Boulder dance studio owner staged robberies for insurance fraud, used money for cosmetic surgery, indictment alleges
A Thornton woman has been indicted on more than 20 counts of charges, including fraud, theft, and forgery. In a March 27, 2026, indictment by a grand jury, Cindy Burdine is accused of staging fake robberies of her Boulder dance studio, Kenesis Dance, and committing insurance fraud. Burdine is also accused of using at least some of that money from insurance for cosmetic surgery.
The Colorado Attorney General's office is calling the indictment "Operation Tiny Dancer."
The indictment claims Burdine profited more than $500,000 from insurance companies after the two staged robberies. One of the alleged robberies occurred in July 2023, in which the indictment states Burdine enlisted the help of another employee to damage her own studio and hire two people to show up in security footage as burglars. The indictment also charges Burdine with attempting to influence a Boulder police officer.
A complaint from the attorney for the landlord of Burdine's Table Mesa Shopping Center studio also claims Burdine owed about $50,000 in overdue rent. The studio now sits empty with an eviction notice on the door dated in February of this year.
Beyond the indictment, parents and former employees of the dance studio shared a trail of complaints, including parents who claim to have lost thousands of dollars to credit card charges. Two former employees shared with CBS Colorado that they are relieved to see formal charges coming to light. The indictment shows a former employee is the one who tipped off the AG's office to insurance fraud at the studio.
Lizzie Friend was a customer of Kinesis Dance (also known as Frequency Dance) and says she took her daughter to Burdine's studio for years. When asked about her reaction to the indictment, she said, "It's so much worse than we even thought."
In 2023, Friend says she left the studio amid the alleged robberies and as other financial "red flags" with the studio came up for parents.
"[Burdine] would put through a really big charge on all the company parents' credit cards. So, you'd see, you know, an $800 charge. And she'd say, 'This is for an upcoming competition,' and then a few weeks or months later, the competition would be canceled. She'd say, 'We'll roll it into the next one,'" Friend said those future competitions also never came.
Friend says when she left the studio and went through her charges, she was out close to $4,500. Friend says she asked for a refund.
"[Burdine] said, you know, 'Great, checks in the mail. It's on its way.' And then she went full no contact," Friend said.
So Friend filed a complaint with the Boulder District Attorney's Office. In the complaint, Friend claims that on at least one occasion, after parents had paid Burdine for a competition, the dance competition host confirmed to a parent that Burdine never paid.
After working with the DA's office, Friend says she got her money back, but says not every parent did. Friend explained that when the studio shut down in the middle of a season this year, she was told some parents were out thousands of dollars.
"If your kid's dancing on a competitive team, they spend 10 plus hours at the studio every week," Friend said, "We trusted our kids to someone who clearly made some really bad decisions and doesn't have a great moral compass, and that's scary."
CBS Colorado reached out to Burdine by phone, email, and even visited her home, which the indictment claimed was listed as her business address, but did not hear back.
"It's really good to see this finally coming out, and I'm glad she can't cause any more harm to parents and kids," Friend said.
Burdine's bail has been set at $10,000, but she does not appear in any local jail records. Boulder police and the Colorado Attorney General's office were unable to confirm if she had been arrested.
