NICOLE SILEO-BUNTEN
Nicole was personally trained by Miss Gina, and as a result, encourages her ballet, tap and jazz students to strengthen their fundamental skills and maximize the performance quality they exhibit in the classroom and on the stage. Her attention to detail is a hallmark of her unique teaching ability. She spearheads the Tap program at Dance Stop, and is a very important factor as we aim to provide well-rounded dancers. With consistent practice of tap, her students achieve a clear understanding of musicality, the complexities of rhythms, and the layers and textures within the music that can be revealed through percussive sounds. Miss Nicole also is proud of her performance and collaboration with Mike Minery (see above), which has definitely brought a bright new approach to the art!
JEN CARDINO-DIETZ
Jen is unmatched in her enthusiasm and energy for teaching and encouraging her dancers! With the dance education she received directly from Miss Gina, this graduate of Montclair State University thoroughly commits to creating a positive classroom and stage experience, and also supports her students on a one-to-one basis. Miss Jen is an extremely popular teacher with both younger and older students because of her positive energy and sincerity. She's a perfect leader for our Dance Team! Miss Jen believes the complete package in a dancer includes good body position, strong expressiveness, and a big smile!
MELODY SHANLEY
Miss Melody is a graduate of Montclair State College with a Bachelor Degree in physical education with an emphasis on dance. She received her dance teacher certification from Dance Educators of America. Dancing since the age of three, Melody continued her dance studies with Patricia Walcoff-McCusker, studio owner past president of the NJ Dance Theatre Guild now NJ Dance Theatre Ensemble. Miss Melody is a previous studio owner for over 36 years. She is a board member of Associated Dance Teachers of NJ and a member of Dance Educators of America. Miss Melody has an extensive gymnastics background and has won many state and national titles. Miss Melody specializes in early childhood dance education. Miss Melody enjoys being a part of the high-quality education her students achieve under her direction.
COLBY DAMON
R. Colby Damon was born and raised in Richmond,VA and received his early dance training at Richmond Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Virginia School of the Arts. He has danced professionally for Sacramento Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Northwest Dance Project, and BalletX among others. As a choreographer, he has worked with BalletX, Sacramento Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet II, Nashville Ballet II, Ballet West Academy, Bryn Mawr College, and DeSales University among others, and his work has been performed at festivals in Brazil, Mexico, Bermuda, and New York City. He is currently on faculty at the Rock School for Dance Education, The University of the Arts, and BalletX in addition to working as a freelance choreographer and performer based out of Philadelphia.
BRIELLE CARREIRA
Brielle began training at Dance Stop Dance Education Center at the age of 3 and was trained extensively by Gina Forcella for 15 years. Brielle also trained under the direction of Al Blackstone, Thang Dao & Julie Shulman. Brielle studied dance, voice, and musical theatre for 4 years at the Freehold Performing Arts Center and then went on to studio dance and psychology at George Mason and Kean University. While training with Miss Gina at Dance Stop, Brielle discovered her love for working with children and sharing her passion for dance. Brielle credits Dance Stop with teaching her hard work, dedication and determination while being surrounded by supportive educators.
kirsten coco
Kirsten Coco is a performer, choreographer, and teacher based in New York City. She was born and raised in Salem, NH and was educated at Donna Coco’s Performance Plus under the direction of Donna Coco. This is where her passion for movement and performance began. This passion eventually led her to
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received her BFA in Dance. During her time at Tisch, Kirsten has had the privilege of working with and performing pieces by Yin Yue, Jeremy Nelson, and James Martin. She has also had the opportunity to study abroad in Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, she worked with teachers Ayman Harper, Meg Stuart, and Judith-Sanchez Ruiz.
Since graduating, Kirsten has performed at the Aditya Birla Awards in Mumbai, India, has performed Jeremy Nelson’s “Unfurled” at Radio City Music Hall, and has performed at the Joyce Theatre in the Scottish Ballet Dance Exchange. Kirsten has been featured in the Dance Spirit Magazine “Audition Wear”
photoshoot and article, and has made appearances in several dance films and festivals in New York City. She has choreographed and taught at dance studios in the New England and New York area since the age of sixteen. She has also
had the pleasure of choreographing three, 8 minute pieces at the Jack Crystal Theatre in New York City. Throughout her dance journey, Kirsten has found that her love for dance is able to be shared with dancers of all ages through her choreography and teaching, because it allows her to spread knowledge and
curiosity to others through her movement.
Nathan Beech
Nathan cultivated his passion for dance at the age of 5, training at multiple schools in Northern VA and Washington, DC. Growing up as a competitive dancer, he was recognized in magazines such as DanceSpirit Magazine and Dance Informa for his exceptional tap dancing. He also made an appearance on Lifetime’s reality television series Dance Moms as a guest artist. In High School, Nathan was selected as a National Young Arts Foundation Finalist, granting him the opportunity to train with famous artists such as Josh Groban, Nikki Minaj, and more.
His career started at a young age when he was cast as Billy in the national tour of “Brothers’ of the Knight”, directed by Debbie Allen. Soon after, Nathan joined the team of Dein Perry’s “Tapdogs”, an award-winning Australian tap dance show, where he traveled the world performing in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Other performing credits include Rhythmic Circus and Busch Garden’s “Celtic Fyre”. As a member of the professional company The JaM Project, Nathan toured the United States performing; “Good Times, Bad Times” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Break the Floor Production’s “25 Live” in Los Angeles, CA, and the Capezio ACE awards in NYC. The JaM Project has also made multiple appearances on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, and “World of Dance” Season 2.
Additionally, Nathan is an active dance instructor and traveling choreographer, teaching workshops and intensives across the U.S. He has been involved in events such as the DC Tapfest, Riff, JaM Camp, KAR, and more. Nathan continues to share his passion for dance to all ages around the country, in hopes of inspiring the next generation of artists to “Keep on Dancin’.”
Lauren DiPietro
Lauren DiPietro began her career as a competitive dancer and choreographer in Massachusetts, and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. She just completed her rookie season as an NBA dancer for the New York Knicks. As a member of the legendary KCD, Lauren has had the opportunity to work with choreographers including Lacey Schwimmer, Theresa Stone, Keenan Cooks, and more. She has also appeared in Star Magazine and on Good Morning America as well as in NBA Halftime Shows at Madison Square Garden with Iggy Azalea and Tinashe. Additionally, she has performed with artists such as Jordin Sparks, The Pointer Sisters, Patti Labelle, and Taylor Dayne. As a singer and actress, Lauren portrayed Lisa in Royal Caribbean's production of “Mamma Mia!”, and was a dancer and aerialist in “Blue Planet”. Lauren continues to choreograph and teach at several studios in the New York City area and throughout New England at various workshops, conventions, and intensives. Her goal is to always “aspire to inspire” and help the next generation dancers embrace themselves and their dreams entirely and unapologetically.
jillian rosner
Jillian Rosner began her training at the Dance Stop Dance Education Center under the direction of Gina Forcella. Jillian graduated with honors from Marymount Manhattan College earning a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Ballet. During her time at Marymount, she had the opportunity to perform works by a number of esteemed choreographers. Jillian received additional training from Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Perry-Mansfield. Most recently, she has performed in dance festivals throughout NYC and is a member of several contemporary dance companies including Keiko Fujii Dance Company, ARIM Dance, and mishiDance. Jillian takes pride in encouraging the value of proper dance technique in her students while fostering a lifelong love of dance!
jessica metz
Jessica began her dance career at an early age at Dance Stop Dance Education Center, under the direction of Gina Forcella. Jessica is a recent graduate from Penn State and was a four year member of the Penn State Lionettes Dance Team. Jessica was a part of Penn States transition to the UDA collegiate national competition in 2017 where they have maintained a top 10 spot the past three years. In 2018, she was named Captain of the team for her junior and senior year. This allowed her to choreograph multiple game day routines within those two years for Beaver Stadium’s crowd of 110,000 fans. Throughout her time at Penn State she performed and choreographed dances of various genres such as jazz, contemporary, hiphop, acrobatics, and pom. In 2019, she was also a part of Penn States first pom team to compete at the UDA collegiate national competition. Jessica is excited to teach and share her passion for performing!
jessica powell
Jessica Powell is excited to join the Dance Stop Family this year! Jessica was raised in Toronto, Canada, and danced under the instruction of the prestigious Canadian Dance Company for 15 years. She spent 4 years as a member of the Toronto Raptors NBA Dance Pak, as well as a dancer/model for Sears Canada, Mary Kay and L'Oreal. Jessica was featured on So You Think You Can Dance, spent time as a dancer on Holland America Cruise Lines, and much more. Now, as a choreographer and dance educator, she has spent the last 13 years sharing her love of dance and passion for entertainment with students in both the United States and Canada
Jenna Ingui
Jenna Ingui is a newly graduated Dance Stop alumni who trained at the studio for over 10 years. She began her dance career at an early age, and throughout the years developed an advanced focus on Contemporary and Acrobatics. Jenna assisted Dance Stop faculty members with various classes from toddler to pre-professional levels. She was honored to be awarded the Dance Stop Talent Scholarship in 2019 to further her dance education. Previously, as the captain of the Monroe Township High School Dance Team, Jenna choreographed original pieces weekly and led the team to win first place overall in the contemporary division at the Ramapo College Dance Team Invitational. She currently is a featured dancer on The College of New Jersey’s collegiate Dance Team focusing on Jazz, Pom, and Contemporary styles. Jenna is looking forward to continuing her training and competing on a national level at the UDA National Competition. Jenna is thrilled to share her passion for dance, and to teach and inspire young dancers at Dance Stop.
Stephanie Bissonnette
Stephanie Bissonnette played Dawn Schweitzer in Mean Girls on Broadway where she is a member of the original Broadway cast. Stephanie teaches and sets choreography in NYC and surrounding states including the prestigious Broadway Dance Center in the heart of Manhattan. She has performed with Royal Caribbean doing Hairspray and traveling the world. She has appeared in music videos such as Keith Urbans “Never Comin Down”. Stephanie has also performed on the Today Show, Late Night with Seth Myers, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and the Tony Awards. Visit her Instagram to keep up with her classes and workshops being offered @stephbizz14
MINDY MOELLER
Mindy Moeller, a native of Overland Park, Kansas, began her training at Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice where she trained in tap, jazz, ballet, and pointe. She continued her dance education at the University of Arizona School of Dance where she earned a BFA in dance. After graduating in 2011, she moved to New York where she has been a Radio City Rockette since 2012. Under the Radio City umbrella, Mindy has had the privilege to perform in special events such as the Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show on Amazon Prime, Today Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the Tony Awards.
Kathleen Laituri
Kathleen is originally from Howell, Michigan. She is a 2018 graduate of the BFA Commercial Dance program at Pace University in New York City. Kathleen has performed in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular as a Rockette for three years. Her most recent Rockettes appearance was in the 2020 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a masked wooden soldier!
Other recent credits include short film In This Life (Robbie Fairchild/Bat-Sheva Guez), and Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season 3, Ep. 1). Kathleen also has a passion for teaching and choreographing and is thrilled to be teaching for Dance Stop this summer!
Allie Kronick
Allie Kronick is a freelance performing and teaching artist based out of Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Allie graduated magna cum laude from Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. She was a four year company member with Houston MET Dance where she performed works by numerous choreographers including Peter Chu, Kate Skarpetowska, Larry Keigwin, Sidra Bell, and Lauren Edson. Allie has since worked with AnA Collaborations, Bryn Cohn + Artists, The Equus Projects/OnSite NYC, Joe Celej, The Next Stage Project, & Ariel Rivka Dance. Allie has taught for and created on numerous studios, high schools, and youth companies across the US and abroad. She has been an assistant choreographer on choreographic residencies at James Madison University, The Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan College, and LaGuardia High School. Her work as been seen at the Riverside Dance Festival (Vero Beach, FL), Dallas Dance Fest (Dallas, TX), “Tapping Away” at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC (Houston, TX), Montclair High School (Montclair, NJ), and Fini Dance International Summer School (Villapiana, Italy). Allie is currently on faculty teaching contemporary dance for the Professional Training Program at the Martha Graham School, and she dances for Abarukas, LED Boise, Annalee Traylor, and Boca Tuya/Omar Roman de Jesus
joe celej
Joe Celej is a New York City based creative artist whose career spans over 20 years of professional concert dance performance, choreographic investigation, and passionate instruction and mentoring of students.
Joe performed for nearly a decade with the New York City based and internationally touring/acclaimed concert company Elisa Monte Dance. As a senior company member and soloist, Joe performed extensively throughout the US (including multiple Joyce seasons) and Europe with EMD, most notably meeting and performing for the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. Through the EMD choreographic initiative, Joe enjoyed collaborating and creating six works for the company, and was honored to have his Joyce Theater choreographic premiere in 2011.
Previously, Joe performed with METdance (formerly the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company) where he served as the company’s Resident Choreographer and worked with artists such as Robert Battle, Kate Skarpetowska, Peter Chu, Mario Zambrano, and Eddy Ocampo. Joe served as Associate Director of METdance for five years, while continuing to work with the company as a guest choreographer/teacher.
Most recently, Joe performed in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Nixon in Chinachoreographed by Sean Curran and created a forthcoming work for Houston Contemporary Dance Company.
Joe has taught throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. He is a guest teacher/choreographer at a variety of educational institutions including Steps on Broadway, SUNY Buffalo, Rice University, Salve Regina University, the High School for Performing and Visual Arts Houston (HSPVA), Episcopal High School, St John's School, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute. Joe is proud to have been a teacher/mentor to dancers performing with Eastman/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, LA Dance Project, Lar Lubovitch, Ballet Hispanico, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the Radio City Rockettes, and Disney, as well as current students/graduates of the Juilliard School, Point Park University, SUNY Purchase, Boston Conservatory, SUNY Buffalo, Chapman University, University of Arizona, SMU, and many other secondary educational institutions. Joe is an honored recipient of a 2010 Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award from the US Department of Education.
Joe graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in dance performance from SUNY Buffalo, where he was a performing and creative arts honors scholar and supplemented his training with scholarships to Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, The Edge, and the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Joe’s commercial credits include Levi Strauss and Company, Wal-Mart, and the City of Houston. As an independent artist, Joe has presented his choreography at numerous venues including the Reverb Dance Festival/APAP, the Dance Gallery, the Pink Ribbons Project, the Big Range Dance Festival, the Great Friends Dance Festival, Zodiaque Dance Company, Extensions Dance Company, Dance Harlem, American Dance Guild, Vision of Sound, Dumbo Dance Festival, The Tank, Pushing Progress Showcase Series, Cool NY Dance Festival, and the Solar Powered Dance Series.
kelly villares
Kelly Villares was born and raised in North Jersey and her dance career began at the age of three. From a very young age she studied all styles of dance including ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, tap, musical theater, and acrobatics. She trained at Studio L Dance Company where she was able to compete nationally and continue her passion for dance. Within her years at Studio L, she competed with the Varsity Allstar team at UDA High School Nationals where she and her team were national champions for the jazz category in 2019. During her senior year of high school, Kelly was recruited to be on the Rutgers University Dance Team where she competed at UDA College Nationals in the D1A pom and jazz categories for all four years. Throughout her time on the team Kelly was awarded All Big Ten Dance First Team Winner in 2020 and 2021. Along with being named co-captain for the 2022-2023 season of the Rutgers University Dance Team, she also received honors such as Rookie of the Year, Team Award, and Veteran of the Year. With 17 years of competitive dance experience, Kelly loves teaching students and sharing her passion for dance with all young dancers.
Joe Celej is a New York City based creative artist whose career spans over 20 years of professional concert dance performance, choreographic investigation, and passionate instruction and mentoring of students.
Joe performed for nearly a decade with the New York City based and internationally touring/acclaimed concert company Elisa Monte Dance. As a senior company member and soloist, Joe performed extensively throughout the US (including multiple Joyce seasons) and Europe with EMD, most notably meeting and performing for the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. Through the EMD choreographic initiative, Joe enjoyed collaborating and creating six works for the company, and was honored to have his Joyce Theater choreographic premiere in 2011.
Previously, Joe performed with METdance (formerly the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company) where he served as the company’s Resident Choreographer and worked with artists such as Robert Battle, Kate Skarpetowska, Peter Chu, Mario Zambrano, and Eddy Ocampo. Joe served as Associate Director of METdance for five years, while continuing to work with the company as a guest choreographer/teacher.
Most recently, Joe performed in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Nixon in Chinachoreographed by Sean Curran and created a forthcoming work for Houston Contemporary Dance Company.
Joe has taught throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. He is a guest teacher/choreographer at a variety of educational institutions including Steps on Broadway, SUNY Buffalo, Rice University, Salve Regina University, the High School for Performing and Visual Arts Houston (HSPVA), Episcopal High School, St John's School, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute. Joe is proud to have been a teacher/mentor to dancers performing with Eastman/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, LA Dance Project, Lar Lubovitch, Ballet Hispanico, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the Radio City Rockettes, and Disney, as well as current students/graduates of the Juilliard School, Point Park University, SUNY Purchase, Boston Conservatory, SUNY Buffalo, Chapman University, University of Arizona, SMU, and many other secondary educational institutions. Joe is an honored recipient of a 2010 Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award from the US Department of Education.
Joe graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in dance performance from SUNY Buffalo, where he was a performing and creative arts honors scholar and supplemented his training with scholarships to Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, The Edge, and the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Joe’s commercial credits include Levi Strauss and Company, Wal-Mart, and the City of Houston. As an independent artist, Joe has presented his choreography at numerous venues including the Reverb Dance Festival/APAP, the Dance Gallery, the Pink Ribbons Project, the Big Range Dance Festival, the Great Friends Dance Festival, Zodiaque Dance Company, Extensions Dance Company, Dance Harlem, American Dance Guild, Vision of Sound, Dumbo Dance Festival, The Tank, Pushing Progress Showcase Series, Cool NY Dance Festival, and the Solar Powered Dance Series.