MEET OUR STAFF
Lori Power
Owner of Power Music & Dance
Known for her dedication to her students, as well as her passion for music, Lori has been a full-time, professional entertainer for more than 20 years.
She knew at the tender age of 13 that she wanted to make a career in music. Singing, dancing, and choreographing professionally throughout high school, Lori graduated with a music scholarship to attend her local performing arts college. During her college training, she was featured on many recordings for Disney and Broadway albums. While putting herself through school, she traveled to Las Vegas on weekends where she had a residency on the Las Vegas Strip with the all-female cover band, The G.G. Girls.
After graduating in 2002 with her certification in vocal music and dance, Lori toured Japan as the lead singer for the pop/rock band, Nightshift. From there, she switched gears and toured Hawaii for a few summers as the lead singer with The Blue Note Jazz Orchestra. In 2005, she spent a year singing and dancing in a brand new dinner theater show located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Following that, between 2007-2010, she sailed the seas with Princess Cruise Lines and Holland America Cruises as their Female Production Singer and Vocal Captain.
After getting married and having kids, Lori started teaching private voice lessons out of her home and eventually founded the children’s group The Power Kids, a live performance group for kids ages 6-15 who sing and dance all over the Treasure Valley. In 2022, she realized a long-awaited dream of establishing her own music studio when she opened Power Music & Dance right here in Kuna, Idaho!
As soon as you meet Lori, you instantly feel her passion and love for music, and how eager she is to pass along her knowledge and training to others who share her love for the arts.
Amber Bretana
Adult Jazz Class
Amber Bretana is a recent graduate from Elmhurst University with a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre Performance and Dance Education. Amber is passionate about spreading positivity and finding self reflection through dance and music. She plans to teach and choreograph while maintaining a career in vocal, theatrical, and dance performance.
Amber’s main goal through dance teaching is to cultivate a supportive environment where dancers of all levels can connect with their bodies, and find emotional release through movement.
Hallie Hester
Assistant Cheer Coach
Halle Hester was born and raised in Springfield, Oregon where she cheered for 7 years as Team Captain. Her years of involvement in the cheer community started at a young age when she participated in Cheer with the Colts. Her high school team placed first at State and second at Nationals. She has won first at state in 5A Coed Large Division and second at Nations in Anaheim, California.
Halle is determined and hard working. She has a passion for all things beauty and cheer and can’t wait for many wonderful seasons with this team.
Karen Wrigley
Violin Lessons
Karen Wrigley is a born and raised Idahoan! At the ripe age of 3 years old, she started violin lessons right here in the Treasure Valley. Her passion for music only grew as she went through school being referred to as “the violin girl”. In middle school she participated in her school orchestra as well as an extracurricular honors orchestra. As an 8th grader, Karen spent time assisting the beginning orchestra at her school. In high school she participated in more extracurricular orchestras like the Idaho Allstate Orchestra while continuing private violin and viola lessons with a local professional. It was in high school that Karen found her passion for teaching! Now she performs with a local orchestra as a violist.
Karen is beyond excited to work with more students and help them discover their love for music!
Kristal Clark
Competitive Dance
Kristal Clark was born in Moses Lake, Washington and danced with the Ballet Academy of Moses Lake for nearly all of her training throughout her childhood. After high school she danced with a small modern company called Impact Dance Project that focused on dance outreach and performance opportunities for children in the community who may not otherwise have an opportunity to dance. Kristal graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor’s of Science in Dance and a certification in Pilates training from BASI Pilates in 2016. She moved to the Boise area in 2016 and has been teaching locally ever since. She has been a competition director for seven years.
During her free time, Kristal loves to go camping in the mountains with her husband, son, and two dogs.
Miranda Keen
Clogging
Miranda Keen has clogged at Idaho Rhythm for 8 years and was a teachers' assistant for 1 year before coming to our studio. After a short leave, Miranda is excited to be back at Power Music & Dance, once again teaching what she loves best!
Besides her passion for music and the arts, Miranda's other hobbies include writing music & stories, singing, drawing, and animation.
Sarah Kennington
Piano Lessons
Sarah is the sixth child from a family of ten kids; six brothers and three sisters! She grew up in Houston, Texas and moved to Rexburg, Idaho for school where she attended BYU-Idaho and received her BS in English with a cluster minor in landscape design and child development. She is now the mother to five kids, with her oldest beginning to drive this year and her youngest starting first grade this fall!
She has been teaching piano for 9 years now, and she LOVES gardening and practicing piano!
Arielle Jensen
Guitar & Ukulele Lessons
Arielle Jensen grew up in Idaho her whole life and is married with two kids. She started playing the electric bass guitar when she was 13 years old and played in the advanced jazz band in high school. Arielle began learning acoustic guitar in college, delving into guitar theory and mastering many genres before going on to earn a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction through Integrated Arts.
In addition to teaching guitar now, Arielle teaches 5th grade Dual Language (Spanish/English) at Reed Elementary in Kuna, where she continues to be passionate about the Arts, incorporating them (movement/dance, drama, visual art, music, and poetry) every day in her classroom!
Janelle Larson
Country Fusion Line Dancing
Janelle Larson has had a love for dance ever since she was a kid starting with Ballet and Jazz, moving on up to ballroom and line dancing. She started line dancing when she was a teenager, continued throughout all of high school, and stuck to it over the last 22 years.
Here at Power Music and Dance, Janelle hopes to teach some of the popular beginner dances as well as some intermediate dances, starting with the basics and breaking down the steps in 8 counts. She looks forward to seeing you in class...it’s going to be fun!! 🤠👢
Kelli Costello
Tumbling, Cheer, Gymnastics
Kelli Costello is our new tumbling/cheer/gymnastics Coach. Kelli is 27 and resides in Meridian. Kelli has 13 years of Cheer & dance training with Pop Warner and 6 years of coaching gymnastics and tumbling with Tumble Time.
Kelli absolutely loves teaching younger kids, says it’s a passion to watch them learn new skills and grow, and she can’t WAIT to be part of The Power Music and Dance Family.
Lisaun Whittingham
Tap, Ballet, Jazz
Lisaun Whittingham was so inspired by her grandparents' love of Dance and Music that she set her full focus on becoming a dancer at age 12. Through the support of her parents, she had the opportunity to study with world-famous teachers, such as Eric Hyrst, Stefan Wenta, Keith Clifton, Beau and Stephanie Spassoff, among others.
At the age of 19, Lisaun began a career as a dancer/singer on cruise ships and at amusement parks, working for Holland America Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Princess Cruises, and at Tokyo Disney, and has traveled through this career to amazing places (her favorites being Japan, Hawaii, Dublin, Puerto Vallarta, and Alaska)!
Sam Bowker
Guitar & Percussion
Sam has a B.A. in Music from Boise State University. While at BSU, he served as captain of the drumline of the Blue Thunder Marching Band. He has been teaching guitar and percussion for 30 years. He has 26 state medalists to his credit. In 2009 he performed at the open ceremony for the World Special Olympics and 3 Idaho Summer Special Olympics.
Sam's teaching philosophy is about the student having a solid foundation of music theory and music repertoire.
Stephanie Childs
Piano Lessons
Stephanie Childs was raised in Soda Springs, Idaho, where she was the accompanist for the choir groups through high school. Upon graduation, she attended Utah State University and studied with Irving Wasserman for 4 years. She has taught piano for over 40 years and has been active in National Federation of Music Clubs.
Stephanie says her main reason for teaching is being able to watch kids blossom with confidence when they become accomplished pianists!