Biography

Kerin began studying tap, musical theatre, jazz, and ballet at the age of seven in Northern California.  She was a varsity dance line member and choreographer for both her high school and junior college dance teams. She began teaching tap at the age of sixteen at the Katherine Wheeler Dance Studio in Santa Rosa, California. At eighteen she was hired as a drama and dance instructor for the West County Theatre Arts Guild in Petaluma, California. Before moving to Austin, Texas, she lived in Anaheim, California where she performed dancing, singing, and character roles in parades and stage shows at The Disneyland Resort, which was a dream come true. Kerin was part of the faculty at a central Austin studio beginning in 2003, promoted to Assistant Director of the studio at large in 2010, and she spent 17 years as the Artistic Director of their competition teams.  She decided to retire from this position in May of 2020.  

In August of 2020, Kerin began a mobile dance practice. Teaching one-on-one lessons in driveways, patios, and lawns. She founded Open Air Dance Collective in November of that year as a way to foster the community of students she was working with during the pandemic.  She is fascinated by movement theory and the inspiring, healing power of dance. In addition to over 20 years of dance teaching experience and expertise, she continues her education as a dancer by taking local dance classes, regional convention classes and traveling to the DanceTeacher Summit or the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop during the summer.  She holds an ACE Certification for Group Fitness Instruction and is a 2021 graduate of the Yoga, Meditation & SEL Certificate from Breathe For Change. She was hired as the Musical Theater instructor for Ballet Austin Butler Center in 2022, where her class was billed as "the quintessential Musical Theater experience". Kerin has also enjoyed her work as a freelance choreographer and conditioning coach for drill teams all across the great state of Texas; including MacCallum Blue Brigade, Lasa Velocity Dance Team, Anderson Belles, and Austin High Red Jackets. 

She specializes in tap, muscial theater, jazz, and kick choreography as well as alignment, flexibility training, and conditioning classes all with a holistic wellness approach to her pedagogy.