Mrs. Annie Hales is an award-winning vocalist, instrumentalist, dancer, choreographer, music educator, and director whose career has been shaped by a lifelong passion for performance, artistry, and education. She currently serves as Director of Music at St. Joseph School, where she founded Genesis Show Choir in 2023 being non-competitive to becoming the competitive team the Eastern Panhandle recognizes.

Mrs. Hales earned dual Bachelor of Music Education degrees in Vocal and Instrumental Music Education and a Master of Music Education from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Her work as an educator has extended beyond her own classroom, having been invited to present at state music education conferences in four states to other music educators.

Her background as a performer and creative artist spans music, dance, theatre, and live entertainment. An award-winning vocalist, instrumentalist, choreographer, and dancer, Mrs. Hales also performed professionally as a dancer for a professional Indoor Football League organization in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and has continued her work as a performer through professional contracts on the East Coast. As a choreographer, her work has received choreography awards at Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) Regional Festivals, further shaping the theatrical and movement-based approach she brings to her work today.

Her journey into competitive show choir was strengthened while teaching in Mitchell, South Dakota, where she worked with Mitchell High School's nationally acclaimed Friend de Coup. She spent two seasons as Pit Director before serving as an Assistant Director during her final season. The experience allowed her to bring together the many disciplines that had defined her own career—vocal and instrumental musicianship, dance, choreography, show choir, production, and education.

Mrs. Hales eventually brought those experiences to St. Joseph School with a vision of creating something of its own. Genesis became an opportunity to combine her diverse artistic and educational background into a program that could challenge young performers both artistically and personally.

At the center of Mrs. Hales' teaching philosophy is the belief that the performing arts can help create better human beings. She strives to use music and performance to teach resilience, compassion, discipline, accountability, confidence, humility, and empathy while encouraging students to create beautiful art and continually raise the standard of what they believe they can achieve. For Mrs. Hales, music has never been only about the performance. It is about what the process of creating something extraordinary teaches us about ourselves, one another, and the people we choose to become.

In her free time—the very little free time—that she has, she spends her time painting, baking, coaching pageant/vocal clients, and spending time with her beloved husband, Tom and their three fur-babies.