Rebecca Darling
A master teacher, specializing in Modern dance, Improvisation, Choreography and Partnering technique, Rebecca has been a guest teacher at New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, a professor at Naugatuck Valley Community College, The Hopkins School, Connecticut Ballet, Weslyen (Dance Masters Weekend), ADF, Main Street Ballet, Lincoln Center Institute and has taught master classes from Dartmouth to Poland. She was commissioned to create a piece for the first physically integrated dance company, Dancing Wheels and toured with them.
Heaven Darling
Heaven Darling received a BFA in Painting from WWU in 1992 and an MFA from WCSU in 2004. He teaches painting and visual art and mixed media art classes. Prior to living in Connecticut, Heaven recorded and performed with various rock bands in Seattle and NYC, as a drummer. Heaven’s students love the free thinking that his classes open up for them and are always delighted with his classes.
Gina Silva
Gina Silva attended the Hartford School of Ballet after receiving a BBA in Business from WCSU. She performed at Walt Disney World and danced on the Disney Cruise Lines. Miss Gina has been a dedicated teacher at Taps-N-Toes in Brewster, NY since 1990 and was also the owner for a majority of that time. She initiated a movement program at Village Preschool in New Milford while her daughters attended there during the late 1990’s. Miss Gina is responsible for creating the New Milford High School Dance Team in 2000 and coaching it for the following four years. She took a hiatus from coaching until 2009 and has been assistant coach for the New Milford High School Dance Team since then. She had been a teacher at the Maria Calegari School of Ballet and is now a devoted teacher of ballet, creative movement, hip hop, jazz, and tap at Studio D. Miss Gina’s teaching style promotes learning in her classes while inspiring fun and excitement.
Shannon McLean
Shannon McLean has a B.S. in Business Administration. She works in Web Product Management at Waterworks in Danbury CT. Throughout her life, she has studied dance at various dance studios and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to train at Enloe Magnet High School in Raleigh, NC studying Vagonava Ballet and Graham-Modern technique as part of her high school curriculum. She was a member of the Meredith Dance Ensemble in 1994. She began teaching dance in 2003 at Taps n Toes in Brewster NY where she taught and staged pieces in Ballet, Contemporary Jazz, Theater Jazz, and Modern. She was a Choreographer and Production Manager for the Prelude Ballet Ensemble from 2005-2009 where she choreographed and staged “Peter and the Wolf”, “The Toy Box” an original story ballet, and several contemporary ballet pieces such as “TUTU”, “Simple Gifts” and “Kaleidoscope”. She began working at Studio D in New Milford, CT in 2009 and was delighted to begin a Contemporary Jazz class program in 2011. Shannon classroom philosophy is for everyone in the classroom to work hard on improving their technique while finding the beautiful voice of expression in the art of dance.
Annette Carlo
Annette Carlo is a Graduate of the University of the Arts and has been dancing since age 7. Her initial training began when she enrolled at Janet Rehban Nassif Dance Academy and at the age of 15 she became one of their instructors. She attended and taught there until she graduated from Danbury High School in 1989. She then went to Philadelphia to study at The University of the Arts, where in 1993 she obtained her BFA in Dance Education with a Major in Modern and a Minor in Jazz. She has had the opportunity to study under various instructors, including: Janet Rehban Nassif, Faye Snow, Milton Myers, Wayne St. David and Ruth Andrien. While in Philadelphia she taught at the Franklin Learning Center and the Society Hill Playhouse. Upon returning to Connecticut she taught at the Professional Dance Center in Sandy Hook for 3 years and she then became an instructor at Dancer’s Gallery in New Haven for the following 5 years. Her Choreography for competitions in 1998 brought her Trio “Fly” a Duo/Trio High Score Award. In March 1999 she performed a self-choreographed solo at The University of the Arts Alumni Dance Concert in Philadelphia. She then joined the Planet Dance staff in 2001. Where she has choreographed for the Eclipse Dance Company and the Planet Dance Choreography Project. She became the Owner/Director of Planet Dance in 2008. She has continued her education by attending Dance Teacher Magazine’s Summer Conference and DanceLife Teacher Conference. She looks forward to sharing her love of dance with all her students.
Alison Rose
Alison began ballet lessons at the age of six and continues to train as an adult. She studied many years with Balanchine dancer Dorothy Burdette and European soloist, Marthe Krueger. Her training continued at Hofstra University with Joffrey II ballet master, Lance Westergard. Other influential teachers have been Muriel Stuart, Karen Festog, Dan Sas, Linda Freyer, and Dieter Riesle. In addition to many other roles, Alison has performed the lead roles of Clara, Snow Queen, and Sugar Plum Fairy in Danbury Music Centre’s Nutcracker. During her time as a member of the Danbury Ballet Company, she also performed in various other ballets. Alison enjoys all dance forms and has also studied jazz, lyrical, modern, tap, ballroom, and flamenco.
Alison is a CT state-certified teacher and has taught English in local secondary schools. She has been teaching ballet for ten years to students ages 5 through adult. Alison truly enjoys teaching and encourages all students to reach their full potential. She believes the art of ballet can help instill self-discipline and foster a sense of achievement and self-worth in her students that will carry over to other aspects of their lives.
Jessica Melendez
Jessica Melendez danced at Studio D for 5 years and had additional dance training prior to that in all styles of dance. Jessie was a teaching assistant at Studio D and was a substitute dance teacher for Miss Gina’s Hip Hop classes. While at Studio D, Jessie danced the part of The Mad Hatter in “Alice In Wonderland,” and Tiger Lily in “Neverland in Motion” as well as being a Principal Dancer in Studio D’s D-Tour Dance Company from 2013-2015. Jess was offered a scholarship to dance for Sacred Heart University’s dance company and continued her dance career there. At Sacred Heart, she worked with numerous choreographers and learned various new styles and techniques that she is eager to share with her new students.
Katie Czyr
Katie is from Connecticut where she trained under instructors Peter O’Brien and Amy Piantaggini in Ridgefield where she was awarded the Patricia Schuster Scholarship. She graduated cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College earning a B.F.A. in dance where she received both dance and academic scholarships. Katie has been a member of Edgar Cortes Dance Theater in New York since 2015. She has performed at the Inside/Out Series at Jacob’s Pillow and has danced the lead in Martha Graham’s “Steps in the Street,” Edgar Cortes’s “Dali Aqui,” Anthony Ferro’s “The Hindemith,” and Rachael Kosch’s “Three Things.” She has danced in works by Paul Taylor, Megan Williams, Larry Keigwin, and Kirk Peterson, among others. Katie has been teaching since 2015 at various schools across Connecticut and has also choreographed works since 2010, presenting pieces at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT and the Young Choreographer’s Festival in Stamford, CT.
Abby LaPoint
This is Abby’s thirteenth year dancing at Studio D. She has taken lyrical, tap, jazz, modern, hip hip, ballet and pointe. She has assisted with multiple ballet/tap classes as well as creative movement. You may have seen her as Grimsby in The Little Mermaid or as Lumiere in Tales of the Forest. Abby is a senior at New Milford High School. She loves spending time with family and friends, playing with her dogs, traveling and dancing.