JOANNE CAREY:
Owner/Artistic Director
Joanne Carey, owner and artistic director since the fall of 1998, is pleased to be sharing her love of dance at WSOD. A professional, actress, dancer, and singer Joanne’s work has been seen throughout the tri-state area as well as Canada and Bermuda. She appeared as a soloist and company member for many years with Andrew Jannetti & Dancers, a NYC based Modern Dance Company, in such venues as the Forum Theatre and The George Street Playhouse, as well as Dance Theatre Works NYC, St. Marks Place, Brooklyn Arts, Joyce SoHo and the newly renovated Duke Theatre on 42nd Street. She has performed with such artists as
Gene Kelly, Liza Minelli and Shirley Maclaine. Her theatre credits include Annelle, “Steel Magnolias” and Julie from “Jake’s Women” (to name a few). Joanne has worked in both the Industrial Film and Voice over Industry. She has also worked with Papermill Playhouse and their artist-in-schools program as well as Papermill’s Summer Musical Conservatory.
Joanne served for five years as both a board member and executive board member of Dance New Jersey, a service organization committed to promoting the excellence and excitement of dance in the state of NJ, where she worked alongside NJ’s premiere dance companies, educators, mentors and colleagues to successfully break the barrier and forge working relationships between the neighborhood dance studio and the professional dance academy.
Joanne received her BA degree from Rutgers College in French and Political Science, taking her abroad to study at the Sorbonne in Paris, France where she holds a business certificate for International Commerce from the Paris Chamber of Commerce and is recognized as a lifetime member of Cambridge Who’s Who of Successful Women in Business.
She received her education in dance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, and in the masters program for Dance Education at New York University as well as in theatre at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Joanne’s goal is not only to offer the finest dance education to children and adults alike, but to establish WSOD as a major learning center for artistic excellence. She continues her own weekly ballet training at Princeton Dance & Theatre Studio and assures you her love of children and the Arts will bring you continued excellence and an exciting future at WSOD.
Gina Misko:
Pre-school, Ballet, Hip-Hop
Gina joined our team in 2008. She received her dance training at The Joffrey Ballet School, NYC, Princeton Ballet, and Somerset Vo-tech. Gina additionally spent time training at Broadway Dance Center, Steps and Central Florida Ballet. Her performance credits include Sea World, Pleasure Island, Disney World, and Wide World of Sports and the Italian Opera Showcase where she performed internationally as a soloist. Gina has also performed with such ballet companies as New Jersey Ballet and Ballet L’Opera de Bordeaux.
Alexandra Fredas:
Pre-School, Little Stars, Jazz, Ballet, Modern
Alexandra is a graduate of Bucknell University with a degree in Anthropology and Dance. Alex grew up through The Westfield School of Dance since the age of 2 ½. Proficient in all areas of dance, Alex has also served as Stage Manager for WSOD's spring productions, back stage work-study coordinator, substitute teacher and office assistant. She also volunteers her time assisting with WSOD’s Little Stars Program. While attending Bucknell University, Alex danced and choreographed her own works for several of Bucknell’s dance showcases. In addition, she took on the task of organizing, overseeing and student directing many of Bucknell’s dance performances. During her senior year, Alexandra choreographed Bucknell’s touring production of School House Rock Live! In the summer of 2007, she made her NYC modern dance debut as a part of Kelly Knox’s production, ObKNOXious Dance. This past March, Alex performed in the “I’ll Have What She’s Having” Dance Project as a part of Susan Tenney’s modern dance and continues to work with Ms. Tenney in performing and expanding the piece.
Melissa Birnbaum:
Modern, Jazz, pre-school
Melissa is from New York City and has A BFA from Boston Conservatory. She was also a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Melissa has performed works by choreographers such as Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Judith Jamison, Murray Louis, David Parker, Earl Mosley, Max Luna III, Kurt Douglas and many others. She is a company member of the Sokolow Theatre /Dance Ensemble, performing the great works of master choreographer and pioneer of works of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman under the direction of Deborah Carr and Gail Corbin. She has also worked with Dance Theatre Be and MTV Productions Ice Ball with Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Snoop Dogg and Ja Rule. In addition to her dance career, Melissa is a professional photographer and founder of Meems Images
Jung Soo Kim:
Ballet
Ms. Kim received a Masters of Arts in Dance Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (“NYU”), where she graduated from NYU’s newly designed concentration: American Ballet Theatre (“ABT”) Ballet Pedagogy. She is also an ABT Certified Teacher, successfully completing the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the 2009 ABT National Training Curriculum. Ms. Kim was born in Seoul, Korea and began her professional ballet training at the age of eight. She received her BA degree from Sung Kyun Kwan University, where she double majored in Dance and Business Administration, and is a graduate of Kaywon High School of Arts. Ms. Kim also received training at the Seoul Ballet Theatre and completed the Ekaterina Maximova Intensive Workshop. Ms. Kim has performed in numerous classical ballets include Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, and Paquita. Ms. Kim has extensive experience teaching ballet in Seoul, Korea and New York. She enjoys teaching class with a sensible, clear and fun approach; requiring her students to build a solid foundation as a prerequisite for further advancement.
Dana Franciosa:
Ballet
Ms. Franciosa received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of The Arts and an Associate of Fine Arts from Raritan Valley Community College where she graduated with Academic Honors. She has taught in several dance studios, after school dance programs and Pre-school movement programs. She has preformed Modern Repertory by Julia Ritter, Randy James and Loretta Fois. She has also appeared in NJ Ballets Cinderella, Esmeralda and The Nutcracker. Ms. Franciosa is on staff at NJ Ballet as an assistant teacher.
