Donna Leonard, Artistic Director
27 year member of Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston/American Society, and graduate of their Dance Education Training Course, Donna has a long history in dance education. In addition to her thirty-year long career as a dance instructor, she has performed and choreographed several shows for local theater groups throughout the Greater Boston area. She helped to produce and was choregrapher for the Melrose Arts Festival in 1999, sponsored by Melrose Public Schools. Her professional credits include several roles with Melrose Youth Ballet, including Rehearsal Assistant, Ballet Mistress, Assistant Director, and Associate Director in 2001 and 2002. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the DTCB D.E.T.C. , held annually in Randolph, MA. Throughout this program she has had the pleasure of working alongside guest teachers such as E. Laura Haussman, Dianne Gudat and Tom Ralabate of Buffalo University in NY. Donna’s career continues to focus on dance education in the classroom, and she remains active in the field of dance education through attending meetings and conventions annually. Her nurturing approach in the classroom brings her the reward of not only instructing her students in dance technique, but also of becoming a lifelong mentor and friend to them as they enter the professional and academic world.
Christina Leonard-Kristan, Assistant Director / Choreographer
Christina started her dance training at a young age under the direction of her mother, Donna Leonard and the notable Miranda Sugarman. Studying all genres of dance led her towards a well-rounded career in dance education. She has worked with children of all ages in several studios throughout the Boston area for ten years. Christina has developed a unique creative-based curriculum for young dancers between the ages of 3 and 4 and works extensively with intermediate and advanced level dancers of all ages both recreationally and competitively. As the Assistant Director of Center Stage Dance Studio, she works alongside her mother in offering a well-rounded educational approach to the art of dance. In 2000, Christina graduated from the Dance Teachers Club of Boston Dance Education Training Program. She was installed as a member of DTCB in 2001 and has remained an active teacher in the field of dance education through attending annual conventions and workshops throughout the Boston area. In July 2011 she attended the Dance Teacher Summit in NYC where she had took several master classes with teachers such as Luigi, Mandy Moore, Diane Vogel, Finis Jhung, and Doug Caldwell among others. Christina holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University. Throughout college she performed with the tap team, BU on Tap, and the Dance Theatre troupe at the College of Fine Arts. She has choreographed for local theater productions and has received numerous choreography awards at local & regional dance competitions. She also works at the Tony Williams Dance Center in Jamaica Plain; home of Ballet Rox and the Urban Nutcracker. Christina also works as the Assistant Director for Melrose Youth Ballet, a non-profit organization that offers professional full-scale performance opportunities to dancers between the ages of 7 and 18.
Jaclyn (Capozzi) Demianiuk, Program Director/Choreographer
A native of Saugus, Massachusetts, Jaclyn began her study of dance at a young age under the direction and guidance of Donna Leonard. Jaclyn received her B.A. in dance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2005. While studying at Umass she performed with many troupes including: Univeristy Dancers, Alive With Dance, Emerging Choreographer’s Series, The Multiband Concert in The Blue Danube Walze, and the American College Dance Festival of America. Her most notable performances were George Balanchine’s Serenade (under the direction of Victoria Simon) and Time (under the direction of Mark Davis). She had the opportunity to receive the highest level of training by participating in workshops and classes by renowned companies and choreographers such as: Paul Taylor, Hubbard Street Dance, Pearl Primis, and American Ballet Theatre II. In 2002, Jaclyn received the Chancellor’s Talent Award Scholarship given to a student who shows excellence and high potential in dance. In June 2000, Jaclyn completed the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston Teacher Training Program. She was the recipient of the American Academy of Jazz Scholarship in her second year. She was installed as a member to DTCB in March 2007. Jaclyn has been an active teacher and choreographer for many years, currently at Center Stage Dance Studio in Melrose and the Kathy McCrohon Dance Center in Needham. She serves as a judge to several dance competitions throughout New England. This past summer she worked at Camp Pontiac in Copake, NY. Working as the Dance Director to the program, she staged full scale production involving girls from 6-16. Since 2005, Jaclyn has been the resident Artistic Director for Melrose Youth Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker.
Katie Egan, Teaching Faculty
Katie started her dance training at a young age at Judith Clark Academy of Dance in Melrose. She received extensive training in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz and lyrical dance. She graduated from Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston/American Society’s Dance Teacher Training Course in 2000 and after graduating from Melrose High School in 2002 went on to study dance at Connecticut College. While pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree, she studied with David Dorfman, Doug Elkins, Jeremy Nelson, Eddie Taketa, Heidi Henderson, Lan Lan Wang, Lisa Race and Robyn Watkins, among others. After graduating Cum Laude in 2006, Katie taught creative movement classes at the Kingsley Montessori School in Boston. In 2007, she joined Tribe The Dance Company, with whom she rehearses year round and performs all over New England. In 2011, she earned her AFAA Group Exercise certification and currently teaches group exercise and dance classes at the recreation facilities at Harvard University, where she is the Assistant General Manager.
Elizabeth Leonard, Adjunct Faculty
