Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance Faculty and Staff

Joanie, the Founder of the Dean College School of Dance, is currently a Professor and Dean Emeritus.

Her B.S. degree, her undergraduate and graduate studies at Jacob’s Pillow and throughout Europe and her service to state and national dance organizations prepared her to build dance curriculums.

She established the Associate in Arts degree in dance in 1980 and the Bachelor of Arts degree in dance in 2000.

Stephen Ursprung holds an MFA in dance choreography and performance from Smith College and an AB in economics and Italian studies from Brown University. He has had the honor of performing works by Paul Taylor, Pilobolus, Monica Bill Barnes, Robert Battle, Danny Buraczeski, David Parsons, Ruth Andrien, and Danny Grossman. In addition to his work in contemporary dance he dabbles in musical theater and improvisation, and is a lapsed tap dancer. Stephen is a proud member of both Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild, having most notably performed in Oklahoma! at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI and in the feature films Little Women (2019) and Hocus Pocus 2 as a principal dancer. He is the dean of the Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance and School of the Arts at Dean College and is a member of the teaching and performing ensemble of Dancing Legacy. As a choreographer, Stephen is the co-director of two dance collectives: NilsSprung Dance Project and Reject Dance Theatre.

Luciano Aimar had a very rewarding career as ballet dancer dancing in major theatre around the world.  He joined Boston Ballet School (BBS) in 2005 as Head of Children’s Curriculum, and is now the Director of Preparatory Dance Training. Aimar created and successfully implemented the American Preparatory Ballet Training, a comprehensive curriculum for children ages 2-7. In 2018, Aimar consulted School of American Ballet in developing their Children’s Program.

Prior to joining BBS, Aimar was a developer and instructor of dance therapy programs, working with individuals with disabilities and children born and living in prisons. He presented his work at three Dance Therapy symposiums internationally. 

Jenna graduated from Dean College in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a minor in Psychology. During her time at Dean, she furthered her studies by attending the Ailey Summer Dance Intensive in New York City for two consecutive summers. After graduation, Jenna earned a Master of Fine Arts from The State University of New York The College at Brockport in 2019.

For her MFA thesis, Jenna researched Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, investigating how this framework could be applied in a dance studio setting to accommodate diverse learning styles. She is also a certified Pilates Mat instructor and integrates Pilates exercises into her technique classes to help students understand body mechanics. As a faculty member at Dean, Jenna has taught a range of courses, including Dance History I, Improvisation, Pilates, and Ballet. She has also choreographed for the Faculty Concert and Company show. Jenna is excited to return to Dean College, where she looks forward to mentoring students and supporting their growth throughout their time at the institution.

Kimberly Calore-Sedlak, a native Rhode Islander, began teaching at Dean College in 2017 after having an extensive career within the performing arts in both stage & film. In addition, she is a guest artist at neighboring institutions including Rhode Island College, Providence College, Wheaton College, and Salve Regina University where she was nominated for Best Choreography by The RI Motif Awards. During her time in New York City, Kimberly served on faculty for Broadway Dance Center's: The Broadway Experience, The Rockette Summer Intensive Program, Steps On Broadway, and New Dance Group. In addition to teaching, Kimberly is currently an adjudicator for the Providence Performing Arts Center’s-Ocean State Awards as well as a competition director/judge for several national talent competitions/conventions where emerging artists are recognized. Kimberly proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Rockette Alumnae Association and is a proud member of the National Dance Education Organization, Dance Alliance of Rhode Island, SAG/AFTRA and AEA. She’s had the honor of performing with such dance Legends as - Chita Rivera, Ann Reinking, Maurice Hines, and some of her favorite credits include: Radio City Rockettes (13 years), The Producers, Contact, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, Beauty & The Beast, A Christmas Carol, When In Rome, The Stepford Wives, Walt Disney World, several Las Vegas Productions, international cruise lines, and numerous tv/film. She was featured in PBS’s - Broadway: The American Musical w/ Susan Stroman, The Tony Awards w/ Hugh Jackman, Broadway Cares-Nothing Like A Dame, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular-75th Anniversary Film, and has been recognized in such publications as: The Oprah Magazine, Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher Magazine, and The Radio City Rockettes: A Dance Through Time. 

Emily Cordell is a dedicated dance educator, choreographer, and adjudicator with over 25 years of experience across the United States and abroad. Originally from Winter Park, Florida, she began her training with Ballet Orlando at The Royal School of Dance and performed throughout Central Florida as a young dancer with local entertainment companies. Emily continued her dance education at Valencia College (Orlando, FL), the University of South Florida (Tampa, FL), and Jacksonville University (Jacksonville, FL), where she earned a B.F.A. in Dance Performance with minors in Theatre and Humanities. Her teaching career has spanned studios and performing arts magnet schools, including Dr. Phillips High School (Orlando, FL) and Millennium Middle School (Sanford, FL), as well as higher education institutions such as Valencia College (Orlando, FL) and Dean College (Franklin, MA), where she served as an Adjunct Professor. Specializing in Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, Contemporary, and Tap, Emily is also a certified Acrobatic Arts instructor. She is an award-winning choreographer whose work has been featured in Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Wyoming, Texas, and Germany. For the past six years, she has served as a regional and national judge for several dance competitions, bringing her insight and experience to dancers across the country. As a proud military spouse, Emily has embraced a global lifestyle, continuing her work as a teacher, choreographer, and adjudicator wherever she is stationed. She is also a passionate advocate for military families navigating the unique challenges of pursuing dance and the performing arts.

For Jennifer Cote, dance has always been her release or "exhale." She is humbled by the opportunity to share her passion for movement, learning, and living with the Dean Community as an adjunct faculty member.  Jennifer graduated from Dean in 2008 with a BA in Dance, and she has studied with renowned institutions and companies such as The Ailey School and Parsons Dance. She feels blessed to have met and been mentored by numerous leaders in the dance industry.   Mrs. Cote is also the CEO of Exhale A School of Dance, a growing and thriving dance studio in Norfolk, MA. Her mission is to instill a lifelong love for learning and movement in all of her students by enriching them with a dance education that emphasizes strong technique, dance history, and positive reinforcement teaching methods. 

Alexander Davis, MFA (He/They) is a Boston-based choreographer, fiber artist, and performer dedicated to subverting expectations and amplifying queer narratives through contemporary dance, theatre, and visual arts. Alex has collaborated with the Dance Complex, Boston Children's Chorus, Global Arts Live, CompanyOne/ART, and Queer Biennial, performing in venues from the Museum of Fine Arts to The Boston Opera House. He was a company member with Urbanity Dance (2015–2019), performing works by Doug Varone, Camille Brown, and others, and recently appeared in Boston Lyric Opera's Carousel at the Emerson Colonial Theater.

Alex earned his MFA from Smith College in 2023, where he served as a Teaching Fellow. He has taught at Endicott College, Hampshire College, and Mount Holyoke College, leading workshops at institutions nationwide. A City of Boston Artist Fellow (2019), his work has received support from Mass MoCA, The Boston Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, and The American Dance Festival.

His fiber art series Federation of Athletic Gentleman (F.A.G.) was exhibited at Childs Gallery, Boston, where he also served as lead curator for Interlaced: The Fabric of Art. As one-half of The Davis Sisters with collaborator Joy Davis, they have received residencies from The Yard, MFA Boston, Bates Dance Festival, and ICA Boston. Alex's new solo work Gay Aesthetic: Based on a True Story will premiere at the American Dance Festival in 2025.

Amanda is a certified athletic trainer with over 15 years-experience working in the performing arts. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Northeastern University and her master’s degree in kinesiology with a focus in motor control from the University of Illinois Champaign – Urbana. She has worked with the performing art students at Dean College since 2013 and has represented the college by presenting her work at both national and international conferences. In addition to her work at Dean College, she has interned with the Radio City Rockettes athletic training staff, as well as worked with professional organizations such as Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program, NeuroTour, and the New England Patriot’s Cheerleaders. 

Thelma Larkin Goldberg, PhD founded The Dance Inn, a suburban private sector dance studio serving more than 400 students weekly, in 1983. She teaches regularly at dance teacher events including the Dancelife Teacher Conference, the American Tap Dance Foundation’s Tap Teacher Training Program, and the Beantown Tap Fest. She received the 2015 Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion Award from the Boston Dance Alliance for “her sustained excellence in teaching and passionate advocacy for the art of tap dancing.” Her research centers around the experience of the tap dance educator in the private sector dance studio and she shares teaching tools, videos and her books through Thelma's Tap Notes (www.thelmastapnotes.com). Thelma recently joined the dance faculty at Dean College in Franklin, MA where she is excited to work with future tap dance educators. 

A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Mr. Harootian received his early dance training at the Performing Arts School of Worcester and the Burncoat Senior High Dance Department. His main line of training was in classical ballet, but he also had extensive training in Modern and Jazz dance as well as Musical Theater. He attended the University of Utah on scholarship and graduated with a B.F.A. in ballet. At this time, he also became a member of Utah Ballet and performed and choreographed in many of the department’s seasonal shows. From 2004-2012, Mr. Harootian performed a variety of works with Festival Ballet Providence as a company dancer as well as choreographed many premiered works there and at several other regional dance companies and universities. Mr. Harootian was also a guest artist for Hong Kong’s Academy for The Performing Arts and Red Shoe Dance Company in Hong Kong.  He was also a faculty member at California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena Dance Theater and several other local studios in L.A. and Orange County, Artists in Residence for Orange County School of the Arts, and an adjunct professor at Chapman University. Mr. Harootian obtained his M.F.A. in dance from Montclair State University in 2020 and is currently teaching at The Hanover Theater Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Worcester MA and as an adjunct professor at Salve Regina University and Dean College.

Beginning her studies at a very young age in all genres of dance, Tara later transitioned into performing a variety of ballets with Festival Ballet Providence (now, Ballet RI). Tara then took a position with The Talent Factory in North Kingstown, RI, and has helped build its prestigious pre-professional dance program from inception.  Many of her students there have gone on to accept prestigious scholarships at such places as Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University, Elon University, PACE University and professional schooling and companies overseas! She is currently on staff with a few competition/convention circuits and travels often to share her love of this art around the country. Her choreography was chosen to be a part of the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival during its inaugural year, and she has also premiered work at the Joyce Theater in NYC. In 2019, Tara had the pleasure of visiting Joffrey Ballet’s Jazz & Contemporary Pre-Professional Training Program in NYC to hold her own audition and cast dancers for a piece she choreographed for their end of the season spring show. Tara was thrilled to get the opportunity to expand her knowledge within the industry when taking on, and participating in, a few film projects. The most recent film project was with close friend and inspiration, Andy Pellick, that was graciously promoted by Dance Teacher Magazine. Tara strives to emphasize the importance of never feeling complacent and always remaining a student. Excited to share and dance with all of the talent at Dean College! Feel free to check out more about Tara on her personal website, www.taramariechoreography.com.

After graduating from Dean College with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance back in 2012, Alex immediately moved down to Orlando, Florida and signed both with MSA Talent Agency and started a career at Walt Disney World. She professionally danced at Disney on and off for a decade in a dozen of different shows and parades including Festival of the Lion King and was chosen as the opening cast of their newest daytime parade Disney’s Festival of Fantasy parade. Alex had the opportunity to dance with Neil Patrick Harris, Jordan Fisher, Sara Hyland and Tori Kelly in different filming opportunities, including the ABC Christmas Special. She performed on ¡Despierta América!, The View, ESPN, the Sleeping Beauty film and more. Alex later traveled the world dancing on different cruise lines before making a shift into her teaching career. In 2022 Alex retired from her performance career and received her Master of Arts in Education from the University of Central Florida. She holds a professional teaching certificate in dance education for grades K-12. Alex recently relocated back to the New England area and started teaching jazz and tap as an adjunct faculty member at Dean College. She is extremely passionate about providing dancers with the same well-rounded dance education she was grateful to receive.

Sheramy Keegan-Turcotte holds an M.Sc. in Dance Science from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, a B.F.A. from Shenandoah Conservatory and an A.A. from Dean College.  She has taught and performed nationally and internationally for the past 15 years and is currently performing with Fusionworks Dance Company.

Tracy Lane is the Director of Performing Arts Operations for the Schools of Performing Arts. 

She received her BA in Theatre Education from Emerson College where she also trained in musical theatre, dance and voice. Tracy has been a teacher of English, musical theater, acting and dance as well as a performer, director, choreographer, costumer and producer.

Lindsay Caddle LaPointe is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, videographer and video editor.  She received her bachelor of arts degree in Dance/Performance from Roger Williams University and her masters degree in dance and technology from The Ohio State University’s department of dance.  Currently she is a dance company member in Public Displays of Motion with Peter DiMuro.

Kayla Luoma trained under the direction of her grandfather, Jim Caisse, and mother, Melissa Caisse. She formerly co-directed their family owned dance studio alongside her mother that ran successfully for 56 years. Kayla also trained at the Ballet Seminar at UNLV for four years. She has done many guest performances and choreography for multiple dance conventions and showcases abroad such as representing the U.S. in Bermuda at the Goombay Festival, Norwegian Cruiseline, Mexico, Las Vegas, and N.Y.C. She is a graduate of Dean College with an AA in dance. She has assisted and worked with the Boston University dance team and is a member of the Boston Community Dance Project contemporary company based in Boston M.A. in which she opened for singer/ songwriter Erene, performed in NYC Carnival Choreographers Ball, Brickhouse’s “Openhouse” showcase in Times Square NYC, and “Built on Stilts” Agriculture Fair. She was featured in a commercial for Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare as a HaPi dancer and recently in the Anthem Film LLC featured film Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”. You can find Kayla teaching classes in Boston MA along with studios across the east coast. Kayla has an undying passion and desire for dance, which she endlessly enjoys passing on in her classes.

Rebecca earned her Master of Science in Athletic Training from the post-professional athletic training program at Ohio University and her Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from Bridgewater State University. During her time at Ohio University, Rebecca spent countless hours in the body donor lab, assisting in five gross anatomy and neuroanatomy courses for physical therapy and athletic training students. Her graduate research explored the benefits of foot strengthening exercises on flat-footed individuals  a topic about which she remains passionate. As an athletic trainer at Dean College, she especially enjoys incorporating her knowledge of anatomy into the evaluation and treatment of performing arts injuries. 

Jennifer holds a B.A. in Political Science and History, with a minor in women’s studies from Emmanuel College and an M.S. in Arts Administration from Boston University. She is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.  She is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT), and Revolutionary Principles of Movement (RPM) and has attended teacher trainings with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Lisa Howell/The Ballet Blog. Ms. Markham currently teaches at Boston Ballet School and the Community Dance Program at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She is an adjunct professor at Dean College and Emmanuel College.

Dina Ternullo Melley holds a BFA from The Boston Conservatory. She has been on the faculty at Boston College, Regis College, Louisiana State University, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is currently teaching at Festival Ballet Providence and is excited to be working with the American Dance Legacy Initiative (ADLI).

Joseph Morin is a composer, performer, educator and founder of The Rhythm Room Enrichment Program, drummer for Diva’s with a Twist and Paris Cabaret as well as a freelance drummer.  He is a Grammy-nominated musician and has been featured in a recent TED Talk and is the recipient of many educational grants.  He has performed with Tony Award–winning actress Betty Buckley; Academy Award–winning actress Shirley Jones; Broadway/movie actor Michael Leon Wooley; jazz legend Charlie Mariano; Dr. Krishna Raghavendra (a virtuoso on the Veena) and opened for Rita Moreno and Ben Vereen.

Roshni Pecora is a 1994 graduate of Dean College. Upon graduation Roshni became principal dancer with the New England Civic Ballet Company, transitioning to the company's school director for over a decade in 2004. She continues to travel throughout the country teaching master classes for many organizations as well as serving as a coach to local ballet students preparing for international ballet competitions.

Katie Pustizzi, MFA (she, her, hers) is an Interdisciplinary Movement Artist in the greater Boston area. She is the Founder and Director of “Liquid Spine”, a global dance series that unearths the environmental needs of our water systems through movement, community, and conversation.Katie is deeply interested in international exchange as a form of artistic research and connection. In 2019, she explored Gaga with Batsheva Dance Company in Israel on a professional development grant from Gann Academy. In 2022, she explored Dance and Perception with Senza Confini Di Pelle in Sardinia, Italy through the Aiken Scholarship from Wilson College, her alma mater. In 2023, she directed and danced in the film "Liquid Spine, Augusta" in Sicily. Katie currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Dean College and Emmanuel College. She frequently shares her improv-focused creation process and somatically informed movement language as an Artist in Residence at various universities and schools across the country, such as Boston University, Salem State University, Wilson College, Endicott College, Brandeis University, Colleges of the Fenway, MIT, and Merrimack College. 

Longtime musician for dance classes at Dean.  Attended Boston University, a graduate of SUNY Albany and North Bennet St. School. Current piano faculty at the Winchester Community Music School. 

Mike Sartini is an adjunct instructor and percussion accompanist for tap and modern classes for School of Dance. He teaches percussion lessons and is the program coordinator for the Applied Music program. He also serves as the music contractor for musicals in the School of the Arts.

Todd Shanks is a highly experienced and accomplished dance educator based in Franklin, MA. He's been recognized in renowned publications like Dance, Dance Spirit, Dance Studio Life, Dance Teacher, and Dancer Magazines. Todd's performed in various mediums, including music videos, commercials, industrials, and TV programs. He is an assistant professor of dance and serves as Program Coordinator for the Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance at Dean College. Todd is also the Education Director of Dance Educators of America. Before his move to Massachusetts, Todd was on faculty at Steps on Broadway in NYC for over a decade. He has also shared his expertise as a guest teacher at esteemed institutions such as the University of Florida, SUNY Brockport, Boston University, Skidmore College, ACDA, UMass Lowell, HSDF, the Ailey Extension, Ballet Hispanico, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio, Dance Masters of America, Dance New Amsterdam, Florida Dance Masters, and numerous private dance studios across the United States. Todd is also teaching on tour with Manhattan Dance Project and Dance Educators of America. Todd is the Jazz Faculty for the Dance Education Training Course presented by Dance Teacher's Club of Boston.

Jill trained at Cambridge School of Ballet, Cambridge, MA, as a scholarship student.  She is associated with American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Harkness House in NYC and Boston Ballet.  Jill holds a master’s degree in dance Pedagogy and teaches throughout New England as a summer guest artist.  She is an Associate Professor of Dance at the Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance at Dean College teaching Ballet, Pedagogy I & II and is the Dance Company Director. Jill is in her 37th year as a faculty member.