Director of Dance

jessica@hopartscenter.org

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Jessica began her dance training through the Royal Academy of Dance with Mary Tolland and received coaching from Herida May for R.A.D. exams. She also studied intensely with well known teacher, Jacqueline Cronsberg. Jessica graduated from the Walnut Hill School (Natick, Massachusetts) and later attended State University New York at Purchase where she majored in dance and psychology and minored in philosophy.

Jessica began her teaching career in 1993 when she joined the faculty of Ballet Workshop New England. She was appointed Associate Director of the school in 2003. Jessica also held the position of Ballet Mistress with the Massachusetts Youth Ballet, where she worked closely with Sandra Jennings, Repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, on ballets such as Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Who Cares?, Divertimento #15, Le Baiser de la Fee, Apollo, and divertissements from The Nutcracker. That same year Jessica was appointed Artistic Director of the company.

Jessica founded MetroWest Ballet in 2005. Her students have gone on to join companies like Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Ballet Theater of Maryland, Dawson/Wallace Dance Project, Arch Contemporary Ballet, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, and Boston Dance Theater. In 2019, Jessica joined the Hopkinton Center for the Arts as its new Director of Dance. In addition to teaching dance, Jessica and her husband run a beekeeping business. She enjoys being outdoors and making ceramic honey pots. She is celebrating thirty years of teaching.

Instructor

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Haley Andrews from Middleboro, Massachusetts is a New England based dancer, choreographer, and educator. She graduated from Salve Regina University with a BA in English Communications, accompanied by her dance minor in 2018.

Following graduation Haley relocated to Boulder, CO where she developed Andrews Movement, her project based contemporary dance company. Since then, her work has been presented at Boston Contemporary Dance Festival (2018), BandChicago Dance Festival at Hubbard Street Dance (2019), Versatility Dance Fest Colorado & California (2019), Mash Up Dance’s International Women’s Day Festival in California (2022), and most recently at Festival Ballet Providence, RI Women’s Choreography Project (2022). While in CO, Haley danced for T2 Dance Company, a company based out of Boulder, CO. She spent 2019 and part of the 2020 season performing, and touring with them.

Currently, Haley teaches at various studios in RI and the greater Boston area, as well as holds a position as Adjunct Professor of Contemporary Dance at Salve Regina University for the upcoming Spring Semester. Haley will also be dancing for choreographer Jessi Stegall in her work The Theremin Vignettes for this season’s Boston Dance Makers Residency, hosted by Boston Center for the Arts. Haley Andrews is a passionate arts advocate who works to instill social and equitable change in the world, and her own community through her choreography.

Instructor

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Onalie began her classical ballet training with Connie Zadakis in a small town in western Maine, and after a year there she enrolled at Boston School of Ballet, where her teachers included Sydney Leonard and E. Virginia Williams. She then went on to attend Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts in Natick MA, and after graduating she accepted a scholarship to Chicago City Ballet School, where she had the opportunity to study with Marjorie Tallchief. She then attended the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY
Purchase, from which she received a BFA in Dance. She went on to dance professionally with Anna Myer and Dancers, Ballet New England, Connecticut Ballet Theater, Minnesota Dance Theater, New Jersey Ballet, Nicola Hawkins, and North Atlantic Ballet, as well as numerous independent contemporary choreographers based in Boston and NYC. Some of her roles include; the lead role of Firebird in Firebird,
Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Taglioni in Pas de Quatre, Dewdrop, Snow Queen, Rat Queen, Arabian and Marzipan in the Nutcracker. Other ballets she danced include Giselle, Les Sylphides, Coppelia, Paquita, Le Corsaire, Nijinska’s Les Noces, Tudor’s Dark Elegies, and Balanchine’s Elegy and Serenade.

Onalie has been teaching ballet for the past 25 years to all ages and levels from young children to adults, beginners to professionals. Most recently she taught for 14 years at Pioneer Valley Ballet in western MA where she also served as Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Assistant for their annual Nutcracker, Spring shows, YAGP, and Outreach Programs. She was also Adjunct Dance Faculty at Smith College and Dean College, teaching ballet and composition.
 

Onalie has also studied and worked as a Massage Therapist and has attended Yoga Teacher Trainings, finding that both of these forms of bodywork inform her approach as a dance teacher. She is a certified instructor of Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT), having attended the training with its creator and founder Marie Walton-Mahon in NYC in 2016. Onalie currently teaches at Developpe in Sudbury and is excited to join HCA Dance faculty.

Instructor

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Alyssa has been dancing for over 18 years and instantly fell in love with the feeling of expressing herself through movement. She knew from a very young age she wanted to one day be a dance instructor. She is trained in hip hop, ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, and lyrical but hip hop is what compelled her to want to start teaching. Alyssa loves to dance with personality, passion, and spunk and hip hop allows her to embody all three of those things. Alyssa is an alumna of the Academy of Tap, Jazz, Ballet and Hip Hop in Bellingham and has been teaching for over five years. While training at the Academy, Alyssa competed all over New England and won high awards and scholarships for several productions, solos, and group dances. She attends Bridgewater State University where she studies business and of course dance! Alyssa strives to create a positive and fun environment for each and every one of her students. She is certified through the Dance Teachers Club of Boston and loves to share her passion for dance through teaching. She feels very honored to be able to share the things she has learned, and continues to learn, to help young dancers grow in the art of dance as well as help build their self confidence. Growing up, Alyssa always looked up to her own dance teachers and is now thrilled to be a role model for young dancers here at Hopkinton Center for The Arts.

Instructor

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Laura of Southborough, MA is a  certified yoga teacher through Artemis Yoga in Watertown, MA. She studied classical ballet for twenty years under the direction of Barbara Gallager of New Salem, NY followed by Madeline Culpo of the Berkshire Ballet in Pittsfield, MA. She continued to study ballet and modern dance at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, where she graduated with a B.S. in Elementary Education and Spanish.

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After graduating, Laura taught elementary school in both NY and CT before relocating to MA. There she earned a M.Ed in Literacy from Lesley College and began teaching Reading in Needham, MA. She remained there until her second daughter was born and she made the decision to stay home with her girls.

In a constant search of movement classes, Laura found yoga in 1995 and was hooked. The vinyasa style reminded her of dancing which felt like coming home. She loves that after every practice, she feels better than when she arrived on the mat. As a teacher, that is her main goal for her students.

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Instructor

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Desiree was a professional ballerina of 15 years and now dedicates her time to teaching dance. She enjoys watching her students grow, challenge themselves, and develop a deeper appreciation towards the art of dance itself. At HCA currently works with the Excel Program and brings her expertise to students with special needs. In addition to her work at HCA, she brings her program Movement & Mindfulness to both public and private schools. She introduces mindfulness techniques and educates students on the importance of exercise and movement in their daily life. She is the proud mother of Luc, and when she's not teaching, she enjoys working out, cooking, tending to the garden, and spending time with friends and family.

Instructor

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Ashley Rosenthal of Hudson, Massachusetts studied dance and communications at Bridgewater State University from 2019-2023. She began her dance training with Cathy Hazeltine Fallon and Elaine Sisler at Studio Ballet of Hudson. She later performed with the Franklin School of Performing Arts from 2012-2014 with Cheryl Maddox and Jennifer Markham before she joined Metrowest Ballet with Jessica Wilson in 2015 and moved to Hopkinton Center for the Arts with Wilson in 2019. 

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In her time at BSU she had the opportunity to research dance through many lenses including an honors thesis exploring the gifted kid experience, as well as expanding her dance experience through designing lighting and stage managing department concerts, teaching classes to her peers, and working closely with the faculty. Other research projects included benefits of dance for students with OCD, pedagogy approaches for students who struggle with absenteeism, and exploring sustainability awareness through movement. Ashley received honors through the National Dance Education Organization as well as awards such as Leadership and Professionalism (2020, 2023) by the BSU Dance Department.

Ashley began teaching drop-in ballet classes under the mentorship of Jessica Wilson in 2019 and continued teaching peer-taught ballet classes at BSU with a focus on different learning methods and creating an inclusive and safe learning environment to all students in all dance levels. Ashley earned an internship at Jacob's Pillow in summer 2023 working with The School program. She now teaches ballet, jazz and creative dance to students at the HCA whose ages range from three years old to adult.

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Instructor

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Ms. Van Winkle, originally from Ukraine, danced with the Kiev State Dance Classical Ensemble, appearing in both principal and character roles. She has taught ballet for the Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater and the Acton School of Ballet, with many of her students accepted into top ballet schools and professional companies.

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With a master's degree in Education from Kiev State University and a master's degree in Health Education from Middlesex Community College, Ms. Van Winkle has also completed courses for a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, focusing on Sports and Dance Medicine at the University of Rhode Island. In other academic feats, she's taught at Harvard University for ART Students with an Annual Exchange and Presentation in Moscow, Russia.

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In 2005 Ms. Van Winkle co-founded the Bolshoi Summer Intensive, USA Chapter, in Cambridge, MA. For several years she was responsible for the annual audition classes of this program based in NYC and CT under the Russian-American Foundation. Ms. Van Winkle has also had the pleasure of working with gymnastic students, helping them with choreography and technique improvement. Ms. Van Winkle has taught in many ballet summer programs including FBP, FSPA, SSBT, Providence Ballet, Dance Theater of New England, and International Ballet Academy to name a few.

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