Coach Brooke Taylor

Experience: Brooke began dancing at the age of 4 when her mother, Tonya Loker, opened Loker Studio in Wayne City. She took various forms of dance over the next 15 years including: tap, lyrical, Pointe, jazz, poms, and Hawaiian. Brooke competed in numerous regional and national dance competitions and in 1995 competed in the International Tap Dance Festival in New York City. International festival participants were by invitation only with only the top tap groups in the world invited to attend. No stranger to national titles, one tap group she was a part of received more cash awards at competitions than any other group from Southern Illinois. Brooke was also a competitive power tumbler and trampolinist for many years competing in the USTA and AAU. She began teaching at Loker Studio as an assistant student instructor, and then in high school began teaching her own classes. In 1999 Brooke moved to NIU to begin her college career and taught dance and tumbling in DeKalb. In 2001, she transferred to SIUE and taught at Loker Studio and for another Southern Illinois studio in need of dance instructors. Upon moving back to Wayne City, Brooke began teaching full-time at Loker Studio. In 2004 she started an All-Star cheerleading program for the studio. The Loker Studio Stars have been the AAU Overall State Cheerleading Champions for the last 3 years, something no other new squad has ever done. This past summer, they competed for the first time at the AAU Junior Olympic Nationals in Knoxville, TN and became the Overall National Champions! Brooke has also coached numerous State and National champions in tumbling and trampoline, and was elated this summer when her son became a National Champion on trampoline!

Personal Information: Brooke has over 23 years of experience in dance and tumbling thanks to Loker Studio (www.lokerstudio.com) and her mother, Tonya Loker. She is married, and has two sons. Brooke obtained her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing from SIUE. She also graduated from Studio RLC Paul Mitchell Partner School and is a licensed cosmetologist. Brooke’s competitive background and knowledge of dance comes from her mother. “My mother has built a premier dance, tumbling, and cheer studio in Southern Illinois. The reputation Loker Studio has developed over the years of being one of the best around is one that I take much pride in. All of our competition teams--dance, tumbling, and cheer--are National champions, and the quality of instruction our athletes receive is second to none. I look forward to bringing these qualities to the RLC Laker Girls!” Brooke is employed by Rend Lake College as an Upward Bound Student Advisor.