A Choreography Showcase

earned her BFA in Dance from Montclair State University. While at MSU, her work was featured in multiple student choreography concerts. After graduation, she was invited back to show a new piece at the Alumni Showcase 2024. She has performed in works by Charles Weidman, Brice Mousset, Urban Bush Women, Stefanie Batten Bland, Michelle Manzanales, and Christian von Howard. In addition, Amina danced as a Bridge Fellow at The Indeterminacy Festival 2024 on Governor’s Island, working collaboratively with Melanie Aceto. She also performs as a guest artist with Nacre Dance Group. Her choreography has been featured at Arts on Site, Balance Arts Center, Green Space, BAAD!, and Triskelion Arts. As a creator, she believes that dance allows us to touch the deepest of our experiences and the widest of our imaginations. Her choreography embraces inspirations from across this spectrum. Amina Kolenc received a 2025 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. With this fellowship, she produced her first evening-length performance, “POP!”, which premiered at Triskelion Arts in April 2026. 

is the founder and artistic director of Hysterika Jazz Dance, a company dedicated to expanding the legacy of jazz dance as a rich, powerful, and historical American art form. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts, teaching African Diasporic Jazz, Broadway Jazz, History of Broadway Dance (course author), Jazz Dance Repertory and Dance Studies. She has an M.A. in Dance Education, with a concentration in Teaching Dance in Higher Education and the Professions (NYU) and a B.A. in Dance (UC Irvine). Barbara’s creative research includes: “eat Crow” (inspired by the movement style and life of Josephine Baker); “Hot Miss Lil” (celebrating dance of the 1930s and the music of Lil Hardin Armstrong) and “In Pieces: A Vaudeville Review” (inspired by the talents and contributions of Aida Overton Walker in the early 20th century). Performance credits include Broadway Backwards 5 (soloist), 6 (dance captain), and 7; Oakland Ballet, Broadway Bares, Gypsy of the Year Awards, Equity national tours and musicals, and Radio City Music Hall Christmas and Easter Spectaculars (dance captain). She has worked with/for Woody Allen, Jerry Mitchell, Graciela Daniele, Bob Bartley, Bernadette Peters, and Aretha Franklin. Barbara presents jazz dance workshops and choreography at venues, conferences, and schools nationally. 

began her formal dance instruction in Manchester, Connecticut. Ashley chose to further her pre-professional studies at Goucher College where she received her BA in Dance and studied abroad at Taipei National University of the Arts in Taipei, Taiwan. She was fortunate enough to work with numerous guest artists such as: Nicolo Fonte, Susan Jaffe, Zippora Karz, Emery LeCrone, Nicholas Leichter, Nilas Martins, Gina Patterson, and Amy Seiwert. After graduation, she moved her dance roots to Chicago. During her time there, Ashley worked at the Lou Conte Dance Studio, taught at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Youth Division and was a student with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Scholarship Program. She was a featured Guest Artist with Ruth Page Civic Ballet. In 2019, Ashley continued her dance studies in New York, receiving her MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. After graduation, Ashley started teaching for Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken. Over the years, she has choreographed for Georgetown University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, and the Second Avenue Dance Company. She has also served as a Visiting Professor in Dance at Wesleyan University. Ashley joined Hoboken Dance Academy under Director Sarah Weber-Gallo in 2025. She’s currently a Master Teacher at Burklyn Ballet Theatre and a frequent Guest Teacher for MiXt Co and most recently joined Faculty at Steffi Nossen School of Dance & Center of Movement. In addition, she continues to be Adjunct Faculty at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Summer High School Program and a published author for Dance Magazine. In 2026, Ashley founded Ashley Daigle Dance Company, a contemporary ballet dance company. The company’s work focuses on crafting a new landscape for the ballet world. Ashley’s activism engages questions of gender, representation, and power, while her ongoing research highlights important complexities about the future of the dance field.

Julia Lawton is a New York-based dancer, choreographer, and the Founding Artistic Director of Lawton Dance Collective, a women-led contemporary dance company. She earned her BFA in Dance from Adelphi University, where her thesis received the Ruth St. Denis Award for Best Work in the Fine or Performing Arts. Julia has performed professionally with the Taylor Outreach Ensemble, SHIFT Dance Arts & Media, and Chutzpah Dance. She has worked with choreographers including Frank Augustyn and Orion Duckstein. Julia is the Education Associate at the Taylor Center for Dance Education, where she teaches in the Taylor School Youth Program. Julia’s work has been presented at numerous venues, including Arts On Site, The Tank, Teatro Latea, 14th St. Y, The Emelin Theatre, The Workroom Theater Northampton, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Art Haus, Mashup Dance International Women’s Day Dance Festival, and Small Plates Choreography Festival NOVA.

Kierstyn Edore (North Jersey) graduated from Montclair State University with her B.F.A. in Dance and a Minor in Psychology.  She is the director of Opus//The Company, which has presented work at 14th Street Y (NYC) at S.H.I.F.T. with One Day Dance, River Dance Festival, Montclair Dance Festival, Dixon Place, Moving Body Salon, Koresh Artist Showcase, Williams Center, and Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center. Her work at Dixon Place’s “Threat To Democracy” showcase was recorded and stored in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library. She is a founding member of KM Dance Collective, and is currently dancing with Freespace Dance Company, Oh Dance, and Puluka Projects.  She has been a featured choreographer across school districts and dance studios for both concert and competitive work, and she has worked as movement director, actor, and dancer for several film projects. Kierstyn has worked closely with renowned artists Stefanie Batten Bland, Leslie Kraus, Dan Safer, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Dolly Sfeir, Jaclyn Walsh, and Christian von Howard.

Sarah Kramer is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in New Jersey, with training from Montclair State University, the Martha Graham School, b12 Berlin Workshop Festival, GagaLab NYC, and Parsons Dance Choreography Workshop. As a performer, she has performed works by Martha Graham, Ben Wright, Brandin Steffinsen, Maxine Steinman, and others, and is currently a member of Brooklyn-based Unbound Dance Collective. Her own work has premiered in several festivals in New York, notably 92nd Street Y’s Dance Up! Emerging Choreographers series and the KoDaFe International Dance Festival, as well as internationally at the Romanian National Opera. Her most recent work-in-process, “Untitled (Connectivity) ,” premiered in May 2026 at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn, NY.

A Steffi Nossen alumna, Jessica DiMauro Marks holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. Her company, DiMauro Dance (dimaurodance.com), has been performing for over nine years. Ms. DiMauro’s choreography has been seen at venues throughout the Tristate area including The Alexander Kasser Theater, The Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement, The Works Studio, Salvatore LaRussa Dance Theatre/The Academy, The Crystal Theater in Norwalk, CT, Steps on Broadway, The Theresa Lang Theater, the Dance Theater Lab at Purchase College, Peridance Center, The Music Conservatory of Westchester, The Arts Exchange and The Irvington Town Hall Theater. DiMauro Dance has been selected to perform at numerous festivals and curated showcases including White Wave’s COOL NY Dance Festival, The HATCH Presenting Series, Dance Conversations at The Flea, CT Meets NY, Queens Arts Express, and New Dance Downtown. Ms. DiMauro is on faculty at Montclair State University as a professor of Dance Technique. She is also a Certified Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor and a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor. She was the recipient of an Arts Alive Artist Grant for the year 2007 from The Westchester Arts Council for her work titled “com-mu-ni-ty”.  In addition, Ms. DiMauro produced Unraveled at the Merce Cunningham Studio in April of 2011, Confetti: A Collection of Works by Jessica DiMauro at The Producers’ Club Theaters and her choreography was also seen at the 2004 International NYC Fringe Festival in Granola! The Musical at The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. Jessica teaches Junior Master Class and Master Class II in our pre-professional program, as well as Boot Camp during our Summer Programs. As the school’s Artistic Director, Jessica produces our annual Choreography Showcase, Benefit & Community Concerts, and Gala performances.

Annie Doss began teaching at Steffi Nossen in 2006. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently pursuing her MS in Movement Therapy at Pratt University.  A Steffi Nossen alumna with many performing credits, Ms. Doss has also presented her own choreography at the Theresa Lang and Red Room Theaters, Dance Theatre Workshop (DTW), SUNY Purchase, and Peridance Center. She is a founding member of DiMauro Dance and a Certified Pilates Instructor. In addition to her role as faculty member and choreographer at Steffi Nossen School of Dance, Ms. Doss is also a member of the Faculty at Trapeze School New York.

Kat Reese is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist working in the New York City and New Jersey areas. Kat has toured nationally as a professional dancer, and has taught a vast range of student populations, including preschool through 12th grade students in studios and school programs, college dance majors, adult beginners and dance professionals alike, and senior citizens. Kat teaches hip hop, modern, ballet, contemporary, jazz, and conditioning for all levels of physical ability. She believes that movement is powerful and essential to a full life, and feels that dance can be for everyone. Kat currently dances for the Equus Projects, a site-specific improvisational dance company based in New York City directed by JoAnna Mendl Shaw, as well as Monteleone Dance where she also serves as rehearsal director. Kat also dances for the Kennedy Dancers Repertory Company in Jersey City, NJ, and serves as choreographer and rehearsal director for their pre-professional division, the Kennedy Dancers Inner City Youth Company. She also serves as a teaching artist for 10 Hairy Legs directed by Randy James teaching modern dance in New Jersey public schools. Kat’s dancing, choreography, and thoughts on dance and art have been featured in multiple articles, on television (Dance Vista), and on podcasts (Artist Gripes). She graduated summa cum laude with her BFA in dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Kat is also a graduate of Dance Plus, and is happy to be back home as a teacher.

May O’Donnell (1906-2004) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. She studied dance in San Francisco with Estelle Reed and performed in Reed’s company before moving to New York City to study with Martha Graham. O’Donnell was a member of the Martha Graham.

In 1939, O’Donnell returned to California and, with her husband, the composer Ray Green, and another former Graham dancer, Gertrude Shurr, founded the San Francisco Dance Theater. She worked with the Graham Company again from 1944 to 1952, performing as a guest artist and originating notable roles, including the Pioneering Woman in Appalachian Spring, Attendant in Herodiade, She of the Earth in Dark Meadow, and Chorus in Cave of the Heart. 

In 1974, the May O’Donnell Concert Dance Company was formed, located at the May O’Donnell Modern Dance Center on Lafayette Street in New York City. There, O’Donnell and her staff taught the May O’Donnell Dance Technique until the studio was sold in the 1980s. 

O’Donnell created 50 documented dances from 1937 to 1988. She was also an important teacher who counted Robert Joffrey, Ben Vereen, Cora Cahan, and Gerald Arpino among her students. She is known for an original dance technique that has influenced generations of modern dancers. 

In 2005, her biography, May O’Donnell: Modern Dance Pioneer, was published by Marian Horosko. 

Paul Taylor (1930-2018)

TAYLOR TEEN ENSEMBLE: The Paul Taylor Teen Ensemble, is a pre-professional performing company that offers young dancers an opportunity to perform excerpts of Mr. Taylor’s diverse choreography. By audition only, the Ensemble, directed by Amanda Stevenson, has toured throughout the tri-state area performing in festivals, K–12 public and private schools and has performed in larger venues such as Symphony Space, Peridance Capezio Center, SUNY Purchase. The Taylor School, the educational wing of the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, is committed to providing high quality dance education to students of all ages, from introductory classes to rigorous professional classes. Through a wide range of classes, the school seeks to nurture, sustain, and advance the field of dance by sharing Paul Taylor’s rich repertory, fostering the talents of budding dancers and choreographers.