Elaine Young, Director

 

Elaine grew up in London, England, where she studied Classical Ballet, Jazz and Tap dancing. At the culmination of each year she attended the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), and took her examinations in all three disciplines. She taught Ballet and Tap in New Canaan for three years before opening the Academy  in 2001. Elaine lives in New Canaan with her husband and they have two children, and one grandson. Elaine is extremely excited about the start of the Academy’s ninth year.


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Katie Jackson, Assistant Director

Katie graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, receiving honors for both her choreography and her outstanding achievement as a performer, earning her the Elizabeth Ann Pulaski Memorial Scholarship.  Katie has trained at dance institutes throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including the Laban Dance Centre in London. As a performer, she has been featured in works such as The White Oak Dance Project, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Bald Mermaids, New Action Theater and The Barrymore Awards (SCRAP), as well performing in works by Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, Group Motion Dance Company and Koresh Dance Company.  Her own choreography has been seen at Rebound Dance Festival, 5x5 Dance Festival, The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, National Dance Day in Philadelphia, The Adrienne Theater, The Duke Studios on 42nd Street, The Jersey City Studio Tours and Victory Hall. Katie’s choreographic works have been commissioned by dance studios and companies in the United States and Canada, and have won several awards on the regional and national level. Since relocating to New York City, Katie has performed with Clark Dance Theater, Linda Diamond & Co., Von Ussar Danceworks, Carver Entertainment, EmLink, Gritty Cherries Inc., Angel Feliciano, Jana Hicks, AKRNYM and Salvatore LaRussa Dance Theatre. She has helped lead the NCDA Performance Companies to numerous festivals, competitions, workshops and events in the community and nationally. This is Katie’s seventh year with the Academy.

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Chellamar Bernard

Chellamar graduated from SUNY Purchase Dance Conservatory in May 2007. Chellamar is a graduate of the prestigious F.H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts. He has freelanced with Nathan Trice Rituals Dance Company and the Opus Dance Company, as well as with Galdmans Dance Theatre. He has danced with the H.T. Chen Company, and with H.T. Chen & Dancers. He has also worked as a Head Counselor for Ailey Camp, a summer dance camp in NYC for at-risk kids, founded by Alvin Ailey and sponsored by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Children’s Aid Society. He is currently dancing with Genesis Dance Theater, a touring contemporary dance company based in NYC.  Other recent credits include dancing with the Philadanco Dance Company in Philadelphia. Chellamar is also a dance and fitness instructor at Boys and Girls Harbor, an organization that provides education and character development to 2,500 children from the Harlem and South Bronx area. In addition to dance performance and teaching, Chellamar is a Professional Fusion Trainer at the Reebok Sports Club in Manhattan, and he has also competed in regional Golden Gloves boxing competitions. Chellamar is the proud father of a 5 year-old boy, and this is Chellamar's fifth year with the Academy.

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Amanda Lehman    

Amanda, originally from Mobile, Alabama, has been living and professionally working in New York City over the past 9 years. Her experience ranges across dance, acting, singing, Master Class instruction, and professional adjudicating. Performance credits include last season’s Radio City Christmas Spectacular in The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville Tennessee, the original cast of Disney's Finding Nemo The Musical in Orlando, FL., a U.S. National as well as an international tour in Moscow and Tokyo of 42nd Street, Footloose directed/choreographed by Emmy award-winning Broadway choreographer AC Ciulla, and touring with the critically acclaimed Irish International dance show Spirit of the Dance. Amanda's regional theater credits include A Chorus Line, Oliver, and Music Man, and she spent six months performing for Royal Caribbean cruise lines on their ship Adventure of the Seas. She is a recipient of the Richard Ellner Scholarship at the Broadway Dance Center Studio, and serves on faculty for several dance conventions and is a professional adjudicator for numerous dance competitions, as well as being a published columnist for Dancer Magazine’s Year in Review issue. This is Amanda's third year with the Academy.

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Renée Smith 

Renée graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she double-majored in Theatre & Journalism, and minored in History. Her experience ranges across dance performance, choreography, theatre, and television. While at NYU, she co-founded Pulse Dance Project, a dance performance group, where she choreographed, directed and performed in annual concerts and showcases. In addition, Renée has choreographed top score solos for both national and regional competitions and has won numerous awards for her work. Recently, Renée appeared in a promo for Columbia University's Film Festival (which was shown in Times Square). She can also be heard as the 'Young Boy' in the new Leapster game Build Your Own Theme Park. Renée has appeared in many local and national commercials, including an upcoming spot in a national GE commercial. This is Renée’s second year with the Academy

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Tricia Olds

 

Tricia earned her BFA in Drama with Honors from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in May 2007. She is the co-founder of Tisch's Pulse Dance Project and was also a member of NYU's Purple and White Dance Team. As a young dancer, Tricia competed with DANCEAMERICA and as a national champion performed at Disney's Epcot Center. She has also performed pieces by Danny Buraczeski and Jack Hayes at the Boston Summer Dance Festival through Jeannette Neill's Dance Studio. She was featured in Christine Philion Dufour's show Shorts in Portland, Maine. At the Portland School of Ballet she performed in Adrienne Hawkins' piece Ta Ka Ta Da. Most recently she performed a collaborative movement and dance piece While We Were Waiting under the direction of Kate Hilliard at the Stella Adler Studio. The piece will have it's Canadian debut this winter. While dancing, Tricia is also pursuing her acting career in New York City. She is currently working on her comedic solo show for the 2010 New York Fringe Festival. This is Tricia’s first year with the Academy.

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Dylan Smith

 

 

Dylan is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College in NYC with a B.A. in dance. His experience ranges from professional stage performances, to adjudicating at dance competitions, to teaching Master classes, as well as to staging award winning choreography. Performance credits include the Japan and North American tours of 42^nd Street, JUBILEE! at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the NFL Kick-Off Concert for MTV Productions, as guest host for TV’s Kids’ Party Box Show, Holland America Cruise Lines, Modern Dance’s Crowd Pleaser, in addition to other works in television, film, and in regional theaters across the nation. Dylan is a national adjudicator and Master Instructor for dance competitions such as Dancers Inc. and for Starpower. His teaching experience spans throughout the tri-state region, as well as Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Ohio, and Nevada, and his choreography has won acclaim and titles for his students. This is Dylan’s first year with the Academy.

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Maud Arnold

 

Maud is a graduate of Columbia University in film production, and her experience in the arts spans across dance performance, film/tv/video, theatre, and dance education. Maud moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 with a scholarship from The Debbie Allen Dance Academy to study in a dance program with master teachers from around the world. She was subsequently featured in Dance Spirit Magazine as "One of the Top 20, Under 20 Tap Dancers.” Performance credits include being a featured performer for LA Tap Fest, Debbie Allen's production of "Brothers of the Knight" (she was also Debbie Allen's understudy ), Jared Grimes' "Broadway Underground", and Irving Street Rep's "Sophisticated Ladies” and “Tap Extravaganza.”  Her TV credits include "Secret Talents of the Stars" as a dancer for Mya, the opening number for the 2009 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, NBC's The Today Show, and the annual Fourth of July Celebration on the Mall with Ray Charles. In addition to teaching dance in the tri-state area, Maud teaches annually in Debbie Allen's Dance Institutes in Dallas and Houston, as well as the International Brazilian Tap festival (in Brazil). Maud has worked as a stand-in and double for Beyonce for a Direct TV commercial, as well as the Single Ladies and If I were a Boy music videos. She has worked as Assistant to the Director on music video projects for artists such as Lil Wayne, Jennifer Lopez, Keri Hilson, Whitney Houston, and Keyshia Cole. This is Maud’s first year with the Academy.

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Karen Musey

 

Karen received her dance training across Canada and the United States under scholarship at several globally-respected institutions including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division, The Banff Center, The Edge. She is an accomplished performer in dance, theater, and film/TV and has served as an assistant choreographer and casting assistant on several children's TV/theater projects. She was an original member of Desiraeda Dance Company, a contemporary dance company in Toronto. Performance credits include the Canadian Opera Company’s world premiere of Das Rheingold; Rainbow Stage's West Side Story, Chicago, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; the U.S. and Korea tours as a Dance Captain for KOBA Family Entertainment (a producer of live theater productions), and a European tour with The Young Americans, a group founded 50 years ago to provide national and international education in dance and music. Karen is also an adjudicator for several dance competitions including Shine Dance, Star Beat Dance, and Jump Shout Boogie. This is Karen’s first year with the Academy. 

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Ashley Anderson

 

Ashley received her dance training at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC and at the Performance Arts Center in Stamford, CT. She is trained in a wide range of dance disciplines, including Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern, Contemporary, and tap. Performance credits include being a Company member of Locust Contemporary Dance Works, which has staged performances in several venues in southern Connecticut, a soloist in Dance of the Elements, staged at the SoNo Arts Festival, the Thanksgiving Parade Spectacular in Stamford, CT., as well as instructional Hip Hop videos. In addition, Ashley is studying Theater at studios in Connecticut and NYC, and played a leading role as Little Sally in PMT Productions’ staging of Urinetown: The Musical. This is Ashley’s first year with the Academy.

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 Billy Griffin

 

Billy lives in New York City, where he graduated with a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Performance credits include Irving Berlin's White Christmas under the direction of Tony Award Winner Walter Bobbie, the National Tour of Jeff Amsden's A Few Good Men Dancin’, the Elan Awards honoring Susan Stroman, the soon-to-be released film Clear Blue Tuesday, and numerous regional productions and benefits where he danced alongside the likes of Spike Lee, Debra Messing, Jerry Seinfeld, and directors Martin Scorcese, and Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Rent, Mrs. Doubtfire). Choreography credits include productions of Side Show, Cabaret, Bat Boy the Musical, Miss Connecticut Pageant (the opening number for all the contestants) and Reefer Madness. Billy travels the country each year adjudicating and teaching for several dance competitions. As a teenager, he won numerous dance titles, most notably Mr. Teen Dance of Connecticut 1998 (Dance Masters of America), and later that year, 2nd runner-up to Mr. Teen Dance of America. He was named Male Dancer of the Year at the 2003 DANCEAMERICA National Finals. Billy is currently performing in the first National Tour of White Christmas. This is Billy’s first year with the Academy.

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