Lesa Dencklau is a 2005 graduate of Drake University with a BFA in Musical Theatre. She has been dancing and performing for 24 years. She began her training at Hollingsworth School of Dance and Gymnastics in Fort Dodge and was a member of the Golden Stars Drill Team in Eagle Grove.

Lesa was named the Outstanding Iowa Dancer in 2000 by the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Association and was also a member and lead dancer for the State Fair Singers and Jazz Band in 1999. Prior to her entrance into Drake, Lesa was a dance major at the University of Iowa. After transferring to Drake to pursue her studies in theatre, Lesa became the captain of the Drake D-Squad Hip Hop Troupe where she choreographed and performed for 4 years. She also appeared in multiple main stage productions at Drake including: Pippin, Quilters, Songs for a New World, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and the plays Stepping Out and Proof as well as A Year with Frog and Toad at the Des Moines Playhouse.

While in college, she appeared as a dancer and choreographer for the Prairie Meadows Giddy-up Girls and the Des Moines Menace Dance Team. Lesa’s choreography credits include The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Songs for a New World, Hello Dolly, The Pajama Game, Oklahoma, Wonderful Town, Bye, Bye Birdie, and State Fair, Footloose and most recently the collegiate and amateur premiere of the musical Curtains. Lesa regularly clinics and choreographs for several show choirs and dance teams across Iowa and her work has received multiple outstanding choreography awards. She has performed in and choreographed for theme park shows in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio and New York.

Lesa spent the summer of 2007 touring as the assistant choreographer for the Celebration Iowa Singers and Jazz Band and was a choreographer for the group in the summer of 2009. She appeared as a singer/dancer in the Iowa tour of
Jim McDonough’s Holiday Grande Christmas Spectacular. Lesa is currently the Director of Dance at Iowa Central Community
College in Fort Dodge where she choreographs for the Encore Singers, the spring musical, and directs the Iowa Central Dance Team and the male hip hop crew Team Uneek. Lesa also teaches Dance Techniques and Fundamentals at the college and is extremely proud of her National ranking dance teams!!!