Meet Our Faculty
Amy Piantaggini-Hendry
Executive Director, Graham-Based Modern Technique, Dance for 1s 2s & 3s, Pre-Ballet, Outreach, Ridgefield Civic Ballet, Broadway Babies
Polly Kingsbury
Educational Director
Mary Beth Hansohn
Ballet, Pointe, Variations, Ridgefield Civic Ballet, Conditioning, Variations, Nutcracker Director
Robyn Gaines
Dance for 2s & 3s, Pre-Ballet, Ballet I Foundational
Janel DelMoro
Ballet, Pointe, Pre-Pointe, Horton-Based Modern, Tap, Ballet I Foundational
Dona Wiley Kim
Ballet, Pointe
Lindsey Mackail
Hip Hop, Hip Hop Mini, Adult Dance Workshops
Marlon Mayers
Contemporary, Jazz, Ballet, Ridgefield Civic Ballet
Grace Reddy
Supporting faculty, Ballet
Henry Seth
Ballet
Christina Fagundes Turner
Adult Ballet, Spring Story Ballet Carnival of the Animals
Avery Laskey
RCD Adaptive Dance, Voice Colors Yoga
Danielle Marie Fusco
Jazz, Musical Theatre, Marketing
Guest Faculty
• James Robey (Radford University, Chair of Dance)
• Peter Boal (New York City Ballet & Pacific Northwest Ballet)
• Michael Trusnovec (Paul Taylor Dance Company)
• Annmaria Mazzini (Paul Taylor Dance Company)
• Peter O’Brien (Royal Ballet)
• Blakeley White-McGuire (Martha Graham Dance Company)
• Tracie Stanfield (Synthesis Dance Project)
• Andrew Palermo (Dre Dance, B’way)
• Eran Bugge (Paul Taylor Dance Company)
• Eric Jordan Young (B’way)
• Bill Hastings (B’way veteran)
• Kirven Boyd (Alvin Ailey)
• Abby Silva (Parsons)
• Suzie Dodge (Paul Taylor & Dodge Dance Company)
• Sam Sinns (B’way Nat’l Tours)
• Finis Jhung
• Paul Dennis (Jose Limon)
• James Harkness (B’way’s Lion King)
• Tiger Martina (B’ways Movin’ Out)
• Katie Stevinson-Nollet (Full Force Dance Theatre & The Hartt School/University of Hartford)
• Elie Lazar (Joffrey Ensemble Dancers)
• Yu Xin (ABT, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Shanghai Ballet)
• Michelle Fleet (Paul Taylor Dance Company)
• Cory Stearns (ABT)
• Adam Battelstein
• Parsons Dance Company
• Taylor II Dance Company
• Pilobolus Dance Theatre
• Ailey II Dance Company
Avery Lasky is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Avery Lasky received her pre-professional training at New England Ballet and Ballet Etudes here in Connecticut. She was a student of Christina Fagundes for many years, who was a Soloist with American Ballet Theatre. Avery studied ballet at many summer intensives, including Burklyn Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kaatsbaan, Next Generation Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Philadelphia Ballet. Avery got accepted into the Philadelphia Ballet trainee program and trained pre-professional from 2017-2019. She danced in the company performances of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Romeo and Juliet. She was also a part of the School of Philadelphia’s Ballet outreach performances, school performances, and many of Philadelphia Ballet’s second companies’ performances. Avery completed Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Teacher Training and is currently one of the teachers for Connecticut Dance Schools, Dance 4All Abilities program, and the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance adaptive dance program. In addition, Avery is a certified 500-hour yoga teacher with certifications in kids yoga and yoga for autism. Her passion is sharing her love of ballet to the younger generation.
Danielle Marie Fusco is an award-winning Italian-American dancer, choreographer, aerialist, and shamanic healer, renowned for her multifaceted career in commercial theatre, concert dance, arts-in-education, and holistic healing. Danielle’s off-Broadway and Equity credits include Tink at the NY Musical Festival, The Anthem at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, and The Vanity at Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre. She has also performed at the NY Innovative Theatre Awards, Friday Nights for STREB LAB for
Grace Reddy (formerly Liu Zhao Hui) trained at China’s national school of dance, the Beijing Dance Academy, studying classical Chinese dance and ballet under Russian masters following the Vaganova System. Upon graduation from the Academy, she joined China’s foremost dance company, the Chinese Dance Theater. During a 13-year career with the company, she toured throughout China and other Asian countries performing on stage, in movies and on television. She has been a featured dancer in many major Chinese dance productions including A Dream of Red Mansions, The Princess of Wen Cheng, Tong Que Tai, Bao Lian Deng, and Deng Xiao Ping Song Ge. She has performed as a visiting artist at universities in the United States and toured the Hawaiian Islands performing a program of classical Chinese dance under the auspices of Beijing University. After immigrating to the United States, Grace founded the Tang Yung School of Chinese Dance and has performed with the Beijing Dance Company of New York and the Zhong Mei Dance Company.
Mary Beth Hansohn received her professional training at The Arlington Center for Dance in Arlington, VA, and studied ballet in the hightest level at The American Ballet Theater Summer Program in New York City, where she performed George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. She joined The Ohio Ballet as a full member at age 18, and went on to dance in works by Heinz Poll, Donald Byrd, Laura Dean, Ann Marie DeAngelo, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Stephen Mills, Septime Webre, Salvatore Aiello, Dermot Burke, Val Caniparoli, Jeffrey Hughes, Twyla Tharp, and Alonzo King. Mary Beth has performed with Dayton Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, The Cleveland Opera, D.C. Contemporary Dance Festival, Neglia Ballet Artists, The Adam Miller Dance Project, The National Tap Ensemble, and Terra Firma Dance Theatre. Mary Beth performed in the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York City, which was televised on CBS. In 2014, she appeared and danced in the new television drama series “Flesh and Bone”. Mary Beth has also worked with Edouard Lock at La La La Human Steps in Montreal, and with Karole Armitage at Armitage Cone! Dance in New York City. Some of Ms. Hansohn’s favorite roles include the title role in Giselle, “Mina Harker” in Dracula, “Gerturde” in Hamlet, Le Corsaire pas de deux, “Russian Girl” in George Balanchine’s Serenade, the pas de trois from George Balanchine’s Agon, “Myrtha” in Giselle, and Unnatural Selection, a pas de deux choreographed and danced with her husband, James Graber. Mary Beth has judged dance competitions and choreographed in dance workshops across the country, and continues to teach ballet and contemporary dance in New York.
Kelly graduated Summa Cum Laude from Pace University with a B.S. in commercial dance and psychology. At Pace, she performed works by Andy Blankenbuehler, Jessica Lang, Chloe Arnold, and Jason Samuels Smith. She began her training at the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance under James Robey, and continued her training at Fineline Theatre Arts under Elizabeth Parkinson and Scott Wise, and Mary Ann Lamb. She has also studied under Twyla Tharp, and performed works such as The Fugue and Burundi Drums. Most recently, she has been seen on the national tour of 42nd Street, which was helmed by the 2001 Tony Award-winning team of Mark Bramble and Randy Skinner. In addition, Kelly has performed with the New Bedford Festival Theatre, Ocean Professional Theatre Company, and the Carnegie Hall Exchange. Favorite credits include My Fair Lady, Singin’ in the Rain, and Crazy For You. Aside from performing, Kelly has been teaching a wide variety of styles for 5 years, from students in creative movement to adult levels.
Amy trained at the Boston Conservatory and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, where she received scholarships from the Gregory Peck Foundation and as a Finalist for the Coca-Cola Award for Artistic Excellence. Ms. Piantaggini is a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble, in which she danced many soloist roles including “Satyric Festival Song” and “Conversation of Lovers”. Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times said that Amy “made a luminous New York debut in Graham’s abstract view…” October 7, 1998. Amy has danced for the companies of Javier Dzul, Richard Move, and James Robey, and currently dances for Edgar Cortes Dance Theater. Amy’s teaching experience includes numerous schools throughout New England including the Hartt School/University of Hartford and as a Graham-based master class guest instructor for Central Michigan State University, Webster University, Western Connecticut University, Endicott College, Sacred Heart University, Barnard College, and Dean College. She received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College with a focus in early American Modern Dance and Embodiment Studies. Ms. Piantaggini is a member of the National Dance Education Organization, and served on the Danbury Dance Initiative task force. She established RCD as a charter for National Honors Society for Dance Arts in 2016. Amy is the recipient of the New Connections Award in 2022 for mentoring young women and the Nancy Comstock Andrews Superlative Teaching/Mentoring Award in 2018 for her extensive collaborations between the Conservatory and countless Ridgefield arts organizations. Amy also serves as a Committee Member for the Dance Studios Mentoring Program for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).