Rochelle Hilario was born and raised in Arkansas City, KS, and grew up dancing with Cindy’s School of Dance from the age of 2 1/2 to 20 when she graduated from Cowley College. Miss Rochelle went on to earn a B.A. in Communication with an emphasis in broadcast journalism from Wichita State University. While attending WSU, she continued her dance studies taking ballet and jazz classes in the dance department. After working as a news producer in Wichita for a year, she decided television news was not where she wanted to be, and began her journey as a stay-at-home mom. Missing her true passion, she returned to Cindy’s School of Dance to take adult dance classes for a few years. In 2012 Miss Rochelle began teaching Intro to Dance and Tap at Cowley College. After the birth of her third child, she took a step back from teaching in 2014. By 2018, now a mother of four, she returned to her roots at Cindy’s School of Dance and began working as an assistant teacher. 2019 brought her back to Cowley College to teach dance classes for one more semester before the Covid shutdown. When businesses began reopening she continued as an assistant teacher until 2025 when Cindy retired from teaching. She is now pursuing her dream of owning her own studio and opening Royal Wren Dance School in the fall of 2025. Miss Rochelle is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and pointe, and is excited to help raise up the next generation of dancers in the Ark City community.