Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy

Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy offers dance, music, and drama training through group classes and private lessons. Students can take dance, acting, drama, ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary, musical theatre, voice, and choir classes, as well as participate in performance companies. The academy also offers private voice, guitar, ukulele, and piano lessons.

• Ages: 2–18 years old
• Schedule: Office hours Monday–Thursday, generally between 11:00am and 6:30pm, with studio class hours Monday–Thursday in the late afternoon and early evening
• Price: $5 trial class custom to the performer’s age and interest

Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy offers more than 75 weekly classes for dancers, actors, and musicians in a non-competitive studio setting. The academy describes itself as Yakima’s premier performing arts academy and the only triple-threat studio in the Yakima Valley, offering dancing, singing, and drama classes and private lessons. The program states that it prioritizes safety and education for all students and assists in their growth as individuals within the community.

The studio has background-checked and CPR-certified teachers, experienced instructors who follow Safer Studio™ policies, and uses teacher training and a proven curriculum. Melody Lane is Youth Protection Advocates in Dance® Certified and is a More Than Just Great Dancing™ affiliate studio, one of three studios in Washington state and one of under 300 studios in the world with this affiliation. The academy notes that it focuses on a hierarchy of measures to create a Safer Studio™ environment, including secured facilities, viewing screens, and social media safety practices.

Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy was founded in 1981 and reports more than 45 years in business, serving thousands of local youth over the past 40+ years. Melody Lane got its start in 1981, moved to the third floor of First Christian Church in downtown Yakima by 1984, and by 2013 had acquired Akin Center Theatre (now the Warehouse Theatre) and renovated its current facility. The studio offers opportunities to perform in the Capitol Theatre and at venues throughout the Yakima community.

Studio owner and artistic director Sarah Marquis-Smith began dancing at the age of two, taught the Dance Explorers class in high school, earned a Bachelor of Science in Dance from the University of Idaho, returned to Melody Lane in 2015 to teach full time, and acquired the studio in 2018.

The Rising Stars Association (RSA), founded in 2018, assists students in need of financial support to continue their growth in the performing arts and supports Melody Lane Dancers and Performance Companies, which are traveling youth ensembles that bring performing arts to the Yakima Valley. Through community generosity, RSA held its first fundraiser event in 2021, which was also the first live event for Melody Lane Performance Companies since the 2020 pandemic shutdown, and RSA gives around $40,000 each year to young performing artists toward their classes and education. The academy also offers the Justin Poole Memorial Music Scholarship to assist students who are passionate and dedicated to their music educations.

One parent testimonial states that their first year with Melody Lane Dance, Music and Drama Academy has been “stunning,” noting that their daughter has made great strides with her dance moves and confidence, has new friends, and that staff have been friendly and welcoming. Another parent describes Melody Lane as their “home away from home,” sharing that their daughter loves the jazz/tap and musical theatre classes, has grown in many ways over the last year, and that the teachers and staff are very supportive.

Last updated June 13, 2026.