Not only did Miss Michelle start her studies at Premiere Dance of Hillsborough, formerly Hillsborough Dance Academy in 1982, but she also studied at NYC’s Broadway Dance Center, taking classes from choreographers such as Frank Hattchet, Sue Samuels, Shelia Barker, Rahpsody, Brian Greene and various others.  For over 15 years she has taught in all areas of dance and choreographed routines for regional and national competitions, gaining Top Scores and Special Awards for her Jazz and Lyrical routines. These include winning 1st place overall at Regionals and Nationals, Top 2 and various Top 10 scoring positions at the Nationals Finals. Her dances have received several special judges awards from Choreography Awards to “Breath Taking Performance” to “Dynamic Duo”. Her specialty group was honored by being chosen for the NDS Jr. Dance-off. Several of her dances have made it to the finals at national talent competitions. Currently she has choreographed for two title winning performances which brought recognition and opportunities nationally for her students. Miss Michelle joined the Premiere Dance staff in 2001 and began instructing with the competition team in 2002. Since 2007 she has been the Director for the Dynamics Competition Team and is now currently Co-Directing the studio alongside Corinna Ahart.

She is looking forward to the next chapter with Nationally recognized Premiere Dance of Hillsborough. Miss Michelle is always there looking forward to the smiling faces of her students and loves hugs! She wishes everyone a great year at Premiere Dance of Hillsborough!

Allie attended Rutgers University, studying Early Childhood Education. She has also has studied at Broadway Dance Center with choreographers such as Savion Glover, Mike Minery, Sonya Tayeh, Gregg Russell, Judy Ann Bassing, Debbi Dee, Anthony Morigerato, Mia Michaels, Twitch, and various others. She has attended various dance conventions such as New York City Dance Alliance, NYC Dance Teacher Summit and JUMP Dance. In 2010, Allie started choreographing routines for the Dynamics Dance Company gaining Top Scores and Special Awards for her tap dances. She is extremely happy to be teaching where she grew up dancing and hope she can share her passion for dance with all of her students!

Lisa has extensively studied and continues to study, many areas of modern dance including Release Technique, Cunningham Technique, Improvisation, Afro-Contemporary as well as personal movement philosophies. Other forms she has studied are Concert Jazz, Broadway Jazz, Jazz Tap and Classical Ballet. She studied these genres with many talented professional teachers, some of which are Jennifer Kayle, Tiffany Mills, Nicolas Leichter, Karen Dearborn and Danny Buraczeski – Lisa performed in original and/or recreated works with these choreographers.

Professionally, Lisa danced in Charles O. Andersons Dance Theater X’s Parables of Mutants and Madmen at DanceBoom! in Philadelphia. Charles was recently chosen by Dance Magazine’s 25 choreographers to watch. She has also performed her own solo and duet works in many venues in the NJ/NYC area including Oasis Dance Festival in NYC, The International Dance Festival in NYC, and The Outlet Dance Works in NJ. Her choreography was reviewed, Lisa [Burton’s choreography] perfectly highlighted Scott Joplin’s “Fig Leaf Rag” in a clever, precisely choreographed tribute to Chaplin and vaudeville. Christopher Atamian of the Village Voice. She also worked as an intern for Tiffany Mills Company and LKB Dance.

Lisa began studying dance here at Premiere Dance at the age of 3. As a young dancer, she performed in many competitions and events. She is so happy to return home to teach and choreograph. Her competition dances have won many special choreography and high scoring awards. Lisa has a passion for all things related to dance, and she hopes to pass that along to her students.

Corinna received her dance training at New Jersey School of Ballet and the New Jersey Dance Theatre Guild. She has attended N. Y. City dance intensives and conventions learning a variety of various dance styles. Corinna was a top ten graduate of the Somerset County Performing Arts program. Through an audition process she was chosen to be a member of the New Jersey Dance Theatre Guild Ballet Company. Corinna was one of three jazz soloist selected from the state to perform at the PNC Art Center’s “Showcase of the Stars”. Through her years of study she entered several dance competitions competing in jazz, tap, and ballet in which she received top honors and awards. Corinna has served on the panel of judges for MBC Talent Competitions for many years. She graciously accepted the opportunity to have her choreography and students featured on Good Morning America.

Best known for her energy and motivation, her choreography has helped her students earn prestigious awards at both the regional and national level of competition. Through her years at Premiere Dance Hillsborough some of her honors include her students capturing the “Ultimate Achievement Award” in which her junior jazz routine placed first overall at Star Systems regional and her teen jazz dancers came in first overall at Starbound Nationals.
For two consecutive years Corinna’s jazz kickline performances captured placement in the top five overall awards while attending Dancer’s Inc. Nationals. This led to her students receiving the honor of performing in the choreographers showcase.

Corinna has over twenty years of teaching experience in the performing arts instructing a variety of dance forms as well as in the fitness field instructing aerobics, step aerobics, and toning classes.

She is proud to be a part of the talented staff at Premiere Dance Hillsborough.

Through an audition process, Mikayla was accepted into the Somerset County Vocational High School’s gifted and talented performing arts program in which she has diligently focused on for four years. Aside from the dance training she has received from this outstanding program, Mikayla has also studied staging, lighting, choreography, anatomy and much more. In June 2015, Mikayla graduated from this honorary program.

Mikayla is thrilled to be a part of the PDH faculty where she can continue to share her love and passion for dance.

Rebecca Cannaday grew up in Chesapeake, VA where she started her dance training at the age of three years old. Her extensive training in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and lyrical have molded her into the dancer and choreographer that she is today. Growing up near Virginia Beach allowed her to train at Denise Wall’s Dance Energy where she was a part of the national award winning pre-professional company ran by Denise Wall. While in this company she had the opportunity to work with and perform pieces by some of the top dancers and choreographers in the industry including Travis Wall, Anthony Morigerato, Jason Janas, Ayodele Casel, Michael Minery, and Cami Walton where she won several regional and national titles in a group and as a soloist. She is now based out of New York City where she is continuing her training and actively working as a professional dancer. She is currently in three professional tap companies that are based out of Manhattan and travel around the country for various performances including CHRProject directed by Charles Renato, ProjectConvergence co-directed by Vikas Arun and Ramita Ravi, and #Taplife directed by Anthony LoCascio where she is also dance captain and choreographer for the company. Some of her most memorable performances have been for BuzzFeed, Spotify, Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s “JUBA”, the American Tap Dance Foundation’s “Rhythm in Motion”, Dormeshia Sumbry’s “In the Groove”, and the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow after she was one of twenty-five dancers selected in the world to attend the three week Professional School Program at Jacob’s Pillow for tap dance. She has several years of teaching experience in various styles while specializing in tap and has also presented choreography in several different venues around Manhattan and at the “Inside/Out” stage in Becket, Massachusetts. She was recently added to the tap faculty at Broadway Dance Center in New York City and is ready to share her love for dance with all of her students!

Colleen continued onto college at the University of Hartford. Here she majored in Computer Science and undertook a minor in Fine Arts. During her college years, she danced at the Hartt School and The School for the Hartford ballet (with a focus on teaching). She enjoyed working with many master teachers and performing in various student pieces.

After college, Colleen worked full-time as a software engineer, but her love and passion for ballet kept her in the teaching world. She started to teach ballet in 2000.

Upon the birth of her first child, she switched her focus from software engineering to enjoying being home with her family, however she never stopped dancing.

Colleen has been delighted to teach and choreography ballet at various studios for over 15 years. She feels very passionate about the art of ballet and teaching the next generation of young dancers. Colleen also enjoys working on her yoga practices in her free time.

As a resident of Hillsborough, Colleen has enjoyed bringing her expertise locally to the Premiere Dance of Hillsborough Program since 2013.

Alex graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance from Rutgers University- Mason Gross School of the Arts. While a student, Grina choreographed both solo and group dance works, and continues to work on her own projects, combining her passions of dance, music, and visual art. At Mason Gross School of the Arts’ BFA Senior Solo/Duet Concert in November 2018, Grina’s solo work “Overnight” debuted with her own musical composition. Grina had played and recorded the song, entitled “The Fool and Four Aces,” in addition to choreographing and performing the piece. She is yoga certified (200-RYT) and finds immense value in using yoga to improve dancers’ technique. She feels that great dancers are defined by more than their technical ability- every dancer, beginner or advanced, should feel comfortable with expressing themselves through improvisation and creative movement.

Mia started her dancing career at Premiere Dance Hillsborough as a 5 year old ballerina and has had the amazing opportunity to compete in every genre of dance since then.  Recruited to the Dynamics Dance Company as a gymnast in “Charmed”, Mia continued to excel in her acrobatic skills while she further developed her dancing technique.  After three years of competing in Lyrical and Contemporary dance with Miss Michelle, Jazz with Miss Corinna, as well as Hip Hop, Mia decided to leave the gym and focus on her dancing, and she has followed her passion ever since.  New opportunities came with Miss Lisa’s Modern, Miss Jenning’s Acro, and Mia finally became a tapper (and turner) for Miss Allie most recently.  She became a member of New Jersey Ballet’s Junior Company, and combined with PDH’s diverse training, the foundation was laid for Mia to attend SCVTHS as an Honors Dance student, where she excelled and was inducted into the National Honor Dance Society as a sophomore.  This past year of Musical Theatre with Mr. Joseph has been an incredible new experience as well as performing in Kickline.  Another “first” for Mia was choreographing a top-five Junior Contemporary solo, as well as choreographing her own first place winning Senior Solo entitled “Let It Go”.  This piece enabled her to express her feelings regarding leaving the Dynamics Company as she starts the next chapter of her life as a Radiographic Studies major.  Mia was the recipient of the PDH Scholarship Achievement Award in 2015, and can’t thank PDH enough for creating a prestigious dance studio that fosters friendship and team spirit, as well as respect and love for your fellow dancers.  PDH has become a family and second home, which is why Mia was honored to accept the offer to teach classes in the fall at this amazing studio that has supported her in every endeavor.  Mia will be attending Middlesex Community College as a Radiographic Studies major and will be dancing in the MCC Dance Ensemble.

Samantha has danced at Premiere Dance since the age of four and has been apart of the Dynamics Dance Company for eight years. She has competed in lyrical, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip hop, as well as having had trios, duos and solos. Samantha has also been apart of the Hillsborough High School Dance Team for three years competing in a hip hop and jazz routine. She will be a senior at Hillsborough High School this fall and is looking forward to teaching Saturday morning classes at Premiere Dance. She can’t thank Premiere enough for allowing her to become the dancer she is today. The friendships and memories she has made at Premiere, she knows will last her a lifetime.

Lea’s thirst for dance led her to attend Somerset County’s Vocational High School “Gifted and Talented Performing Arts” dance concentration. There, she continued training in all dance genres and explored her favored modern techniques such as Graham Technique, Horton Technique, and Release Technique. Aside from being awarded with The Ruth St. Denis Scholarship for her performance ethics, Lea lengthened her curriculum to dance history, anatomy, stage lighting, choreography composition, and Laban movement analysis. From 2009-2012, she attended The Governor’s School of the Arts Festivals and was delighted to perform in NYC’s Choreography Project at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, in 2011.

In 2016, under the distinguished and artistic direction of Donna Faye Burchfield, Lea graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Dance from The University of The Arts. She graduated with special honors and a graduate member of The National Society of Collegiate Scholars. In addition to her continued studies of all dance genres, Lea also was exposed to the art of exercising with Gyrokinesis® and Advanced Pilates Mat. She proudly worked with highly credited artists and choreographers such as Beth Gill, Sidra Bell, Jillian Pena, Faustin Linyekula, Jesse Zarrit, Esther-Baker Tarpaga, Eiko & Koma, Douglas Becker, and many more.

Lea’s hunger for all things related to movement led her to become a certified “DanceAbility® International” dance instructor in Vienna, Austria. She furthered her knowledge by training with Mark Morris’s Dance Company for Parkinson’s Disease, “Dance For PD®.” In 2014, she founded “All Bodies Speak,” a class designed specifically for the physically and mentally disabled community. This offers all individuals the opportunity to increase their confidence, self-esteem and sense of accomplishment through movement. Lea’s mission is to create an equal opportunity for all ages and all bodies to release endorphins while sharing the beautiful experience of diversity and a love of movement.

In 2016, Lea will be working as the recreation assistant at Eden Autism Institute, in Princeton, NJ. She will also be teaching her “All Bodies Speak” class at Premiere Dance Of Hillsborough’s dance recital and around the tri-state area. She continues dancing for “Total Entertainment” and smiling everyday. She plans to follow her lifetime dedication of volunteering with the special needs community. Lea is honored and thrilled to return to Premiere Dance as a dance educator for the studio that helped shape her passion for the art of dance!

Ariana has danced at Premiere Dance of Hillsborough since the age of seven and has been apart of the Dynamics Dance Company for eight years. She has competed in lyrical, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip hop, and has competed in trios, duos, and solos. She has been an assistant teacher at Premiere for the past two years as well. Ariana has also been apart of the Hillsborough High School Dance Team for two years competing in a hip hop and jazz routine. Ariana will be a senior at Hillsborough High School this upcoming fall. Premiere Dance has been a huge part of her life and she is very grateful for all she has learned and the long lasting memories she has created. She is so excited to have the opportunity to teach Saturday morning classes at Premiere Dance!

Erica recently graduated from Rutgers University where she studied Dance and Applied Kinesiology. While at Rutgers, Erica was a member of Rutgers Performing Dance Company. She served on the executive board for 2 years as both advertising coordinator and vice president. Since 2010, she choreographed a total of eight advanced level contemporary pieces for the company and performed the works of many other choreographers.

Erica continues her dance education by taking classes at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance and Alvin Ailey where she has the opportunity to work with many influential choreographers such as Tracie Stanfield, Eric Campros, Judy Rice, Sheila Barker, Wes Veldink and Derek Mitchell.

Erica is so excited to have the opportunity to share her love for dance with the students at Premiere Dance of Hillsborough!

Eric is a part of two companies based out of New York City: CHR Project, a Tap Dance company ran by Charles Renato, and Project Convergence, a company that fuses Tap Dance and classical Indian Dance that is ran by Vikas Arun and Ramita Ravi. His performance credits include Tap Kids, CHR Project, Project Convergence, Tap Family Reunion, and many more. Eric has performed in locations such as Dizzy’s Jazz Club at Lincoln Center, the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, and a variety of Tap Dance Festivals (Rhythm in Motion, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Tap Family Reunion). He currently is attending St. John’s University with a major in Business and still continues to dance as much as humanly possible.

As a junior in High School, Jenning had the chance to perform in the off-Broadway performance of “The Christmas Spectacular.” She was offered the lead role as the ice-skater in Central Park and as a snowflake; which took part on Pointe shoes.

After graduating from North Hunterdon High School in 2006, Jenning went off to Kutztown University of Kutztown, PA to continue her studies. She majored with Leisure and Sports Studies (also known as Sports Management), minored in Business and held a concentration in Dance. As a sophomore in college, Jenning took place in the Lenhart Dance Company where she stayed as a company member until graduation. Her senior year, Jenning was offered the Deane Lenhart Memorial Scholarship which is offered to the best dancer, most responsible and most worthy individual of the company. As a junior at Kutztown University, Jenning auditioned for the professional company; FDC, Fusion Dance Company. FDC is held in Fogelsville, PA right outside of Trexlertown, PA. She is still currently going underway with them.

Rachel was able to work with and perform pieces of Anita Feldman, Amy Marshall, Niles Ford, Maxine Steinman, Karla Wolfangle, Dina Denis and Stormy Brandenburger, during her time at Hofstra. Her credits include principal dancer in MAD About Dance Company, under the direction of Michiyo Tanaka, principal dancer in Undertoe Dance Project, under the direction of Dana Fisch, extra in Annie: Columbia Pictures, and Helberger in Paradise.

Rachel currently resides in Clifton, NJ. She is continuing her dance training in the tri-state area. She teaches Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, and Lyrical at Vision Dance Center in Dayton, NJ, under the direction of Michelle Wright. She also teaches at Village Dance Academy in Maplewood Village, NJ, under the direction of Kathie Kull; as well as, Dance Dimensions in New Milford, NJ, under the direction of Annette Romano-Merlini. Rachel is Zumba certified and is presently being represented by Wilhelmina of PA for Commercial Print and Acting.