FACULTY & STAFF
 |
MISS MICHELLE BARNESArtistic DirectorMiss Michelle studied with Edmund and Irina Novak of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as well as other professionals from the major ballet companies around the country. She has performed in The Nutcracker Ballet, Swan Lake, Raymonda and The Magic Toy Shop. She has her BA from Smith College and MA from the University of Southern California. She has taught dance in New England since 1991. She has choreographed many full-length ballets, including The Nutcracker Ballet, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Don Quixote, Raymonda, Le Corsaire, La Fille mal gardeé, Alice in Wonderland and Beauty & The Beast. |
 |
MRS. SUZANNE BARNESExecutive Producer and OwnerMrs. Barnes discovered her love of dance as a child when she took ballet classes with Anna Pavlova's granddaughter. She instilled this love of dance in her daughter, Miss Michelle, and has supported that love, becoming a partner in Miss Michelle's Center for the Performing Arts. She continued to dance throughout her life and is now having fun running the studio. In her spare time, she teaches tennis to special needs students through HandiRacket at Longfellow Club in Wayland. She takes her tennis team to Special Olympics events throughout the country. She is an avid gardener and still works part-time at a garden center. |
 |
MISS SANDI BIGGINSPerformance Producer, Director & Stage Manager, TheaterMiss Sandi has been dancing and singing since the age of three and has performed in many musicals, including Man of La Mancha, Hello Dolly, Mame and Showboat. She has over 30 years experience in acting, directing and teaching theater to students of all ages. . She is a past president of Arlington Friends of the Drama. She has produced and stage managed shows throughout New England. She is married to Eddie Biggins, who runs sound for our shows, and the proud mother of Ryan Biggins, who works stage crew and will be a Freshman at The Art Institute of Boston. |
 |
MISS LANA WOYDABallet, Jazz, Tap, TumblingMiss Lana has been teaching dance in the Metro-West area for twenty years. She is formally trained in the instruction of pre-ballet, ballet, tap, jazz and tumbling. Her experience includes performance roles in multiple theatrical and musical productions. Miss Lana is passionate about sharing her knowledge, experience and love for the art of dance with children of all ages and abilities. Her energetic approach to teaching inspires students to appreciate and enjoy participating in the many facts of dance. |
 |
MISS SUSAN FENWICKJazzMiss Susan received her early ballet training in San Francisco and New York and settled in Boston to train at the Boston Repertory Ballet School with Sam Kurkjian. She received her training in Jazz dance with the faculty at the Jeannette Neill Studio in Boston and at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City. She completed jazz Master class seminars with: Deb Leamy of "FOSSE," Danny Buraczeski of "Jazzdance," Alan Johnson, creator of the innovative "GAP" commercials and with "Alvin Ailey" company members. Susan has studied in summer dance programs at Harvard University and Bates College. She has taught ballet and jazz dance technique as a faculty member of the Boston Ballet School, Acton School of Ballet, and the Winchester Ballet Conservatory. She has taught the summer program at Walnut Hill and a college course in jazz history. She has received accolades for her choreography at dance competitions. |
 |
MISS SYBIL HUGGINSTapMiss Sybil has been dancing since the age of three. She has tap danced since she was eleven years old under the legendaries Leon Collins and Dianne "Lady Di" Walker. She also been influenced by Boston greats Julia Boynton, Josh Hilberman, and Brian Jones, and participated in master tap classes in Chicago & Boston under Derrick Grant, Ted Levy, and Barbara Duffy. Sybil is currently a member of the Boston Tap Company under the artistic direction of Sean Fielder, and she is also part of the tap duo "Jai & Sybil." It is her goal to keep the history and art form of rhythm jazz tap alive & flourishing in the Boston, MA area. |
MISS JAI UNDERHILLTapMiss Jai is an Artist, Goldsmith and Teacher who has been teaching and tapping in the Greater Boston area since the late 1990s. She studied Jazz Tap Dance after they styles of Leon Collins and others, with Judyth Lokich and local Tap Diva, Dianne Walder. She also studied with the late Jimmy "Sir Slyde" Mitchell and the late Sue Ronson. She has been teaching adult tappers in the Boston area since 2002. An elementary school art teacher by day, Miss Jai has been teaching at The Neighborhood School in Jamaica Plain for the past twelve years. An avid gardener and designer, she enjoys jewelry designing and goldsmithing in her J.P. studio. Miss Jai is the designer and creator of the "Tapestry Teaching Award" presented annually in Lexington on National Tap Dance. She and Miss Sybil Huggins are the the dynamic tapping duo, "Jai & Sybil." |
|
 |
MISS CHERYL FORTIERJazzMiss Cheryl has an associates degree in dance from Northern Essex Community College and her BA in exercise physiology from UMass Boston. She has taught dance for over ten years and her students have won many overall high score awards and titles at various competitions throughout the country. Her choeography has been featured at the American College of Dance. She was dance captain for the traveling Christmas musical, Uncle Ebeneezer, and was accepted into the world renowned Up With People. Over the years, she has studied with Pamela Wise, Amy Marshall, Chad Levy, Julia Boynton, Drika Overtun and Savion Glover. |
 |
MISS KORRINE ROBERTSONJazz, Modern, Hip Hop, TheaterKorinne Robertson has been studying dance in the areas of Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Lyrical, Modern, Hip-Hop and Musical Theater for the past 17 years. She has taught since the age of 16 at The Studio of Creative Movement, Reagle Player's Musical Theater Camps and The Waltham Boys and Girls Club. She was also the youngest member of the Creative Movement Dance Company. She has worked aside numerous professional as well as Broadway choreographers. Her recent credits include: No, No, Nanette, 42nd Street, A Salute to Rogers and Hammerstein and Reagle Players It's Christmas Time. |
 |
MISS KATRINA DELGROSSOModern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Ballet and TheaterKatrina DelGrosso danced with I LOVE DANCE company through her teens and performed two full-length floor shows at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. She recently returned to I LOVE DANCE, judging dance competitions all over the US. Katrina is a graduate of Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, with a BA in Dance. She studied under Doug Bentz for three years, learning contemporary movement, ideas and concepts that inspire her everyday as a modern dance artist. She has worked with other well-known artists such as Keisha Lalama-White, Susan Stowe, Ron Tassone, Whitney Moncrief, Richard Rein, Mary Demaso and Scott Ranagan. She performed seven original works and two full-length productions with the Playhouse Dance Company while in Pittsburgh. She is an active company member of Dance Prism Ballet Company. This season her choreography will be performed in Enigmatic Contemporary Dance in Cambridge, MA. She is very excited to bring her knowledge and experience to Miss Michelle's this year.
|
 |
MISS COLLEEN EDWARDSBallet, Jazz, ModernColleen Edwards was born in Boulder, Colorado where she began her dance career twenty years ago. She studied and performed with the Boulder Ballet in works such as, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, as well as a premier of Bella Luna. Colleen was also a founding Junior Company member of the Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet, which fueled her passion for choreography. Colleen staged her first full-length ballet, Oasis, in 2004, and that same year was commissioned by the Boulder Ballet to choreograph a new work for their BBII, Juliet. Colleen attended Boston Conservatory, where she furthered her dance education and earned her B.F.A in dance performance. She studied pedagogy with Donna Silva, and began teaching. Colleen has taught Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, and Contemporary Ballet in cities around the country such as Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia, Yorktown, New York, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Colleen has performed High School Musical 2, in New York, at the Yorktown Stage and the past year has been a company member with the Baton Rouge Ballet Theater, performing as a soloist in their Nutcracker: A Tale from the Bayou, and as the Winter Fairy in Cinderella. |
 |
MISS JACQUELINE MAZZOLA
|
 |
MISS MEREDITH LANGTONJAZZ, HIP HOP, TUMBLING, TAPMiss Merry attended Regis College for dance and theater. She continues taking acting classes at Boston University. She has taught dance and choreographed musicals since the age of fifteen. She has performed in numerous musical theater productions with local theater companies. |
 |
MISS SOPHIA WOYDABallet/Tap, Ballet/JazzMiss Sophia is a life-long dancer who grew up dancing and performing with Miss Michelle. Under the tutelage of both her mother, Miss Lana, and Miss Michelle, she trained as an assistant teacher and now has classes of her own. Her performance credits include numerous leading roles in musicals and dance theater, as well as Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker Ballet, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and Alain in La Fille mal gardeé, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, Cinderella in Cinderella and the Beast in Beauty & the Beast.. |
 |
MISS KATHARINE SUYEMATSUJazz/Tumbling, Hip Hop, TapMiss Katie is a life-long dancer who grew up dancing and performing with Miss Michelle. Under the tutelage of Miss Michelle, she trained as an assistant teacher and now has classes of her own. Her performance credits include numerous leading roles in musicals and dance theater, as well as Clara, the Snow Queen, Dew Drop Fairy and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker Ballet, Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Medora in Le Corsaire, Lise in La Fille mal gardeé, the Stepmother in Cinderella and Belle in Beauty & the Beast.. |