SERGE ALY, a.k.a.“Surge”, (Hip Hop) has been exposed to Hip Hop and dance since the early 1980s. His knowledge encompasses various forms, such as “Locking”, “Popping”, “Old School, “New School” and “House” (Clubbin’). He has had the privilege of learning from, and being mentored and endorsed by many of Hip Hop’s creators and pioneers.

MICHELLE BARBER (Jazz) has been a choreographer/teacher for the past 22 years. She is currently on faculty at the Broadway Dance Center and travels throughout the United States teaching and choreographing. Michelle has worked for Dance Spirit Magazine and her work has been featured in numerous musical theatre productions, college dance team performances and dance competitions nationwide.  As a testament to Michelle’s abilities as a teacher and choreographer many of her students have gone on to perform in Regional Tours, National Tours and on Broadway.

JACKIE BUDA (Ballet, Jazz) grew up studying dance and musical theatre under the direction of Elizabth Parkinson, Scott Wise and Mary Ann Lamb, before moving to New York City in 2009. She has taught various classes assisting Mary Ann Lamb throughout the tri-state area as well as Debbie Rosne at Steps on Broadway. Jackie has performed in multiple choreographer’s reels, showcases and documentaries as well as in several television commercials.

ELIZABETH COX (Creative Modern) trained at the School of Performing arts in New Milford, CT, and continued her studies at Fineline Theatre Arts there. She spent summers dancing at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, North Carolina School of the Arts and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She has danced in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, and with the renowned Modern dance company “Momix.” She can be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s The Black Swan, and she has also worked with Adam Battlestein’s Catapult Entertainment, on “America’s Got Talent.” Elizabeth has taught at Fineline Theatre Arts and is certified to teach beginner/intermediate mat pilates. She is excited to share her love of dance with students at Coupé.

BERNADETTE ERLON-REYES trained as a scholarship student full time at the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre for nine years, where she studied under George Balanchine, Suki Schorer, Mme Tumkovsky, Mme Danilova, and Valentina Peraslavic. She also trained with David Howard and Maggie Black. Bernadette danced with the New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet West, and the Stars of American Ballet, associated with NYCB and directed by Peter Martins and Suzanne Farrell. She holds a degree in Performing Arts and taught at Coupé from 1980 into the early 1990’s, where she also danced the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Grand Pas de deux in their original“Nutcracker” performances at the Coach Light Dinner Theater. Bernadette was also an Adjunct Professor at Rockland Community College, teaching courses in ballet, modern, and exercise. She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, having successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensives in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

JULIE GAROFALO (Hip Hop, Tap, Jazz) received a degree in Dance from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She was a performer in the National tour of Sesame Street Live, on Good Morning America and Black Entertainment Television (BET). Julie appeared as a backup dancer with the popular R&B artist, Usher. She also teaches at Broadway Dance Center in New York City.

DOUG HALL (Acting) has worked as a director and actor in theaters across the country. He directed the world premiere of Duse’s Fever Off-Broadway, and has also directed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Seven Angels Theater, the Michael Weller Theater, and the Mountain Playhouse on productions such as The Chief, Of Mice and Men, Keats, Assassins, Merrily We Roll Along, Guys and Dolls, and others. His professional acting credits include Robert in The Dying Gaul, Carl in Lonely Planet, Galileo in Brecht’s Gallileo and Baby John in several productions of West Side Story.

DAVID HIBBARD (Vocal Performance) holds a Music Education degree from Ohio State University and since 1999 has devoted most of his time to his first passion, teaching vocal performance and audition technique, at CAP21 studios, once part of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has performed in many Broadway musicals, including Billy Elliot (Broadway and national tour), Cats, (2,197 performances as Rum Tum Tugger), Patsy in Monty Python’s Spamalot, Once Upon A Mattress (The Jester) starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and he created the role of Bobby/Michael Bennett in A Class Act (NYC/Tokyo). David has also performed in Encores! Production of Can Can with Patti Lupone, and in the world premiere of Maury Yeston’s adaptation of Frank Loesser’s Hans Christian Anderson. Off-Broadway he was seen in Chess, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! and Lincoln Center’s benefit of Anything Goes. His voice can be heard on numerous TV and radio commercials. He was the narrator for the Bravo series Page To Screen and also performs as narrator on the History and Travel Channels.

EMILY HSU (Jazz) is an actress, singer, dancer who has performed in twelve Broadway shows: Spamalot (Lady of the Lake), Flower Drum Song (Linda Low), CATS (Demeter), Miss Saigon (Gigi), and most recently, Elf (Charlotte Dennon). Other Broadway: Annie Get Your Gun, Side Show, Bells Are Ringing, Thou Shalt Not, Scarlet Pimpernel, Boy From Oz, and Pipe Dream and Carnival at City Center Encores! Emily can be seen this summer in Woody Allen’s film Blue Jasmine and has appeared on television in Damages, Primetime: What Would You Do?, the Tony Awards, and Letterman. Emily also competes in international Latin Ballroom. She lives in Upper Saddle River with husband, Erik, and daughters Cassidy and Taylor.

KADEE JACOBSEN (Hip Hop) has been teaching dance for 18 years. She began her training in Massachusetts then relocated to NYC to study at the Broadway Dance Center, where she was awarded the Richard Ellner Scholarship.  She soon began working with Frank Hatchett, Michelle Barber, Pam Chancey, and others.  Kadee has performed in dance productions and industrials including the Solid Gold Dance Party Tour, Dramatics NYC, Elan Awards and The Best of Broadway Dance Center. Kadee felt early on in her career that her true passion was teaching. She has worked for Dance Olympus, International Dance Challenge and The Pulse, Marist College and Bronx Community College and has been an instructor at Coupe Theatre Studio since the fall of 2001. Kadee also teaches master classes at colleges and dance schools throughout the U.S. 

ANNA LEDERFEIND (Ballet, Pointe) is originally from Belgium. She began dancing at the Conservatoire de la Danse directed by Maurice Béjart, and studied with Jacques Saussin and Dolores Laga. She danced the lead role in Theatre Royal de la Monnaie’s production of Dream at age ten for the King and Queen of Belgium. She attended The Royal Ballet School in London where she completed the Cecchetti Intermediate Syllabus. Thereafter, she was chosen to study with Nikita Gsovsky at the School of Academic Russian Ballet in Hamburg. Anna has performed as a principal dancer for Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and at Royal Theaters in Aachen, Lubeck and Hamburg. In New York, she trained with Nenette Charisse and Lee Theodore of the American Dance Machine. Anna has been a guest ballet teacher at The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance as well as teaching Master classes in basic ballet in other schools. Ms. Lederfeind is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, having successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensives in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

ALISON LISTER, Associate Artistic Director (Ballet, Pointe) trained at the Stretton School of Dance and Drama in Shrewsbury, England and progressed to the London College of Dance where she trained extensively in all forms of dance, dance teaching and choreography. Alison marked the end of each year at London College by winning awards in drama, teaching and performing. She graduated with a first class diploma in 1989 and is in America by special invitation of the U. S. Government as one of the few people in England qualified to teach Revived Classical Greek Dance. In 2000, she was the recipient of the County Executive’s Arts Award in Arts Education.

MICHELLE LUCCI (Ballet) was trained at the School of the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Royal Dance Academy in Buffalo, New York, and studied under Benjamin Harkarvy, Robert Joffrey, David Howard, Yurek Lazowsky, Valentina Peraslavic, Lupe Serrano, Arnold Spohr and Hector Zaraspi. She has been on the faculty at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Andahazy School of Classical Ballet, Baltimore Ballet, Larkin Dance, Milwaukee Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theater and Rochester City Ballet. Michelle danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, was Principal Dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, Prima Ballerina with the Milwaukee Ballet, Principal Dancer and Ballet Mistress with the Baltimore Ballet, and was Dance Captain for the Music Box Company Production of Phantom of the Opera.

JULIE McDONALD (Tap, Jazz, Kinderdance) was educated at Columbia College and the Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre in Chicago. She continued her studies in NYC at the Broadway Dance Center and Pilates on Fifth Avenue. Julie represented Radio City Music Hall as a Rockette for the Rockette Experience, where she introduced dancers of all levels to original Rockette choreography, evaluated and advised each on their performance as in a mock audition, and rehearsed and coordinated music selections. Julie also performed for nine years as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette.

CLAUDIA MEIENHOFER (Creative Modern, Jazz, Kinderdance) received her training from Jan Hanniford Goetz, and earned her BFA from Adelphi University, under the direction of Norman Walker. She performed and choreographed with the NY Dance Theatre, Huntington Ballet Theatre, Carol Rioux Dance Ensemble, and was a member of Blanco Dances, a NYC based modern dance company. She was a faculty member at Adelphi University, BOCES Cultural Arts Center, Huntington School of Ballet and Steps Performing Arts Center in Connecticut.

LOUISE RUCK (Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Kinderdance) was a member of the Gateway Ballet Company at age 9, where she worked her way up to the role of Sugarplum Fairy in their production of The Nutcracker. She received scholarships to the Joffrey Ballet and to the Hartford Ballet. She was also a member of the Fort Worth Ballet. Ms Ruck’s Broadway credits include the original cast of Crazy for You, and Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. She also performed in Anything Goes and A Christmas Carol and as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall. Her teaching experience includes the Beutelo School of Dance in St. Louis with students from age 2 through adult.

KRISTEN SANTOS (Ballet, Jazz, Kinderdance) studied at Coupé from age 4 through high school. She trained at summer intensives including NYSSSA, Miami City Ballet, and Jacob’s Pillow’s School of Jazz and Musical Theatre. She received her BA in Dance at Muhlenberg College, where she performed in Crazy For You at the Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre. Recently, Kristen also appeared in Los Angeles in the Muslim operetta, Cloth Peddler, and is currently dancing with Spark Movement Collective in NYC.

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ALIM SCARPELLI (Hip Hop) began his dance career at Coupé and has been practicing the art of street dance for over ten years. As a dancer in Rockland County, Alim has worked with several groups such as Rockland HipHop, Sukha Arts, and SIM Ent. In order to help organize his own events that give youth an opportunity to become involved in the arts, Alim is also the founder of Rockland’s “HipHop Culture Club,” a group dedicated to promoting dance and the arts as alternatives to destructive decisions. 

JANE SEAMAN (Voice) received her education at Wittenberg University, Stanford University, and The Juilliard School. She is an accomplished singer/actress/dancer herself and landed on Broadway with Big River; Anything Goes, playing opposite such stars as Patti LuPone, Leslie Uggams, Howard McGillin and Gregg Edelman; The Secret Garden, with Mandy Patinkin and Rebecca Luker. Her national tours include The Sound of Music as the Baroness opposite Marie Osmond, then Debbie Boone, and Man of La Mancha opposite the original star Richard Kiley. Jane was featured opposite Keanu Reeves in the film Devil’s Advocate. Jane teaches vocal technique to voices of all ages. Her professional children and adult students have appeared in many Broadway productions and national tours.

CHRISTIANE WERSINGER (Ballet, Pointe, Boys Ballet) was born and raised in Germany and studied with the Stuttgart Ballet. Christine’s U.S. credits include Victor/Victoria and Contact on Broadway.She was in the cast of touring companies for West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, and Brigadoon. Other credits include The Cradle Will Rock, Cosby Mysteries, Guiding Light, numerous industrials and television commercials. Other theater: What the World Needs Now, Harmony, Phantom, The Merry Widow, My Fair Lady, and Christmas and Easter Shows at Radio City Music Hall.

ROBERT WERSINGER (Ballet, Boys Ballet) was a member of the New York City Ballet for ten years, where he performed numerous roles by Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Peter Martins and many others. He also performs in Broadway shows, such as Fiddler on the Roof, Contact, CanCan, Bloomer, West Side Story, Brigadoon; and plays including Anne the Word, Belle Epoque, and Pirandello. Robert has also appeared in films and television.