Faculty

As a recreational dance school, our teachers are committed to creating an encouraging environment where children are able to express themselves freely through motion. By emphasizing self-exploration and creativity, we are able to help students transform their imaginations into movement. We not only aim to teach dance skills and technique, but also focus on fostering teamwork and listening abilities, commitment, and self-esteem.

Our hope is for students, regardless of ability, to engage in the wonderful world of dance and love it while doing so.

Christine

Axel

Claire

Emilie

Jen

Jess

Lauren

Lella

Meg

NaShaya

Nick

Raffi

Sam

Shannon

Sheila

It's more than just dance!

Lella

Lella (she/her) danced at the Dance Place for nine years and is now in her fourth year of teaching for us and her third year of choreographing for our On Broadway Dancers. Along with working at Dance Place, she works at Ready Set Kids as a preschool teacher and goes to school at Boston College for her Masters in Social Work. She is excited to watch all her students grow as individuals and dancers!

Sam

Sam has been going to dance camp at Dance Place since she was 4 and started dancing there for real when she turned 10. She excitedly joined our dance team freshman year of high school. Sam continued to dance at Stonehill College in their dance club. She has been back teaching (and dancing in the Nutcracker) at Dance Place since 2015. Outside of her time at Dance Place she is also a teacher during the school year.

Sheila

I have been teaching at Dance Place since 1998. Fun fact, Christine and I danced together as children and have been close friends ever since. Positive coaching, empowering children and creating an all inclusive, supportive dance environment is very important to me. My goal is to have every child/teen leave my class feeling good about themselves and spreading that positivity to people in their circles. I wear many hats, in addition to teaching dance, I am a counselor, business owner, essential oils connoisseur and spiritual intuitive teacher. In my free time, I enjoy snowboarding, learning to ride a motorcycle, hiking and exploring. Boston is my favorite city in the world.

Shannon Hirsch

Shannon Hirsch is a proud alum of Dance Place, and she is so excited to be spending her Saturday mornings at the studio again! Shannon danced for 15 years at Dance Place and is trained in a multitude of styles, including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Contemporary, as well as performing in The Nutcracker All Jazz’d Up and being a member of The Dance Team. She also has an extensive background in Musical Theatre performance, and she incorporates these skills into her dance classes whenever possible. Shannon is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts Amherst and currently teaches High School English in North Andover. She is so happy to share her love of dance with your child and looks forward to dancing through the year together!

Christine McDonald

Christine has been the owner / director of Dance Place for 31 years. She began her dance training at local studios and continued on to earn a Minor in Dance from UMass Boston. She loves to continue learning more about dance through online courses and local events. This summer she attended the Rhee Gold Dance Life Teachers Conference. Outside of the studio she has 2 boys – Alex & Nicholas (who both grew up dancing at the studio!) and her dog Snowball. She loves spending time with family, kayaking and crafting.

Raffi Pontes

Raffi Pontes (she/her/hers) has been a part of the Dance Place community for over 25 years – first as a student, and more recently as a teacher and Dance Team instructor. In 2015, she completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Skidmore College, where she also had the privilege of learning from and performing works by dance faculty and students, as well as choreographing for the student tap group, Stompin’ Soles. Since moving back to Boston, Raffi has had the opportunity to perform with freelance groups including Connections Dance Theater & Attn: Dance. In addition to dancing and teaching, Raffi just completed her MPH at Harvard University and works as a Registered Nurse. She is passionate about storytelling and exploring how dance and other art forms can be a tool for building empathy, promoting social justice, and creating healthier communities.

Megan

Megan (she/her) began dancing at the age of 4 and since that time has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop and various street genres. After 13 years of training with Dance Place, she has been back teaching for 3. Megan has taught at a variety of studios in the New England area, both recreational and competitive. Megan also teaches the Hip Hop portion of Arlington Community Education after school classes for K-3. She performs with Boston based freelance groups, including, Boston Community Dance Project and Dance Works Boston. Megan is always looking to continue to expand her skills for teaching dance by participating in workshops and conventions. As a dance teacher, Megan strives for her students to feel confident, comfortable, motivated and inspired by the environment they are in. Megan wants to see her students feel proud of their accomplishments, and enjoy each small step of their growth on their dance journey!

Jess Curran

Jess Curran is a Dance Place alum who danced with us from age 2 until she graduated high school in May 2019. At Dance Place she took a variety of classes such as ballet, pointe, jazz, and contemporary. She also was a member of the Dance Team. After high school, Jess went on to College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In May 2023 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a Dance minor. As a dance minor she studied styles such as ballet, jazz, modern, and balinese dance. While at Holy Cross, Jess was also a member of the college’s Dance Ensemble. As a member of the Dance Ensemble she was the jazz choreographer for 3 years and participated in both the jazz and contemporary ensemble classes. Additionally, she served as the Co Chair of the club her junior and senior year, which involved organizing all showcases and choreographing all-ensemble performances. Jess was also a member of the Holy Cross Dance Team for 3 years, where she performed jazz and hip-hop routines at the college’s football and basketball games. In addition to teaching dance, Jess works as a College Advisor and Admissions Counselor at a school in Lexington. She is very excited to be back at Dance Place as a teacher, and she is ready to share her passion for dance with her students and help them learn and grow as dancers this year!

Emilie Hurley

Emilie Hurley began her dance career at Arlington Dance Place at the age of 5, when she started on a long journey of taking a multitude of classes (including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Modern, and more) and continued dancing with us until she graduated high school in 2017. While dancing at Dance Place, Emilie also performed in the Nutcracker All Jazz’d Up for many years, as well as, performed extensively with our performance group, On Broadway Dancers. After graduating high school, Emilie attended Clemson University in South Carolina to pursue a degree in Health Science. While at Clemson, she continued dancing with two student organizations, Clemson Dancers and Tiger Strut Dance Company. Her senior year, Emilie was elected President of Clemson Dancers, where she was in charge of anything and everything having to do with planning and executing their annual Spring Showcase. Throughout her time at Clemson, Emilie also worked with some of our On Broadway Dancers through choreography for their annual competition. Emilie graduated from Clemson in May of 2021 and now attends the University of Massachusetts: Lowell to pursue a Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy. Emilie looks forward to meeting new people through her teaching at the Dance Place and is very happy to be back sharing her love for dance with her students!

Nick

Young b-boy from Russia and experienced break dance teacher now based in Boston. By dedicating his life to this direction of hip-hop culture, he became the champion of his region and founded a break dance school in Russia. Having a huge layer of knowledge in the field of teaching kids and anyone that was interested just by using simple English language, about each direction of breaking: top rock, go down’s, footwork, freezes, power move’s

NaShaya Wornum

NaShaya Wornum is a female artist of the african diaspora whose distinct combination of techniques of dance communicates humanities existence through storytelling. NaShaya began her dance career in Hip Hop and African Dance. She danced locally with her community already immersed in the culture, learning the significance of carrying on tradition. Through a respite from Boston’s mainstream dance community NaShaya discovered her own methods of speaking to her audience. Within a year she was independently performing her own choreography. The solidification of her foundations derive from street dance styles, time spent at Uptown Dance, and Stajez. Soon after she began a more formal introduction to ballet and modern dance at 4 Star Dance studio. From there, she went on to train at Boston Arts Academy where she furthered her knowledge of modern and ballet.

Going back home; NaShaya has been training in Hip Hop’s Popping form at Stiggy East under Ashton “Stackz” Lites. NaShaya stands to pay respect to the street styles that are so often taken from and origins forgotten or erased. Her Hip Hop studies continue in the form of participating in the myriad aspects of the community’s culture. Using a blend of learned techniques and forms, NaShaya strives to unite people in a global understanding that transcends race, gender, and class.

Jennifer Kuhnberg

Jennifer Kuhnberg is the Director of OnStage Dance Company, choreographer and dance instructor. In addition to creating new work for OnStage productions each season, Jen’s work has been featured in the Providence Movement Festival, Dance for World Community, Southern Vermont Dance Festivals, NACHMO Boston & NYC and 12 Dancers Dancing. She choreographed the evening-length productions: What Is Love? (2015-19). Selichot (2017), and Heartbeat: A Modern Dance Rock Concert (2013-14) and produced several dance festivals including: OnStage Summer Performance Series, OnStage 360°, Empower One Another and The Malden Dance Mile. Jen has worked as a dance instructor in Boston-area studios and programs, for over 15 years.

Claire Lane

Claire Lane is a Boston-based dance artist and educator. In May of 2020 she graduated summa cum laude from Smith College with a B.A. in Dance and French Studies with the distinction of highest honors. A recipient of the Five College Dance Department Virginia K. Wagner Scholarship and the Smith College Excellence in Dance Studies award, she has performed in works by Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, Ephrat Asherie, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, and Rodger Blum. Claire has presented her own choreography at Smith College, The Dance Complex in Boston, MA, and through virtual platforms including freeskewl’s FERN performance series and NACHMO Boston’s 2021 virtual showcase. A language enthusiast and global artist-scholar, Claire has pursued further dance training internationally at P.A.R.T.S under the direction of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Belgium, and at Trinity Laban Conservatory in London. In 2015, she played the principal role of Dorothy in a production of “The Wizard of Oz” which was selected to represent the United States at the Surin International Folklore Festival in Thailand. As a freelance professional dancer, Claire is currently working on projects with Holly Stone/ StoneWork Productions and as a Shuffle Cohort Teacher and Community Outreach Coordinator for Midday Movement in Cambridge, MA.

Fun Fact: Claire is also a practitioner of Yoga, Pilates, and Franklin Method! She has incorporated her somatic knowledge into her teaching as a Debate and Public Speaking Coach for high-schoolers.

A language enthusiast and globally-minded artist-scholar, Claire believes in the transformative power of dance as a medium of communication that can bridge cultural, ethnic, and educational differences to create experiences of shared import. Her teaching embraces dance as a communal practice of developing somatic strategies to embody the fullness of our imagination, radiating from the studio out into the world.