Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy

Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy offers dance classes, acting classes, drama classes, music classes, musical theatre classes, and choir classes. The program also offers performance companies, private voice, guitar, ukulele, and piano lessons, as well as a boys only hip hop class.

• Ages: 1–18 years old
• Schedule: Office hours Monday–Thursday, generally between 11:00am and 6:30pm; studio hours Monday–Thursday, generally between 4:00pm and 7:30pm
• Price: $5 trial class custom to the performer's age and interest

Melody Lane Dance, Music, and Drama Academy has been in operation for more than 45 years, with its start in 1981 and a history that includes moving to the third floor of First Christian Church in downtown Yakima by 1984 and renovating its current facility after acquiring Akin Center Theatre (now the Warehouse Theatre) in 2013. For more than 25 years, Melody Lane has been known in the Yakima Valley for its dance, acting, and drama classes, and for the past 40+ years it has served thousands of local youth with a roster of more than 75 classes in the performing arts. The studio is led by artistic director and studio owner Sarah Marquis-Smith, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Dance from the University of Idaho.

Teachers at Melody Lane are background checked and CPR certified, and the program uses teacher training and a proven curriculum. Melody Lane is Youth Protection Advocates in Dance® Certified and is a More Than Just Great Dancing (TM) affiliate studio, and is part of a network of 300 international studios serving over 100,000 students worldwide. The program describes itself as a triple-threat studio offering dancing, singing, and drama classes and private lessons, and it is a non-competitive studio with more than 75 weekly classes in the performing arts.

The program states that Melody Lane is about creating memories, lasting friendships, and connections through a shared experience of performing arts, and that it focuses on life lessons as well as performance skills. Melody Lane notes that it loves educating children and teens so they can be well-rounded contributors to the community, and that it has built a reputation for excellence in performing arts in the community.

Melody Lane describes having secured facilities and viewing screens, social media safety practices, and a Safer Studio™ environment that includes requiring ill students and staff to stay home, frequent hand cleansing and good hygiene practices, amplified cleaning, and promoting healthy habits. The program also offers automatic payment with a monthly installment amount auto drafted on the first of the month and a $5 trial class custom to the performer’s age and interest.

MLA states that it has served thousands of local youth on their journey through the arts and beyond and that, while it is a non-competitive studio, it offers regular chances for students to perform throughout the community, including at the Capitol Theatre and other Yakima community venues. The Rising Stars Association (RSA) was founded to assist students in need of financial support to continue their growth in the performing arts and to support giving back to the community and the growth of arts in Yakima youth. RSA also supports Melody Lane Dancers and Performance Companies, traveling youth ensembles that bring performing arts to the Yakima Valley, and each year RSA gives around $40,000 to young performing artists toward their classes and education. Through community support, RSA held its first fundraiser event in 2021, with Melody Lane Performance Companies performing in their first live event since the 2020 pandemic shutdown.

The program also offers the Justin Poole Memorial Music Scholarship to assist students who are passionate and dedicated to their music education. One parent, Olga B., shared that it was their first year with Melody Lane Dance, Music and Drama Academy and that their daughter made great strides with her dance moves and confidence, made new friends, and that staff were friendly and welcoming. Another parent, Esther S., said that Melody Lane had become their home away from home, that her daughter loves the jazz/tap and musical theatre classes, and that her daughter has grown in many ways over the last year with supportive teachers and staff.

Last updated January 7, 2026.