A native of Kansas City, Jessica Bacus received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UMKC. After graduation, she worked as a substitute teacher for the Kansas City Missouri Public School district where she co-founded an after school theatre group at Longfellow Elementary School. While there, she choreographed and co-directed productions of Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Beauty and the Beast, and Alice in Wonderland. In 2013, she received her Masters degree in Elementary Education from Rockhurst University graduating Summa Cum Laude. In 2014, she joined Kansas City Ballet as a teaching artist in the Reach Out and Dance program where she taught until 2017. In her time at Kansas City Ballet, she has worked as Head Student Coordinator for the Kansas City Ballet’s productions of Alice (In Wonderland), The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sleeping Beauty, and Peter Pan.