CTP Faculty 2008/2009
Heather grew up in Annapolis, Maryland where she trained, competed and taught at C&C Dance Company. Over the past summer Heather was on tour with the Solid Gold Dance Party as a featured dancer for Peaches and Herb, Anita Ward, France Joli, Maxine Nightingale, and the Village People. In May of 2004 she graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.A. in Psychology. This will be Heather’s 4th year teaching for the Children & Teen Program. Other credits include: featured dancer for Wish Bone’s Fashion Show 2007, Neil Young’s 2004 Greendale tour at Radio City Music Hall, Good Morning America, modeling for UDMA, touring with Mark Marino’s Dance USA 2003, the 2002 Dancer’s Responding to AIDS benefit, The 2002 BDC Best Of, numerous of BDC performance outlets, performing for Tracie Stanfield in the 2000 Elan awards, and assisted the Rockette Experience from 2001-2002.
Danielle Daguman (Ballet/ Creative Movement)
Originally from Southern California, Danielle studied ballet and jazz at an early age. She soon began crafting her teaching skills by assisting in ballet classes, and developed a passion for instruction that led to her present career. Danielle furthered her training at various summer intensive workshops where she studied ballet, variations, jazz, modern and hip-hop. She went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in dance with a minor in education from the University of California Irvine under the instruction of artists such as Donald McKayle, David Allen and Larry Rosenberg. Fulfilling her life long dream by moving to New York City, she teaches throughout the Tri-State area and was a member of Ameli Dance Theater. Her love and passion for dance exudes in her teaching.
Jessica Epting (Ms. J) (Ballet)
Jessica Epting (Ms. J) began her training at the Omaha Academy of Ballet and Creighton University. Mrs. Epting has performed with Creighton University’s Company of Dancers, Omaha Modern Dance Collective, and Central Dance Theater. In 1995, she founded En L’Air Dance Academy in Omaha, where she served as the director and master teacher for six years. She has served as a principal faculty member teaching classical ballet at Omaha Academy of Ballet (Omaha, NE), Metropolitan Ballet Theater (Rockville, MD), Ballet Royale Academy (Columbia, MD), NewDance (Rye, NY), Ballet Hispanico (New York, NY) and Ballet Arts (Pelham, NY). She is currently on faculty at The D’Valda and Sirico Dance Centre (Fairfield, CT). Mrs. Epting’s goal is to create and inspire a love for dancing in all her students while promoting a high standard of Excellence
Jason Marquette (Triple Threat)
Jason Marquette has a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is currently on faculty at numerous studios in New York and NJ. Jason's choreography has been showcased in New York City as well as Philadelphia and will make it's international debut in Helsinki, Finland this summer. He has been performing professionally all over the United States for the past 11 years. His credits include The Broadway National Tour of "42nd Street The Musical" (original cast), "Crazy For You" and "Anything Goes" at the Westchester Broadway Theater; "Music Man", "Mame' and "My Fair Lady" at the Music Circus in Sacramento, Ca; "Swing The Musical" at North Shore Music Theater in Beverly, MA; "On Your Toes" at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA; "Beauty and the Beast" at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fl; and "Dance Dance Dance" at Hershey Park in Hershey, PA. Jason has taught Master Classes and has adjudicated in all major cities all across the country such as New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and Orlando.
Claudia Rahardjanoto was born and raised in Berlin/Germany, where she was trained in ballet, jazz and tap. She soon chose tap as her main focus and has then extensively studied tap with Sam Weber, Andreas Daenel, Sven Goettlicher and Pascal Hulin. Claudia danced in numerous tap-shows in Europe (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Holland) and has been on tour with several touring productions in Europe and in the United States ("Magic Of The Dance," "Dancing Feet," "Dancing On Common Ground"). She appeared on the "Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon" with Andrew Nemr's CPD Plus. Claudia also appeared on MTV's 'TRL' as part of a "Happy Feet" -segment with Robin Williams and Elijah Wood. She has had the pleasure to dance with Dianne 'Lady Di' Walker, Roxane Butterfly's WORLDBEATS, Andrew J. Nemr's CPD Plus, Michelle Dorrance, Max Pollak, Barbara Duffy and Company, Michael Minery's Tapaholics, Jared Grimes' T.A.D.A.H. and alongside the fabulous Miss Mable Lee as one of her Dancing Ladies. Claudia is very excited to be teaching at the Broadway Dance Center's
Children and Teen Program for the second year!
Maritza is a dynamic and exciting instructor who combines her extensive dance training with her love of her Latin culture. Maritza has performed in several dance concerts, special events and local TV shows in her native home town of Philadelphia, has worked with several Latino dance groups and cultural events in the New York Tri-State Area and recently participated in the PepsiCo Smart Spot Dance DVD created by her mentor Maria Torres.
Maritza began her career in the arts at the Freedom Theater in Philadelphia, PA. While there, she received extensive training in Ballet, Modern (Horton), African and Jazz and began teaching young performers. When she moved to New York from Philadelphia, she came to Broadway Dance Center and began training in Maria Torres’ Latin Jazz technique. Maritza, a regular substitute for Maria Torres’ Latin Jazz Class, will be sharing her passion for Latin dance with the 2007-2008 Children & Teen Program.
Doug Shankman is a versatile dance instructor that has been teaching the art of dance for the past fifteen years in Tap, Contemporary Jazz and Theater Dance. As a tap dancer, Doug has worked with Gregory Hines, DancEllington, Brenda Bufalino, Steve Condos and Jack Stanley. As a performer, he was in the national companies of "A Chorus Line," "42nd Street," "My One and Only," and "Singin' in the Rain."
Doug's main philosophy as a teacher is to give young artists the tools to practice the art of dance with integrity, honesty, a positive self image, and a sense of humor. Currently, Doug is the artistic director of Contemporary Dance Arts which is dedicated to creating new works for Theater, Dance Theater, Film, Television and Multi-Media events. Doug also works as a free lance Director and Choreographer for several regional theaters. "To over ride the impossible is the artist's journey — To move through space with integrity is mankind's salvation."
Stacie, a native of Southern Utah, is currently the Artistic Director of Handcart Dance Company. She attended Southern Utah University where earned a degree is Dance Performance, and was awarded the San Christopher Scholarship. She has performed with Repertory Dance Theatre, Brigham Young University’s Theatre Ballet, was invited to perform in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. She has pursued her love of choreography and teaching at various studios and schools, and is very excited to be a member of Broadway Dance Center’s CTP faculty.