Tonya Goodwillie
Founder, Owner & Artistic Director
Allegro Teacher since 1996
"To dance is to be yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power on earth and it is yours for the taking." -Agnes DeMille
Our owner Tonya... hanging out at
the front desk!
Accomplished dancer and teacher
Tonya Goodwillie, the owner of Allegro Performing Arts Academy, has over 40 years of dance experience. She started dancing at the young age of 3 and began teaching when she was 16 years old. Tonya performed professionally with the Fifth Avenue Theater and The Trevor Sorbie of Redkin Show as lead dancer.
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Choreographer
Besides choreographing for the Allegro Precision Dance company, she also has choreographed for the Miss Auburn Pageant Dancers for many years, as well as the dance solo for 2010 Miss Auburn winner – and former Allegro student – Hayley McJunkin. She has choreographed for many local high school musical productions over the years. Tonya has numerous choreography awards.
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Judge, advisor, community servant
Tonya has judged at various dance competitions and has advised at Curtain Call Costumes. She is a member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, Kent Downtown Partnership as well as participating in many community service events. Tonya was the organizer of “So You Think Kent Has Talent!" and has helped produce the past Kent event "Kent has talent'. Tonya also served on the Kent Arts Commission for more than 10 years.
Education and certification
Tonya continues to improve through attendance at numerous conventions and seminars each year, including the Dance Teacher Summit, Washington State Studio Owner Coalition Conference and the Pulse Teacher Conference. Allegro was ranked by the Federation of Dance Competitions as the Best Studio in the Northwest for 2010 and 2011. Allegro has also been named best dance studio in Western WA many times as well as numerous industry dance awards!
As a proud member of the Washington State Studio Owners Coalition, she served as President from 2021-2022 and now is currently serving the next term as Vice President.
Tonya graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. At Cornish, she participated in Cornish Dance Theater. Her modern / jazz piece, “Blown Away,” was selected to perform at a Cornish show entitled “New Moves."
She wholeheartedly believes in all that dance can teach EVERYONE and how much it enriches our lives in so many wonderful ways.
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Teaching schedule for September-June
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Tonya is our official substitute teacher in order to have more time to focus on the business and meet/get to know more of the wonderful Allegro students and families.