Starting at the age of 9, Betsy danced 10 years with the “Sally Miller Dance Company” of Washington, Pa.  Her training with Sally was in classical ballet, pointe’, Broadway jazz & pas de duex.  Betsy appeared in many performances such as “Swan Lake”, “Nutcracker”, “Cats”, “Coppelia”, & “Firebird“.  During her High School years Betsy instructed jazz classes at the YWCA.

In 1989 Betsy danced with the Waynesburg Dance Team & was elected captain in 1990. She then transferred to Point Park College in 1990 with a major in elementary education and a minor in dance.
 
In 1991, Betsy moved to Winston-Salem, NC.  There she attended jazz & tap classes & taught ballet beginning in 1994.  She instructed a competitive ballet team becoming undefeated in competitions all over the state of NC.

In 1996 Betsy moved back to her hometown of Washington, PA to open “Dance Extensions” after the retirement of Sally Miller.

In 2001 acro & contortion were introduced to Betsy by a new student and she was immediately intrigued. Through research & creativity of her own & her students, contortion has become one of the highlights and a major award winner at Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center.

For 2 years Betsy has had the privilege of having Broadway’s dancer, Jill Powell come to Dance Extensions and give master classes as well as attending seminars in Pittsburgh with famous choreographer Bob Rizzo. 

In 2003, Betsy starting judging for dance competitions such as “On Stage America“ & “Sophisticated Productions“.  Her travels include; Florida, California, New York, Texas, Omaha, Chicago & Ohio.

In 2005, Betsy had the pleasure of meeting “Ska von Schöning” in Las Vegas. Ska is world renownManager of Contortionists & Contortion Trainer. She owns “Showbiz” which is a company based out of Germany that has been in existence for nearly 20 years. Ska, the managing director of Showbiz, has been creating, training, and producing contortion acts of various kinds for years.  Ska has begun to work closely with Betsy’s students and promoting them professionally which she considers an honor and a privilege.  Betsy’s contortion students were  highlighted in the 2006 International Contortion Convention in Las Vegas September 2006 performing the opening show.   Betsy’s students visit Ska in Germany to train and will perform there in the near future.

In 2006 one of Betsy’s students was hired to perform contortion in a Powerade commercial that aired on MTV.  Betsy’s contortion students have been considered for other roles for “Got Milk” adds, “Wife Swap” and other commercials and are currently being considered for “America’s Got Talent”.   Also in 2006 Betsy has been on the road frequently teaching workshops for Contortion and Ballet.

In 2007 Betsy was included in the “Who’s Who of Among Executive and Professional Women”.

Dawn started dancing at the age of 14. She began training with Borelli’s Dance Gallery in Bethel Park, Pa in 1993. In 1997 Dawn had made her first debut when she performed in the Weird Al Yankovich concert at the I.C. Light Amphitheater now know as the Chevrolet Amphitheater in Pittsburgh, Pa. Later that year, Dawn had the opportunity to perform at the Benedum Center in the musical How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.

After finishing her high school years with Borelli’s, Dawn decided to pursue a career in dance. She auditioned and was accepted into Point Park University’s dance program under a partial scholarship in ’97. Under the direction of a world renowned staff, Dawn studied jazz, ballet, Pointe’, modern, contemporary jazz, tap, character, and dunham. Throughout college, Dawn auditioned and was chosen to perform in several shows at the Pittsburgh Playhouse under the direction of the Point Park staff and guest choreographers from various areas of the world. These performances included Cinderella, Jodi’s Juke Joint, Sweet Sarah, and Badoom Boom. She choreographed and danced for The Annual AIDS Benefit and The Student Choreographers’ Showcase performed for the college. In December of 2001, Dawn graduated from Point Park University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance with a concentration of Jazz.

After graduating, Dawn taught and performed around the Pittsburgh area. In September of 2001, she was hired at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet located in Bethel Park, Pa, where she taught jazz for the High School Program and the International Summer Intensive Program. Dawn also began teaching at Dance Etc. in McMurray, Pa in 2002, where she taught jazz, ballet, tap, acrobatics, lyrical, hip hop, and combination classes. In 2003, Dawn performed at the Byham Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pa, where she danced with the Bodiography Contemporary Ballet Company in the 80’s Rock Ballet, under the direction of Maria Caruso. Dawn was also seen in the Children’s Ball for UPMC at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pa in the Wizard of Oz. She then began teaching for the Summer Intensive Program at the Bodiography Center of Movement located in Pittsburgh, Pa. There she taught jazz to pre-professional and college level students. Dawn had also began guest teaching at local studios in and around the Pittsburgh area such as Abby Miller Dance Co., All American Dance, Dance Workshop by Sherri, and Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center. In 2004, Dawn returned to Borelli's Dance Gallery to teach jazz, ballet, lyrical, tap, hip hop, and technique. She also became a certified Pilates instructor in 2005, who is currently teaching at the Cameron Wellness Center in Washington, Pa. Recently, Dawn, along with two fellow dancers, has started a small dance company called Byla, which performs mostly Hip Hop at various local clubs and events in the Pittsburgh area. They performed the opening number for the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony concert in 2005. She is currently teaching for Vella Dance Studio in Bridgeville, Pa and Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center in Canonsburg, Pa.

Dawn has now become the co-owner and co-director of Dance Extensions under the direction of Betsy Shuttleworth.

Katarina Danks has been dancing with Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center since 1999, when she was only 7 years old. She currently takes contortion, tumbling, ballet, jazz, lyrical, pointe‘, and has several specialty numbers. Since then, Katarina has attended Showstopper, International Dance Challenge, Sophisticated Productions, On Stage America, Dance Xplosion, and United Stated Tournament of Dance competitions. Katarina won “Petite Miss Sophisticated” of age 9-10 of 2003 in Pittsburgh, PA and was titled in 2005 2nd runner up “Jr. Acrobat of Western Pennsylvania”.

Katarina was also chosen for the "United States Acrobatic Team" and performed at Madison Square Gardens at a professional basketball game in 2005.  Katarina has had the privilege of training with world renowned contortion trainer Ska Von Schoning.

In 2006 Katarina has performed her contortion solo "Egypt" 4 times at different competitions, sometimes winning highest score in the junior division. Each performance resulted in the highest honor of a platinum award.  Her duet contortion routine "Rivage" accompanied by Ashley King has also resulted in 4 platinum awards and high scoring titles.