|
 |
Jo-Ann Faulkner has been the Director and Owner of The Performing Arts Center
at Jo-Ann's Dance Studio for the past 32 years. She is on site 6 days a week and
personally oversees all business and artistic aspects at the center.
Over the past 32 years the studio has grown from 50 students, all taught
by Jo-Ann, to approximately 500 students, now with 8 professionally trained teachers.
Jo-Ann is also the Producer and Director of the studio's annual performance
at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ, where each student is given the
opportunity to perform for their friends and family members.
|
 |
Tara Faulkner-Catalina is the Assistant Director at Jo-Ann's Dance Studio. She teaches ballet, pointe, and moderne dance; and she is the Director for both the ballet and moderne productions. Tara has been teaching dance at the studio for the past 23 years. She derived her moderne dance training at The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City. At our studio she developed her own moderne dance program by incorporating the technique that she learned at the Graham School, and she incorporated that with other moderne dance techniques to come up with what she calls a "Graham-Based" moderne program, which she has been teaching for the past 15 years. Five years ago,Tara developed and has been directing the "Dance and Movement" program at The Center School in Highland Park, NJ, where she has tailored programs to teach dance to elementary and middle school students with special needs.
Last year, Tara received her teaching certification in classical mat Pilates through the Regeneration Institute of Pilates. She is currently the Director of "Fitness to the Core", the new health and wellness center located at our studio, where she teaches several classical mat classes, as well as many private Pilates classes. Tara is currently in the process of working towards her certification on the Reformer machine for Pilates. She is looking forward to beginning to teach these Reformer classes within the next year.
|
 |
Cherilyn Biggins
(Cher), originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, received her early dance training right here at The Performing Arts Center. She attended the Rutgers University: Mason Gross School of the Arts and holds a BFA with honors in Dance. There, she was a member of The University DanceWorks performance company and per formed many original works by major choreographers, including Randy James, Sean Curran, Julia Ritter and Heidi Latsky. During her stay at Rutgers, she received many awards including the Marjorie Turner Choreography Prize, awarded to the top senior choreographer each year. Cher was also the student representative on the Faculty Selection committee in the dance department and was also the second student ever selected to choreograph for the faculty dance performance, DancePlus. Cher is a certified K-12 Dance teacher and currently teaches Creative Movement/ Dance in the Franklin Township School District in Somerset, NJ. She is the director and choreographer of five performance groups and after teaching several years at Franklin High School, is finding joy in teaching 3rd-6th grades in the district. She is also pursuing her Masters of Arts degree in Elementary Education and intends to complete her degree program by 2013. Cher currently teaches ballet, pointe and moderne at the studio and loves her students. She is so excited to begin her 15th teaching year here at Jo-Ann’s Dance Studio.
|
 |
Jillian Kessel
teaches and co-directs the jazz classes and productions.
She also serves as an assistant with jazz and moderne classes.
|
 |
April Dever teaches combination, ballet, and jazz classes. She began her dance training
right here at the Performing Arts Center in South Plainfield. She received her BFA in dance from
Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where she studied modern dance, ballet,
and choreography. Upon graduation in 2005, she received the Dance Express Prize for excellence
in performance and choreography. Since then, she has continued to perform, study dance and
other movement forms, expanding her studies to include training in Ashtanga yoga. In 2011,
April earned her Montessori Teaching Certification from the Princeton Center for
Teacher Education, and she is the lead toddler teacher at Waterfront Montessori School in
Jersey City. In addition, she directs the movement program for the school's older students
and teaches modern dance, choreography, dance history, and yoga to elementary through
middle school students. With ten years as a student, and ten years as a teacher, this
will be April's 20th consecutive year at the Performing Arts Center, a fact that
makes her feel profoundly grateful for the studio "family" of staff and students.
|
 |
Stephanie Prybella
has been at Jo-Ann's since she was a student in 1986! She has been teaching her own classes since 2004. Stephanie teachers the youngest dancers at the studio (ages 3-7) in our preschool classes and our combination ballet/tap classes. Stephanie also supports our students with special needs in a various classes. She is co-director of the productions that feature our younger dancers as well. Stephanie has degrees from Rutgers University, Biology and Nutrition, as well as at Kean University, Psychology. She is currently completing her Teacher Certification (K-5) from Kean University. She plans on receiving her master's degree in Special Education.
|
 |
Marlowe Scott Davis
began his dance training in East Brunswick, NJ. He was a competitive dancer in tap and jazz. While competing he received several regional and national titles. Marlowe continued his dance training at "North Carolina School of the Arts" in Winston-Salem, NC. After finishing school he received a scholarship to attend the "Alvin Ailey American Dance Center" in Manhattan. He performed with the "Alvin Ailey" company in "Memoria" at City Center in NYC. He has also performed modern dance choreography by David Parsons, Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. Leaving the modern dance world, he toured Europe as a backup dancer for "103.5 KTU's" dance music Diva "Despina Vendi" (I can't be) and appeared in one of her music videos. Returning to the state's he's performed choreography by former Madonna dancer "Slam" and has done industrial performances for "Toyota." Marlowe has appeared in an Off-Broadway musical "Thin Line." He has also stepped away from dance to pose for HX magazines annual swimsuit issue.You can catch Marlowe every year in Manhattan's annual Mega-Event "Broadway Bares." Dancing on stage with stars Matthew Morrison, Eartha Kitt and Cyndi Lauper. Marlowe continues to further his dance training in street jazz, hip hop and contemporary. His versatility in many styles of dance is what keeps him motivated to choreograph creative and interesting dance productions. He has won many choreography awards over the past several year at some of the top rated dance competitions. Marlowe is a resident judge with the prestigious dance competition "Legacy Dance Championships."
|
 |
Tamara Dombrowski is the Director of our Musical Theatre and Tap program. She also teaches our PreSchool, and Combination tap/ballet classes and co-directs the productions that feature our youngest dancers. Tammy is responsible for all the music editing and video production for the studio. She has two Bachelor degrees in Musical Theatre and Communications with a minor in Dance from the University of Tampa and is currently completing her Masters in Instruction and Curriculum at Kean University.
|
 |
John Barrella
is a hip hop/street funk dance instructor from central NJ. His primary focus is on techniques for B-boy(Breakdancing), Locking, Popping, freestyle and Street Funk choreography. John Began his training with hip hop company “Wildstyle” under the direction of Eric Samson. After a number of years training with Eric, John kept up with his training by practicing with various hip hop dancers. He continues to train weekly at Broadway Dance Center under the instruction of various instructors, largely with Bev Brown and Spex. Aside from training, John spends time preparing for various shows and competitions. John has been seen at such events as DanceJam at NJPAC, Fright Fest at Six Flags Great Adventure, The opening act of “Unity 2009” in Hoboken, NJ and much more. Aside from solo and group performances, John recently worked with a hip hop crew to compete and win the top prize in a Newark, NJ hip hop dance crew competition. John is also director of the multiple platinum and special recognition award winning teen hip hop crew, previously known as Fresh Effects. They have made a name for themselves by performing and running workshops throughout the communities and beyond. Fresh Effects has performed at Six Flags Great Adventure, half time shows for The New York Knicks and New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden, a number or” Relay For Life” benefits, parades and more. John is highly experienced in many student levels and abilities in dance training. He has worked with young children, teen classes, competition and recreational classes, adult classes and “boys only” classes. His choreography has been seen in various dance studios throughout New Jersey, and a few out of state. He has also chogreographed for multiple college and University dance teams. John strives for a healthy, positive and safe environment for his students. He constantly reinforces a strong will to work hard with every technique and to not give up on any part of a lesson. John pushes the importance of hip hop, dance and the arts to all his students within his current company, as well as all of his classes.
|
 |
Ashlen Udell
teaches combination ballet/tap classes and ballet classes. She also assists in all other forms and levels of dance. Graduating from Montclair State University with a degree in Music Education and a minor in Dance Performance, she now teaches general music grades K-4 and special needs children in the Bridgewater-Raritan school districts. Ashlen has studied dance at Interlochen Arts Academy and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and also teaches movement enrichment programs during the summer.
|
|