As a child, Miss Jocie would handstand-walk to the dinner table, and she often made up dances to perform for her family.
“They were really amazing dances,” Miss Jocie reminisced.
When she wasn’t showing sheep and horses, or playing with ducks and riding her pet pig on the family farm, she danced and did gymnastics. After spending years in studio dance and gymnastics, Jocie became a proud member of her high school dance team. After high school, she then made the Colorado State dance team, but instead transferred to Creighton and pursued the dance team there.
“I was still dating Josh (who is now my husband), and didn’t want to be away from home,” Jocie said. “I knew he was the one I was supposed to marry.”
She graduated from Creighton in May of 2005 with a degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition, while also dancing on the dance team. That October, she married her highschool sweetheart (Josh) and soon after, had her first baby.
Now, five kids later, she might not be hand-stand walking dinner to the table, but Miss Jocie can still beat her acro students in a good, old-fashioned handstand contest!
“Handstands are my thing! I can still walk across the floor on my hands if I really wanted to!” Miss Jocie said, with a wink.
Miss Jocie shared that one of the reasons she loves teaching is the opportunity she has to be a positive influence in her students’ lives.
“I love impacting kids in a positive way,” Miss Jocie said. “It’s fun when you can be someone positive in a kid’s life, especially if that is for someone who may not have a ton of positive around them.”
Dancers can feel confident coming to Miss Jocie’s class, regardless of whether they’ve been dancing or doing acro for years, or have never stepped foot in a studio. Miss Jocie has a passion for dance and acro that spills over into the instruction she gives to her students. She not only loves to teach, but she loves to encourage and support her students.
“Because of my own kids, I understand the importance of influence,” Miss Jocie said. “Skills are important, but I also want to teach my students how to be a good person at the same time.”
At Bloom, we are immensely grateful to have some of the best teachers, who, like Miss Jocie, not only work hard to teach their students excellent dance and acro, but who also want to teach students how to become creative, confident people, who courageously impact their world.
