Certified Instructors

Biography:

Michelle began studying dance at age three. She trained at the DeLutis School of dance under Rosemary Boynton and Dorothy Beaton in Mansfield MA. As a young dancer, Michelle appeared in the Ballets "Cinderella" and "Aladdin" with Pentucket Ballet School Haverhill MA.

She danced in Stillpointe dance company in a series of performances and studied modern dance, jazz dance and ballet with them in college and during college she joined the nationally touring jazz company "Push Factor of New York City" where she was Dance Captain.

She has been a long-standing member of Dance Master's of America and Dance Teachers Club of Boston and has been tested with High Honors by the National Dance Teacher's Council of America in Ballet, Tap dance and Jazz dance and with Superior Honors through American Academy of Ballet in Classical Ballet.

Michelle earned platinum and gold medals in her tour in the competition arena, "New England Dance Festival" and "Miss Olympic Dance". Traveling to New York City with her students and teachers they studied dance with AAB at the Alvin Ailey Dance Studios with Mignon Furman, Sara Knight, and Brian Loftus as well as others from Steps on Broadway.

She currently dances with a Professional Touring Ballet Company "Dance Prism" and has appeared in the Nutcracker, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Fire Bird, Swan Lake and Make Way for Ducklings Ballets. Along with continuing her own dance education and artistic growth she enjoys teaching dance classes and being the Director of the Center for Performing Arts Dance Studio & Acting School Methuen and passing her knowledge and joy onto the next generation of students.

Biography:

Nicole Surette started dancing at the age of three and gained a wide knowledge base attending many of the areas best dance schools. As Nicole progressed she found a natural affinity for tap dance and began competing at the age of 10. Her competition dance team won many gold and special awards from American Dance Awards, New England Dance Festival, and Eastern Dance Awards.

At the young age of 13, she choreographed dances for a local elementary school as well as becoming an assistant dance instructor at her dance studio. Nicole began teaching at the Performing Arts Studio & Dance School Methuen in 2002 and became tested through National Dance Teacher's Council of America in Ballet, Tap, and Jazz with Superior Honors.

Recently Nicole traveled to NYC with Center for Performing Arts teachers to train with American Academy of Ballet Teachers such as Sara Knight and Mignon Furman at the Alvin Ailey Dance Studios.

Biography:

Biography:

Liliana began dancing at the Center for Performing Arts at the age of 2 and began competing by age 10. She participated in the American Academy of Ballet testing and National Dance Teachers of America conventions, and won consistent high medals in competitions across the region, including a self -choreographed solo in contemporary. She also worked with Dance prism’s ‘The Nutcracker’ for many years. By high school, she got a job as a dancer and actress at Canobie Lake park. She was the featured dancer working with Eddie Moss in the Michael Jackson tribute performance during “Screeemfest”. 

Biography:

Emily began her studies in the performing arts at the age of six. She trained at Pentucket Ballet Academy in Haverhill, MA where she appeared in the ballets La Boutique Fantastique, Sleeping Beauty, and The Enchanted Forest. She then went on to pursue her passion, musical theatre.

After dabbling in many local community theatre companies, and realizing her abilities as a director, Emily co-founded The Company Theatre Productions in Haverhill, MA with her father, citing a great need to make the arts accessible to all. The Company ran for ten years and offered four MainStage shows annually including productions of The Wizard of Oz, Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Anything Goes, The Wiz, Brigadoon, and Into the Woods. During this time she studied Musical Theatre at Bradford College, and theatre at Northern Essex Community College where she was also choreographer. Her work with the Top Notch Players in earned her four Irene Ryan nominations in the prestigious Kennedy Center Theatre Festival. Emily worked as choreographer for the Merrimack College OnStagers for productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors, and as director for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. More recently Emily has worked with the Firehouse Center for the Arts on productions of Avenue Q, Woman in Black, The Last Five Years, and Shrek the Musical.

Emily continues her training, and is thrilled to have found a program that gives students a solid foundation in the performing arts.

Biography:

Biography:

Mary Demaso is co-founder of Dance Prism and its Artistic Director since 1982, overseeing the growth of the company from a handful of adventurous dancers performing chiefly the choreography of then Co-Director Scott Ranagan to its current configuration of approximately 30 professional dancers and apprentices performing a spectrum of works ranging from the standard classical repertoire to original narrative, neoclassical, and contemporary ballets, often incorporating the serious ballet students who audition annually for the company’s Nutcracker productions. She coordinates a touring company that for its larger productions includes 150 dancers, 25staff and crew members, and nearly 50 volunteers.

She has also taught, choreographed, and given master classes for a variety of New England ballet school and college programs, has been an adjudicator for Boston Ballet’s City Dance program, and has served on the boards of various dance and production organizations.

Concurrently with her work with Dance Prism and other performing arts entities, she was for over 25 years a member of Simmons College’s English Department, teaching classes in late 19th and 20th century American and European literature, analytical writing, and interdisciplinary comparative arts. She studied literature at Simmons College and Brown University and ballet with a range of influential teachers in Boston and New York. .