Owner + Artistic Director
DEANNA OWSLEY THOMPSON, Owner of VERSA5 and Artistic Director of the Versafied Dance Company in Downers Grove, is a dedicated professional in the dance and fitness world with over 30 years dance training and over 15 years teaching experience. As a competitive dancer growing up, Ms. Deanna studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical, and Pointe under Blonn Dance Academie and Bluestone Academy of Dance and Music. She earned many scholarships and recognitions from Tremaine Dance Convention, West Coast Dance Explosion, NYCDA and was an UDA All-Star. Since 2007, she’s choreographed for several dance teams and dance companies throughout the Chicagoland area. Ms. Deanna grew up in Lisle, IL and is an alumna of Columbia College Chicago, where she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance with a concentration in Dancemaking. There she studied under Peter Carpenter, Paige Cunningham Caldarella, Margi Cole, Carrie Hanson, Colleen Halloran, Dardi McGinley-Gallivan and Taisha Paggett. Upon graduation, she moved to Baltimore, MD and taught dance and fitness in the DMV area. She mentored and performed with Baltimore Dance Crews Project-Collective and through BDCP, had the privilege to teach at Young Audiences: Summer Arts and Learning Academy. She also studied with various hip hop groups around Baltimore - Major Definition, Culture Shock DC, Johns Hopkins SLAM Hip Hop and Capital Funk. For many years, she performed for The Walt Disney Company as a seasonal Face Character Performer originally enrolling in their Disney College Program. Since opening the studio in 2017, igniting this dance community has given her so much joy and love for the art form. When she’s not at the studio, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two daughters and their pup, Minnie Mouse, a french bulldog.