Teachers
Miss Marguerite
Miss Marguerite has been with Rising Stars for 21 wonderful years. She is a very gifted teacher/dancer who attended the prestigious Freehold Regional Performing Arts High School program located in Howell, NJ. She has and continues to study dance at Brookdale Community College, workshops at Dance Educators of America (DEA), as well as Broadway Dance Center in NYC. She has performed professionally as well as choreographed numerous local and high school plays including Oliver, Annie, Wizard of Oz, Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat and Grease. In addition to her teaching at Rising Stars, Marguerite was employed by Freehold Boro High School’s drama department as choreographer for their yearly school productions. In 2007, she choreographed the high school production, Cabaret, which was honored for excellence in High School Theatre by the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, N.J. Additionally, Marguerite was nominated for Outstanding Choreography in a Musical, and her students were also nominated and won for Outstanding Dance Ensemble Group in a Musical. Her creativity with her dance routines and her ability to teach proper technique make her one of our most valuable teachers.
Mr. Don
Don Balladin, aka "DonJ", has been making his mark as a Performer/Choreographer for many years in the New York Hip-Hop underground scene as well as the commercial scenes. He’s trained with some of NYC's well known dancers and choreographers such as the Amount Boyz, Rhapsody James and Laurianne Gibson just to name a few. Donj has had the chance to work with many big name artists and featured in numerous television shows, such as MTV Wannabes with B2K, MTV Awards with P Diddy,106 and Park with Ciara and was the main choreographer for the Pantene Pro-V Tour which includes artists such as Lyfe Jennings, Salt n Pepper, Missy Elliot and America's Next Top Model, Eva Pigford. Donj was also a singer in the R&B/POP group K.I.N.G.S. where he played a major part as the group's main choreographer and clothing designer.
Within these past couple of years, Donj, wanted to take his talents to the next level and he started his own custom clothing line "Swagstar Nation" which is an art-inspired brand created with the intention of bringing about a new sense of self-confidence and spiritual empowerment through his designs, with his dedication and passion for Hip-Hop dance, music and fashion music which definitely set him apart from the rest...
His plans include expanding our hip-hop program with his ability to reach out to our younger students as well as work on taking the intermediate and advanced classes to higher levels. He will continue with the Fresh Effects crew and expand our travel hip-hop program to include more hip-hop crews.We are sure that you will love his personality, his style, his ability to easily teach & break down steps/movements, as well as his dedication to art of hip-hop.Please check out his resume and on-line videos and you’ll see why we just had to have him become a part of our school!!
Miss Lindsay S.
Miss Lindsay has been part of the Rising Stars family since 2001 when she moved to New Jersey. She danced with our competition team until she graduated from high school in 2007. Lindsay is currently enrolled at Rutgers University and will be graduating in Spring 2011 with a dual-degree in Psychology and Education. Along with her daily classes at Rutgers, Lindsay has been a member of the Rutgers Performing Dance Company. Lindsay is certified through Dance Educators of America, under the direction of Charles Kelley and Raymond Lukens, in Levels 1 and 2. Most recently, Lindsay has also become Zumba Certified under the direction of Beto Perez and Tanya Beardsley. She continues to take class at Broadway Dance Center and at various conventions through out the year with master teachers such as Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, Wade Robson, Mandy Moore, Brian Friedman, Frank Hatchett, and Travis and Denise Wall. Lindsay has progressed from competition student to teacher’s assistant to substitute teacher and is now teaching full-time. She teaches many styles of dance, including jazz, ballet, lyrical, tap, and hip-hop, to dancers of all ages, and enjoys assisting our director, Miss Joelle, with various competition classes. She believes the most important part of her job is to give her students a strong foundation that will enable them to progress and succeed to the best of their abilities while instilling in them a love of dance that they will carry with them for a lifetime. Her good-hearted nature and outgoing personality make her a great match for teaching dancers of all ages.
Miss Heather
Miss Heather has been part of the Rising Star’s family for the past 12 years. She started as a student and never left! She graduated from Rider University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Special Education, and is currently a special education teacher in the Manalapan Englishtown School District. Heather’s ability to relate to her students is what makes the Acro Program a success. She is a certified USASF member in level 1 & 2 in tumbling, stunting, and tossing. Besides dance, Heather works at Manalapan Recreation Summer Camp, where she inspires hundreds of campers to get involved, just like she inspires her students to shine off the stage and into the audience. Her high energy and enthusiasm has students FLIPPING for her.
Miss Kim
Miss Kim has been part of the Rising Stars family for eight years. She began as a student, and then became a teacher during her senior year of high school. She is proficient in many styles of dance, such as, ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and modern. Miss Kim is currently a student at Georgian Court University, where she is majoring in dance. She is also certified by the DEA (Dance Educators of America) in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and theatrical acrobatics/tumbling. She has been an instructor at Rising Stars for five years, and loves every minute of it. Kim has built up the Cheer Funk program at Rising Stars, and now has two separate classes that are at a competition level. She continues to dance and perform with the dance department at her school, and has worked with professional choreographers such as Silvana Cardell, the Artistic Director of the modern dance company Group Motion. She also continues to attend dance conventions like The Pulse On Tour and The American College Dance Festival, where she has danced with choreographers Mia Michaels, Dave Scott, LaurieAnn Gibson, Wade Robson, Cris Judd, Sonya Tayeh, and Gil Duldulao. Kim is extremely passionate about dance and loves sharing her passion with her students every single day.
Miss Joy
Like her name suggests, Joy is a real “joy”! Miss Joy begins her third year here at Rising Stars. Her easy going nature, her love of children and dance, and her cheery personality make her the perfect teacher for our youngest of dancers. Joy has been studying dance and performing since she was a child herself. Joy is married and has a son and a daughter, both in their teens. Besides teaching dance, she is a substitute teacher with the Old Bridge School District. Her creativity isn’t limited to dance as she is also an expert seamstress and has designed and created numerous dance costumes as well! Joy is teaching two days this year and our little ones just love her.
Miss Lindsay W
Lindsay Williams began her dance training at the Academy of Dance Arts in Red Bank, where she studied for and passed all of her Pre-Professional Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Exams. Lindsay then had the incredible opportunity to dance professionally with the Hartford Ballet where she worked with award winning choreographers in both classical Balletand Graham Modern Technique. Lindsay finished her Degree in Dance Education at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. She has kept up her dance training by taking master classes and teacher workshops in New York at both Steps and Broadway Dance Center.She is also currently performing with Premier Theatre Company as Dance Captain, and is Choreographer in Residence with Take-A-Bow Theater Company. Lindsay is very excited to meet all the students at Rising Stars, and to start work on an amazing season.
Miss Rachel
Miss Rachel has been dancing since before she was born! She is the daughter of one of the directors, Miss Jody, and has grown up at Rising Stars. She has taken (and continues to take) a wide variety of classes including jazz, ballet, tap, hip-hop, modern, pointe, and acrobatics. She is a graduating student of our Elite Program in jazz, ballet, and tap, and a competing soloist as well. You also may recognize Rachel from our award winning production classes, where she has played the roles of Scooby-Doo in Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Mansion, Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka, and as Ariel in the 2011 production, Under The Sea. In addition to dancing in the studio, Rachel has studied at Broadway Dance Center, and at workshops such as the Dance Teacher Summit and Tradition in Tap, with leading professionals in the industry. In addition to dance, Rachel was a competitive cheerleader with World Cup All Stars, and was even featured on ESPN as a flyer on World Cup's Level-Five team. She currently is a varsity cheerleader at Freehold High School. Rachel will be attending college next year to pursue her love of dance at an arts' school, and will be double-majoring in dance and business. She hopes that her students will grow up at Rising Stars just like she did, as it truly is a great experience she wishes all could enjoy!
