Nicole Theodore brings with her over 20 years of work in the entertainment industry as a professional performer, teacher and choreographer. She trained with the South Jersey Ballet Company under Andrea Duffin and graduated top honors with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. There, she trained with some of the dance industry’s finest including Andrew Pap, Lisa Sundstrom, Wayne St. David and Roni Koresh. She was part of a select few that were chosen to perform for the Balanchine Trust. Nicole received a presidential scholarship to attend and also the Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in her field of study when she graduated.

       As a former photography and runway model for Jo Anderson Models, she also taught classes while modeling in Philadelphia and New York. Nicole modeled for companies such a Burberry and BBC Broadcasting.  In addition, she has had the title of Miss New Jersey Teen USA and competed in the Miss Teen USA Pageant where she performed with Justin Timberlake and other artists.

       Nicole has had the privilege of performing throughout the country and abroad in countless shows. She was a dancer for Legends in Concert and The Show in Atlantic City.  She has also danced in several industrial shows for Commerce Bank, Disney and ABC to name a few. Nicole was a swing dancer and magician’s assistant alongside the famous Mark and Jinger Kalin in the Carnival Of Wonders Show.  She has performed as a stage dancer for the past seven years in The Burlesque Show at Borgata and was most recently in the Rat Pack Show and The King in Concert, both for Elite Casino Marketing Group.

         Continuing her studies, Nicole has trained and is now certified in a revolutionary program called Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT).  This practice is an innovative body conditioning and strengthening program to help students understand the depth of training muscle memory for their dancing. As a passionate dance instructor and performer, she is dedicated to creating a positive learning experience to her students while providing a professional environment to assist in student progress.

         Nicole resides in Mickleton, New Jersey with her husband Joe, and two children Logan and Lyla.

Valerie Amiss began her training at age eight under Sue Millington at the Regency Ballet. She continued her instruction with Victor Moreno and Alexei Yudenich, and at age 12 joined the Pennsylvania Ballet School. At age 15, Ms. Amiss spent a summer studying in Saratoga Springs, NY with members of New York City Ballet, including Peter Martins, Heather Watts, and Jock Soto. She was nominated for the prestigious Princess Grace Award in 1994, and in 1995 performed at the Algur H. Meadows Award Ceremony to honor choreographer Paul Taylor. In the summer of that same year, she also performed with the Chautauqua Ballet Company, directed by Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride, and, in 1997, performed at the St. Bart’s Music Festival.

Ms. Amiss joined Pennsylvania Ballet as an apprentice in 1992. She became a member of the corps de ballet in 1993 and was promoted to soloist in 1999. In the summer of that year, she also represented the company at the Sintra Festival in Portugal. And in 2005, Ms. Amiss not only performed at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, where she danced featured roles in Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake, but also performed Matthew Neenan’s 11:11 and Carmina Burana at New York City Center. Additionally, she had the honor of performing twice at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. as well as with Susan Jaffe and Nicole Hlinka for a Rock School benefit.

Ms. Amiss has performed numerous principal roles in the Balanchine repertoire, including Titania and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Odette in Swan Lake Act II, and the Sugarplum Fairy and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. As well, she danced featured roles in such works as Giselle, Paul Taylor’s Company B, Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Christopher Wheeldon’s Continuum and Swan Lake, Janek Schergen’s The Sleeping Beauty, Alvin Ailey’s The River, Jerome Robbins’ In the Night and The Concert, and George Balanchine’s Rubies, The Four Temperaments, Western Symphony, Agon, Scotch Symphony, Bugaku, and Serenade, among others.

Ms. Amiss has taught ballet and pointe classes at summer sessions for the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. As well, she has been a guest instructor at schools throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For seven years after her retirement from the stage, she was co-ballet mistress for the Academy of Ballet NJ in West Berlin, NJ. Ms. Amiss had the pleasure of teaching ballet to aspiring figure skaters in Aston, Pennsylvania. She was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts, where she taught several ballet classes, and a guest lecturer at Drexel University where she was asked to speak about Balanchine repertoire for the Philadelphia Museum Of Dance at the Barnes Museum., Ms. Amiss has been a faculty member of The School of Pennsylvania Ballet where she teaches all levels including a beginner ballet at Croft Farms in Cherry hill N.j She also teaches for the Princeton Ballet School in both the Cranbury and Princeton locations.

In 2018,Ms. Amiss was asked by Pennsylvania Ballet outreach program to teach classes for children with Down syndrome. She has taught several ballet classes for children with special needs at St. Katherine Day School  in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and currently teaches Audrey’s class for children of all abilities at the Princeton Ballet School. 

Ms. Amiss retired from Pennsylvania Ballet in June 2007. She resides in Ocean City, NJ with her husband, former Pennsylvania Ballet Soloist Edward Cieslak, and their son Adam and daughter Lily

Nichole Bieth is a lifelong scholar of dance, music and theater. From a young age, she studied at the Performing Arts Academy in Ocean County where she developed her passion for musical theater. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan University in 2016 with two degrees- Theatre Arts, with a concentration in Musical Theatre, and Dance. During her time at Rowan, she studied under and worked closely with choreographers Paul Turner, Leslie Elkins and Beau Hancock. Nichole had the privilege to perform in many different dance productions, plays, musicals, and even operas! She has also devised multiple dance theatre pieces including “Coloring Book,” which she extended for her Capstone project, in collaboration with Alyssa La Pierre, called “Outside the Line.” In 2017, Nichole co-produced a benefit which raised over $600 for New Jersey Arts Education Partnership and has plans to produce follow-up benefits in the future. 

Nichole specializes in Modern, Improvisation, Musical Theater, Jazz, and Hip Hop. Through her positive and uplifting classes, she hopes to inspire her students to follow their own creative journey. When Nichole is not at the studio, she can be found either at home with her boyfriend and their 2 rabbits, gardening, making homemade hot sauces, or playing video games. 

Emily Cooney trained at Dancesations Studio of Performing Arts for 16 years. Throughout those years, she also has studied at South Jersey Ballet and Jovo Dance Company. Emily has been trained by Nicole Theodore for 15 years as well as Andrea Duffin for 5 years in ballet. Emily attended the Joffrey Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Summer Intensive in 2018 and was accepted into their all year training program to study dance. Emily performed in the production of the “Nutcracker” as well as “Cinderella” under South Jersey Ballet and was also chosen to be a part of their senior company. She also performed in Jovo Dance Company’s production of the Nutcracker as well. During High School, Emily attended Gloucester County Institute of Technology studying dance while being trained by many guest choreographers, all four years, who have been a part of professional dance companies like the City Dance Ensemble, the Matthew Westerby Company, and the Joffrey Ballet Company. In addition to her dance performances, Emily competed in the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization winning countless regional and state level talent awards with her tap numbers. Emily now attends Saint Joseph’s University where she was a member of the 2020-21 Dance Team.

Caitlyn began her dance journey at the age of 2 at Dancesations Studio of Performing Arts.  She has received training in various styles of dance including tap, jazz, ballet, musical theater, and contemporary. She was even fortunate enough to be trained by Nicole Theodore in ballet and musical theater. 

Caitlyn was a part of a competition team for more than ten years and has participated in numerous regional and national dance competitions. She has led her competition team to two national dance off titles along with a national championship. Additionally, Caitlyn was awarded the highest scoring dance of NDS regional competition in 2021 for her senior tap solo. 

Caitlyn is a member of the Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble — a Philadelphia based non-profit organization that focuses on rhythmic tap, tap improvisation, and percussive dance. Caitlyn was honored to be invited to perform at the Koresh Dance Company as part of the Koresh Artistic Showcase, as well as having the opportunity to take workshops with Hillary-Marie, Aaron Tolson, Jason Samuel-Smith, Derick Grant, and Sarah Reich to name a few. 

In Spring 2024, Caitlyn graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan University where she received her B.A. in Psychology.  Throughout her time in college, Caitlyn has had the privilege to teach dance for the past 4 years in the styles of tap, jazz, and ballet. Aside from being a student and a dance teacher, Caitlyn works as a Registered Behavior Technician where she provides one-on-one behavioral interventions to children with developmental/intellectual disabilities. 

Caitlyn is so excited for another season as a dance instructor at HSD!

Elaina has been dancing since she was 6 and spent her years in high school on Paul VI High School's Dance Team where she performed at all football and basketball games. She has been apart of the HSD family for the past 4 years being a student as well as a teacher. Elaina is currently attending Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and is a member of their dance club. Elaina has a passion for sharing her love for dance with all of her students. Her favorite styles to teach are jazz and hiphop! 

Christine is a 2010 graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz Dance Performance and was awarded the Promising Artist Scholarship.  Christine has trained under some of the best instructors in the industry including Andrew Pap, Scott Jovovich, Wayne St. David, Roni Koresh, Zane Booker, and Brian Sanders.

Before college, Christine performed many roles in the Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, and also participated in Manhattan Dance Project and The Pulse.  After college, Christine appeared as a professional dancer and model in many casinos such as Revel, Golden Nugget, Tropicana and Ballys and appeared in shows such as Extreme Vegas and in numerous casinos around the country. 

She has gone from stage back to studio teaching and choreographing classical jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary and ballet to students of all ages and levels.  Her choreography has won numerous awards in local and national competitions.  Christine’s students have gone on to represent their colleges on elite dance teams, win numerous regional and National titles, graduate from prestigious B.F.A. Programs and continue to have successful careers in dance and the performing arts.

Christine recently graduated with a Masters of Education in K-12 School Counseling and works as a School Counselor.  She is so excited to join Haddonfield School of Dance! 

Bridget Holmes, a Philadelphia native, began her training under Liz Fitchett-Tillotson and Scott Jovovich (Joffrey Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Tony Award Winning Broadway credits). As a company member of the Mid-Atlantic Dance Theater, she performed both classic ballets such as the Nutcracker, and originally composed works by Mr. Jovovich, as well as Nina Federova (New York City Ballet), Carla Craig-Krochak (Philadelphia Civic Ballet), and Jeffrey Lyons (Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet). Throughout her teenage years, Bridget also traveled, competed and took master classes with some of the industry's most revered teachers and choreographers in the dance world such as Joe Lanteri, Joe Tremaine, Mia Michaels, Gil Stroming, Jason Parsons and Suzi Taylor. 

In 2004 Bridget earned her B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Temple University. While there, she performed in student and professional concerts both at the University and in performances throughout Philadelphia and New York City, most notably with choreographer and director of danceTheaterX, Charles O.Anderson. In addition to her technique and composition studies in the music and dance program, she also was the Co-Captain of the nationally ranked Temple University Diamond Gems Dance Team which performed at Temple University sporting and supporting events. To supplement her training further, Bridget also studied at The University of the Arts Summer Intensives and Koresh School of Dance where she was chosen to perform in numerous teachers' works and showcases. 

After graduation Bridget danced professionally as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers Dancers where she had the great experience of performing choreography by Brian Friedman, Tabitha and Napoleon, Chris Judd and others. She also danced with the Philadelphia Soul, Soulmates Dancers which led her to several opportunities to dance live on stage with Bon Jovi in concerts. In addition to performing, Bridget has had the privilege and pleasure of teaching, coaching and choreographing for The Sixers Junior Dream Team, Philly Phresh Crew, Temple University Diamond Gems Dance Team, Halftime for the Harlem Globetrotters and Haddon Township's Middle School and High School Musicals.  She is currently in her 11th season as the Head Coach of Haddon Township High School Varsity Dance Team.  

Bridget's students have won numerous regional and national titles, graduated from prestigious B.F.A. programs, represented their colleges and universities as members of elite dance teams, and gone on to professional careers in the performing arts. She also travels the country as an adjudicator for several national dance competitions and conventions. 

Bridget is thrilled to join the faculty at Haddonfield School of Dance!

Megan Lafferty began her dance training at the age of 3 at the Leonardo Dance Studio that has since become the Tricia Sloan Dance Center. In 2002, Ms. Lafferty graduated from the University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance with a concentration in Ballet. There, she trained with the some of the dance industry’s finest including Roni Koresh, Andrew Pap, Lisa Sundstrom, Wayne St. David, the late Faye B. Snow and the late LaVaughn Robinson. She has performed on the Merriam and Drake stages in Philadelphia and theaters across South Jersey. Megan was chosen as a select few to perform for the Balanchine Trust and with Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project. She received a presidential scholarship to attend and upon graduation received the Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence. In 2012, Ms. Lafferty finished her Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from Drexel University. By day Ms. Lafferty holds the title of Director of Administration for a non-profit called the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP). She manages the day to day administrative and business affairs for PAEP. Ms. Lafferty’s roots in dance have allowed her to continue to contribute to the world of dance through her teaching and have grounded her in becoming a professional in the world of non-profit business. She has over 25 years of teaching experience and she has had the wonderful opportunity to teach the students at the Haddonfield School of Dance (HSD) for the past 18 years and looks forward to continuing her teaching at HSD. Megan resides in Mount Ephraim, New Jersey with her husband John and her three children Liam, Finnegan, and Riagain.

Sue holds a BS in nutrition and a BA in dance from Rutgers University as well as a MS in Education. She has been teaching ballet, technique, musical theater and Pilates across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania for over 20 years. Her early ballet training was grounded in the Royal Academy of Dancing system based in London. She later trained in the Vaganova classical system. She performed many classical as well as contemporary roles in her time as a dancer. 

Sue has spent the last twelve years judging and teaching for National Dance Showcase. She loves that NDS captures the heart of the dancers and promotes love, support, and unity. Her favorite part of teaching is installing worth and confidence in her students! 

Sue is the owner of Opal Wellness Studio where she combines her passion for a healthy lifestyle with extensive training as a Pilates teacher to help people live their best life! Above all else, she believes “movement heals”. She loves to help dancers strengthen their technique through Pilates!

Caitlin began her professional dance training at just two years old in South Jersey, where she studied a wide range of dance styles and quickly distinguished herself as a dedicated and versatile performer. She spent 14 years as a member of her studio’s elite competition team, competing at both regional and national levels and earning numerous titles and top overall awards. Her performance experience extends beyond competition to include fundraising events, professional workshops, and appearances in commercials, television programs, and print advertisements.

Committed to continual growth and artistic excellence, Caitlin has completed her iTap Certification and is proudly a certified tap teacher. She has also trained with some of the dance industry’s most respected artists, including Hillary-Marie, Aaron Tolson, and Jason Samuel-Smith. These experiences have shaped her strong technical foundation, musicality, and performance quality.

Caitlin graduated from Widener University with top honors, and began her teaching career in 2016 where she has a commitment to excellence in both education and artistry and has since established herself as an award-winning choreographer, receiving multiple choreography awards at the regional and national level. 

Passionate about inspiring the next generation of dancers, Caitlin brings energy, professionalism, and a deep love of dance into every class. She is proud to be a member of the Haddonfield School of Dance faculty and is dedicated to helping her students grow as confident, disciplined, and expressive performers.

Caroline is excited to be back teaching at HSD this season. As a proud HSD alumni, she spent 15 years as a student at the studio 8 of which she was a Company member. Caroline also had the opportunity to teach two of her own classes her senior year at the studio. Throughout her time at HSD, she had many opportunities to expand her knowledge and résumé as a dancer, including performing in “Dance the World” at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where she danced down Main Street USA, as well as attending numerous conventions and competitions at the Regional and National levels with the HSD Company—earning scholarships, special judges’ awards, and overall placements.

Outside of the studio, Caroline was a captain and 4-year member of the Haddon Township High School Dance Team, previously under the direction of HSD’s very own Miss Bridget Holmes. During her time on the team, she attended Universal Dance Association (UDA) Camps, earning multiple Superior performance ribbons and helping qualify the team to compete at the national level.

Caroline is now a college student but is thrilled to return to HSD as an instructor. She has cherished every moment she spent at the studio as a student, and she cannot wait to share everything she has learned with her own students this upcoming season.

Helen has over 28 years of dance experience in a variety of settings and styles. She danced and performed from a young age through high school and college where she was a captain on the competitive dance team at The College of New Jersey. She graduated with a double major in mathematics and early childhood education. Helen continued her dance experiences beyond college through being a UDA instructor, a performer and impersonator at Boogie Nights in Atlantic City, and a choreographer for several middle school musicals. 

 

Helen has been a classroom teacher for 12 years, teaching first grade and kindergarten, as well as working with special education students at Folsom Elementary School. She has a master's degree in special education from Stockton University. Helen has recently left the classroom to spend time at home raising her two girls, and she is excited that this life shift has brought her the opportunity to join the team at Haddonfield School of Dance!

Mia Tabasco is a New Jersey based performer and educator. Her extensive and versatile training led her to much success as a competitive dancer with both Dance Masters of America and Universal Dance Association where she held numerous All-American adjudications. 

Mia went on to dance and compete on a collegiate level at Rowan University (graduating Sumna Cum Laude, 2025)  where she had the opportunity to take the floor at UDA nationals. She also furthered her training in pedagogy and received her certification in Acrobatic Arts. 

Mia dances professionally in the entertainment industry, with her most recent credits performing with Cece Peniston and appearing at World of Dance. She is also a Dance Captain and Choreographer for the Hip Hop company, Empire Dance. 

Mia is an excited to bring her background and passion for coaching and training dancers to the students at HSD! 

Dalton Walsh is a professional dancer, choreographer, and coach with a strong background in collegiate athletics and the professional dance world. He trained for six years at Dance Expressions under the direction of Heather Zane and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders alum Amanda Dilks, developing a strong technical foundation across multiple styles.

Dalton continued his dance career at Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a member of the dance team specializing in Hip Hop and Pom. During his time at SJU, the team earned the 2023 National Championship title in Pom, and Dalton was voted team captain during both his junior and senior years. Throughout all four collegiate seasons, he trained under renowned choreographer Shandon Perez, whose work spans Saint Joseph’s University, the University of Memphis, Brigham Young University, the Golden State Warriors, and more. He also received comprehensive training across all styles from coaches Rachel Reese and Vikira Molock.

In addition to performing, Dalton has built an impressive résumé as an educator. He has taught recruitment clinics, college combines, Backstage Nationals masterclasses, and Division I university-level workshops. Currently, Dalton is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders, where he performs at NFL games, represents the organization at community and promotional events, and upholds the high standards of professionalism, athleticism, and performance required at the professional level. Through this role, he continues to refine his performance quality, adaptability, and leadership while performing on one of the largest stages in sports entertainment. Alongside his professional career, Dalton also serves as a high school dance team coach, where he is passionate about mentoring young dancers, fostering strong team culture, and preparing athletes for collegiate and professional opportunities.