Ava Wagner, former Dance Awards winner and U of Minnesota champ, shares lessons from her pivot to commercial dance and teaching.
**Ava Wagner’s dance story reads like a family legacy written in choreography.** Her great-grandmother, Shirley Larkin, founded Larkin Dance Studio in Minnesota, where Ava trained until she was 18. Her grandmother, Michele Larkin-Wagner, now co-owns the studio. “My grandma was stretching my feet the minute I was born,” Ava says.
But the path to the professional stage wasn’t a straight line. After winning the 2018 Orlando Junior Best Dancer title at The Dance Awards and taking third place on *World of Dance* Season 3 with her sister Ellie, Ava faced a big decision: move to Los Angeles or stay in school. As a high school senior, the leap felt too daunting. She chose college instead.
**That decision paid off.** As a member of the University of Minnesota’s dance team, Ava won two national championships in Division 1A Pom and two silver medals in Division 1A Jazz. By the end of the 2025 school year, she was finally ready to head to LA.
Her magnetic intensity and soaring jumps quickly caught the industry’s eye. She has since booked a Gap ad, taught at Press Play conventions across the country with Ellie, and secured a spot on Derek Hough’s *Symphony of Dance: Encore* tour. She also returned to the University of Minnesota to co-choreograph the dance team’s 2026 jazz routine—helping them place third at the 2026 UDA Nationals.
**What keeps her grounded?** “Being grateful, in the moment, and present is the most important thing to me,” Ava says.
She also brings that mindset to her teaching. “After being on the other side of the competition circuit, I think it’s important for dancers to focus on learning and improving, instead of who wins,” she explains. “The best thing about conventions is meeting people—those are the people you’ll be surrounded by as a professional.”
**For Ava, connection is everything.** When she and Ellie teach at Press Play, they focus on making the environment warm and welcoming, knowing how intimidating it can be to face someone big in the community. “Conventions really helped me in my career,” she says. “Ellie and I really focus on making it warm and welcoming.”
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The leap felt too daunting, so she followed her sister Ellie and pursued collegiate dance at the University of Minnesota instead.
She believes dancers should focus on learning and improving, not on who wins, because scores and winners don’t really matter.
