Janine Comanducci - Artistic Director

She has trained with the DeLouise school of dance, Landrum school of dance, American Theatre Dance Workshop, Steffi Nosen, and a scholarship student at Steps on Broadway. Janine earned her BFA in dance and a minor in ComArts at Marymount Manhattan College. She has performed with Gray Wig productions such as the Most Happy Fella, and Guys & Dolls. She has also danced with the NBS Nets and as a Firedancer for the New York Dragons AFL team. Janine has choreographed for Swing 46 nightclub in Manhattan, Dancers at Work at MMC, the Berest Youth Dance Theatre, Dance Long Island, Queens College, and for competitive dance teams and organizations throughout New York. Janine is also a member of the Long Island Dance Consortium.

Erin Pascarella-Dance Instructor, Competition Choreographer

Received her BFA in dance from George Mason University. Graduating early from college Erin went on to perform with the Peter Pucci modern dance company. She has performed at the Joyce Theatre and has traveled all over the country. She has also worked with the choreographer, Sean Curran at Dance Space in Manhattan, and has performed as a singer/dancer in Mexico City for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and has also danced with the New York Dragons Arena Football team, where she was also a dance captain. Erin is also an aerobics instructor for the New York Sports Club.

Christine Russo - Dance Instructor, Competition Choreographer

Received her BFA degree in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She has extensive training in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and hip-hop. Christine has over 15 years of competing experience in regional and national competitions, including the World Championships in Riesa, Germany in 1999 and 2000. Christine is formerly from Horizons Dance Center in Brooklyn.

Laura Beth Cerone-Dance Instructor                       

Laura Beth began dancing at the age of 3.  She has many years of serious dance training. Laura Beth was a member of the LoPresti Dance Theatre competitive dance teams. Upon graduating from H.S. Laura trained with the director of LoPresti Dance Theatre to perfect her teaching skills. Laura Beth has been a teacher at LoPresti Dance Theatre for the past 10 years. She is a 2007 graduate from St. Joseph’s College with a Bachelors degree in Business Marketing & Communications.  Her competitive teams have received an number of high score and performance awards.                                                       

Monica Lessard - Dance Instructor and Competition Choreographer                                                          Monica is a New Hampshire native trained classically in the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) syllabus. She is a 2007 graduate of Point Park University's (Pittsburgh, PA) world-renowned Conservatory of Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. Monica was a frequent performer with the Playhouse Dance Company at the Conservatory, training and performing under the direction of Doug Bentz, Judith Leifer-Bentz, Susan Stowe, Nicolas Petrov, Jay Kirk, Ron Tassone and Keisha Lalama-White. She moved to New York City in 2009. Some of her performing credits in NYC have included a featured extra role in the movie "Dark Horse" (2012), the part of Tellulah in the off Broadway musical "The Lovely Wilds" with GK Productions (2013), and a starring dance role in a music video for the Italian based singer/songwriter TESS (2014.)  She is also a current member of the NYC based dance company MachineHDance (machineHdance.com.) Monica shares her love of dance on a daily basis teaching children and young adults all over the tri-state area. 

Jenise Scanlon - Dance Instructor

Jenise Scanlon has been teaching dance for 18 years. She has taught a wide range of dance styles including lyrical, jazz, tap, hip-hop, ballet and gymnastics. She has also choreographed and co-directed the Theater Company at the Elementary School at which she taught. Jenise studied dance at Hunter College while receiving a B.A. in Elementary Education. She also holds an M.S. in Early Childhood and Special Education. Jenise began studying dance at a local studio in Brooklyn, NY. She has also studied at the accredited Broadway Dance Center in New York City and took part in their Internship Affiliate Program. Jenise has attended numerous dance workshops and seminars throughout the city which have helped to give her a well rounded dance education.

Jessica Snyder - Dance Instructor

Jessica Snyder Hambley began her classical ballet training at the age of 5 with The Ohman School of Ballet under the direction of Mr. Frank Ohman, a former soloist with New York City Ballet.  Her serious modern dance training began in college where she was accepted into the Newcomb Dance Company of Tulane University.  After graduating with a BS in Psychology and a Dance Minor, she continued her training throughout New York City expanding her repertoire to include Jazz, Theater Dance, Tap, Hip Hop and Contemporary.  Jessica has performed regionally with multiple contemporary companies including Mad Cap, as well as with The New York Dance Theatre.  She has choreographed on professional dancers for varying events and on students who need audition pieces for college admissions.  Jessica has been teaching regularly for almost 15 years.  Her modern classes include Graham, Horton and Limon techniques and her classical ballet classes are taught in the Balanchine tradition.

Sarabeth Cook - Competition Choreographer    

Sarahbeth began her training at LoPresti Dance Theatre studying all genres of dance. She is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance (Teaching Concentration). While studying for her bachelor’s, Sarahbeth begin her professional dance career as a member of the New York Knicks City Dancers. She spent 5 seasons dancing for the NBA’s professional dance team and has performed overseas in Taiwan, India, and the Philippines. She has also made appearances on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, E!’s The Dance Scene, as well as had the opportunity to perform with numerous recording artists such as Q-Tip, Kat Deluna, Kevin Rudolph, Jason Derulo, and more. Sarahbeth is currently signed with McDonald Selznick Associates where she continues to feed her passion and love for dance. Currently, Sarahbeth is the Coach of the New York Knicks City Kids and WNBA’s New York Liberty Lil’ Torches. She also is the Varsity Coach of the 16X National Champions, The Smithtown East Varsity Whisperettes. Sarahbeth loves every opportunity given to come back to her home studio and choreograph. She hopes to inspire and teach those who share the love of dance, that they too can follow their dreams.                                                                                                                         

Danielle Sexton - Vocal Coach
Danielle Sexton spent her high school years at the Cultural Arts Center in Syosset where she was a vocal performance major. She then attended Westminster Choir College and received her BA in music, vocal performance. She has toured Europe and performed at many amazing venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Danielle has been teaching piano and vocal lessons professionally for the past 10 years and is also a certified teacher for Music Together, a program for babies and toddlers focusing on movement and music.

MEGAN CLANCY

Megan comes from a performing arts family, and began performing at the age of 3. She has attended the Professional Performing Arts High School in NYC, where she studied Musical Theater and vocal at the Harlem School of the Arts and Dance with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. She has studied Dance and Theatre Arts at City College of New York; where she also obtained a degree in Psychology. Megan has also studied Musical Theatre, Hip Hop, Jazz, Tap and Ballet at Broadway Dance Center and the New Dance Group. Megan has performed with The Harlem Repertory Theatre and has had the pleasure of being an assistant dance teacher at the 92nd street Y; Harkness Dance Center. Megan has also had the privilege of working with students in NYC public schools teaching musical theater, theater history and dance. Megan enjoys performing and teaching students of all ages and abilities.

CRISTINA MARTINS

At the age of three, Cristina began dancing and continued her dance training through college in multiple genres of dance. She is an alumna, competitive dancer of LoPresti Dance Theatre, where she also student taught beginner dance classes. During middle school, she was on the Great Hollow Middle School Kickline Team (2008, 2009), where she competed regionally at the Scholastic Competition. Cristina was a part of the the Hofstra University Dance Team (HUDT) 2013-2017. During her time on the HUDT, she won two national titles (2016, 2017) in Pom Division 1 at UDA National Championship. Cristina also represented her country on the U.S.A. Dance Team and become a gold medalist to a world title at ICU World Championship. The HUDT also gave her other dance opportunities such as, performing on Good Morning America, participating as the dance/warm up crew at Super Bowl XLVIII, performing at Madison Square Garden and the Barclay Center on multiple occasions, dancing at collegiate men’s and women’s basketball games, participating in the UDA College Spirit Camps (2013-2016), competing at the Scholastic Competition (2014-2017), competing at the Battle of the Northeast Dance Championship (2014-2017), collaborating with high school and college dance teams, and representing her university as both the U.S.A. Dance Team and HUDT at the 2016 Hofstra Debate. Cristina has been the instructor at the Kelly Olsen Dance and Kickline Academy summer camp workshop at Hofstra University and continues to collaborate with local dance teams as a choreographer. In 2017, Cristina received her Bachelor's Degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Spanish at Hofstra University and is continuing her studies, for a Master’s Degree, in Speech-Language Pathology at Hofstra University.

Liz Costa

Liz has been dancing for over 20 years and began her training at LoPresti Dance Theatre. She has continued to train at Broadway Dance Center, Long Island University, Manhattanville College, Stony Brook University. Liz has also trained with several choreographers, such as Peter Pucci, Andrei Kisselev, Shawn Garnier, and the Erin Pryor Contemporary Dance Company in NYC. Liz has taught dance for several years and has experience teaching both competition and recreational dances. The styles she has taught include acro, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, technique and more. She is also a competition judge and travels with Legacy, On Point, and Dream Maker Talent Dance Competition. Liz has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Stony Brook University. In addition to teaching dance, Liz works for Northwell Health and volunteers for Nesconset Fire Department as an EMT-B.

Jillian Sharpe

Jillian Sharpe is no stranger to LoPresti! She started her dance training at the age of three and was on their competition team at age 7. While attending Saint John the Baptist High school, Jillian was on their dance team and had the opportunity to perform at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Her love for dance did not stop and she continued to dance at Manhattanville college training under Shawn Bible, Bonnie Walker, and Andrei Kisselev. While attending college she was also a part of their dance team and took on the role of dance captain by her senior year. During Jillian’s college career she was in a number of musicals some including: The Pajama Game, Avenue Q, Swing Time Canteen, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Little Mermaid, A Chorus Line, The Hunchback of Noterdame, Into the Woods, and Legally Blonde. After graduating college, earning her BFA in musical theater, Jillian began working at The John W. Engeman Theater in Northport and still continues to pursue her acting career.

Gierre J Godley

Gierre J Godley is an Arkansas native currently living and working in New York City. He holds degrees from Millikin University (BS Biology) and from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at NYU (MFA Dance). In 2010 he formed PROJECT 44, a Queens based all male dance group whose mission is to provide a platform for all male identifying artists while challenging societal male gender norms. The company has performed throughout the US & overseas and won numerous grants and creation residencies. In 2018 the group’s work was nominated for an Austin Critics Table Award (Best Short). In addition to choreography, Gierre is also a versatile performer, most recently a 3 year cast member of the Bessie Award winning show Then She Fell, an arts Producer, Curator, & Adjudicator. He has had the honor of serving on several artists granting panels. In addition to LPT, Gierre is currently on Faculty at Queensborough Community College and Suffolk County Community College.

Kelly Vaghenas

Kelly holds a BFA in Dance from Montclair State University, where she performed works by Bill T. Jones, Larry Keigwin and more. Through Arya Dance Academy she has performed as a backup dancer for Bollywood stars at the International Indian Film Awards (2018), the U.S./Canada edition of the Da-Bangg: Reloaded tour (2019), and at the National Theatre of Guatemala (2022). Other professional credits include a contract at Miraggio Resort in Greece and dancing in the circus show Unleashed at Six Flags Great Adventure. She has also done film/TV work and body paint modeling for Make Up For Ever. Her choreography has been seen in the original musical, They Call it Gravy; WE Call it Sauce (Brook Arts Center); the original play, Northbound (Theater for the New City), and various operas with Regina Opera Company (Brooklyn). She has taught for various studios in the tri-state area and recently moved to Long Island. This summer she was the lead tap teacher at Long Island's USDAN Summer Camp for the Arts!