PENDLETON — From costumes to choreography, Debbie Kishpaugh guided Pendleton High School’s Rhythmic Mode dance team to nine state titles and a reputation for excellence at the state level that spanned four decades.
In March, she made the difficult decision to retire.
“I poured my heart and soul into it,” Kishpaugh said. “I poured so much of myself into it. I will miss it. It was just time. It was time for me to do other things. When you have that conversation with yourself, ‘when is the time?’ It’s just time to slow down a little.”
Kishpaugh, 64, who owns Jr. Jam Dance Studio in Pendleton and Jr. Jam Annex in Hermiston, will continue to run her dance studios. In January 2027, she will begin her responsibility as a Pendleton City council member.
In May, she defeated incumbent Addison Schulberg in the race for the at-large seat.
Taking over Rhythmic Mode will be Elissa Franks, who danced for Kishpaugh at Pendleton, and learned to dance at her studio.
“She started at the age of 3 doing Itsy Bitsy Spider,” Kishpaugh said. “She was at the studio until her senior year. Her mom, Lora (Franks), was on the first team I coached, then became my assistant coach for 30 years. Her mom is going to stay on as the assistant coach.”
Young and ready for a challenge
Kishpaugh arrived in Pendleton when she was 22, fresh out of college and looking to establish herself.
She worked as a fitness instructor at Roundup Athletic Club, but she wanted more.
She had danced most of her life and in college at University of Oregon and then Western Oregon State College. She wanted to teach and decided to contact Pendleton High School.
“I called the school, said I was new to Pendleton,” she said. “I told them I can coach cheerleading, gymnastics or dance team. I was told they had a cheer coach, didn’t have a dance team and it was the last year of gymnastics.”
That did not deter Kishpaugh, who teamed up with Liz Leonard to bring the dance team back to life.
“Liz had talked to them prior to me,” Kishpaugh said. “She and I coached together as volunteers. A couple of years later, she started her family and I took over.”
Kishpaugh volunteered as a dance team coach for four years before she ever received a paycheck.
“Debbie Hill, who was on the school board, said it was time to pay me,” Kishpaugh said. “It took me four years to get a paycheck.”
The early years at Pendleton were a bit rough.
The dance team was called the Buckerettes, but a naming contest in 1987 saw the name changed to Rhythmic Mode and a new generation of dance was born.
Kishpaugh took over the program in 1986, and the team qualified for state for the first time in 1987, placing third.
“Every year I have coached, we have placed in the top five all but two years (1988 and 2005),” Kishpaugh said.
Rhythmic Mode won its first state title in 2001, and followed with titles in 2008-13, and 2018-19.
Pendleton looked to win its 10th state title in 2020, but the COVID pandemic shut down the state championships six days before the competition.
“We would have gone into state with the highest score,” Kishpaugh said. “The year after, judges came in and gave us rankings. We were the only school our size to receive a superior rating. COVID killed dance. We weren’t the only team that struggled to come back. The richer teams, Lake Oswego and Canby, survived better than the rest of us.”
At times, the program had upwards of 50 dancers, but most years there were between 25-40.
“Our highest number was 53,” Kishpaugh said. “That was before we were well-funded by the school district.”
Kishpaugh was named the Oregon 5A Dance/Drill Coach of the Year in 2008, 2017 and 2025. She was named the National Federation of High School Associations Coach of the Year for 2021-22.
Kishpaugh also was inducted into the Buckaroo Hall of Fame in 2021.
In addition to her work at the high school, Kishpaugh is the founder of the Oregon Junior Dance Team Championships (OJDTC). The program has raised more than $135,000 for dance and academic scholarships for the Oregon Dance Drill Coaches Association.
Kishpaugh said she has so many good memories with the high school program and her studio, but the best ones include her daughters Morgan and Piper.
“Both of my girls grew up in the studio, danced on the (Rhythmic Mode) team and worked in the studio,” she said. “Those were some of the most memorable times.”
Dancing from Day 1
Kishpaugh has been in love with dance since she was a little girl. When she was 9, she put together a production of Winnie the Pooh with her twin sisters Sherry and Shelly, and her little sister Kristie.
“I’ve always been ambitious,” Kishpaugh said. “I guess it started with my first step. When I was on the junior high team, I choreographed for our team, and on the high school team at South Salem. When I was in high school, I volunteered to be the junior high coach. It has been in my blood.”
She also started making costumes at a young age.
“I would take grocery bags and make holes in them,” she said. “My mom wouldn’t let me use the sewing machine. I got out old clothes and trinkets and made my own costumes. When I learned to sew, I was making costumes.”
Kishpaugh opened her dance studio in Pendleton 40 years ago and has had scores of dancers come through the doors. She has had dancers go on to perform professionally with the Disney Cruise line, on Broadway, Boise State University, Oregon State University, Gonzaga University, Eastern Oregon University, Chapman University and the University of Montana.
As the field of dance has evolved, so has Kishpaugh.
“Any coaching takes a lot of mental effort,” she said. “It is an art form and it evolves. I’m just as hard on myself as everybody else.”
Acro, a style of dance that combines classical dance steps with gymnastic skills, has become popular and Kishpaugh is keeping up with the times. She added a 40-foot running trampoline in her Hermiston studio.
“The numbers for acro are up,” she said. “We also have the big tumbling mats. The 40-foot tumbling track, once it’s down, it’s not going anywhere. I just need a place to put it.”
If history has taught us anything, Kishpaugh will make it happen.
