DANCE FACULTY

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Hyeree Jeong is the Director of Edgewater Performing Arts and Closter Performing Arts. Hyeree studied at the Elmhurst Ballet School , in association with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom. She earened her Masters in Ballet from Sejong University and has performed as a dancer in the Korean Ballet Theatre. 

Hyeree is American Ballet Theatre  Certified teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT teacher training intensive in  pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum and Affiliated  teacher from American Ballet Theater. She also possesses various experience in contemporary, tap, jazz, and flamenco, korean traditional dance  as well as dance choreography and drama. 

Nicole Zadra completed her ballet training in the USA and Russia. In 2012 she graduated from Manhattan Youth Ballet on merit scholarship under Daniel Ulbricht. In 2014 she graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia under Marina Leonova. She then joined The Hong Kong Ballet in 2014 as a member of Corps de Ballet where she performed in Don Quixote, Swan Lake Act III, the Choreographers Showcase, the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Turandot. In 2016 she joined Ballet Memphis where she performed in various pieces including Giselle, Peter Pan, George Balanchine’s Square Dance, The Wizard of Oz and several contemporary works. Over the years she has worked with numerous directors and choreographers including Nina Ananiashvili, Deborah Wingert, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Brian Reeder and more. She guest danced with the Atlantic City Ballet and most recently was a member of the California Ballet Company.

Nicole is an ABT certified teacher, National Training Curriculum, Pre-primary to level 3 and ABT Project Plie scholarship recipient. She is the recipient of numerous scholarships and her training includes time spent at The Alvin Ailey School, NYSSSA, The Rock School, Boston Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Nicole gained extensive performance experience during her training, with highlights including roles in La Fille Mal Gardée at the Bolshoi Theater, The Sleeping Beauty and the Hungarian Rhapsody at the Kremlin Palace in Russia, and Jerome Robbins Interplay, as well as other contemporary, character dance and jazz pieces. 

In 2011 Nicole was awarded an Alvin Ailey Fellowship. In 2012 she was a NSLI-Y Russian American Foundation, Bolshoi Ballet Academy Scholarship Award Recipient. In 2013 she was a Grishko USA Rising Star. 

Min is a performing and teaching artist based in New York City. She is professionally trained at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Art & Music and Performing Arts and holds a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College in NYC. Min is a rehearsal director and a dancer at Lydia Johnson Dance (and is a guest teacher at LJD School in South Orange, NJ). In addition, Ms. Kim is a company member of Amanda Selwyn Dance Theater, a dancer at I Love Dance Crew and is a senior instructor at I Love Dance Studios. She is also a certified yoga instructor and highly values in creating a respectful and constructive class atmosphere. She is excited to join the team at Closter Performing Arts. 

Graduated Osaka University of Arts with a degree in Ballet at theatrical performing arts devision.  Yuka is American Ballet Theatre  Certified teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT teacher training intensive in  pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT National Training Curriculum and affiliated  teacher from American Ballet Theater.

She is a certificated pilates teacher by Pilates Academy International. She is currently teaching ballet and body conditioning in NYC and teaching anatomy and yoga posture for yoga teacher training at Body Tone Yoga NY.  She has various experience in Ballet performances, events as a dancer and a choreographer

Yesseña was born and raised in New York and began her ballet training at The Dance & Music Design School, where she successfully passed her Grade 6, 8, Intermediate and Advanced I Royal Academy of Dance exams. Yesseña continued her training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Broadway Dance Center. She holds a B.A in Sociology from Hunter College. In 2013, she moved to Charlotte, NC where she danced professionally with Kinetic Works Ensemble, TAPROOT and several local theatres. Yesseña is an American Ballet Theatre certified ballet teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She successfully presented students for ABT exams for three consecutive years. Yesseña is in her last semester of graduate school at Baruch College, where she will earn her Master’s in Arts Administration. She currently works part-time at ABT as the Exams Assistant.

Susan Sorota began her professional ballet training at The New York School of Ballet with Richard Thomas.  She earned a B.F.A. in Dance from SUNY Purchase, and has also studied dance at The Schools of Cleveland, Houston, and San Francisco Ballet and at STEPS on Broadway.  Ms. Sorota has performed with the Dance Corps at Purchase, Ballet Binghamton, Eglevsky Ballet, Dance Inc. Repertory Company, and Felice Lesser Dance Theater.  After making the decision to pursue a different career field, she continued to perform in local productions of original choreography, including Cinderella and the Nutcracker.  Ms. Sorota first started teaching ballet while still in high school.  She began teaching children in the Bergen County area in 2007 and currently teaches all levels of ballet, from the very young ones up through and including Adults.  In September 2021, Ms. Sorota became an ABT Certified Teacher for ABT's National Training Curriculum in Levels Pre-Primary to Level 3.  In addition, she has completed the Leap ‘N Learn Early Childhood Dance Program, as well as the Karma Kids Children’s Yoga Teacher Training Program.  Ms. Sorota lives in Glen Rock and has three children.  Proudly, her two daughters both studied ballet until graduation from high school, and her eldest daughter has gone on to dance professionally with The Washington Ballet.

Photo Credit for headshot:  Cristina Tummillo

Lili began studying in Caracas, Venezuela and received her greatest guidance under Nina Novak in the Vaganova Method. At age 11, she was accepted into the Royal Ballet School in London, England. Four years later, she graduated to the Royal Ballet Upper School, where she studied for 3 more years while also performing as an apprentice with the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. She was offered a contract with the Saddler’s Wells Royal Ballet, dancing in the corps de ballet and was soon thereafter promoted to coryphée and then soloist.

Lili was fortunate to work with, and create roles for, some of the most prominent choreographers of the 20th century including Dame Ninette de Valois, Sir Peter Wright, Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolph Nureyev and David Bintley, to name but a few. While with the Saddler’s Wells Royal Ballet she participated in the company’s many international tours, dancing in all the major classics as well as contemporary works.

Upon arriving in the United States, she performed a variety of principle guest work with other companies, including the title role in Cinderella with Ballet Arizona.
 Since retiring from performing, Lili has taught at many studios throughout California, Arizona, New York and New Jersey, at elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. Throughout her teaching years, Lili has given private lessons and coached students for upcoming roles and auditions. She has also choreographed, rehearsed and mounted productions for bi-annual performances, as well as creating small group pieces for competitions, which won top awards.

ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Gleidson Vasconcelos Hoffmann is an award winning performing artist, dancer, teacher and choreographer. The American artist was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil and started dancing at the age of 10 at Studio Arte Dança. He studied with Adriana Gonsalves, Liudmila Polonskaya, Svetlana Osieva, Galina Yordanova, Olivier Pardina, Pablo Moret and Magaly Suarez. He studied at The Harid Conservatory and The School of American Ballet. Awards and Honors includes Gold Medal World Ballet Competition, Best Choreography Award at World Ballet Competition, 1st Place Festival Internacional de Danca de Joinville, Silver Medal at Youth America Grand Prix Finals, Rudolf Nureyev Fellowship, Jeannot B. Cerroni Outstanding Artist in Performance. His Company Performances include Ballet Arizona, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami and Jose Mateo Ballet Theater. His repertoire includes lead and assemble roles in Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Paquita, Harlequinade, Giselle, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Flames of Paris, La Vivandiere, The Fairy Doll, Cinderella , The Cavalry Halt, Serenade, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Concerto Barocco, Carnival of the Animals, Carmen, Porgy and Bass, Raymonda, Petit Elfs, Blue Danube Waltz, Staccato, La Fille Mal Gardee, Excerpt from my Life, Charlie Chaplin, Time out of Memory, Mambo Italiano, Topia and Diversions.A former member of dance faculty at the Rock School For Dance Education, Princeton Dance and Theatre Studio, Arizona Dance Project, Philadelphia High School for Performing and Creative Arts , Philadelphia Dance Theatre, Highspire Ballet Academy, Ballet Tech, Dance Theatre of Harlem School and Greenwich Conservatory Classical Ballet. Mister Gleidson is an American Ballet Theatre® certified teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. Currently in the ballet faculty of  Cynthia King Dance Studio, American Youth Dance Theater, Closter Performing Arts, Edgewater Performing Arts, Central Park Dance Studio and Jete dance Studio.

Erika Gilmore is a choreographer and dancer based out of Brooklyn, NY. Her latest work was set on the Steps on Broadway Conservatory dancers and was featured in Whitewave’s Dumbo Dance Festival. Born and raised in Florida, Erika has been teaching for nearly 10 years to dancers at all stages in their dance journey. She draws inspiration from life’s  most raw and earnest life experiences to create a nurturing environment allowing for the love of dance to develop in her students. Above all else, storytelling is a constant throughout her work. Erika works closely with the next generation of dancers building on this idea; guiding them to bring humanity into all they do.

Dani Loewen is very excited to join the faculty for her first season at Closter Performing Arts. She began dancing at the age of 3. She grew up in NJ, training primarily at the Dance Academy of North Jersey. Here she studied under Mark Burrell, Tom Richardson, Jaclyn Walsh, Amber Perkins, Jason Luks and Joelle Cosentino. Dani’s passion led her to The University of the Arts under the Direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. While at UArts Dani performed works by Katie Swords Thurman, Jesse Zaritt, Sidra Bell, Roni Koresh, Wayne St. David, Teddy Tedholm and Netta Yerushalmy. During her final semester she interned/apprenticed for Project Moshen Dance Company and joined At the Brink Dance Projects as a company member. She performed in Fertile Ground and DUMBO Dance Festival 2018 with At the Brink Dance Projects. Dani was the assistant choreographer for DanceXplosion National Finals 2018 in Lake George, NY and Wildwood, NJ. She performed in APAP 2019 and New Wave 2019 with JKing/Joyce King Dance Company. Dani recently appeared as a featured dancer in both Season 6 ep.10 of the Showtime Series, Billions, and Universal Pictures Intl. France’s upcoming film, Mon Héroïne. Dani just made her regional theatre debut performing  in Pagosa Springs Colorado’s Thingamajig Theatre in this summer’s productions of Bright Star, Guys and Dolls and The SpongeBob Musical. She absolutely loves sharing her passion of dance with all ages and styles, but is not ready to give up the stage. Dani has been teaching, choreographing and directing programs for competitive and recreational dancers since 2018. She hopes to soon join the Actor’s Equity Association. She is excited to see what the future holds.

With a diverse dance background, Alice has learned much about discipline, poise, grace, technique, and most importantly expression through movement. She has a ten year background in Chinese cultural dance and has trained in many different styles to date. She’s also had the privilege of dancing with RDT, A Rhythm Company, VEN15, aKompany, and BOLD - all companies based in the East Coast Dance Community.
As she continues to grow, she feels privileged to receive opportunities to take part in a range of projects and gigs, such as dancing for BTS at MetLife Stadium, choreograph and dance for various brands, as well as being able to teach classes and intensives. Currently she teaches in New York City as she takes on upcoming projects. She is always looking to better herself as a dancer by finding new ways to develop her craft. Alice is very thankful for all the love and support she has received throughout this journey and hopes to be a role model and an inspiration to those who watch her move. 

Mia Buchanan studied academic art and graphic design in Japan and continued her education at Parsons New School in New York. She has achieved a Bachelor honors degree in Graphic design at The Art Institute in Philadelphia and specializes in visual arts.  After many years as a graphic designer she decided to focus on her art career. She has exhibited her art works in New York and New Jersey Art galleries.  For the past 4 years, Mia has been teaching students of all ages with varying skill sets ranging from beginner to advanced artists. 

Monica Yoo has always had a strong interest and passion about art since she was young. She had been studying for an AFA degree in Fine Art and kept focusing on a BFA degree in Metal/Jewlery/CAD-CAM and had graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia. After completing her bachelor degree, she worked as a jewelry designer in the NY/NJ area for several years where she gained valuable experience on market trends and creativity of design. At the same time, she has been teaching art students for many years since she was in Art School and continuing her career as an art instructor. 

 An artist since childhood, Christine Advincula has made her passion her profession. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Digital Media from Marist College, she went on to work as a graphic and web designer, and mobile game artist. After realizing she wanted to use art to make a positive impact, she switched gears to teaching. She has 4 years of experience teaching art and tech classes in the Westchester, NY school system. Endlessly curious, she practices many hobbies in her spare time, including crochet, knitting, and food photography.