About Us
"BRINGING THE FINEST IN CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE TO THE LAKE"
Welcome to Relevé Dance Academy
Inspiring Dancers Across the Lake of the Ozarks Since 2004
Relevé Dance Academy has been at the heart of dance education in the Lake of the Ozarks area since 2004. We proudly serve dancers from the surrounding counties, including Miller, Camden, Morgan, and Laclede. Our mission is to provide an encouraging environment where students grow as individuals and artists, both inside and outside the studio.
Our experienced instructors are dedicated to providing proper technical dance training while fostering creativity, confidence, and individuality in every dancer. Their passion for dance and commitment to excellence create a supportive atmosphere where students thrive.
We offer expert instruction in a variety of dance styles:
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Ballet
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Jazz
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Tap
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Hip-Hop
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Contemporary
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Lyrical
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Acro Dance
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Musical Theatre
Relevé Dance Academy is also proud to feature a highly decorated Competitive Dance Company, showcasing the talent and hard work of our students on a regional and national stage.
Visit Us at Two Convenient Locations
📍 1053 Osage Beach Road
Osage Beach, MO 65065
📍 1046 Osage Beach Pkwy
Osage Beach, MO 65065
Join our thriving dance community and experience the passion, creativity, and expertise that make Relevé Dance Academy a premier destination for dancers in the Lake of the Ozarks and beyond!
Meet The Instructors
Mackenna Bennett
Mackenna Bennett is the owner, operator, instructor, and choreographer for Relevé Dance Academy. She began dancing at the age of 3 and started training at Relevé Dance Academy since its inception in 2004 under the direction of Kim Generally. Mackenna began teaching at the age of 16 while she was still a dancer at Relevé, and then later pursued a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Missouri-Columbia. While at Mizzou, Mackenna was a member of the prestigious Golden Girls dance team where she danced at nationally televised sporting events, collegiate dance competitions, and choreographed many routines for the Golden Girls Program. While in college, Mackenna continued her passion for teaching and remained on staff at Relevé Dance Academy. In 2017 Mackenna and her husband, Mason, took ownership of Relevé Dance Academy and set forth on the journey of continuing the legacy already built up at the studio. In 2019, Mackenna was awarded the Lake Lifestyles Young Professional ‘Rising Star’ award for her work as a business owner and professional. Mackenna teaches all ages and styles at Relevé, but her true passion lies in her artistry and creativity for choreography. Her pieces, danced by the Relevé Performance Company, have won numerous choreography awards at regional dance competitions over the years. Mackenna and her sister, Kendal Surdyke, direct the award-winning competitive Performance Company at Relevé Dance Academy and were awarded many prestigious studio awards during their time as directors.
Mackenna is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with so many amazing young dancers and hopes to inspire and uplift those she comes in contact with. She sees dance as a true art form and method of expression and storytelling. She hopes that she can teach dancers to feel completely confident in their own skin and let go of fear or worry as they dance. "We dance because it makes us feel good. You dance for yourself first… and perhaps hope that others will feel that positive energy by watching and experiencing your movement with you."
Kendal Surdyke
Kendal Surdyke-Schmitz has been teaching at Relevé Dance Academy since 2018. Kendal is a proud alum of Relevé, and is honored to continue to pass on her love for dance in the studio where she grew up. Kendal continued her dance education past high school, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of Kansas. As a recipient of the prestigious Hamburg Dance Scholarship, Kendal trained in various styles including ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, African, Indian, and Flamenco. Kendal never stops striving to further her education, and has received training at Giordano Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, Dallas Contemporary Ballet, and is a certified Pilates instructor. Kendal started teaching dance at the age of 16, and has taught in both the Kansas City and Lake areas. As a head choreographer for the Relevé Performance Company, Kendal loves to express her creativity through dance. But more than just teaching movement, Kendal takes great pride in knowing she has the opportunity to guide her dancers into becoming hard-working, dedicated, and compassionate individuals.
Kendal recognizes that she has the chance to leave a lasting impact on the lives of every student that comes to Relevé. Teaching dance is about more than just the choreography and technique. It is an opportunity to guide every dancer into becoming confident, creative, hard-working, kind, and powerful human beings. Kendal believes the greatest gift she can give her students is positive energy and a safe space to grow.
Born and raised in Lebanon, MO, Jordan began dancing at the age of 4, and the move to continue her training at Relevé in 2015. She is proud to be an alum of Relevé Dance Academy and was a part of the Performance company, competing and traveling until she graduated in 2019.
After high school, Jordan continued her education at Oklahoma City University, earning her Bachelor of Science in Dance Management. While there, she trained extensively in musical theater, tap, rhythm tap, jazz, ballet, partnering, theater dance, and precision line. Her studies also included stage management, dance pedagogy, studio management, nonprofit organization and fundraising, touring, and producing.
After graduating college Jordan moved to NYC for a short time. There she was able to immerse herself in taking classes at Steps and Broadway Dance Center along with auditioning everyday. She has performed professionally on main stages at amusement parks (Kings Island and Worlds of Fun). She professionally stage manages for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Jordan assistant stage managed in the studios for SIX: the musical and went onboard for 7 months managing various bands, guest entertainers, and singers. She also stage manages for Act 1 Dance Talent Competition based out of CA and travels to different cities on various weekends.
She began assistant teaching at the age of 13, and during her college years returned home to teach at Relevé and choreograph for the performance company during her breaks. Today, Jordan is passionate about sharing her love of dance with students, helping them grow in both skill and confidence, and creating a supportive, inspiring classroom environment.
Chloe Bartels grew up in Olathe, Kansas, and is thrilled to be part of the Relevé Dance Academy family! She began dancing at just three years old and trained at Starstruck Performing Arts Center in Lenexa, Kansas. After high school, Chloe attended Kansas State University, where she was a member of the Classy Cat Dance Team for four years and helped lead the team to its first-ever National Championship title.
Chloe earned her degree in Human Development and Nutrition, along with a Health Coaching Certificate, and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetics. She also serves as the Head Coach for both the Camdenton Middle School and High School Dance Teams.
Blending her passion for dance, health, and wellness, Chloe strives to inspire her students not only in their technique but also in their overall well-being. She encourages young dancers to live balanced, healthy lives filled with kindness, positivity, and a little bit of everyday magic. Dance has always been a joyful and transformative part of Chloe’s life, and she feels truly grateful to share that joy with her students each and every day.
Marah Surdyke
Marah Surdyke began her dance journey here at Relevé Dance Academy at the age of 3. She continued to nurture her passion of performing and storytelling while being apart of the Relevé Performance Company, traveling and competing until graduating in 2022. Simultaneously, she began teaching and choreographing at the age of 16, sparking her ongoing love for creating and sharing dance with other students.
Following high school, Marah moved to Kansas City where she continued growing in classical technical styles such as ballet, modern, and jazz at the UMKC Conservatory. While in the city, Marah also immersed herself in the urban community of dance, training in contemporary and street styles with working artists, and performing for local events as a member of the ‘IPush’ hip hop company.
Marah then went on to be apart of the class of 2025 at the renowned CLI Conservatory in Massachusetts, under the direction of Teddy Forance. She trained rigorously in a multitude of dance styles, learning from and working with the best of the best in the dance industry. A fraction of the faculty she trained under include, Chris Scott, Robbie Blue, Martha Nichols, Lucy Vallely, Blake McGrath, Kenichi Kasumatsu, and Billy Griffin. As well as performing on stage, dancing for camera, and working through real dance career experiences, Marah got to further develop her own artistry and creativity with opportunities to choreograph for her talented peers at CLI.
Marah uses her abundance of technical knowledge and precision, but meets it with experimentation, rule breaking, and rawness, to open new doors for dance. She believes dance is a beautiful reflection of the human experience, a gift that should be shared, and a one of a kind art form that can make a lasting impact.
Marah cannot wait to be back in the studio teaching the youth in this community! She hopes to help them harness their creativity and identity, allowing them to make a mark on the world ahead of them.
Manual 'Lukky' Harvey
Manual "Lukky" Harvey is one of Kansas City's premier hiphop instructors.
He is the creator of the iPush Workshop Series and director of iPush "theCOMPANY", which is a pre-professional training and performance company.
Manual started off as a street dancer and freestyler in the styles of popping, breaking and krump and now his main focus is hiphop influenced choreography. Some of his credits include Ginuwine, Brisk Iced Tea, Tech N9ne, Jordan Fisher, KC FashionWeek, RedBull and more. He has trained with industry professionals such as Nappy Tabs, Brian Friedman, Laura Edwards, Bobby Newberry, Janelle Ginestra, Dave Scott, Tricia Miranda and several others.
He definitely has a unique style and its recognised all around the Midwest Region. His focus is more on grooving, movement and passion than just giving out steps.
Jordan Hartman
Chloe Bartles
Stephanie Ryder
Stephanie Ryder grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is so excited to be joining Relevé as a ballet teacher this year! Stephanie earned a BFA in Dance with a ballet concentration from Point Park University. During her time there she studied ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, hip hop, tap, pas de deux, kinesiology, pedagogy and many other dance related courses. While at Point Park she had the privilege of studying under and attending master classes from a host of well known dancers and choreographers. After graduation she taught for several years at studios around Pittsburgh. Stephanie is married to Jordan and they have 4 children: Gideon(11), Canaan(10), Leo(8), and Jetta(3). They moved to the Lake in 2020 and have absolutely loved it!
Chris Rutledge
Chris started his dance training at 19 in Alabama, by the renowned Lisa Lyndon. He has training in Tap, Jazz, and Ballet, but his professional career and passion lies in TapDance and Body Percussion.
Chris has co-choreographed and performed in tap shows for both Universal Studios Hollywood and Disneyland. He also helped co-write, co-produce, and co-choreograph performances and full length stage shows for the leading step/body percussion group MOLODI(mo.lah.dee), out of Las Vegas. Chris choreographed and was featured in a body percussion number called ‘Per Dono’ for Italian pop star Tiziano Ferro, which was featured in his world tour.
‘Hines/Pollock’ is an award winning performance art act he created in 2010 as ‘the TapArtist’, where paintings are made by tap dancing in paint on a canvas. Chris wrote a full stage show for his company ‘theFYVgroup’ called ‘FootPrints of a TapDancer’, which was well recieved, around LA and in the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Chris is a premier performer in the popular Holiday Show based out of Minneapolis, MN called “Who Brought The Humbug!?”, which will begin touring for the 2024 Christmas season. In the summer of 2019, Chris spent 4 months overseas in Turkey with All Stars Entertainment for a 5-Star Resort touring show as a performer.
He has been a judge/instructor for over 10 years with companies such as DEA, Dance Olympus, Canadian Dance Teachers Association, Starquest, Dance Talent Challenge, and currently with Spotlight! For 20 years, Chris has been sought-after internationally as an instructor and choreographer for competition, concert, and film purposes.
Victoria Vanderplas
Born in Michigan with roots in México, Victoria VanderPlas fell in love with dance before ever stepping into a studio. That passion grew into a lifelong pursuit of movement, wellness, and education, guiding her to earn dual bachelor’s degrees in Dance (BA) and Exercise Science (BS) from Grand Valley State University. During this time, she refined her artistry across a variety of techniques and styles while exploring the intersections of art, movement, health, and learning.
In 2019, she joined Mareck Dance, then known as Missouri Contemporary Ballet, where she had the opportunity to perform works by Autumn Eckman, Joshua Blake Carter, Kameron Saunders, Kristopher Estes-Brown, Sean Aaron Carmon, and Stephanie Martinez. From 2022–2025, she served as School Director for Mareck Center for Dance, leading outreach initiatives and expanding opportunities to share the joy and benefits of dance with the Columbia, MO, community.
As an educator and coach, Victoria strives to cultivate confident, well-rounded dancers. Drawing on her artistic experience and background in exercise science, she helps students connect with their bodies, minds, and technique while fostering a community built on courage, integrity, and critical thinking. She looks forward to continuing her work with local nonprofits and regional studios, creating spaces where dance is accessible, collaborative, and transformative.