Meet The Team
Steve Sirico and Angela D'Valda Sirico
Angela D'Valda Sirico
Steve Sirico
Angela D'Valda Sirico and Steve Sirico have been teaching, choreographing and producing shows for over thirty years. In 1979 they formed the Adagio team of D’Valda & Sirico after performing in shows and on television worldwide as individual dancers. Their performing credits include "Scala" Barcelona, Spain, Casino Estoril, Portugal, Theatre Royal, Oxford, England, Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Hotel Tequendama, Bogota, Columbia, Teatro Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina,and as Guest Artists for Wayne Sleep's smash hit "Dash", Dominium Theatre, London.
They were featured artists in Royal Command performances in Spain and had the privilege of performing for Princess Diana of Wales. D'Valda & Sirico's many television credits include "David Letterman", "Star Search", and "Tarde Para Todos" as well as variety shows in the U.S.A, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Portugal , Italy and Argentina. Their combination of explosive choreography and exciting partner work has been given rave reviews both nationally and internationally. Their choreography for the acclaimed "Brother Can you Spare A Dime" was commissioned by Boston Ballet II and performed by the company. Angela and Steve have owned and directed a very successful dance studio in Fairfield, Connecticut since 1987. Their students have received scholarships and contracts to American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Hartford Ballet as well as the National tours of "Fosse", "Fame" and "We Will Rock You" and on Broadway in "Chorus Line".
Angela and Steve have been on the faculty of Dance Educator's of America’s Teacher Training program. Steve is the author of his Jazz Dance syllabus and together they authored their Partner syllabus both used for Teacher Training worldwide. Angela served as Chairperson for the tri state panel of the Royal Academy of Dancing and they have taught as guest faculty for Mt. Holyoke College, Michigan State University, The University of Arkansas, Yale University and Fairfield University. They teach Master Classes in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical Jazz and Partner work all over the world including residencies in England, Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico. From 2003-2005 they were presenting faculty for Dance Teacher Magazine's Summer Teacher’s Conference in NYC.
They continue to be active as adjudicators for major dance competitions and recently choreographed the opening production number for the National Speaker's Association at their annual convention on Broadway in New York City. In 2007 Steve and Angela launched Dance Teacher Web, an online creative and business resource for teachers and dance studio owners worldwide.
Master Teachers
Charles Kelley
Charles Kelly has earned both a National and International reputation in the field of dance as a "Teacher's Teacher" and for over 40 years has consistently taught in New York City, being associated with the June Taylor , Harkness Ballet, Farnworth and Hauer , New York Centre of Dance Studios and presently the Broadway Dance Center.
Shelly Masenoir
Originally from Baltimore, MD, Shelly is a dancer, singer, teacher, television producer and choreographer and teacher in New York City. Her performing credits include Disney, Radio City Music Hall, Warner Brothers Films, Kings Productions, Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre, International Arts Festival in Italy, National and European Tours including "Fame, the Musical", Bye Bye Birdie, and West Side Story.
Louis Kavouras
MFA in Dance, BA in Theater and Dance, Case Western Reserve University. Louis Kavouras joined the UNLV Dance Faculty in 1992. In 1994 he was elected chair of the department. Kavouras has been a principal dancer of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company and faculty member of the Erick Hawkins School of Dance since 1996.
Dolly Kelepecz
Dolly Kelepecz, has been teaching as part of UNLV's part time faculty since 1983. Her first love is teaching ballet and dance. She was a professional dancer but, she now owns pilates studios around the world. She owns pilates studios in Japan, Mexico and soon to open in Korea. She has published a pilates book in Japanese that is in it's 3rd printing and it includes a DVD.
Jessica Rizzo
Jessica Rizzo is a native New Yorker and grad student in NYU’s dance education masters program. She is also a cum laude graduate with her BFA in dance performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst 5 College Dance Program. Since then, Jess, a Chancellor’s Talent Award Scholarship alumni has been fortunate to have graced stages all over the world and the US.
Michael Schulster
Michael Schulster is the creator/choreographer of the Rock n’ Roll Dance show REVOLUTION. At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, REVOLUTION opened to rave reviews. Combining Tap, Irish dance with a live rock band, the show will prove to redefine the scope of dance and theater. Recently the show premiered at Joyce Theater New York City for a three week engagement and is scheduled for a national tour.
Simone DePaolo
Simone, a native of Connecticut, studied locally prior to her acceptance into Alvin Ailey’s School of American Dance. She continued her studies in New York City before moving to Europe as a dancer/singer for cruise ships, clubs and resorts. Simone recently returned from Egypt where she headlined at the Sheraton Theatre and recently added to her television credits with appearances on Saturday Night Live.
Jonathan Whitley
Jonathan Whitley is a renowned teacher and choreographer of Hip Hop. His choreography credits include artists such as Young Fellaz from Def Jam records, Danni Alexander of VP Records and pop artist Sa'Rah. Most recently he toured with Ashanti. As a teacher he is known for his innovative classes where students not only learn the latest moves in a fun and stimulating atmosphere but are taught the most current techniques.
Jessica Smith
A faculty member at both Ballet Hispanico and Broadway Dance Center, Jessica Smith is from Omaha, Nebraska. She began her training at the Omaha Academy of Ballet and Creighton University. Ms. Smith has performed with Creighton University's Company of Dancers, Omaha Modern Dance Collective, and the Central Dance Theater.
James Whiteside
James Whiteside began his training at age nine at the D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre, under the direction of Angela D’Valda and Steve Sirico. Guest faculty at the Dance Centre includes Franco DeVita, Raymond Lukens, and Charles Kelley. James enrolled at the Virginia School of the Arts for one year under the direction of Petrus Bosman. In 2002, he joined Boston Ballet II. James has also taught ballet and jazz at competitions and conventions internationally as well as at Boston Ballet School and Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program. He was promoted to the Corps de Ballet in 2003, Second Soloist in 2006, and First Soloist in 2008.
Christine Dion
Christine has more than 25 years of international experience in the beauty industry specializing in makeup for fashion, commercials, television and dance theater. She hasdirected modeling schools, judged beauty pageants, owned Mode Dion Image Center in Los Angeles and contributed regularly to Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher and American Cheerleader Magazines. She created MODE DION Cosmetics for the special needs of performers and her website modedion.com is a full beauty resource for the industry with a great beauty shop and wonderful tips. She currently teaches makeup application and skin care nationwide at conferences and conventions as well as tours educating performance teams. Christine is the author of several self-improvement books including High Performance Beauty (a studio must have) and the producer of helpful stage makeup DVD's, each one focusing on an aspect of makeup and skin care covered in this book. Christine’s book, DVD's, products and upcoming tour schedule are available at modedion.com
Ryan Kasprzak
He is currently performing in the national tour of Billy Elliot, the Musical. Ryan appeared on SYTYCD Seasons 5 and 6 along with his brother, Evan.Ryan has been honored to perform with such legendary entertainers as Liza Minelli, Ann Reinking, Ben Vereen, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, and the Nicholas Brothers.
Anthony Carr
Has appeared in many European and American Tours with Missy Elliot and Justin Bieber. Several movies soon followed including Step Up and Hairspray, in which he played a detention kid (Dwayne). From there, Kanec had the opportunity to dance for Disney star Corbin Bleu, Omarion at the Soul Train Music Awards, and Gnarls Barkleys Video RUN which he co-choreographed with Michael Rooney. He is currently teaching in LA and NYC.
Jason Marquette
Has a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is currently on faculty at numerous studios in New York and NJ. He has been performing professionally all over the United States for the past 11 years. His credits include The Broadway National Tour of 42nd Street, The Musical (original cast), Crazy For You and Anything Goes at the Westchester Broadway Theater; Music Man, Mame and My Fair Lady at the Music Circus in Sacramento, CA; Swing, to name a few.
Adrian Wiltshire
Having the reputation of being New York's best-kept secret is an honor, but you can't keep a secret this hot for very long! The young men known as Ant Boogie, A Dub, Smirk Dollarz, JB, Kanec, C-?Smoov, and Nova perform and record together as AmountBoyz, and have been working hard to establish themselves as a premier performance group.
Jennifer Reiter
Received her MFA in Dance from New York Universitys prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Reiter has taught and choreographed for universities, theatre companies, dance schools, high schools, and dance intensives all around the country.
