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Susan Jaffe

Recognized as one of the leading ballerinas of her time, Ms. Jaffe has performed in many Opera houses throughout the United States and Europe. She joined American Ballet Theatre in 1980 at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov and became well known in the dance world at a young age. She has received critical praise for her interpretations of such roles as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadere, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Swanhilda in Coppelia and the title roles in Manon, Giselle, and La Sylphide.

Ms. Jaffe has worked with and performed the repertoire of many of the twentieth century's most prominent choreographers including George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Kenneth MacMillan, Jerome Robbins, Roland Petit, Twyla Tharp, Jiri Kiyan, and James Kudelka.

Ms. Jaffe's European engagements have included performances with The Royal Ballet, The Kirov Ballet, The Stuttgart Ballet, The Munich State Opera Ballet, La Scala Ballet, The Vienna State Opera Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet and The English National Ballet.

Television appearances have included several "Dance in America" programs and host of "Dance New York". Film credits include 1994's "Angie" with Geena Davis and the 1995 documentary "Ballet" directed by Frederick Wiseman.

Ms. Jaffe has served as advisor to the chairman and president of the Board of Governing Trustees at American Ballet Theater and she gives master classes throughout the United States and Japan. She has recently received the Annual Dance Magazine Award.

Risa Gary Kaplowitz

Ms. Kaplowitz, former principal ballerina with Dayton Ballet, drew critical acclaim for her portrayals of Giselle, Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. She was a member of Houston Ballet and Manhattan Ballet and performed with Pennsylvania Ballet and Metropolitan Opera Ballet.

Ms. Kaplowitz, who was originally trained at Maryland Youth Ballet, went on to study with Maggy Black, Marjorie Mussman, Stuart Sebastian, Ben Stevenson, and Lupe Serrano. She has performed the repertoire of many choreographers including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Stuart Sebastian, Dermot Burke, Billy Wilson, and Marjorie Mussman.

After spending ten years in a successful business career while building a family, Ms. Kaplowitz returned to the dance world and co-found PDT with Susan Jaffe. Ms. Kaplowitz is also the co-artistic director of DanceVision Inc., and she found D.A.N.C.E. (Dance As a Necessary Component of Education), an outreach program that brings dance to New Jersey schools.

Ms. Kaplowitz has choreographed more than twenty pieces, and her original full-length ballet, The Secret Garden, premiered with DanceVision Youth Ensemble in 2008. Additionally, her choreography has been seen in New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's family and school outreach concerts.

Christina Johnson, born in Vienna, Austria, Christina began her dance education at age seven. She trained at the Boston School of Ballet, the School of American Ballet and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. By the time she was seventeen she began her professional career. She was a member of the Boston Ballet for two years before joining the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she rose to become a principal dancer during her 13 year tenure. She danced leading roles in much of the company's repertoire, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Firebird, Voluntaries, Prodigal Son, The Four Temperaments and Fancy Free. Christina has worked with distinguished choreographers and coaches, among them, Jerome Robbins, Frederic Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent and Sir Anthony Dowell. She also has had original works created on her by Glen Tetley, Rui Horta, Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden among others. She was a member of the Swiss companies, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve for five years and the Ballett Basel for two years, where her repertoire expanded to include works by William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Ohad Naharin, Jean-Christophe Maillot, John Neumier, Twyla Tharp, Amanda Miller, Richard Wherlock and David Parsons to name a few. Christina has been a featured guest artist with various companies worldwide, including the renowned Royal Ballet of London. She is a founding member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York. Christina made her Broadway debut in The Red Shoes. She is also featured in The African Americans, a book which portrays accomplished African Americans in various fields.

After her performance career Christina has been sought after as a teacher, coach and ballet master and has worked with companies such as the DanceTheatre of Harlem, Washington Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Gotesborg Ballett, and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to name a few. Christina assisted Frederic Franklin in the staging of Giselle for the Joffrey Ballet. She has also assisted choreographer Dwight Rhoden with his creation of Carmina Burana on Ballet Met, as well as the staging on Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. She also staged Rhoden's Ave Maria for Ballet Arizona and North Carolina Dance Theatre. In addition she held the position of Rehearsal Director for the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York and has since worked as assistant to choreographer, Nicolo Fonte. Christina continues her work as a teacher, coach and ballet master worldwide

Karen Callaway Williams, an original member of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble and its first Dance Captain, is currently featured on the cover of Flow Magazine Summer Issue. She can be seen in the current documentary Been Rich All My Life (The Story of the Silver Belles).

Broadway credits include Tony Award Nominated Duke Ellington musical PlayOn and the International Phenomenon Riverdance-On Broadway of which she was the first African American female tap dancer and dance captain. A special quest artist on Sesame Street she was also interviewed in Bojangles the Legacy for Showtime. Karen tours nationally and internationally with Tap City in Tour and Tap Tel Aviv.

Other credits include Essence Magazine, Dance Magazine, and performances at the Cotton Club and the Apollo. She has been a quest tap soloist for several orchestras including The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops

Look for the upcoming release of her first children's book "Gabriella's Tap Shoes".

Lisa Botalico (Dance, Choreographer) toured throughout the USA as Artistic Director and Principal dancer of La Compania Folklorica Latina under the auspices of the National Theatre of the Performing Arts; performing in such theatres as Town Hall (NYC), Constitution Hall (DC), Society o f the Four Arts (Palm Beach), Chicago Theatre, and the Masonic Temple (L.A.). She has shared the stage with many flamenco greats including Maria Alba, Jose Molina, Manolo Rivera, Orlando Romero, Victorio and Carmen Salao. Lisa performed in collaboration with the great Middle Eastern Dancer, Elena in Flamenco Moro. Currently Lisa is principal dancer and co-artistic director of the Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre with whom she has received critical acclaim throughout the tri-state area, including performances at the George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theatre, Union County Arts Center, Community Theatre of Morristown, Keane University, Passage Theatre, and the Ocean County Arts Center to name a few. She has appeared many times on NJN's Images/Imagines. Lisa recently conceived and directed Sueno de Una Nina, a Spanish Dance Ballet based on the Nutcracker Ballet. Her upcoming performances include The Feast of Sarah at the George Street Playhouse in May and The Sephardic Connection (The Story of the Spanish Jews) at the new performing arts center at Princeton High School. Lisa dances regularly at the tablao at Spain Inn II in Clinton.

Judy Yeh, B.A. with a music major from National Taiwan Normal Univ., M.A. (piano pedagogy) and M.Ed. (music education) from Teachers College, Columbia Univ. NYC. Judy has been a piano teacher for twenty years, having played piano and organ in different churches for over twenty five years, and an accompanist for PDT Studio since 2005.

Phylis Kohn, has a B.A. in Music Education from Kean University. She has accompanied dance classes for many years, taught Dalcroze, Music for Dancers, and teaches privately. Phylis is delighted to have been a part of PDT since its start.

Matt Williams, Most recently, Matt choreographed on Broadway for Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America.  Matt is currently making his Off-Broadway debut as choreographer with Paul Scott Goodman's Rooms, directed by Scott Schwartz.  In the fall, Matt will reunite with Scott to stage Seance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera composed by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin). 
Matt self-produced his first full length dance play, WARD 9, at the 2008 New York Musical Theater Festival, for which he received the festival’s award for Best Choreography.  Matt holds the title of 'Big Piano Choreographer' at the FAO Schwarz Toy Store in New York City where he continually recreates and reinvents the world famous piano dancing scene from the hit film Big. He is also the resident choreographer for the East Coast tour of Circus Smirkus. Matt is currently developing a new musical for Broadway with Tony Award winning producer Jeffrey Richards and director John Rando (Urine Town). Matt holds a BFA in choreography from UC Irvine. 
www.mattwilliamschoreographer.com

Linda Mannheim, is a former apprentice to the Martha Graham Dance Company. She holds a BFA and MFA in Dance from Florida State University, and a MPA in Arts Administration from Syracuse University/Maxwell School. While in Washington, DC, Linda served on the staff of the Dance Program for the National Endowment for the Arts and was a Professor of Dance at American University. While performing with companies of Daniel West, Liz Lerman, David Holmes and City Dance Ensemble, she was on faculity at Washington Ballet and Maryland Youth Ballet. Additionally, she has performed with the Kennedy Center Artists-in-Education Program. Linda is a nationally Certified Pilates Instructor. She is currently working on her Master Teacher Training in Pilates at The Pilates Center in Boulder, CO

Sam Tager began studying ballet with Cem Catbas at Baltimore Ballet where she performed in the corps de ballet in La Bayadere, The Nutcracker and Carnival of the Animals.

Henri Velandia born in Venezuela and social dancing has always been his passion. His training began in classical ballet, jazz and modern dance at the age of 20 under the tutelage of Susan Jaffe and Risa Kaplowitz. He has completed various workshops with Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York City. He also trained with Irina Piginnina and has competed in the Pro-Am division for Ballroom for 2 years. Henri also teaches his own style of hip urban street Salsa.

Ilana Suprun-Clyde born in Israel and trained in Tel Aviv with Naomi Aleslovsky, continued her ballet studies in New York and Columbus, Ohio. Studied with Arkhipova Valantina Grossman, Haifa Israel, following RAD Cirriculum for children up to Grade 4 and pre-elementary higher school programs. Modern and Jazz training at Beit Rothschild, Haifa with Linda Robin, Linda Hoades, Kenneth Gustavsson and Ballet with Lia Schubert and Kaj Lotmann from the Stockholm Ballet Dance Academy. Later joined Bat Dor Studios in Tel Aviv in both classical and modern ballet with tours in South Africa, Mexico, USA, Poland and Canada. Ilana did choreographic workshops of original works at Peridance Center, New York, was Rehearsal Director for Ballet Hispanico, New York and taught at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts.

Maura Ryan - born in Staten Island, New York and began seriously training in ballet after her family moved to the Princeton area during her childhood.  She danced at Princeton Dance and Theater her junior and senior years of high school dancing in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Pequita, Sleeping Beauty and Raymonda. After graduating high school, she attended the Dance Conservatory at SUNY Purchase College on scholarship, where she received a B.F.A in Dance Performance in both ballet and modern technique. While at Purchase, Maura has danced soloist and demi-soloist roles in ballets such as Four Temperaments (Phlegmatic, Melancholic) and The Nutcracker (The Dewdrop Fairy and Marzipan)as well as worked with Robert Hill, Bettijane Sills, Rosanna Seravalli and Ted Kivitt.

Megan Woods - graduated from Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance, and earned the Margery J. Turner Award for choreography. She has performed with John Evans and Dancers, Insurgo Stage Project, Dana Salisbury and Glitterati. Her choreography has been shown at George Street Playhouse, Matheny School through Arts Access, American College Dance Festival, Ailey Citigroup Theater and NJPAC. She is also the orginator and choreographer of Dance Within the Art at the Zimmerli Art Museum. Meagan is a bord member for Dance New Jersey, and a costume designer and arts administrator for Nimus Dance Works.

Pamela Mingle -