Katie Hopkins is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who has been living in Austin, Texas for eight years and is now in her fifth year as the Vision Dance Company Director at Vandegrift High School. In her time at Vandegrift, the marching band and Vision Dance Company have been named a BOA regional champion multiple times, a super regional champion, and the Grand National champion. They have also earned back-to-back UIL State Championships.
Katie has also been a staff member for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps since 2018, where she choreographs and oversees the color guard and brass movement programs as the Movement Specialist. In her time with Vanguard, the drum corps has earned a bronze medal and a DCI World Championship. Before SCV, Katie taught and choreographed for the Cadets color guard and brass from 2010-2017, in which time the corps earned two bronze medals and the 2011 World Championship. During the 2023 DCI season, Katie joined the movement and choreography teams for the Phantom Regiment and the bronze medalist Carolina Crown.
In addition to her work with the Vision Dance Company and in drum corps, Katie has worked with many successful marching bands, and color guard programs around the country, specializing in movement training and choreography. Since moving to Texas in 2016, she has worked as a choreographer and instructor for Claudia Taylor Johnson HS, Westlake HS, Bowie HS, Flower Mound HS, Cedar Ridge HS, and more. She serves in a similar role for Independent World guards, Origins, Tampa Independent, and 2023 WGI World Champion Paramount.
Originally from Arlington Heights, Illinois, Katie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Columbia College Chicago with a concentration in teaching and performance, and a minor in Arts, Entertainment and Media Management. Katie’s career in the marching arts began in 2006 as a member of the Cadets color guard where she marched for four years, her last two as color guard captain. She has been an artist with multimedia dance company, ARCOS (Austin, Texas) since its founding in 2011, performing and touring in the US and UK, and performs with other Austin-based choreographers, including dance company, BLiPSWiTCH.
Conrad Isenhour resides in Austin, Texas and works as a marching arts instructor, choreographer, drill designer, and adjudicator across the state and country. Conrad is the Visual Caption Manager for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps. He also holds the positions of Visual Caption Manager, Rehearsal Coordinator, and Lead Choreographer for Rhythmic Force Percussion in Austin. Conrad has been a visual and brass instructor, a choreographer, and movement specialist for multiple high achieving marching band programs in Texas including Westlake HS, Cedar Ridge HS, and Vandegrift HS. He has held a similar role for the Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson High School Marching Band in San Antonio for more than a decade. In his time at CTJ, the band bloomed from a brand-new school into a BOA regional and super regional champion, a Grand National finalist and a UIL State medalist and champion.
Conrad’s prior DCI teaching experience includes being the Visual Caption Manager and choreographer of The Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps where he previously taught brass, being a member of the Boston Crusaders visual staff and brass staff, the Blue Stars visual staff, and the Cadets visual staff where he led the movement and choreography program for the hornline and battery. He was previously a member of the consistent WGI World Class Finalist Monarch Independent Percussion visual team where he coordinated the movement and choreography program. Conrad was the Visual Caption Head and choreographer for 5points Percussion, where he helped lead the ensemble to two WGI Open Class Finals appearances, and was a visual staff member for the WGI silver medalist Crossmen Winds. As a visual designer, Conrad was fortunate enough to be part of the Cypress Lakes HS Indoor Drumline’s TCGC gold medal in Scholastic AA class and bronze medal in Scholastic A class. In 2023, Conrad had the honor of adjudicating the UIL State Marching Band Contest.
Conrad holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from The University of Texas at San Antonio where he also studied film, dance, and music. As a performer, Conrad spent his time marching baritone for The Crossmen and The Santa Clara Vanguard.
Manuel James “Manny” Maldonado is the director of operations and principal arranger for MJM Works LLC, a marching band design company he founded in 2007. His company provides marching band custom arrangements, drill, program consultation, guard choreography/work, and electronic samples for programs across the United States. His previous arrangements are also for sale online through his vast library of more than 100 shows.
Before designing and arranging full time, Manny was a band director for 14 years, most notably at Claudia Taylor Johnson and Cedar Park High schools.
As a designer and arranger, Manny noticed that many directors lacked the resources to teach modern movement to their marching bands. He reached out to friends Conrad Isenhour and Katie Hopkins, and Marching Band Movement was born: a course designed to teach directors and students alike about modern movement techniques for their marching programs.
Manny lives in Bulverde, Texas, where he enjoys spending time with his wife, Candace, and their two children, Jameson and Owen.
