Not all dance schools are the same!  What separates a great school from a mediocre one is the quality and professionalism of its instructors.  At Dance Arts of Yardley, only instructors with strong academic and/or professional backgrounds are selected as teaching candidates.  Of those candidates, it is essential that any instructor chosen share the Studio Director's vision of a positive, self-affirming environment for dance study.  We are pleased to introduce the following exceptional instructors (in order of seniority):

Miss Melissa

Melissa Profy is the director and owner of Dance Arts of Yardley.  She has over 20 years of teaching and professional experience.  She has trained extensively with former stars of the American Ballet Theatre, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Boston Ballet.

Miss Melissa was a principal dancer with the Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Theatre, Ballet Theatre of Miami and Ballet South of New Jersey, and has appeared as a guest artist with area ballet companies.  She also performed as a dancer and ice skater in the production "Glitter" at Trump's Castle in Atlantic City.

Miss Melissa has instructed all levels of ballet including pointe and partnering, children and adults.  She has also taught varying levels of tap, jazz, lyrical and gymnastics.  In addition, from 1989 to 1992, Miss Melissa served as the Artistic Director of the Eastern Youth Ballet of New Jersey.  Her choreography has won first place awards in nationally recognized dance competitions.  Miss Melissa has had students accepted into the prestigious summer programs of the School of American Ballet, The North Carolina School of the Arts, the American Repertory Ballet, and The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet.  Moreover, some of these students are now performing regularly with professional ballet companies.

Miss Lauren

Lauren Gambale has over 15 years of serious dance study in tap, jazz and ballet.  She has studied ballet intensively and her instructors include the world-renowned ballet master Yuri Sergeyev.  She has danced professionally for Sesame Place, the Music and Motion Dance Troupe, the Vanaver Caravan Dance Company and worked as a featured solo dancer and model in area fashion shows.  She has also choreographed for local football half-time shows.  She has been a principal dancer with our own Yardley Youth Ballet and Jazz Performance Company.  Miss Lauren is employed as a school teacher in New Jersey and has been teaching dance in the Bucks County area for the past several years.

Miss Andrea

Andrea Bottoni has studied all forms of dance at the Broadway Dance Center, Dance Space, Koresh Dance Company and the Princeton Ballet, with such dance notables as Frank Hatchett, Ronnie Koresh, and Lori Abramson.  She has won numerous trophies and awards at nationally renowned dance competitions such as Starpower, Showstoppers and others.  Miss Andrea has performed as a company member with Franklin & Marshall Dance Company and the Mercer Dance Ensemble.  She co-founded choreographed and performed with the company ZOBO Dance Innovators” and her choreography has been showcased with all of these companies.  Miss Andrea has taught varying levels of Jazz, Jazz Funk, Hip-Hop, Tap and Ballet and her choreography has won numerous awards.  Miss Andrea is the Artistic Director of our own Jazz Performance Group.

Miss Suzanne

Suzanne Siekierka trained extensively with the New Jersey School of Ballet under the direction of Edward Villella.  She danced professionally with that company for a number of years, performing both jazz and ballet.  She has instructed for the New Jersey School of Ballet and taught after-school seminars locally.  Miss Suzanne has choreographed several musicals and was the recipient of a talent award and scholarship fund in the Miss New Jersey State Pageant.

Miss Rachel L.

Rachel Levy earned her B.F.A. in Jazz Dance Performance from the University of the Arts.  And received the Promising Artist Award from 2001-2006.  She has studied ballet extensively with Princeton Ballet School’s Professional Training Program and performed with the American Repertory Ballet’s pre-company.  Miss Rachel’s performance experience includes various shows at the Meriam Theatre, including a piece by Roni Koresh.  Most recently she has danced in numerous projects for  MTV including the VMAs and MTV’s New Year’s Special as a back-up dancer for Snoop Dog, Ja Rule, Green Day and Kelly Clarkson.  She has been instructing Ballet and Jazz for students in the Philadelphia area.

Miss Kristen

Kristen O’Toole has been dancing for 24 years.  She has trained in all forms of dance and studied with Sheila Barker at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC.  Miss Kristen has worked with Paula Abdul, as a background dancer for “Latiff” and danced with the Hip-Hop company “Versatile."  More recently Miss Kristen auditioned as a candidate for the hit TV show “So You Think You Can Dance?.”  She made it through three preliminary auditions and traveled to Los Angeles for finals!  Miss Kristen has been teaching for nearly ten years and specializes in Hip-Hop, Jazz and Lyrical.  She has worked extensively with competition teams and has taken her teams to compete in the finals of national dance competitions.  She recently choreographed "West Side Story" for an area theater.

Miss Tricia

Tricia Bodziak has been dancing for nearly 30 years.  She has studied with various teachers and studios in the Philadelphia area and is proficient in ballet, tap and jazz.  Miss Tricia has danced competitively and earned top awards at local, regional and national competitions.  She has performed with the ballet company, Dance DelBello.  She has been teaching for the past fifteen years and has choreographed for numerous dance recitals, competitions and children’s productions.  In addition to being the owner of her own dance studio in the Trenton, NJ area, she was formerly the manager of a studio in Buckingham.

Miss Renee

Renee Robinson-Buzby has studied with the North Carolina School of the Arts and received her BFA in Dance and Choreography from the Virginia Commonwealth University.  She has toured and performed professionally with the Richmond Ballet, The Jeanne Ruddy Dance Co., and the Starr Foster Dance Project.  She has toured and performed in Poland and the Netherlands, and worked professionally with Jerome Meyer and Isabelle Chauffaud, formerly with Netherlands Dance Theatre, and Israel’s Batshiva Company, creating an original work entitled “Seed."  She has choreographed for “The Litmus Project," among others.  Miss Renee has nearly 15 years of teaching and professional dance experience, and is currently working as an independent choreographer and performer in Philadelphia.

Miss Rachel C.

Rachel Clunie has been dancing for nearly 15 years.  She has trained in Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet, Tap and Modern dance.  She was the captain of the Pennsbury High School Dance team for two years.  In addition to having been a member of both the Ballet and Jazz Companies here at Dance Arts, Miss Rachel C. has performed as a company member with SUNY Fredonia’s Orchesis Dance Company and With Temple University’s In Motion Dance Ensemble.  She has danced competitively, winning top awards, at various regional and national dance competitions.  Miss Rachel C. danced professionally with Via Dance Collaborative, The Vanaver Caravan, and Sesame Place.  She has been a teaching assistant and substitute teacher for Dance Arts, and gained additional teaching experience while attending SUNY Fredonia.  Miss Rachel C. has choreographed for the Orchesis Dance Company and the In Motion Dance Ensemble as well as for various theater productions in the area.

Miss Heather

Miss Heather (Bach) Wilson began the serious study of dance by the age of nine at the American Ballet Center of the Joffrey Ballet, NYC.  She also studied with the Monmouth Ballet on a full merit scholarship.  She later performed for a number of years with the Princeton Ballet Company II under the direction of Dermot Burke of the Joffrey Ballet.  Miss Heather trained in modern dance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and gained musical theatre experience performing in musicals such as Oklahoma, Pippin, Annie Get your gun, A Chorus Line, and many others.  Miss Heather has choreographed and taught dance throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania for over twenty years.  In 1995 she founded the River Ballet Academy and later the River Ballet Company.  In 2001 she founded Bach Ballet.  She has also been a guest instructor for the Portland Ballet’s summer intensive.  Miss Heather’s student’s have been accepted into some of this countries most prestigious schools and companies, including the Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Interlochen, School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Princeton Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, and many more.

Miss Jennifer R.

Jennifer Russell is a graduate of the School of American Ballet, NYC.  While at SAB, she studied under many reknowned instructors including; Alexandra Danilova, Antonina Tumkovsky, Karen Von Aroldingen, Kay Mazzo and Stanley Williams.  She also studied with San Franscisco Ballet’s Helgi Tomasson; Suzanne Pomerantzeff and Lester Jacobson of Florida’s Academy of Ballet Arts, and with teachers of diverse techniques with various New York and New Jersey Schools  Miss Jennifer has performed as a principal dancer with the Hamilton Ballet Theatre and has been teaching in the area for nearly 10 years at schools such as the Princeton Dance and Theatre Studio, the Allworthy School of Music and Dance and Ballet Technique.  She is also a graduate of The College of New Jersey and is currently pursuing her own dance interests.

Miss Shannon

Shannon Glass has studied a wide array of dance disciplines, including Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Modern and Tap.  As a youngster, Miss Shannon auditioned among thousands of students nationwide and was accepted into the prestigious Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet.  Miss Shannon was formerly a member of both the Yardley Youth Ballet Company and the Jazz Performance Company here at Dance Arts.  She has extensive competitive dance experience, and has earned High Gold and Elite Gold awards at nationally recognized dance competitions.  Her individual solo dancing has earned her a First Place High Score award at the Starpower Dance Competition at the Valley Forge Convention Center.  Miss Shannon has conducted numerous dance birthday parties here at Dance Arts of Yardley, and has been teaching dance in the Bucks County area for the past couple of years.

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