Katie Kruse
Competition Director/Artistic Staff

Katie Kruse grew up in St. Louis, Missouri where she began dancing at the age of 5. She trained competitively focusing on ballet,lyrical, jazz, tap and musical theater until she graduated high school.

She began teaching at the age of 15, assisting classes, and by 18 was in the studio teaching classes of her own. She has traveled the Midwest and east coast for dance competitions as well as traveling to Australia in 1997 as a goodwill ambassador.

Katie started teaching competitive dance in 1999 in the St. Louis area and then took her passion to studios in South Carolina, New York and Washington while her husband was in the Navy. She has been teaching competition and recreational dance again in the St. Louis area since 2009. In 2019 she was named Competition Director at DPU Dance. She has won numerous awards for excellence in technique, choreography and costumes

Katie has also been judging since 2020, with her travels taking her all over the Midwest and east cost. When she is not teaching or judging you will find her working as a photography choreographer or scouting dancers for Weissman’s Theatrical Designs or working on making costumes sparkle and shine!! Katie has 4 children, 1 son and 3 daughters who do competitive dance and has 15 years experience being a dance mom. She is very excited to share her knowledge and love of dance with you all.