About UsDance Express has been teaching children to dance for almost 20 years. Our philosophy from the beginning has been to teach children the wonderful artistry of dance. We have succeeded in accomplishing this while developing the students' sense of self-esteem, discipline and hopefully a lifelong interest in the performing arts. |
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MEET OUR STAFF
Miss Beth started her business 18 years ago. Before that she was dancing with her dance teacher, Linda Regulbuto at Stepin Up Dance Studio in Somers, CT. She was the Associate Director there for six years and loved her job. Beth lived in Somers most of her life and decided she wanted to stay in the Connecticut area when she opened up her own studio. Her Dad told here that Tolland was the up and coming place to be and she should look there. Well, I guess he was right. Tolland has been awesome to Dance Express and Beth! Miss Beth went on to study in New York at the Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway and Ballet East. She also took teacher's class up in Springfield, Ma. with Steven Boyd at Frank Hatchet's Dance School. She took private ballet lessons with Richard Stienert, a principle ballet dancer with the Baltimore and Houston Ballet Companies and now is the Director of Ballet Theater Arts in Hartford. She still furthers her education by taking classes and having teachers from New York City come to Dance Express to hold master classes for kids during the year. Miss Beth has been the director the the Tolland Youth Services Community Theater for the past 4 years and will direct "Beauty and the Beast" this summer. Miss Beth taught for the National Association of Dance and Affiliated Artists (NADAA) for 4 years now and will be teaching at the National Convention this summer. She also taught at Rhode Island College during final exams and at other locations in the tri-state area. Miss Beth directed and choreographed many plays for Ellington Cultural and the YMCA in Vernon. She has worked for the Mansfield Creative Arts Council, Ellington Cultural Arts and the town of Ashford teaching dance. She has given her time to help different schools and programs throughout the years with the further of dance education. Miss Beth has dedicated her life to dance and her dancers and she's loved every second of it. |
  
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Miss Marion is the Assistant Director of Dance Express. She began dancing in Junior High at Beverly and Lee Burton's Dance Studio in Manchester, CT. She has studied dance at Albano Ballet School, The Houston Conservatory of Dance in Texas, The Hartford Conservatory, and Eastern Connecticut State University. Miss Marion continues her dance education by taking master classes in New York City. She has choreographed summer plays for the YMCA in Vernon. Her plays include Peter Pan, Oliver and Annie. Last year she choreographed for the Tolland Youth Services Community Theaters Production of Anything Goes and Copacabana. Miss Marion as her associates degree from Manchester Community College, and a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Dance from ECSU in Willimantic, CT. Marion's husband, Jack has been helping backstage for years as Sound Director. Her daughter, Jenna, danced with Dance Express for 15 years. She currently attends Rhode Island College with a major in Dance Performance. Jenna will be joining our teaching staff at Dance Express for the 2006-2007 school year. Miss Marion's son, Jonathan attends ECSU majoring in business. Miss Marion has been with Dance Express for 15 years. She continues to look to the future to share her love of dance with her students.
Miss Stacey's love of dance began at the age of three when she walked out on stage for the first time. She continued to study jazz, ballet and lyrical throughout her childhood and adolescent years at Dawn's Studio of Creative Dance in Vernon, CT. She continued to study dance at Elon University in North Carolina. Within her dance concentration, Stacey has the opportunity to study a variety of dance including jazz, ballet, modern, ballroom, dance history and choreography. Since her return to Connecticut, Stacey has maintained careers in her two favorite areas, psychology and dance. She has obtained her Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and Central Connecticut State University in 2005. This is Stacey's 7th year at Dance Express and she looks forward to many more. Dance Express has not only become a workplace, but also an extension of her family.
Miss Beth has been dancing since the age of 7. She started teaching dance as an assistant at Steppin' Up Dance Studio in Somers, CT at the age of 12 and continued for 4 years, eventually becoming a full dance teacher incorporating her own choreography and personal style into her students' routines. At this time Miss Beth also participated in the NADA events in New York City and various other locations in the region for many years. Miss Beth performed for the Somers High School Drama Club as well as choreographing numerous shows while going to school there. Will attending college at Central Connecticut State University pursuing a bachelor's degree in Accounting, she was a member of the CCSU Dance Team which performed halftime shows for the school's sports teams and other school events. Miss Beth returned to dancing at Dance Express 6 years ago after taking a few years off to start a family with Chuck, her husband of 14 years. She became another proud member of the Dance Express faculty 3 years ago at the prompting of her former dance teacher Miss Beth! Out of Miss Beth's 3 children, Leeza has been dancing with Dance Express for 7 years! Although Leeza's younger brothers, Jake and Zachary haven't started dancing yet, they also love performing in front of an audience - must in the genes!
Miss Jessica starting out doing gymnastics at Patty Dunn's, then at the age of 11, she started dancing at Richard Risley's Dance Studio of Coventry. She danced at Richard's for 5 years through middle school and a portion of high school while coaching the girls recreational cheerleading squad. When she was 16, Miss Jessica was introduced to Dance Express, where she has been for 6 years. She has been competing in dance for 5 years and teaching for 3. Since graduating high school, Miss Jessica has worked as a full-time teacher of a 3-year old pre-school class. She is currently working towards getting a Child Development Associate degree and eventually opening her own child care center.
Miss Lauren began dancing at the age of 3 with Miss Beth at Dance Express. She has studied jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, hip-hop and tap. As a former Company member, Miss Lauren enjoyed participating in numerous dance competitions throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York City. She continues her training in dance by attending various dance classes at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Miss lauren graduated from Manchester Community College this past spring receiving her Associate degree in Liberal Arts and Science. Miss Lauren is very excited to be performing for a second season as a dancer on the Solar Power Dance Team for WNBA's Connecticut Sun. She loves teaching at Dance Express and is proud to be a part of the Dance Express family.
Robin Florence is married to her husband Rick, has two daughters, Madison and Camryn. Miss Robin studied tap, ballet and jazz with her dance teacher, Bradley Adams, in Skowhegan, Maine at the age of 3 though age 18. She then went on to study ballet, jazz, and modern dance at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in sociology and Performing Arts with Dance Concentration. Working as a part-time dance teacher in several area studios, Miss Robin has taught beginner level pre-school classes through advanced levels of ballet, lyrical, jazz, and tap. Robin's ballet background has complemented each school's ballet curriculum. Miss Robin has been a member of NADAA in Connecticut for several years, attending Connecticut based and national workshops. She has taught master classes for teachers and students at NADAA conventions both here in CT and at NADAA's national conventions in New Jersey. Miss Robin also stays current on dance techniques by attending master classes held at national workshops such as Dance Olympus in New York and boston and attending master classes at The Hartt School in Hartford and with Finis Jung in New York. Miss Robin is very excited to be celebrating her 6th dance recital at Dance Express, and looks forward to continuing to share her knowledge of ballet and her passion for dance with all of her students.
Miss Pam has been dancing since she was 5 years old. She studied tap, jazz and ballet in Connecticut with the Burton Dance Studio for 13 years and in Texas at the Patty Harper Dance Studio for 4 years. She was actively involved in organizing and participating in an annual dane production held at the Abilene Civic Center to benefit the West Texas Rehabilitation Center. She has also attended several dance workshops in Dallas and New York. Miss Pam has been with Dance Express for 8 years and hopes there will be many more in the future Miss Pam also works as a paralegal for a title insurance company. She and her husband, Adam, are kept quite busy with their daughter, Natalie Sage who will turn 2 in August. She is already tapping her toes and doing shuffles!
Miss Chris has been dancing since the age of 5. She danced at the Academy of Dance in East Longmeadow, MA for 15 years. Miss Chris then went on to major in dance at Marymount Manhattan College and the University of Connecticut. Miss Chris choreographed for various theatre productions and talent shows in the area. She also choreographed Light Moves, a show at UConn that incorporated the Lighting Design and Dance Departments. Miss Chris has been married to Pete Romaniello, our lighting designer, for 13 great years. They have a wonderful son, Nick.
Miss Kim started dancing at the young age of 4 in East Hartford at Anita Deprey's Studio of Dance. She continued her dance career throughout high school and college by going to NADAA and Dance Olympus Conventions. She attended the University of Connecticut and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. When she is not teaching at Dance Express, she is working at the Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center. Miss Kim has been a part of the Dance Express family for 16 years now and will be with us for many more. |
