We are so excited to have the following guest artists come this summer to teach and inspire our dancers!
(Listed alphabetically by last name with what the will be teaching)
Chelsea McNamara – Contemporary (July 9th)
Chelsea is a New York Based artist who has received her BFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a minor in Business, Entertainment, Media and Technology. Originally from New Hampshire, she grew up competing in several genres of dance, including ballet, Pointe, contemporary, modern, tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre and hip hop at Kathy Blake Dance Studios. She attended several prestigious summer dance intensives including Alonzo King Lines Ballet and Boston Ballet. In the summer of 2021, she traveled to Agropoli, Italy to perform in the Agropoli Danza Festival where she worked with notable Italian choreographers. Now, she continues to work professionally in New York City. She has most recently worked with Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company, Stephen Petronio, and Rhonda Malkin.
Flora Dickens – Jazz Funk (July 10th)
Flora started off as a competitive dancer and competed up until the age of seventeen. She has won multiple scholarships, awards, regional/national titles, and self-choreography awards. She has worked with talented dance photographers including Jordan Matter and Shark Cookie. In 2018 Flora was awarded an invitation and scholarship to attend the Bolshoi Ballet Summer Intensive from YAGP’s Larissa Saveliev, placing 1st in contemporary and 2nd in classical. She is trained in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, modern, hip hop, lyrical, pointe, and acrobatics. Outside of training in the studios growing up, she was mentored and trained one on one with Alex Wong in ballet and contemporary. She has recently expanded her dance career by teaching and choreographing at studios around the state of Massachusetts teaching ages from ages 5-18. Her pieces have won many top scoring awards and choreography awards, one being the highest scoring routine of an entire competition. Some exciting news is you can find her on this year’s Season 17 of So You Think You Can Dance as top 12 girls and top 24 overall!! Flora is excited to share her passion for dance and loves meeting and working with new talent!
Candace Mitchell – Modern – Horton (July 16th)
Candace is a professional dancer, choreographer, classical coach, and teacher from Boston, MA. Her early training focused in The Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus, of which she has completed, and has continued into her current teaching and performing career. She has received a BA in dance and business from Dean college Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance. While there, she completed an internship with the Boston Ballet, working with their Education and Community Initiative program to help bring dance into Boston public schools. She received awards for excellence in dance, choreography, and academics, and participated in the ACDA New England Gala Concert. Some of the choreographers she has worked with include Laura Young, James Morrow, Kristina Berger, Bill Evans, and Ricardo Foster. She has also performed in festivals with companies such as Urbanity Dance, and Koresh Dance Company. She has received multiple accolades for her competitive pieces such as choreography awards, top placements, titles, and choice awards from a variety of competitions including top 24 placements at YAGP and 1st overall placements at UBC. Candace is currently judging, choreographing, and focusing on the education of her students.
JR Linden – Jazz (July 17th)
JR, born and raised in Connecticut, has made dance his life’s passion. JR trained under many notable teachers, and excels in many styles of dance. His versatility has earned him various roles in musical productions and ballets. JR graduated from the Dance Masters of America Teacher Training School with full certification. He was a long time member of the Dance Teachers’ Club of Connecticut, Dance Masters of New England Chapter 5, and served on both of their Board of Directors.He’s also served as an adjudicator at the regional and national levels throughout the United States and Canada and is a highly-sought-after master teacher and guest choreographer.
Marissa Miller – Jazz (July 23rd)
Marissa began dancing at an early age and is a graduate of Erica’s Dance Academy in 2017. Marissa’s love for dance led her to Dean College where she graduated class of 2021 with a Bachelor’s in Dance and an Associate’s in Exercise Science. In 2018, Marissa had the pleasure of being a dancer for an up and coming dance company called Expressive Movement based out of Boston and was lucky enough to tour the New England area in its first Tour. Marissa has also been a part of Skooj’s Company Boston Community Dance Project (BCDP) where she danced for 3 seasons and interned for 1. As an intern, Marissa learned the ins and outs of scheduling, social media, and many more things. In 2021, Marissa began her own company called The Miller Movement Collective. MMC is a contemporary and hip hop based company offering open classes and many more experiences.
Kelsie Crowley – Hip Hop (July 24th)
Kelsie Crowley is a professional dancer from Boston, Massachusetts. Having trained and studied in numerous forms of dance since an early age, She graduated from the Dean College Joanne Palladio School Of Dance with her BFA in Dance , B.S. in Business, and A.A. in Early Childhood Education. Though not limited to, she is known for her Hip Hop and Jazz choreography and performances. Kelsie has worked with many artists such as Flo Rider, New Kids On The Block, and Demi Lovato. Kelsie is also a Competition Adjudicator, judging for multiple competitions all over the US and in Europe for the past 9 years. She also knows the role as a studio owner, and is invested in her students’ growth and development as pre-professional dancers. She has been teaching numerous styles of dance including Hip Hop, Jazz, Jazz Funk, Heels, Contemporary, Lyrical,Tap, Musical Theater, Technique Leaps Jumps and Turns, Stretch and Strengthening for over 10 years. As well, Kelsie is a Certified Degreed Member of Dance Masters of America and Dance Masters of New England Chapter 5. Kelsie has been interviewed and published in Dance Spirit Magazine in regards to her experience as a studio owner, teacher, and Judge in the competitive dance world. As well she holds multiple competitive accolades for her choreography including IDA People’s Choice Awards, IDA Best in Category, Choreography Awards, Titleist, Most Entertaining, National dance team invitations, first place overalls, top tens, UDA top three placements, and more. Kelsie has a love and passion for teaching, and strives in advancing dancers not only physically but also with the history, knowledge, and love of dance.
Heather Easley – Contemporary (July 30th)
Heather Easley is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and artistic director originally from Columbus, Ohio. She grew up attending dance competitions and conventions before later going on to receive her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Heather has performed across the US and internationally as a freelance artist, as well as a company dancer. Along with performing, Heather has a deep love for teaching and choreographing. She regularly works as a guest instructor, working with studios throughout the country. In 2022, Heather joined Dance Division Faculty as an Associate Professor at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. There, she had the pleasure of working with both Commercial and Contemporary dance majors, as well as joining staff for the Summer Dance Intensive. Heather brings her expertise in teaching into choreographing and adjudicating. Her choreography has been presented at The Boston Conservatory Theater, the Paramount Theater, Agganis Arena, and more. She has worked in collaboration with Berklee’s Dancing With the Stars benefit show, HBO, Cirque du Soleil, and had the pleasure of choreographing Berklee’s Honorary Doctorate Concert, honoring Roberta Flack, Usher, and Sona Jobarteh. As an adjudicator, Heather has been on many panels for the past 4 years, working with various organizations. Heather loves to bring her competition and professional background together to provide the best feedback possible to those she works with.
Christina Belinsky – Theatre Jazz (July 31st)
Christina has been an educator of dance for 18 years. Her performance career highlights include 1st Broadway National tour of Finding Neverland, Joseph…Dreamcoat National Tour choreographed and directed by Tony-Award-Winner, Andy Blankenbuehler, as Dance Captain/Swing, International tour of The Aluminum Show, HBO’s The Gilded Age, and Westworld. She prides herself on leading a class and workshop that is current, focused on building a strong technical foundation, and connects musicality to storytelling in an environment that encourages budding young dancers and professionals alike. Dancers will learn to appreciate where they are now and be inspired to take ownership of their artistry, musicality, stage presence, and greatness. In addition to teaching master classes in Musical Theatre and Contemporary at various studios and conventions throughout the country, she has been a guest teacher at Broadway Dance Center, NYC’s Think Tank, Pennsylvania Thespians’ Conference, Boston Ballet, The Ailey Extension, Dance Masters of New England, University of New Hampshire, University of Nebraska, Dean College, NH Youth Dance Festival, and New York City’s Stage Door Connections.
Todd Shanks – Musical Theatre Jazz (August 6th)
Todd Shanks has been featured in Dance, Dance Spirit, Dance Studio Life, Dance Teacher and Dancer Magazines. As a performer Todd has danced in music videos, commercials, industrials and television programs including, “The Electric Company”, Kimberly Clark, “The View”, Volvo, Ford Motors, Race for the Cure, Wrigley’s, Paramount Pictures, “Good Day NY”, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Pilsen Beer, the United Way, UFO Jeans, 1010 WINS, Hope and Heroes, and the Lyme Disease Foundation. On stage he has performed with Synthesis Dance Project, Jette Performance Company, The Westchester Philharmonic, SDCF Dance Break, and the 2006 Miss Florida Pageant. Todd performed on field at Gillette Stadium for the 2015 and 2017 NFL Kickoff shows featuring T-Pain and Flo Rida respectively. His choreography has been seen in a commercial for BIC “Soleil” Razors and on ice for the opening number of “Stars, Stripes and Skates” staring 3- time National ice skating champion Johnny Weir. His choreography has also been featured on “The View”, ABC Nightly News, The MSG Network, NY1, CW 11, and at NYC’s Carnival, Steps on Broadway’s Faculty in Performance, Making Strides Boston, Dean College: 50 Years of Gold, Yankee FanFest and “The Game is in Us” (a Nike spec commercial). Before relocating to Massachusetts, Todd was on Faculty at Steps on Broadway in NYC for over a decade. He has been a guest teacher at the University of Florida, SUNY Brockport, Boston University, Skidmore College, ACDA, UMass Lowell, HSDF, the Ailey Extension, Ballet Hispanico, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio, Dance Masters of America, Dance New Amsterdam, Florida Dance Masters and many private dance studios throughout the United States. He is currently teaching on tour with Manhattan Dance Project and Dance Educators of America. Mr. Shanks is Program Coordinator for the Palladino School of Dance and Artist in Residence at Dean College in Franklin, MA.
Camryn Brothers – Contemporary (August 13th)
Camryn Brothers (she/her) is a professional dancer and choreographer originally from Billerica, MA. She grew up dancing at Dance Etc, and trained and performed throughout the tri-state area with Aurora Borealis Dance Company.
It was during this time in which Camryn realized that she had a passion for movement and creation. Immediately after graduating high school, Camryn moved to New York City to complete Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester Program where she trained closely with their world renowned faculty.
She has worked closely and assisted artists such as Cat Cogliandro, Neil Schwartz, Hayden J Frederick, and Emily Greenwell to name a few.
Camryn has choreographed for Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester students, and hosts monthly classes at Ripley Grier Studios in Manhattan. She is also currently on faculty at Rockwell Dance Center. Camryn consistently puts fun and authenticity at the forefront of all of her work.
Tristan Marshall – Commercial Jazz (August 14th)
Tristan Marshall began his dance training at the age of 14 in Plymouth, MA. He trained extensively in ballet, hiphop, contemporary, lyrical, modern, and jazz, and competed in those styles for 3 years. From there, he went on to receive his Bachelor of the Arts in Dance from Hofstra University on Long Island, NY in 2019. Throughout his time in this dance program, Tristan received many accolades for his choreography. Since graduating, he has found a love for teaching & working with young students. During the school year, he teaches at local studios, with a focus in technique and artistry, regardless of the style he’s teaching. Then, throughout the summer, he travels to different studios to teach at workshops, intensives & choreograph. On top of teaching, in the winter & spring, he works with Sheer Elite International Dance Competition as an Announcer, Awards Manager & Events Director. Tristan loves travelling, so getting to combine these two passions is something he looks forward to each year. He performed with DanceWorks New York City for four seasons and had choreographed three pieces for their company; one virtual & two main stage. Having recently moved back to Massachusetts, Tristan is excited to continue growing as an Artist & Educator, and looks forward to starting his new journey with DanceWorks Boston!
