Faculty
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Melissa Rapone
Director/Owner Miss Melissa has a bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in dance from Mercyhurst College located in Erie, PA. Upon graduating, Melissa returned to New York and began teaching dance full-time. Melissa began teaching at Elite in the fall of 2009 and soon became a manager of the studio and the competition teams. While at Elite, she began an acro program as well as contributed to the studio's syllabus in other dance forms. Melissa is a certified gymnastics instructor through USAG and looks forward to developing our acro student's skills. She was also Safe Sport certified in 2017. She enjoys much success working with Elite's competition teams. This past dance year, she was awarded "Entertainment Awards" as well as "Choreography Awards" for her competition dances. Her solo and duet choreography has been awarded many overall awards as well. She continues her dance education by regularly attending conventions and workshops, including the Dance Life Teacher’s Conference and NYC Dance Teacher’s Summit. She has a Masters in Secondary Education. Miss Melissa is looking forward to another year of dance sharing her passion with all of Elite's students. |
Kristyn Alexis
Kristyn Alexis was born and raised in Montgomery County, Md. She started dancing at the young age of two at the La Manaion de la Dance Studio. In 2008 her love and passion for dance grew one she was enrolled into Elite Dance Studio (EDS) which further enriched her training. She was a member of the EDS competition team for nine years and grew as not only a dancer but performer. After graduating from Paint Branch High School in 2017 she moved to New York to further her dance training and study. She was a student at the Alvin Ailey School and she also was a trainee at
Broadway Dance Center where she performed in various pieces. She has attended several intensives such as Jofferey Ballet, Radio City Rockette Experience, Alvin Ailey School and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She is well versed in a variety of styles of dance to include ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary/lyrical, tap, modern, hip hop and musical theater. This year has brought forth new experiences and she is very excited to be returning home to spread her love of dance with the students here at Elite.
Kristyn Alexis was born and raised in Montgomery County, Md. She started dancing at the young age of two at the La Manaion de la Dance Studio. In 2008 her love and passion for dance grew one she was enrolled into Elite Dance Studio (EDS) which further enriched her training. She was a member of the EDS competition team for nine years and grew as not only a dancer but performer. After graduating from Paint Branch High School in 2017 she moved to New York to further her dance training and study. She was a student at the Alvin Ailey School and she also was a trainee at
Broadway Dance Center where she performed in various pieces. She has attended several intensives such as Jofferey Ballet, Radio City Rockette Experience, Alvin Ailey School and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She is well versed in a variety of styles of dance to include ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary/lyrical, tap, modern, hip hop and musical theater. This year has brought forth new experiences and she is very excited to be returning home to spread her love of dance with the students here at Elite.
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Cameron Bennett
Cameron began dancing in 2009 as student at the University of Maryland, College Park. As a new member of Dynamic Dance Team, Cameron first began learning, performing, as well as creating his own choreography. In the 2011-2012 academic year, Cameron became the artistic director of Dynamic and lead the team to perform and compete at venues up and down the east coast. In 2012, Cameron became a member of Culture Shock DC, the Washington D.C. chapter of an internationally known dance organization. Culture Shock has challenged Cameron to push himself both physically and mentally as he was exposed to urban hip hop styles of dance while being pushed to further develop his skills as a choreographer. As a member of Culture Shock, Cameron has been given the opportunity to travel across the nation as an ambassador of hip hop, sharing his love of dance with diverse communities. Upon graduation in December of 2012 from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Information Systems and a minor in Spanish, Cameron helped to found the UpperClassMen, an all-male hip hop dance crew who perform and compete both nationally and internationally. Cameron continues his dance education by taking weekly classes in Washington, DC studios and by attending hip hop dance conventions such as Monsters and the ML Tour annually. Cameron is looking forward to passing on his love of hip hop to his students at Elite! |
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Laurel Cherrier
Laurel’s love for dance began at an early age, and has continued to grow over the years. She started her career as a studio dancer and began choreographing and performing her own competitive numbers at age 17. She later went on to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Dance. During college, Laurel had the opportunity to study and intern with Zenon Dance School and Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Battery Dance Company. After graduating, Laurel began coaching gymnastics, and has since coached in Michigan, Maine, Maryland, and Virginia. She is a professional member of USAG and is SafeSport certified. Laurel moved to Maryland in 2017 after graduating from The University of Maine School of Law. She loves working with children of all ages, and finds it extremely rewarding. Laurel is excited to continue her dance career teaching with Elite Dance Studio! Shelby Davis
Shelby is excited to continue teach and inspire the younger dancers at Elite. She began her dancing career at Elite and has loved being surrounded by dance ever since their opening. Shelby graduated from Blake High School where she was also a member of the Blake High School Dance Company. She graduated with a Bachelors degree in English from Towson University. She just recently graduated from Towson with her Master's Degree. Shelby has a special connection with toddlers and preschoolers and a great understanding of the balance between fun and learning in a dance class. She's looking forward to introducing all the dancers about the joy and wonder that dance can bring them for many years to come! |
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Shamonet Haynes-Warner has been dancing since the tender age of 3. Since then, her skill quickly turned into a passion that would last for years. She was groomed as a young dancer attending various well-known local dance studios. Through these years she embarked on the experience of dance competitions from 1993 to 1996 in Richmond, VA and Myrtle Beach, SC. In 1997 she was accepted into Thomas G. Pullen Magnet School where she majored in Dance. That summer she was awarded a full scholarship to train for two summers with the Dance Theatre of Harlem in Harlem, NY. In the fall of 1999 she was accepted into Duke Ellington School of the Arts where she had the opportunity to perform a piece choreographed by Louis Johnson, the infamous choreographer of “The Wiz”, perform at the Kennedy Center, complete two summer intensives with the dance program at Howard University, trained and took master classes with Eleo Pomare, Ronald K. Brown, Kevin Malone, Alvin Ailey School of Dance, and travel to Bermuda and North Carolina for performances. She graduated in 2003 as Most Outstanding Dancer in her class and went on to complete two years at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Shamonet has had the pleasure of teaching at numerous local DMV studios for over 6 years. Recently expanding her training in Hip Hop starting in 2014 with Culture Shock DC, she completed two seasons on the team and embarked many successes during that time. She had the opportunity to feature in Tabitha & Napoleon “NappyTabs” homage video to Maya Angelou, “Harlem Hopscotch” in New York. Shamonet is currently the Co-Director of Future Shock DC, Co-Director of The Pebbles Crew, and a dancer on the leading all female DMV crew, KickRocks. Shamonet is excited to join the Elite Dance family!!
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Kymm Stevens
Miss Kymm, born and raised in Washington, DC, began her love for dance at the early age of 5. Her mother saw an inward excitement that needed to be released. So she enrolled her in Ballet and Tap at Jones Haywood School of Dance. At the age of 11, after extensive training in ballet, Kymm went to Rosella Hightower School of Ballet in Cannes, France. She furthered her training from age 13 to 18 in ballet and modern at Washington School of Ballet. She was also a member of their Young Dancers Company. On the weekends, she was an original member of the Dance Theater of Harlem/Kennedy Center Residency Program. After graduating from high school, she became a corps member of Dance Theatre of Harlem in Harlem, NY from 1997-2000. While there she traveled to various countries such as Greece, France, Spain, Italy, and Australia performing various roles for large audiences. She became a principle dancer with American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, NJ from 2000-2003. After spending many years involved in ballet she decided to take a chance at Broadway and was a ROCKETTE in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular from 2003-2005. She has enjoyed teaching Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Mini Hip Hop to her students at Elite since 2008. Kymm began a Pointe program here at Elite for our advanced ballet students, and she is looking forward to expanding it to include two classes this fall. Her work with EDS soloists and competition teams have helped them earn many overall awards. She would like to thank her husband, Daniel, for all his love & support. They have two wonderful sons, Clayton & Justin, who share in her energy and love of life. She is looking forward to another year filled with fun, smiles, and the LOVE of DANCE! One of her favorite quotes is "Those who say sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain." |
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Dani Vernon
Born and raised in central New Jersey, Dani found her passion in life at a very early age. She began dancing when she was three and hasn’t stopped since. She has been training in many styles including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Musical Theater. At age 9 she started dancing competitively and won numerous awards with her groups. Dani attended OCVTS Performing Arts Academy and graduated as a dance major. During her high school years, Dani found a passion for musical theater and auditioned for her first show at Jackson Memorial High School. After high school, she continued her dance and theatre education at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NY where she trained and worked with current and former Broadway performers, choreographers and directors. In 2009, Dani began her professional dance career working in entertainment at Six Flags Great Adventure. After graduating AMDA, Dani began her dream of teaching dance! Her teaching experience includes Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Contemporary, Musical Theater, Hip Hop and Creative Movement at various studios in New Jersey and Massachusetts. She enjoys teaching both recreational and competitive dancers ages 18 months through adult and choreography is one of her favorite things to work on with her students! |
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Michelle Wessel
Michelle started her love for dance at the age of two and has been dancing ever since! Michelle danced at Elite Dance Studio since opening year and won many awards as a soloist and group member of the competition team. She chose to focus further on her dance training and was selected as Dance Performance major at Towson University. There she was trained in ballet, modern, jazz, choreography, and aerial. Michelle had the opportunity to work with many well-known choreographers from various companies throughout her years at Towson, and got the chance to perform at the American College Dance Association in Greensboro, North Carolina. She continued to choreograph pieces for the EDS competition team while attending college. Michelle was awarded the Choreographer Award by the Towson University Dance Department. She graduated from Towson in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and received her 200hr Yoga Certification with Charm City Yoga. This past year Michelle has worked with Elite's Competition Team and was awarded a "Choreography Award". Her soloists/duets and group pieces have also won many awards. Michelle is excited for another fantastic year at Elite and is looking forward to sharing her love for dance with all of Elite's students. |
Staff
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Emily Guerrera
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Kate Nazzaro
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Megan Barnes
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