Many years ago Miss Jeneane's dance teacher, Miss Jane asked her to student teach, assisting her and another teacher in class. Miss Jane was her mentor and not only did she teach her to dance, but she taught Miss Jeneane to teach as well. She passed on her passion for dancing and teaching and instilled in her a love for the art that could be replaced by no other. Some 30 years later Miss Jeneane is still dancing, still teaching and certainly passing on the passion to every student who walks through the door and onto the dance floor. She is inspired daily by students and their parents and spends her days encouraging personal development within all of her kids, including her two sons Cole, 6 and Connor, 5. Miss Jeneane hopes that her students will always hear her voice as a positive influence, not only in the studio, but also for years to come. She is a dance educator and she claims that her dance knowledge is the result of multiple gifts from teachers she has met throughout her life of dance.
Miss Laura Cozzens - Instructor
Miss Laura began her adventure at The Turning Pointe after attending a friend's dancing birthday party. She had so much fun that she enrolled in classes and has been dancing (and teaching) ever since. She had the opportunity to student and assistant teach under Miss Jeneane for many years before graduating high school in 2004. Laura loves dance...and the Turning Pointe so much that she has stayed on board taking classes and teaching even during her college years at St. Joseph's University. After Laura graduated in May 2008, she started her career in education but continued to work and dance at The Turning Pointe. Miss Laura has no plans to leave the world of dance even as she ventures into the "real world." Teaching children is her passion.
Miss Megan Ferrese - Instructor
Miss Megan has been dancing as long as she's been walking. Dancing in her family is a tradition that began with her grandmother, was passed to her mom, (who is still taking classes,) to herself and her younger sister..."Miss Michelle" and finally to her son Brady, 4, also dances at the Turning Pointe. She fondly remembers her grandmother teaching her "oldtime" dances when she was young. The Berkshire Dance Theatre in Adams, MA became home away from home throughout her school years. While under the instruction of Susan Hakes at BDT she had the opportunity to perform at various local and regional groups including in plays at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as well as the Albany Berkshire Ballet's annual Nutcracker productions. Her family even moved to be closer to the studio since they were there 5 or 6 days a week. She left home to venture to Cabrini College where she majored in English/Communications and continued to take dance classes at area studios. During her senior year of college ('99-'00) she stumbled across the Turning Pointe while driving 2 girls that she babysat to their weekly lessons. After watching a Turning Pointe recital she enrolled in ballet class in the Fall of 2000 and shortly after began teaching at the Turning Pointe. Sharing her love of dance with students is her main objective along with a good challenge and most importantly...FUN!!! Dance to her is an escape from the mundane tasks of everyday life, a chance to be free to move along with the music, while not worrying about anything else in the world.
Miss Mariel Velez - Instructor
Miss Mariel has been influenced in dance since and early age by her sister, Miss Juliette, (who taught many years at the Turning Pointe before venturing to California.) Miss Mariel began dancing at the Turning Pointe when she was 11 and quickly moved through the levels. She is extremely involved with every aspect of the studio helping out whenever needed with everything from office work to teaching, dancing and even technical aspects, (such as hooking up audio equipment and fixing computer problems.) She loves to share her dance knowledge with her students and continues to take classes in every discipline possible as well. She's also a student at Villanova University majoring in Business. Just like her sister, Mariel absolutely loves the Turning Pointe and dance in general.
Miss Michelle Zustra - Instructor
Miss Michelle joined the Turning Pointe as it's Modern teacher after finishing her degree in Dance from Adlephi University in Garden City, NY. She saw that her sister, "Miss Megan" was having so much fun with the students at the Turning Pointe that she simply couldn't resist. While at Adelphi, she performed under the instruction of and took classes from many well known choreographers and was able to take classes at some of New York's finest studios. She even spent a summer at NYU doing an intensive workshop. Before College Michelle danced since an early age along with her sister at the Berkshire Dance Theatre in Adams, MA. She also studied with the Albany Berkshire Ballet in Pittsfield, MA and in the Manchester Ballet's annual production of the Nutcracker. Michelle lives to dance and loves to share her knowledge with her students.
Mr. Tyger - Instructor
Mr.Tyger joined the Turning Pointe last year to teach the Hip Hop classes and has since added senior modern to his class list.
Best known as Tyger-B, this individual has strived to go beyond expected limits. The gift of dance has allowed him to grasp many forms of movement, create many scales of choreography and teach many students knowledge of time and space. Training first in his home city of Washington, D.C., Tyger-B reached out to seek the knowledge of all styles of Hip Hop, Capoeira, Dance Hall, and many other styles through many hours of focus and sweat. After graduating from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and studying the techniques of ballet, jazz, modern, tap, African along with many more, he decided to tap into his first job as a dancer and went on to choreograph for recording artists such as R&B artist “Ginuwine,” R&B artist “Young Steff,” many dance companies, and dance studios around Pennsylvania. Tyger-B’s assertive attitude allows him to excel in any field he puts his mind to while keeping in mind that this gift of dance can be taken away at any time.
Through it all, Tyger-B chooses to give his skills and knowledge back first to the Lord and Savior, and then to those who wish to take a piece of his positivity and encouragement, on and off stage, in or out of class.
