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Erica Moshman (she/her)Director of Operations
Youth Repertory Director; Ballet, Modern Erica Moshman is a dance artist, performer and facilitator. Erica's focus is in inclusive dance practice and community work. She is a co-founder of Parable Dance & Artistic Director of Parable NY, and has performed with Becky Radway Dance Projects, Heidi Latsky Dance Company, Evolve Dance Inc. Suse Tietjen/ Tanzorchester Suse Tietjen, Bahar Fattahi, and Jill Moshman, among others. Erica is also the Managing Editor of The Dancer-Citizen online journal. She holds a BA in dance and anthropology from Connecticut College (USA) and an MA in dance anthropology from the University of Roehampton (UK). |
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Alex Martin (she/her)Project Manager
Tap, Theatre Jazz, Early Childhood Dance Alex Martin is a dancer, choreographer and educator with a BFA in Dance from Wayne State University. Originally from Michigan, she relocated to NYC post-graduation and has worked with numerous companies, including The American Tap Dance Foundation, Evolve Dance, John Zullo/Raw Movement, and Nicholas Leichter Dance. Alex was an Administrative Assistant with Dorrance Dance for several years and has worked with The American Tap Dance Foundation for over 15 years as a festival coordinator and intern director. Currently, Alex devotes her time teaching over 40 classes per week throughout New York, including movement classes at two Special Education schools and is the Artistic Director of the MK Dance Company and Project Manager at Rivertown Dance Academy. |
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Renée KashubaDevelopment Manager
Renée brings more than 25 years’ experience in marketing and communications to RDA and has been a friend of the program since its inception and a lifelong dance student. After completing an undergraduate degree from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Renée earned a master’s from Columbia University in New York City and entered a career in professional promotions in medicine, winning an Rx Club Award of Excellence for writing a patient education program. |
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Christina Morrison (she/her)Social Media & Content Creator
Christina Morrison Spellman is a professional dancer, teacher and social media manager based in New York City. Following her graduation from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance, she spent four years in Chicago, performing locally, training, teaching diverse student populations and choreographing new work. Christina’s work has been commissioned for stadium events (NRG in Houston & Smoothie King in NOLA), outdoor venues and concert stages. Christina joins Rivertown Dance Academy with 4+ years of experience in social media and content creation. In addition to helping dance studios nationwide, she has also worked with SHOUT Marketing & Social Media to promote theater, dance companies, film festivals and more! Since 2022, Christina has been the sole marketing manager for the popular NYC Yacht Rock touring act, Yacht Lobsters. |
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Laura Aronoff (she/her)Jazz, Tap
Originally from Atlanta, GA, Laura has lived and performed in Los Angeles, NYC and all over the country. She is SO happy to have found her permanent home with her husband and family in Sleepy Hollow. After graduating from Tulane University with a degree in Communication, Laura began her career in commercial dance and theatre. She has performed for brands such as Adidas, Southwest Airlines and Disney, as well as live premieres for Cartoon Network, FX Network and HBO. TV, commercial and film credits include Rooms To Go, Tall Girl 2 (Netflix), Step Up Series: Season 3 (Starz), Pretty Little Liars (HBO) and Will Trent (ABC/Hulu). Laura’s favorite music video credits include 'KIDS' by New Kids on the Block and the official video for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ ‘American Girl’. Regional theatre credits include: Footloose, West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, National Tour of Rudolph, and The Music Man. |
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Caitlin Brady (she/her)Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop
Born and raised in Peekskill, New York, Caitlin Brady has been a dance instructor since 2003. Caitlin studied dance at Hofstra University where she was also a student choreographer for both Danceworks and MoVom. She has choreographed for a range of events from the Miss Delaware Competition to the Annual Business Council of Westchester’s Dancing with the Rising Stars. She believes that dance should be a release from reality as well as a challenge of the individual mind/body within a safe space (@caitiilou) |
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Samantha Coplon (she/her)Hip Hop (JCC)
Originally from northern New Jersey, Samantha “Sami” Coplon is a freelance dance performer, choreographer, collaborator, and educator currently based in New York. As a young dancer, she danced competitively with the Dance Academy of North Jersey. Sami then graduated Cum Laude from the University of Florida, earning her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, and a minor in Mass Communications. She has performed in works by Doug Varone, Dante Puleio, Xan Burley, Alex Springer, Elizabeth Johnson, Trent D. Williams Jr., Jason Luks, Jaclyn Walsh, Angelica Stiskin, and more. She has trained with Limon Dance Foundation, Doug Varone and Dancers, Gaga People, and more. Sami’s performance credits include GROWorks (Brooklyn, NY), Women Arts Exchange (Jacksonville, FL), NewGrounds Dance Concert (Tampa, FL), various UF student and faculty concerts (Gainesville, FL), ACDA Southeast Region (Tallahassee, FL), and the Capezio A.C.E. Awards 2016 & 2018 (NYC). As a choreographer, her choreographic work has been featured in many performance spaces in Florida and New York. Most recently, she and collaborator Lauren Cadle were invited to perform their work “Unfinished, yet somewhat complete” in the Emergence Dance Festival, performed at Gibney in Lower Manhattan. Sami is the founder and director of Cope and Company, a new dance company interested in collaboration and authenticity. @copedance |
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Kiana Davalos (she/her)Hip Hop
Kiana Davalos is a self taught international dancer, choreographer, and creative director from Yonkers, New York. Her passion and love for dance began ever since she could walk, and carried on throughout her life since. Without the luxury of being able to take classes when she was young, she took matters into her own hands and made "something out of nothing." At the age of 13, when she first began, she did everything from performing at local events for the community and teaching free classes to the youth, to just simply dancing for herself within the comforts of her own home. Today, that same passion and drive to share and learn has opened some amazing opportunities to travel, perform and teach master workshops all over the world in places such as Canada, Iceland, Puerto Rico and even an International 7 month tour throughout China as head choreographer, artistic director and performer. Kiana has also been featured in Paper Magazine, Complex Magazine, New York Times, International Dance Battles, and World of Dance. As well as worked alongside some amazing sponsors such as Snipes, Sprayground, Contra, Woxer, Staple Pigeon, NBA sports wear, and artists such as TKAY, 070 Shake, Annalise Azadian, Justin Love, Wiz Kid, Akon, and Jadakiss. Kiana uses her networking ability, and passion for dance and the arts to reach out to different people of all sorts of artistic genres to exchange and collaborate. Working with others has pushed Kiana to create in more ways than just dance- it led her to branch out into other fields and develop her own brand and company in which includes Videography, Photography, Fashion, and creative direction. Constantly driven, and inspired by her past and present, Kiana decided to make something that meant more than just a brand, she created a Lifestyle. |
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Joseph Harrington (he/him)Ballet, Pointe
Joseph is a dance educator, fitness instructor, and performer based in New York City. He holds a BFA in Dance from Pace University where his concentration was Ballet Pedagogy. Joseph began performing at a young age, eventually making his Broadway debut at age 8. He starred as Billy in Billy Elliot The Musical on Broadway at age 11 and continued the child performer life for a few more years before heading back to Cincinnati, OH to focus on training and being a kid. He has since maintained a performance career alongside being an educator of dance and fitness to folks of all ages. Some of his favorite opportunities include creating a Boys Ballet program with Mariana Sanchez of Dance Matters in Queens, NY and initiating a theater dance program for seniors at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. He is a NASM-certified Personal Trainer and a certified Reformer Pilates instructor through Studio Pilates International. Joseph strives to use his experiences growing up to inform how he teaches his students. He is passionate about creating a safe, kind, and fun space for his students that inspires hard work and growth. |
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Elisabeth Jeffrey (she/her)Ballet, (Pre)Pointe
Elisabeth Jeffrey is currently the Rehearsal Director and a member of Periapsis Music and Dance, while also being a freelance artist in NYC. She is a full scholarship graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School, and has trained with schools such as The Royal Ballet School, Houston Ballet and Washington Ballet. Elisabeth has taught company classes for Benjamin Briones Ballet and led auditions for Periapsis Music and Dance and Emotions Physical Theater, as well workshops for Central Minnesota Ballet Academy's Adult Program, Montana School of Classical Ballet, MADco Dance Company, and is a core teacher for NYCommunity Ballet. She also enjoys being a supplementary teacher for Greenwich House of Music School, Dancation (NJ) and Logrea Dance Academy (NY). Elisabeth’s class is built on an honest and straightforward approach to ballet. Classes provide a firm technical structure, focus on the individual’s needs, technical goals, and accuracy of movement, helping the student to build layer on layer of technical tools, while preparing the professional for the day. |
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Kristin Licata (she/her)Ballet, (Pre)Pointe, Modern
Kristin Licata holds a BFA in dance from the Fordham/Ailey program & is an ABT© Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 3 through the ABT® National Training Curriculum. After graduation she worked with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II, Yuka Kawazu/Danse En L’air, Felice Lesser Dance Theatre, Regina Nejman and Company, Tamara Saari Dance, Vabang! and Vox Lumiere. Kristin is a freelance dancer in New York City working with Ariel Rivka Dance, Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn, Matthew Westerby Company,and Valerie Green/Dance Entropy. Kristin is also a dance teacher on faculty at Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn and is the advisor to CBTB's Junior Company, and Elite Performing Arts Center in NJ. She is a teaching artist through the NYC public school system. |
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Jill Moshman (she/her)Ballet, Modern, Early Childhood Dance
Jill Moshman is a choreographer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. She holds a BA from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA and an MA from Bath Spa University in Bath, UK. Her work is primarily grounded in movement, while seeking to explore the intersections between dance, film, text, and visual media, and the diverse ways in which movement can be captured for an audience. www.jillmoshman.com |
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Sarah Nathan (she/her)Theatre Jazz, Early Childhood Dance
Sarah is a native Westchester performing artist and teacher. She holds a BFA in musical theater and a minor in dance from Pace University in Manhattan. With over a decade of professional experience under her belt, some of her favorite credits include Bring It On: The Musical (1st national/international tour), Legally Blonde (Norwegian Cruise Line/National Tour) and Company (NY Philharmonic). In addition to her performance career, she worked as an associate choreographer to Andrew Palermo (Allegiance) and was a Resident Choreographer/ Production Director for Norwegian Cruise Lines for many years. Sarah booked her biggest and best role yet in 2023 when she became a mother and her performing career took a major pivot. She is now teaching dance and is involved with theater programs in the Westchester area! |
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Rachel Shaver (she/her)Jazz, Contemporary
Rachel hails from Chesterfield, Virginia. Her performance career began at King's Dominion Theme Park, while she was studying Dance at Thomas Dale High School Specialty Center for Performing Arts. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the Conservatory at Shenandoah University. Upon graduating, she joined Christopher K. Morgan and Artists (CKM&A) as Company Apprentice, and later Company Dancer. Her solo work, Antlers, was commissioned by VelocityDC Dance Festival, the 34th Annual Choreographer's Showcase, and by CKM&A to be performed at Brighton Dance Festival, as well as other D.C. dance festivals. Since moving to New York she has worked with local choreographers in showcases such as APAP, and One Condition, and has recently added virtual performances to her repertoire. To support herself living and dancing in New York, Rachel has always maintained a myriad of occupations. She began her administrative ventures in 2018 on the management and customer service teams of NYC Fitness Studios. In 2022, she started her own business, Willow Tree Fitness, LLC. with which she manages her client books and all business matters. Outside of RDA, she enjoys listening to Taylor Swift, reading her kindle, and taking her dog Willow to the park. |
