Boston University Fitness & Recreation Center

Dance Faculty

Full-Time Faculty

Micki Taylor-Pinney, Director of Dance, Instructor of Modern Dance, Dance History, and Dance Aesthetics. Adjunct Faculty in the College of Fine Arts. Advisor for dance minors and coordinator of the summer outreach program for teens. BS with honors in Physical Education with Dance Concentration, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; MFA in Dance, University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Joined Dance Collective in 1986 and was artistic director from 1998-2006. Her work has been commissioned by the musical ensembles Alea III and the Brookline Chorus. She is co-author of a how-to manual for teaching dance to children, a product of teacher-training grant in the Boston Public Schools. Served as officer and board member of Boston Dance Alliance for eight years. She is now artistic director of Mass Movement, Inc., bringing dance education to schools and after-school programs through Young Audiences of Massachusetts. mtaypin@bu.edu

Ramelle Adams, Manager of the Noncredit Instructional Programs and Instructor of Dance. BA with honors in French and Philosophy, Columbia University; MS in Physical Education, MFA in Dance, University of Wisconsin, Madison. She danced with "KRAUS AND.," the Massachusetts Dance Ensemble and in independent productions with Nancy Compton, Wendy Blum, Judith Chaffee, and Dance Collective of Boston. She received choreographic commissions from New Comp and MJT.

Ann Brown Allen, Full-Time Instructor of Afro-Jazz, Ballet and Pilates. Pilates Manager. BA in Education and Psychology, Simmons College. For the past two decades, she has performed with all of Boston's major modern and jazz dance companies including Peter DiMuro and Associates, Back Porch Dancers and Dance Collective of Boston, touring New England, New York and Europe. She has also been a guest artist with several ballet companies.

Lynda Rieman, Theatre Manager/Assistant Coordinator of Dance, has over 25 years experience as a production manager and lighting designer in the dance and theater fields having worked primarily with San Francisco companies, including ODC, CONTRABAND, Theater Artaud and Joe Goode Dance Company. She is graduate of Bard College.

Part-time Faculty
Lauren Appel, Part-time Instructor of Pilates. Degree Candidate at the School of Law at Boston University. She is a Peak PilatesSystem Certified Instructor. She received a degree from Pennsylvania State University where she was part of the Orchesis Dance Company. She previously worked for a Public Relations firm.

Anita-Cristina Calcaterra, Part-time Instructor of Belly Dancing. M.Ed from Antioch University New England, Waldorf School teacher certification. She is one of the founding members of The Goddess Dancing TM (1989), which offers classes, workshops, and teacher training in The Goddess Dancing method, as well as performances and instructional videos.

Fernandina Chan, Part-time Instructor of Gyrokinesis. M.Ed, Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and served on the Board of the Boston Dance Alliance. In 1999, the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education named her the "Distinguished Arts Educator in Dance." In 2005, she was named Teacher of the Year by the International Network of Schools for the Advancement of Arts Education. Ms. Chan's performance and choreographic credits include television, film and stage in Hong Kong, the US, and Canada.

Helena Chang, Part-time Instructor of Pilates Apparatus, Pilates Apparatus, Adv. Beg. and Pilates Personal Training. STOTT-certified Pilates instructor, Neuromuscular Massage Therapy Training, Certificate of Massage Therapy from the Muscular Therapy Institute, BA in Dance, University of Maryland.

Jossie Coleman, Part-time Instructor of Cardio-Jazz Funk and Hip-Hop Dance. Coursework in Dance, Boston Conservatory of the Arts. She teaches children and adults in the Greater Boston area and has an annual performance in Roxbury. She is the Director of the Dance Program at the Creative Arts at Park, a summer program for children.

Christin Collins, Part-time Instructor of Hip Hop. BS in Elementary Education and minor in dance from Boston University. Christin is a company member of Luminarium Dance Company and the Adagio Dancers. She is currently a jazz and hiphop teacher at Boston University and in studios of the greater boston area, including the Lexington School of Ballet, the American Chinese Art Society, and the Dancer’s Workshop in Sudbury.Christin also teaches hiphop for MIT’s Physical Education Program.

David Connolly, Part-time Instructor of Tap. BA in Psychology, minors in Music, Theatre, and Education, Plymouth State College. David was the former owner and director of the Studio of the Performing Arts in Canton, MA. He is now the co-artistic director of the Dance Explosion Studio of the Performing Arts, Inc. and the resident Director of the Theatre Program at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood. He has been a teacher and adjudicator for several organizations and has performed for various industrial and corporate events. Teaching credits include arts, educational and studio organizations working with children and adults. His students have won many regional and national dance titles. Many of David’s students are now working in the theatre and dance world both as performers and instructors. In his “free time," David enjoys directing and choreographing for theater companies throughout the Boston area.

Nicole DeVicci, Part-time Instructor of Ballet. BS in Special Education from Boston University. Studied classical ballet and performed with the South Jersey Ballet Theatre. She has performed with Margot Parsons’ company, Dance Visions, for 5 years.

Laura Forth, Part-time Instructor Ballet Workout. A student at Boston University studying Psychology and Business. She studies and teaches ballet at the Northeast School of Ballet. She has attended summer intensives at American Ballet Theater and Miami City Ballet. She has also studied pilates, yoga, contemporary, jazz and tap. She is a performing member of Encore, a BU student company.

Henry Kasdon, Part-time Instructor for Hip-Hop. Tufts University. Mr. Kasdon began his dance career in 1998 at Tufts University. While there, he was president of TURBO, Tufts' break dancing crew, as well as a dancer/choreographer for the hip-hop/jazz dance troupe Spirit of Color (SoC). He currently instructs D.A.R.E.® Dance at the James M. Curley Elementary School in Jamaica Plain, and break dancing at The Brookline Academy of Dance and Harvard Business School. Mr. Kasdon has been a member of the Rainbow Tribe since 2002, and was featured on an episode of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 in the fall of 2007.

Denise LaCarubba, Part-time Instructor of Belly Dance. Performs with Boston-based belly dance troupe, Goddess Dancing. She was certified by Goddess Dancing as an instructor in 2010. She is a DJ. Since 1990, she has been a DJ with entertainment agencies & event planners in the metropolitan Boston area, in New England and Miami.

Kevin Lawyer, Part-time Instructor of Hip Hop/KRUMP. Trained under one of the founders of KRUMP, Tight Eyez, and performed with his group for several years. He has “battled” at events throughout Boston and out of state as far away as California. He currently directs a KRUMP youth group in Boston.

Alycia Moniuk, Part Time Instructor Hip-Hop. BA in Psychology and Dance and Dance Education from New York University. While in NYC, Ms. Moniuk was a member of the Washington Square Repertory Company, choreographed for and performed in various hip-hop shows, and was featured in New York Classical Theatre's "Shakespeare in the Park" in Central Park. She has taught jazz, tap and hip-hop in several studios both in Southern California and the Boston area. Ms. Moniuk was a member and choreographer of Dancedge for five years before joining Tribe, the Dance Company in 2009.

Margot Parsons, Part-time Instructor of Ballet. BA in Dance, University of Wisconsin, Madison; MS with honors in Dance, University of Utah. Produces dance shows in Boston for the Boston Ballet and the Robsham Theatre at Boston College. She also has performed successfully in New York on Broadway and was invited to join the American Ballet Theatre. She teaches ballet technique, dance history, and dance kinesiology at Boston College.

Anne Marie Paul, Part-time Instructor of Ballroom Dance, owner and Co-Director of DanceSport Boston in Weymouth, MA. Anne Marie was the Founding Coach of the BU Ballroom Dance Club. Education: Earned a BFA in Fashion Design from Massachusetts College of Art. Additional Study: Paris American Academy (Paris), Vesper George School of Art (Boston).

John Paul, Part-time Instructor of International & American Style Ballroom Dance classes, owner and Co-Director of DanceSport Boston in Weymouth. Current Standard & Smooth coach for the Boston University Ballroom Club DanceSport Team. John is a Certified Associate & Licentiate Ballroom Dance Instructor in the American Style Ballroom & Rhythm via AMI & FADS.

DeAnna Pellecchia, Part-time Instructor of Jazz Funk, Dance Body Conditioning, Jazz Work, and starting in Spring 2012, Aerial Dance. BA in Dance/Performance with a dual minor in Business Management & Latin from Roger Williams University, 1999. DeAnna is a dancer/aerialist, educator and choreographer committed to creating compelling, inter-disciplinary dance performances via collaborative process. She has performed and taught dance throughout the US with internationally acclaimed Paula Josa-Jones/ Performance Works, Kinodance Company and Bennett Dance Company, of which she is a founding member and for which she is Rehearsal Director & Assistant Choreographer. Ms. Pellecchia makes dances with Ingrid Schatz as co-founder/choreographer of Kairos Dance Theater. She is also a practicing ACE-certified Personal Trainer. www.deannapellecchia.com

Ann Roe, Part-time Instructor of Ballet. University of Pennsylvania, B.A. English Literature. Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary, J. D. Performed with the Washington Ballet. Her early training was with the School of American Ballet and the Finis Jhung Ballet in New York. She returned to ballet after years as a lawyer and now teaches at the Cambridge School of Weston and Boston Sports Club.

Hillary Ross, Part-time Instructor of Argentine Tango. BA in Dance/English, Wesleyan University. Hillary has danced professionally with Partners: Martynuk/McAdams Dance, Laura Knott Dance Company and Glendance; and her choreography was commissioned by First Night Boston. She also has taught dance at the JP Firehouse Arts Center, Wellesley College, and at the Boston Tango Festival. She has been on the faculty of the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and Springstep.

Ingrid Schatz, Part-time Instructor of Modern. BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts. Ingrid has studied Authentic Movement, Action Theater, stilt walking, low flying trapeze, and horse handling; and has performed in theaters, in gardens and on the screen. She has collaborated with many artists including choreographers Jin Wen Yu and Paula Josa-Jones (1997 – present), visual artists Michael Dowling and Bo Lembo, and performance artist Ernesto Pujol. She makes dances with Boston based Kairos Dance Theater and creates interdisciplinary collaborations with Kinodance Company.

Sarah Sjostrom, Part-time Instructor of Capoeira. MS Nursing. Sarah has been training Capoeira for 7 years under the supervision of Mestre Cabeça of Grupo Capoeira Brasil, where her training has taken her to Brazil for half a year of intense training as well as learning Portuguese. She is currently the Director of Programming for Grupo Capoeira Brasil. Check it out

Jim Spellman, Part-time Instructor of Irish Dance and Ballroom Dance. BA from University of Massachusetts, Boston, with concentration in Dance Education. Jim is a Boston-based dancer and choreographer and has been teaching since 1993, his forte and passion being teaching adult education classes.

Karen Uminski, Part-time Instructor of Belly Dancing and Belly Dancing, Continuing. BFA in Writing/Literature/Publishing, with minor in History, Emerson College, currently enrolled in MA program at Harvard University. She joined The Goddess Dancing TM in 1995, and has written scholarly articles on dance , including Isadora Duncan (2007).