Faculty
Lorraine
Neal is
the founder, owner, and director of CD and
FS. She has studied and continues to study
with some of the great legends in modern and
jazz, and has been teaching various styles
of dance to students of all ages and levels
throughout Vermont and New Hampshire since
1972. She was on the dance faculty of
Goddard College, and was a master teacher
for the Burklyn Ballet Theatre Summer
Program for 10 years. Lorraine has
choreographed, directed, produced, and
performed in numerous dance and theater
productions, and is the artistic director of
Teen Jazz, a company of talented dancers
from several Central Vermont area high
schools. Founded in 1973 with a handful of
students, CD and FS has now become a
thriving hub for dance education and
exercise in Central Vermont.
Allison
Mann began
serving as interim director of CD&FS in
summer 2010 and has been teaching at the
studio since 1995. Currently, she offers
Afro-Jazz Workout, a dance-based exercise
class that includes yoga, and reflects joy
through movement and integrity of movement.
Allison has an M.A. in Jungian-based
Psychotherapy and a B.A. in English. She’s
held VT secondary licensure in English,
dance, and singing, certification in yoga,
and she is a professional jazz and folk
musician. Allison has taught for Johnson
State College, Goddard College, River Arts,
Montpelier High School and, since 1992, the
Community College of VT.
Allison has studied with Lorraine Neal, Kathe McBride, Tracy Martin, Libby Kellington, Robert Brower, Lelia Katayen, and Thomas Foral; she has studied West African and Afro-Caribbean dance since 1998 with many, many teachers from Vermont, New York City, Boston, Cuba, Haiti, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire. Allison is “very glad to be serving as interim director of CD&FS where many lives are enriched through dance.”
Hanna
Satterlee was
born and raised in Vermont, and has spent
the last 15 years traveling the world to
study various dance and movement forms,
along the East Coast (VT, ME, MA, NYC) West
Coast (CA), in Ghana and in Brazil. She
attended Goucher College in Maryland, and
left with a double BA in Dance and
Psychology with a Dance Therapy
concentration. She later attended Laughing
Lotus Yoga School in San Francisco, and is
now a teacher of their graceful style of
Vinyassa Yoga.
She has returned to Vermont to act as Director of Professional Programming, and Artistic Director of Teen Jazz, at The Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio, where she first learned how to dance. Hanna is a company member of Pauline Jennings and Sean Clute’s Double Vision and Tiffany Rhynard’s BIG APE, and also makes her own work with others. She is currently a choreographic partner for “Dear Pina,” a large-scale dance project dedicated to the late Pina Bausch.
Tracy
Martin graduated
from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dance
Department. She performed in several theater
dance productions and, after moving to
Vermont, has become artistic director of the
Phantom Theater in Warren. She has been
teaching modern, creative movement for
children, and NIA throughout Vermont and has
been on the CD and FS faculty for eight
years. Tracy believes there is a dancer in
everyone. She approaches all of her classes
with unbridled enthusiasm and infuses all of
her students with creativity and the joy of
dancing.
Rosemary
Leach studied
at CD and FS during her teen years and
performed in Vermont and New Hampshire with
the first Teen Jazz group under the
direction of Lorraine Neal. That experience
culminated with a tour of the Soviet Union
in 1987. Rosemary went on to receive her
B.A. in Dance and Cultural Studies at
Hampshire College. After graduating, she
performed with the Orts Theater of Dance in
Tuscon, Arizona, and as a member of the
Montana Transport Company in Missoula. She
has taught dance to children, teens, college
students, and adults in Vermont, Maine,
Washington, Montana, and California. For the
past 14 years, Rosemary has been on the
faculty of the Bates Dance Festival Youth
Arts Program, a dance, music, and theater
project designed to reach and teach children
of central Maine who would not otherwise
have the opportunity or exposure to the
performing arts. In 2006, Rosemary also
became certified in the Power Pilates Mat
technique. Rose is a member of the CD&FS
faculty based performance group called
"Soup." Her teaching, dancing, and
performing skills are surpassed only by her
infectious energy and warm, generous
nature.
Brandy
Ofciarcik-Perez recieved
her Bachelor of Arts in dance at Point Park
College in Pittsburgh, PA where her studies
included the Dunham technique, African,
folk, and historical dance. She spent four
years choreographing and performing at
Frontier Western Theme Park in Ocean City,
Maryland, and was a member of the Chartiers
Valley Arts Council Dance Company where she
became well-known for her "Sugar Plum
Fairy." Since moving to Vermont, she has
been a member of the Vermont Dance
Collective under the direction of Maris
Wolff, taught at Johnson State College, and
founded the Ballet Wolcott. She has been
teaching at CD and FS since 2003. Brandy
says the highlight of her experience is,
"Having the opportunity to share dance with
so many people."
Isadora
Snapp grew
up in Vermont, studying studying ballet,
modern and jazz with Lorraine Neal and Holly
Yacawych at CD and FS. Following her high
school graduation, she spent a year in New
York city training at Dance New Amersterdam
Studios and New York University’s Tisch
School of the Arts. Since then, she has
moved back to Vermont to persue her interest
in teaching and her own work. She has had
the opportunity and pleasure to work with
many local and national artists, including
the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Ron K. Brown,
David Dorfman, Larry Keigwan, Yo-El Cassel
and Christopher Anderson.
Kathe
McBride started
dancing at age 3 and continued through high
school. As a UVM student, she studied
languages, theatre and philosophy, but not
ready to settle on a major, she left in
mid-junior year and moved to San Francisco
where she took dance classes at Pacific
Ballet Academy and San Francisco Dance
Theatre. The California lifestyle and
beautiful dramatic landscape still remain
close to her heart.
Returning to Vermont she commenced classes with Lorraine Neal, began teaching at CD and FS in 1980, and has taught for 29 years in the various dance genres, Jazz, Lyrical Modern and Tap. She founded “On Tap”, a tap troupe of men and women that traveled throughout Vermont and danced to live bands and many varied venues. She has worked as a choreographer to local dance and theatre productions. She loves Flamenco, which she dabbled in briefly, and treasures her inherited traditional flamenco shoes which once belonged to a gypsy dancer from Eastern Europe. She is presently involved in writing poetry, her other lifetime love.
Updating
soon.
Kaitlyn
O'Donnell grew
up dancing at Contemporary Dance and Fitness
Studio. After graduating from high school in
2002, she spent a year in the Dominican
Republic where she had the opportunity to
teach Jazz and to study the Latin dance
forms of Merengue, Salsa and Bachata. In
2007 she graduated,from Wesleyan University
with a degree in Dance and in Romance
Languages,and Literatures. During her four
years in college she took classes from
a,wide variety of contemporary dance
artists, and had multiple opportunities to
choreograph and teach. After graduation
Kaitlyn moved to Brazil where she spent two
years studying Contemporary dance and
Capoeira. She is very excited to return to
CD and FS as a teacher this fall.
Fabio
(Fua) Nascimento, a
native of Brazil, graduated from a
traditional Brazilian capoeira academy where
he studied under the tutelage of Aberré, one
of the most recognized capoeira masters.
Starting at the age of eight, Fua has
trained in capoeira for twenty years and has
been performing and teaching throughout
Brazil and internationally for the the past
twelve years.
Paula
Higa is a
freelance performer, choreographer, ballet
and modern instructor. She is originally
from Brazil. Trained in the Royal Academy of
Dance methodology, she has taught and
prepared students for R.A.D. exams. She has
been teaching ballet for all levels since
1985. Here in Vermont, Paula taught ballet
and modern at Middlebury College. She is
very excited to join the "CD and FS" team,
and about her lecturer position at the
University of Vermont. Professionally, she
performed as a modern dancer with “Theatrum
Cia de Dança” in São Paulo, Brazil under
direction of Roberto Peres. She also
performed with Tiffany Rhynard and the Big
Action Performance Ensemble in Vermont, and
with Diverse Space Dance Theater, under the
direction of Toni Bravo in Austin, Texas.
Paula holds a degree in chemical
engineering; however, the chemistry that she
likes the most happens on stage.
Amia
Cervantes grew
up in Vermont. When she was twelve she first
attended Bach Triata a dance and theater
intensive under the direction of Tara Dawn
Bach. She then studied modern, jazz, hip
hop, lyrical, tap, and ballet at
Contemporary Dance and Fitness under the
direction of Lorraine Neal. Through
audition, she became a member of Teen
Jazz--the studio’s touring company. During
this time she attended the Monsters of Hip
Hop conventions in New Jersey and Florida,
and won the Picking the Stars Hip Hop
competition in Montreal Canada. Later, she
moved to New York and in 2009 earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance at Long
Island University/Brooklyn Campus, with a
focus on modern and ballet. While attending
LIU, Amia danced with hip hop choreographer
Joey Tadeo and performed to promote his
work. In 2009, she was also certified in
yoga through Yoga Alliance and Atmananda in
Manhattan. In 2010 she was certified as a
holistic health councilor through OmWellness
and the American Association of
Drugless Practitioners to enhance her yoga
teachings. Before moving back to Vermont,
Amia was a member of the modern dance
company Murray Spalding Movement Arts, based
in Manhattan. She also taught hip hop
workshops at Vassar College as well as yoga
and various dance classes and workshops
throughout New York.
Lorraine Neal
Allison Mann
Hanna Satterlee
Tracy Martin
Rosemary Leach
Brandy Ofciarcik-Perez
Justin Hover
Isadora Snapp
Geneviève Pellman
Kathe McBride
Abby Pepin
Kaitlyn O'Donnell
Fabio Nascimento
Paula Higa
Amia Cervantes
Lorraine
Neal is
the founder, owner, and director of CD and
FS. She has studied and continues to study
with some of the great legends in modern and
jazz, and has been teaching various styles
of dance to students of all ages and levels
throughout Vermont and New Hampshire since
1972. She was on the dance faculty of
Goddard College, and was a master teacher
for the Burklyn Ballet Theatre Summer
Program for 10 years. Lorraine has
choreographed, directed, produced, and
performed in numerous dance and theater
productions, and is the artistic director of
Teen Jazz, a company of talented dancers
from several Central Vermont area high
schools. Founded in 1973 with a handful of
students, CD and FS has now become a
thriving hub for dance education and
exercise in Central Vermont.
Allison
Mann began
serving as interim director of CD&FS in
summer 2010 and has been teaching at the
studio since 1995. Currently, she offers
Afro-Jazz Workout, a dance-based exercise
class that includes yoga, and reflects joy
through movement and integrity of movement.
Allison has an M.A. in Jungian-based
Psychotherapy and a B.A. in English. She’s
held VT secondary licensure in English,
dance, and singing, certification in yoga,
and she is a professional jazz and folk
musician. Allison has taught for Johnson
State College, Goddard College, River Arts,
Montpelier High School and, since 1992, the
Community College of VT.
Allison has studied with Lorraine Neal, Kathe McBride, Tracy Martin, Libby Kellington, Robert Brower, Lelia Katayen, and Thomas Foral; she has studied West African and Afro-Caribbean dance since 1998 with many, many teachers from Vermont, New York City, Boston, Cuba, Haiti, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire. Allison is “very glad to be serving as interim director of CD&FS where many lives are enriched through dance.”
Hanna
Satterlee was
born and raised in Vermont, and has spent
the last 15 years traveling the world to
study various dance and movement forms,
along the East Coast (VT, ME, MA, NYC) West
Coast (CA), in Ghana and in Brazil. She
attended Goucher College in Maryland, and
left with a double BA in Dance and
Psychology with a Dance Therapy
concentration. She later attended Laughing
Lotus Yoga School in San Francisco, and is
now a teacher of their graceful style of
Vinyassa Yoga.
She has returned to Vermont to act as Director of Professional Programming, and Artistic Director of Teen Jazz, at The Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio, where she first learned how to dance. Hanna is a company member of Pauline Jennings and Sean Clute’s Double Vision and Tiffany Rhynard’s BIG APE, and also makes her own work with others. She is currently a choreographic partner for “Dear Pina,” a large-scale dance project dedicated to the late Pina Bausch.
Tracy
Martin graduated
from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dance
Department. She performed in several theater
dance productions and, after moving to
Vermont, has become artistic director of the
Phantom Theater in Warren. She has been
teaching modern, creative movement for
children, and NIA throughout Vermont and has
been on the CD and FS faculty for eight
years. Tracy believes there is a dancer in
everyone. She approaches all of her classes
with unbridled enthusiasm and infuses all of
her students with creativity and the joy of
dancing.
Rosemary
Leach studied
at CD and FS during her teen years and
performed in Vermont and New Hampshire with
the first Teen Jazz group under the
direction of Lorraine Neal. That experience
culminated with a tour of the Soviet Union
in 1987. Rosemary went on to receive her
B.A. in Dance and Cultural Studies at
Hampshire College. After graduating, she
performed with the Orts Theater of Dance in
Tuscon, Arizona, and as a member of the
Montana Transport Company in Missoula. She
has taught dance to children, teens, college
students, and adults in Vermont, Maine,
Washington, Montana, and California. For the
past 14 years, Rosemary has been on the
faculty of the Bates Dance Festival Youth
Arts Program, a dance, music, and theater
project designed to reach and teach children
of central Maine who would not otherwise
have the opportunity or exposure to the
performing arts. In 2006, Rosemary also
became certified in the Power Pilates Mat
technique. Rose is a member of the CD&FS
faculty based performance group called
"Soup." Her teaching, dancing, and
performing skills are surpassed only by her
infectious energy and warm, generous
nature.
Brandy
Ofciarcik-Perez recieved
her Bachelor of Arts in dance at Point Park
College in Pittsburgh, PA where her studies
included the Dunham technique, African,
folk, and historical dance. She spent four
years choreographing and performing at
Frontier Western Theme Park in Ocean City,
Maryland, and was a member of the Chartiers
Valley Arts Council Dance Company where she
became well-known for her "Sugar Plum
Fairy." Since moving to Vermont, she has
been a member of the Vermont Dance
Collective under the direction of Maris
Wolff, taught at Johnson State College, and
founded the Ballet Wolcott. She has been
teaching at CD and FS since 2003. Brandy
says the highlight of her experience is,
"Having the opportunity to share dance with
so many people."
Updating soon.
Isadora
Snapp grew
up in Vermont, studying studying ballet,
modern and jazz with Lorraine Neal and Holly
Yacawych at CD and FS. Following her high
school graduation, she spent a year in New
York city training at Dance New Amersterdam
Studios and New York University’s Tisch
School of the Arts. Since then, she has
moved back to Vermont to persue her interest
in teaching and her own work. She has had
the opportunity and pleasure to work with
many local and national artists, including
the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Ron K. Brown,
David Dorfman, Larry Keigwan, Yo-El Cassel
and Christopher Anderson.
Genevieve Pellman was born
in Montreal, to parents who were both lead
dancers in Les Grands Ballet Canadiens. Besides
taking classes with her mother Manon
Larin-Pellman, she was lucky enough to study
under such wonderful instructors as Shelley
Ismail, and Judith Karstens also former dancers
with the company. Genevieve has studied many
forms of dance focusing primarily on
ballet. Aside from Orchesis, the University
of Vermont Dance Company, she has enjoyed
participating in numerous performances, including
several Flynn stage productions, and the summer
dance festival at Jacob's Pillow.
Genevieve loves to inspire a passion for dance and strengthen dancers of all styles. She believes ballet is a great foundation to promote a strong, centered, disciplined dancer. While stressing safe dance techniques that focus on avoiding injury, Genevieve appreciates and encourages individual expression ensuring that her students not only improve, but also experience the joy of dancing.
Genevieve loves to inspire a passion for dance and strengthen dancers of all styles. She believes ballet is a great foundation to promote a strong, centered, disciplined dancer. While stressing safe dance techniques that focus on avoiding injury, Genevieve appreciates and encourages individual expression ensuring that her students not only improve, but also experience the joy of dancing.
Kathe
McBride started
dancing at age 3 and continued through high
school. As a UVM student, she studied
languages, theatre and philosophy, but not
ready to settle on a major, she left in
mid-junior year and moved to San Francisco
where she took dance classes at Pacific
Ballet Academy and San Francisco Dance
Theatre. The California lifestyle and
beautiful dramatic landscape still remain
close to her heart.
Returning to Vermont she commenced classes with Lorraine Neal, began teaching at CD and FS in 1980, and has taught for 29 years in the various dance genres, Jazz, Lyrical Modern and Tap. She founded “On Tap”, a tap troupe of men and women that traveled throughout Vermont and danced to live bands and many varied venues. She has worked as a choreographer to local dance and theatre productions. She loves Flamenco, which she dabbled in briefly, and treasures her inherited traditional flamenco shoes which once belonged to a gypsy dancer from Eastern Europe. She is presently involved in writing poetry, her other lifetime love.
Updating
soon.
Kaitlyn
O'Donnell grew
up dancing at Contemporary Dance and Fitness
Studio. After graduating from high school in
2002, she spent a year in the Dominican
Republic where she had the opportunity to
teach Jazz and to study the Latin dance
forms of Merengue, Salsa and Bachata. In
2007 she graduated,from Wesleyan University
with a degree in Dance and in Romance
Languages,and Literatures. During her four
years in college she took classes from
a,wide variety of contemporary dance
artists, and had multiple opportunities to
choreograph and teach. After graduation
Kaitlyn moved to Brazil where she spent two
years studying Contemporary dance and
Capoeira. She is very excited to return to
CD and FS as a teacher this fall.
Fabio
(Fua) Nascimento, a
native of Brazil, graduated from a
traditional Brazilian capoeira academy where
he studied under the tutelage of Aberré, one
of the most recognized capoeira masters.
Starting at the age of eight, Fua has
trained in capoeira for twenty years and has
been performing and teaching throughout
Brazil and internationally for the the past
twelve years.
Paula
Higa is a
freelance performer, choreographer, ballet
and modern instructor. She is originally
from Brazil. Trained in the Royal Academy of
Dance methodology, she has taught and
prepared students for R.A.D. exams. She has
been teaching ballet for all levels since
1985. Here in Vermont, Paula taught ballet
and modern at Middlebury College. She is
very excited to join the "CD and FS" team,
and about her lecturer position at the
University of Vermont. Professionally, she
performed as a modern dancer with “Theatrum
Cia de Dança” in São Paulo, Brazil under
direction of Roberto Peres. She also
performed with Tiffany Rhynard and the Big
Action Performance Ensemble in Vermont, and
with Diverse Space Dance Theater, under the
direction of Toni Bravo in Austin, Texas.
Paula holds a degree in chemical
engineering; however, the chemistry that she
likes the most happens on stage.
Amia
Cervantes grew
up in Vermont. When she was twelve she first
attended Bach Triata a dance and theater
intensive under the direction of Tara Dawn
Bach. She then studied modern, jazz, hip
hop, lyrical, tap, and ballet at
Contemporary Dance and Fitness under the
direction of Lorraine Neal. Through
audition, she became a member of Teen
Jazz--the studio’s touring company. During
this time she attended the Monsters of Hip
Hop conventions in New Jersey and Florida,
and won the Picking the Stars Hip Hop
competition in Montreal Canada. Later, she
moved to New York and in 2009 earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance at Long
Island University/Brooklyn Campus, with a
focus on modern and ballet. While attending
LIU, Amia danced with hip hop choreographer
Joey Tadeo and performed to promote his
work. In 2009, she was also certified in
yoga through Yoga Alliance and Atmananda in
Manhattan. In 2010 she was certified as a
holistic health councilor through OmWellness
and the American Association of
Drugless Practitioners to enhance her yoga
teachings. Before moving back to Vermont,
Amia was a member of the modern dance
company Murray Spalding Movement Arts, based
in Manhattan. She also taught hip hop
workshops at Vassar College as well as yoga
and various dance classes and workshops
throughout New York.