

Soleil Sexton grew up in Soldotna, Alaska, and graduated from Soldotna High School in 2020. She began dancing at just two and a half years old and spent 16 years training at Vergine’s Dance Studio and Forever Dance Alaska, where she also assisted with teaching classes. Her main areas of focus and strength are ballet and acrobatics, and she has furthered her training by taking classes in Florida, California, and Oregon.

Miss Soleil is passionate about sharing her love of dance with the next generation. She is especially excited to teach preschool dance classes and to watch young dancers discover the joy and creativity that dance brings. She believes there is a love for dance in everyone and looks forward to helping her students find it.

Adri Kindred was born and raised in Soldotna, Alaska, and has been immersed in dance from an early age. She began her training at age three and joined Forever Dance Alaska’s pre-professional company at just six years old, studying a wide range of styles including tap, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, ballet, and acro dance.

By the age of 13, Adri began mentoring as a teacher assistant, which prepared her to serve as a substitute teacher for several seasons. Her years of training and teaching experience have deepened her passion for dance and inspired her to share that joy with the next generation of dancers. Miss Adri is dedicated to creating a positive and encouraging environment where her students can grow both technically and artistically.

Amy Swanson began dancing at the age of 5 and quickly discovered that the studio felt like home. Originally from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, she trained and competed in jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and hip-hop with South County Dance Company where she developed both strong technique and a lifelong love for dance.

She continued her dance education at Brigham Young University, where she earned a spot on BYU’s Contemporary Dance Theatre (CDT) as a freshman. Through her three seasons with CDT, Amy had the opportunity to train with artists from around the world and tour internationally, performing and competing in Berlin and Prague.

Her most cherished accomplishment with CDT, however, was meeting her husband, Brady—an experience that turned friendship and dance partnership into something much more. Now living in Alaska, Miss Amy is excited to be teaching at Forever Dance Alaska alongside Brady and to be sharing her passion for movement, connection, and creativity with her students.

From a young age Braden Swanson was captivated by the energy and artistry of dance. This captivation led him to try out his first dance class at age twelve, and he has been looking for more ever since. What started as a summer activity quickly grew into a lifelong passion as he expanded into tap, jazz, and ballet while growing up in Soldotna, Alaska and training at Vergine’s Dance Studio. Dance became the central focus of his middle school and high school years, laying the foundation for the rest of his career.

After graduating high school, Braden continued his training at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he had the privilege of performing as a member of BYU’s premier contemporary dance performance company, Contemporary Dance Theatre (CDT). Performing and touring nationally with CDT was one of the highlights of his career, giving him opportunities to collaborate with inspiring choreographers who brought their experience from professional and collegiate companies across the country. These experiences challenged and shaped him as an artist, and they remain some of his most meaningful growth moments as a dancer to this day. It was also through CDT that Braden met his wonderful wife, Amy and it is through dance that they both have come to find a life together.

Today, Braden is excited to bring his passion and experience back home to Alaska as a teacher at Forever Dance Alaska. He is excited especially to be teaching Contemporary and Tap, both of which are styles that have deeply shaped his own dance journey. He looks forward to passing on not only the technique, but the creativity, confidence, and joy that dance has given him. His goal is to help each student find their own voice through movement and to create a space where they feel inspired to grow as both dancers and individuals. He and Amy could not be more excited to be here as newfound members of the Forever Dance Alaska family.