TEEN & YOUTH REPERTORY
What are Teen & Youth Repertory?
Teen & Youth Repertory are pre-professional training programs designed for advanced and intermediate students ages 10 and up, by audition only. Dancers work with NYC-based guest artists in 4 - 5 week residencies October through March. Finished choreography is performed at RDA's annual Festival as well as other local performance venues year-round. Dancers are granted opportunities to perform throughout the year, participate in masterclasses & workshops, attend professional dance performances, learn styles of dance not regularly offered at RDA, and participate in a professional photoshoot.
ARTIST BIOS
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Samantha Coplon (she/her)TEEN REPERTORY - Commercial Jazz
Samantha "Sami" Coplon is a professional dancer, choreographer, collaborator, dance educator, and social media manager currently based in New York City. Originally from northern New Jersey, she began her dance training at the Dance Academy of North Jersey. She later graduated Cum Laude from the University of Florida with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, as well as a minor in Mass Communications. Sami has had the privilege of performing in works by acclaimed artists such as Doug Varone, Emily Cargill, Dante Puleio, Xan Burley, Alex Springer, Elizabeth Johnson, Jason Luks, Jaclyn Walsh, Angelica Stiskin, and others. She has also trained with renowned organizations, including the Limon Dance Foundation, Doug Varone and Dancers, and Gaga People. Some of her performance credits include 2025 SoloDuo Dance Festival (NYC), RDA Frost Fest (Tarrytown, NY), Emergence Dance Festival (NYC), GROWorks (NYC), Women Arts Exchange (Jacksonville, FL), ACDA Southeast Region (Tallahassee, FL), and the Capezio A.C.E. Awards (NYC) in both 2016 and 2018. Sami is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Cope + Company. Founded in 2024, Cope + Company is a NYC project-based dance company using contemporary dance styles to create the art that needs to be seen. Finding complexity in intricate movements and grand athleticism, Cope + Company utilizes the duality of nuance and physicality to speak our truth. In response to the shifting landscape of the 21st century, we strive to keep dance relevant by ensuring that art remains vibrant, thought-provoking, and exciting. Sami’s work has been presented in various performance spaces around the US. Follow the company on Instagram: @copedance |
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Joseph Harrington (he/him)TEEN & YOUTH REPERTORY - Contemporary Ballet
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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Whitney Janis (she/her)YOUTH REPERTORY - Horton
Whitney Janis (New York, NY) is a dancer, instructor and arts enthusiast. She completed her professional training at The Ailey School and has a Bachelor’s degree in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University. Whitney has performed with American Liberty Ballet, ARIM Dance, Artists By Any Other Name, Avoir Motion, Bugge Ballet, Dance Visions NY, NYC Dance Arts, Dance Entropy and VashtiDance Theater in venues throughout New York City and in Virginia, North Carolina and Australia. She has worked with choreographers Souleymane Badolo, Julia Bengtsson, Bassam Abou Diab, Valerie Mae Browne, Michael Buoni, Ari Mayzick, Nicole Bugge and Beth Jucovy among others. Her choreography has been presented in venues throughout NYC and in Australia. Whitney is an Ailey Arts-in-Education Teaching Artist and has taught at Rivertown Dance Academy, Arts in Blue, Brooklyn Dance Conservatory and Chrystie Street Ballet. Whitney is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, and completed Ailey’s Horton Teacher Training Workshop in all levels. |
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Donna Scheer (she/her)YOUTH REPERTORY - Broadway
Ms. Scheer has performed, directed and choreographed throughout the country. Her principal roles include Anita (West Side Story); Velma (Chicago); Patsy (Always, Patsy Cline); Katherine (Taming of the Shrew) and Harper (Angels in America: Perestroika) . Her choreography in everything from dinner theatre revues to modern dance pieces to musical theatre has been seen in regional theatres across the US. She has directed or choreographed, among many others, Damn Yankees, Carousel, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Secret Garden. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Theatre and has been on the faculty at several universities. Ms. Scheer has performed, directed and choreographed in regional theatres throughout the country. Her principal roles include those in major musicals (West Side Story), contemporary American drama (Angels in America: Perestroika), and Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew) as well as many others. Her choreography includes works in modern dance as well as musical theatre and has been seen in regional and stock theatres across the United States. She has directed or choreographed, among many others, Oklahoma, Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Little Night Music. She holds a BA in Theatre with a Dance Emphasis from Santa Clara University and an MA in Theatre from San Jose State University, and also studied at Stanford University in the Graduate School of Education with additional work in the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Program. She has been on the theatre and dance faculties of Long Island University CW Post and the State University of New York at New Paltz. In Santa Fe, she was the Director of the School for Performing Arts for National Dance Institute New Mexico for four years, established the dance program at Santa Fe High School and was a member and Vice Chair of the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission |
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Rebeca Tomás (she/her)TEEN REPERTORY - Flamenco
Rebeca began her formal dance training in Granada, Spain and later moved to Madrid, where she studied at the renowned Flamenco Academy Amor de Dios. In 2006, she settled in New York and began performing with U.S.-based companies such as Flamenco Vivo and Noche Flamenca. In 2010, she founded her own company, A Palo Seco, for which she continues to direct and choreograph. For her choreographic work, Tomas has received support from Arts Westchester, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Jerome Foundation, Connecticut Office of the Arts, the CUNY Dance Initiative, and she is a two-time recipient of the NYFA Fellowship in Choreography (2013 & 2019). She was selected by Arts Westchester as one of 50 top artists in Westchester County, and she received first place at the XIII Concurso Nacional de Flamenco in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her past projects include Lincoln Center's “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” R.evolución Latina's Choreographer's Festival, and Yaron Zilberman’s “A Late Quartet.” Described as “awesomely fiery” (NYTimes) and “a postcard image of the feminine Flamenco dancer” (Kansas City Metropolis), she has performed throughout the U.S. at venues such as NY SummerStage, (le) Poisson Rouge, the Chicago Flamenco Festival, Eastman School of Music, the Pocantico Center (Rockefeller Brothers Fund), Flushing Town Hall, the New Victory Theater, Wolftrap, and the Hollywood Bowl. A firm believer in Arts-Education, she conducts workshops, residencies, and Lecture Demonstrations to students of all ages and backgrounds throughout the country. |
PERFORMING ENSEMBLES on PAUSE
Tap Workshop: Tap Workshop invites youth and adult students, Tap level III+, by audition only, to participate in tap choreographer residencies aimed to deepen their skills, knowledge and rhythm in tap performance. Requirements include one tap class and one technique class per week. (Not Currently Running)
Ballet Repertory: Youth ballet enthusiasts in our advanced Ballet level E work with RDA Faculty to learn classic ballets, ranging from the Nutcracker, to Sleeping Beauty, to Don Quixote. Requirements include three ballet classes per week. (Not Currently Running)
Modern Lab: Modern Lab allows youth students in Modern level III & IV, by invitation only, to work collaboratively and independently to develop their personal style and choreographic choices. With the guidance of RDA Faculty, dancers learn through trial and error how to express their voice and connect with the creation of movement. Requirements include two ballet classes and one modern class per week. (Not Currently Running)
Hip Hop Workshop: This performing ensemble introduces dancers 10+y/o to the contemporary & commercial hip hop world with guest artists focused on developing their rhythm, style, and stamina. Hip Hop is a unique and vibrant dance style that explores self expression and creativity. (Not Currently Running)
Adult Jazz Ensemble: Adult Jazz Ensemble is open to adult students with a background in dance who wish to take part in the choreographic process on a larger scale. Rehearsals begin in October and culminate in the RDA Festival performance in March. All interested students should first speak with the RDA faculty regarding joining Adult Jazz Ensemble and the requirements. (Not Currently Running)
Adult Ballet Ensemble: Adult Ballet Ensemble is open to adult students with a background in dance who wish to take part in the choreographic process on a larger scale. Rehearsals begin in October and culminate in the RDA Festival performance in March. All interested students should first speak with the RDA faculty regarding joining Adult Ballet Ensemble and the requirements. (Not Currently Running)
Adult Modern Ensemble: Adult Modern Ensemble is open to adult students with a background in dance who wish to take part in the choreographic process on a larger scale. Rehearsals begin in October and culminate in the RDA Festival performance in March. All interested students should first speak with the RDA faculty regarding joining Adult Modern Ensemble and the requirements. (Not Currently Running)
