Category Archives: Our Students

Number of TFAD Classes: 5

Meet our Student of the Month, the lovely and talented Irina! 

In the spotlight this month is a young dancer who may be sweet and quiet by nature, but her dance moves speak volumes. Irina has been captivating us with her grace and dedication in our dance studio and with our dance company, and it’s high time we celebrate her achievements!

On the dance floor, Irina transforms into a mesmerizing performer. Our instructors have nothing but praise for Irina’s work ethic and her ability to absorb new choreography with ease.

We’re thrilled to have Irina as our Student of the Month, and we can’t wait to see how she continues to flourish as a dancer and a kind-hearted individual. Join us in congratulating her for this well-deserved recognition! 

– Talent Factory Staff

Number of TFAD Classes: 3

This is Link’s first year as a student at Talent Factory and he has been such a joy to dance with! He always has a smile to share and the cutest comments and stories to tell during circle time! He is such a good listener and loves learning new moves! Our teachers have loved teaching Link and can’t wait to see what all he accomplishes this year! Thank you for sharing your awesome dance moves with us, Link!

– Talent Factory Staff

Student Spotlight

Addison Miller

Number of TFAD Classes: 6

This is Addison’s first year on the Talent Factory Company Team, and she has been such a wonderful addition! She has such a bright and positive spirit and smile! Our teachers have loved getting to interact with her more throughout this first month and have already seen tremendous growth! We can’t wait to see what she accomplishes this year! Thank you for being a kind teammate and an eager learner, Addison!

– Talent Factory Staff

We have had an amazing first few weeks of classes for the 2023-24 Season! Our staff has loved getting to know our new students and reconnecting with our returning dancers! Our Talent Factory Company has already begun performing for our community. They performed at the Back to the Fifties Festival last weekend and plan to perform at the Festival of the Turning Leaves this Sunday, September 24 at 1:00 pm. You don’t want to miss our dancer’s performance and all the fun to be had at this amazing festival!

Thank you to all who came to support them and plan to watch them do what they love! We will be posting more of their future performance dates for you all to come out and support!

We appreciate all of our dance parents following our drop-off/pick-up procedures! Your cooperation is helping things go more quickly and keeping your dancer’s safe!

A BIG THANK YOU to our Parent Volunteers; Samantha Cotten, Amy Konz, Christa Parker, and Melissa Smith! You have been a huge help these past few weeks! ❤️

Talent Factory Dancers performed at the Boone County 4th of July Talent Show on July 1st! These dancers came out victorious winning 1st Place with their showstopping routine “The Show Must Go On!” The judges were impressed by their commitment to character and extreme expressiveness! We are so proud of these dancers and all the others acts who performed! They toughed it out in 85 degree weather with numerous costume changes! They were amazing and never cease to amaze us! What an awesome way to end the 2022-23 Season!

CONGRATULATIONS DANCERS! ❤️🤍💙

TALENT FACTORY WINS BIG AT MAJOR DANCE EVENT
Our Trip to Showstopper Dance Championships was An Exciting One!

Lebanon, IN–Jun 19-22, 2023–In the Northern Finals, Talent Factory competed against dozens of dance studios from around the Midwest and area for prestigious top honors at Showstopper, the largest Dance Competition in the Country. Our TOP entries placed as follows:
Simon Peters received 1st place overall in Senior Performance Solo, ”The Show Must Go On” received 2nd place overall in Teen Advanced Production, ”Shake Your Groove Thing” received 3rd place overall in Senior Advanced Large, Emily Konz received 9th place overall in Teen Advanced Solo, ”Home” received 2nd place overall in Senior Advanced Small Group, ”Golden Girls” received 2nd place overall in Mini Performance Small Group, ”Dancing Queens” received 8th place overall in Junior Advanced Duet/Trio, Dorothy Cotten received 4th place overall in Junior Performance Solo, Caiden Gilbert received 6th place overall in Teen Performance Solo, ”Holupwait” received 6th place overall in Senior Advanced Small Group, Madison Maxwell received 8th place overall in Senior Advanced Solo, ”Bonnie And Clyde” received 5th place overall in Teen Advanced Duet/Trio, and Talent Factory received 8 double platinum awards, 19 platinum awards, and 2 gold awards!

We had so much fun as a team at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, OH! We are so proud of all our Talent Factory Company Dancers! They put in so much hard work this season and it showed! Our team may be small but we are mighty! We would like to congratulate every dancer and studio who took the stage at Nationals! We witnessed so many amazing, creative, breathtaking and magical pieces from studios across the country! Such an inspiring and memorable week with our dance family! Now we are onto our 2023-2024 Season!

Give your child an exciting summer with a variety of summer programs at Talent Factory!

We are excited to announce 7 different camps, classes and workshops for the community in June 2023. Space is limited! Register today!

Your child will receive professional-level instruction. Our No. 1 goal is for your child to have loads of fun, and to create wonderful memories in a safe and positive environment. Campers must be minimum age by June 1, 2023 to register for camps.

NO REGISTRATION FEES are required to register for our summer programming. Participants do not need to be a current TFAD student to enroll (with the exception of the Technique Intensive and the TFAD Competition Prep Camps). These classes are a great choice for those families needing a more flexible summer schedule!

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE FOR ALL CAMPS AND INTENSIVES!

Don’t forget – multi-camp & sibling discounts are available when registering for 3 or more camps. Discounts may not be combined.

We have had an amazing first month in our NEW STUDIO! So much fun has been had by all getting acclimated to our new space! We are loving our 3 amazing dance rooms and student helper area and much needed Staff Office! This space is serving us all so well! Our staff has loved getting to know our new students and reconnecting with our returning dancers! Our Talent Factory Company has already begun performing for our community. They performed at both the Back to the Fifties Festival and Festival of the Turning Leaves this past month. Thank you to all who came to support them and watch them do what they love! We will be posting more of their future performance dates for you all to come out and support! A huge thank you to all of our dance parents for following our new drop-off/pick-up procedures! Your cooperation is helping things go more quickly!

Make sure you hop on over to Facebook and Instagram and like and follow us! We post so many behind the scenes pictures and videos on both of those platforms! You don’t want to miss out!

TALENT FACTORY SPOTLIGHT MOMENT: We were featured in the Boone County Magazine for their October Edition! Check out our article here!

We are super pumped for classes to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and know that our students are just as anxious to start! Keep in mind, there are no classes on Labor Day – Monday classes start Sept. 13! 

A few things to remember as we start another wonderful year of dance:

  • You will be receiving an email with your childs’ schedule after Registration Day (Aug. 18) is complete. Please be patient as our staff will be sending individual emails to each family with their schedule for the dance year. Thank you for your cooperation!
  • It takes many hours and man power to coordinate the schedule and class spaces are very limited; therefore all fees & payments are NON-REFUNDABLE/NON-TRANSFERABLE.
  • Shoe Fitting Day is August 19! If you scheduled an appointment make sure you are on time. If you are late you will lose your spot. Payment is due at time of fitting. We will also have dancewear and select tights available for purchase at your appointment.
  • If you ordered shoes they will be given to students on their first day of class. (Please keep in mind that some items may be backordered. If this is the case your child may wear clean socks to class until their shoes arrive.)
  • Email is our primary form of communication! You will receive an e-newsletter approximately every two weeks with important news, information and updates. Please add info@talentfactoryarts.com to your address book. Gmail users: please check your “Promotions” tab for our emails!
  • At Talent Factory Arts & Dance, we love welcoming new students into our studio family! We recognize that for some children though, letting go of their parent’s hand and stepping into our studio can be a difficult moment. Please be patient as they acclimate to their new surroundings and dance friends. 
  • In an effort to minimize the amount of foot traffic through the studio, our lobby will remain closed to parents, siblings and guests at this time. We will have Talent Factory Staff stationed at the entrance to welcome your dancers to class.
  • Dancers will not be let into the studio until 5 minutes before their scheduled class time. No dancer drop offs from the street or curb are allowed. For the safety of your dancers parents must park, walk up to the door, and stay with your dancer until they are let in. 
  • COVID-19 INFO: Face masks are optional for students and staff at this time. Dancers should not come to class if feeling ill. (Please email us at info@talentfactoryarts.com of all absences.) Dancers are welcome to use our hand sanitizing stations located throughout the studio. Having their own personal hand sanitizer is a great idea, and proper hand washing is always encouraged.

We can’t wait to welcome our dancers and parents (NEW and RETURNING) to our Talent Factory Family! We can’t wait to begin our 7th Season with all of you and are excited to see what this year has in store for us and our dancers! 🎉


P.S. We LOVE social media! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to catch all the fun and exciting things happening at Talent Factory! We’d also LOVE to see your pictures! 📸 Please tag us @talent_factory_ and use #tfad4life and #tfadfamily to share your photos with us!

Concerns? Call or email to discuss them so everyone can be at ease!

Happy Dancing!

Abby Brunty of Crawfordsville (left) is a sixth grader at Granville Wells. Ali Hieston of New Ross is a freshman at Southmont.

If you are on Facebook at all then you’ve probably seen the many dance videos spreading like wildfire of local dancers, dancing away at several recognizable locations including, The Paper of Montgomery County! Talent Factory Arts & Dance (TFAD) look for unique ways to celebrate National Dance Day each year and this year did not disappoint when TFAD launched its “Bust a Movement Challenge.” Owners, Jim and Paula Kochert challenged their dancers to go out and spread happiness through the art of dance. Challenge participants had to take videos of themselves doing a dance move in different locations and post the videos on Facebook and Instagram.

“We decided to do this to get kids out . . . to get our dancers up and moving before dance classes start. This encourages families to get out and plan on how they were going to do this challenge together. Parents had to go with their kids to drive them around at the different locations . . . getting families to interact with one another,” Kochert said.

She spoke as to how social media has become such a huge part of people’s lives and that with this challenge the kids and parents alike get their “social media fix” and everyone can participate at any skill level. The challenge encourages families to interact and spend time together. Kochert said, “Talent Factory is all about family.” This mantra shows in how she and husband Jim run their business. Her children, daughter’s Madeline and Marigrace have both been involved in Talent Factory as well as the couple’s grandchildren.

Dance dad, Courtny Cotten says, “My girls, [Dorothy and Frances] are always excited to go to dance class and always leave there happy. Regardless of skill level, they are taking these young children and molding them into healthy bodies.”

Two Montgomery County participants, Abby Brunty and Ali Hieston recently brought their love of dance to The Paper of Montgomery County. Along with many other locations the young dancers danced in front of our offices inspiring fun and bringing smiles to those around them.

Ali Hieston of New Ross, accepted and conquered the challenge, winning first place in the ‘Bust A Movement Challenge.” Hieston has danced her way through towns such as Lebanon, New Ross, Ladoga, Jamestown, Advance, North Salem, Lizton, Brownsburg and Crawfordsville. She has gotten business owners, employees, and even the local Walnut Township Fire Dept. to dance with her! Hieston is beginning her third year as a member of the Talent Factory Dance Company and took on the challenge on full force. Hieston expressed her excitement at winning the challenge saying, ”Thank you so much to everyone who helped me win this super fun contest! A huge thank you to Talent Factory Arts & Dance for creating this awesome challenge! I’ve had so much fun going around and dancing everywhere! I met other dancers and got some employees to dance with me too!”

Hieston’s mom, Pam Collins writes, “I am so proud of her! We had so much fun with this. Loved the smiles on people’s faces when she was dancing . . . It was awesome when employees and customers joined in!”

Kochert expressed how proud she was of Hieston and of all their participants. Saying, they had no idea when this started just how big it would get!

Talent factory is located in downtown Lebanon and is open to all skill levels and abilities.

Originally published: The Paper of Montgomery County