Lucy Wallace, MA, Founder and Program Director
Lucy has been dancing since she was five-years-old. In 2010, she bought a Boulder-based dance studio after receiving her master’s degree in Psychology. Her psychology background informs her therapeutic and cathartic teaching style that led to the birth of Dance To Be Free. She has brought DTBF to 25 prisons across the US since 2015.
Lucy has been invited to speak at several speaking engagements including Emerging Women and the first ever live streamed Tedx Talk at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. Her work is spreading and catching on throughout the prison industrial complex.
Maria Cooper, Interim Program Director
Maria Cooper joins the Dance To Be Free team as Interim Director. A dance and movement facilitator, Nourishment Coach, and chef based in Boulder, Colorado, Maria has been a SoulSweat™ instructor since 2009 and part of the DTBF community for many years. Maria has recently begun working directly with DTBF’s prison programs, deepening her connection to DTBF’s mission and the people it serves.
Maria is honored to support the continuity of this work and believes deeply in the power of dance to create moments of connection, freedom, and joy—wherever we are.
Stacee McGovern, President
Stacee has been dancing for as long as she can remember. As the Board President of DTBF, she brings marketing & events experience and she is dedicated to the mission of healing through movement. In her free time, Stacee is out dancing to live music, spending time with family & friends, and strolling with her pup. Come say hi to Stacee on Saturdays at The Avalon, she is usually checking folks in for dance class.
Jacqueline Hardy, Vice-President
Jacqueline is thrilled to join Dance To Be Free to share her passion for dance and the mission of healing through movement. She believes dance unleashes the inner silent energy waiting to be expressed and burst free. Jacqueline has been dancing all her life, from ballet classes at 8 years old, cheerleading competitions, to modern dance in college, and then found the dance fitness community in Boulder. She has 15+ years of non-profit organization and event management experience. You’ll see her sub-teaching on occasion in class at The Avalon.
When not on the dance floor, Jacqueline enjoys creating her own art through painting and pottery and spending time with her daughter, friends, and family.
Scarlet Freis, Treasurer
Scarlet Freis-Terry has trained and performed in many styles including tap, hip hop, house, AfroGroove, Bollywood, and most recently heels! Professionally, Scarlet is a business leader with 30 years of experience driving product innovation and growth, operations, financial analysis across both startups and Fortune 500 companies. She champions high-impact initiatives that bridge commercial growth with social responsibility. Notably, Scarlet scaled community food donations and expanded SNAP EBT accessibility to 2,200 grocery stores nationwide, combining operational efficiency with meaningful community impact.
Katherine Shoulders, MS, Southern Regional Director, Facilitator
Katherine has been working with Dance To Be Free, since 2016. She brings her 30+ years in the health and fitness industry to support and inform Dance To Be Free’s programming. She has worked closely with the Arkansas Department of Corrections on wellness program design and implementation. Offering workshops at the Arkansas Department of Corrections training academy and at various facilities, she has experienced first hand the unique challenges and opportunities present in the world of corrections.
Misa Terral, Facilitator
Misa Terral joins the Dance To Be Free team as a Program Instructor. She is honored to carry the teaching torch with Lucy in taking DTBF to more women in prisons around the U.S.. Grateful for how dancing transformed and healed her own life, Misa became a certified SoulSweat™ instructor in 2015 after dancing with Lucy since 2012. After moving to Asheville, NC in 2018, Misa founded Soulpower Dance™, teaching and empowering individuals to reveal their most authentic selves by connecting body, heart and spirit through the healing power of dance. As a Certified Death Doula and a licensed Occupational Therapist, Misa brings compassion, presence, and experience working with groups, individuals and families through intense emotions and difficult life transitions. Her spirituality and connection to Earth medicine brings joy, aliveness, depth and potency to her teaching style.
Misa has led trainings in Tennessee, Mississippi and Virginia with incredible support from her Asheville family.
