Staff Bios

---

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR /BALLET DIRECTOR

Melissa grew up in sunny South Florida. She attended Palm Beach County School of the Arts for ballet and modern dance. She attended several schools including Jon Mullen’s, Florida Dance Conservatory, Boca Ballet Theater, and Klein Dance for deeper concentration in ballet and modern dance. She also had the opportunity to study the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) syllabus early in her teaching career. She danced with several companies throughout South Florida including Boca Ballet Theater, Corps Chameleon, Millennium Dance Syndicate, and performed as a guest artist with several companies as well. She was also accepted to North Carolina School of the Arts for college, but declined and continued dancing and teaching locally in South Florida.

In 2007, Melissa moved to Los Angeles to teach and continue her training. She was on scholarship with many great teachers, while continuing to teach. While training in Los Angeles, she built a ballet program and two performing ballet companies at Le Studio Dance in Pasadena. She choreographed an hour long Nutcracker and a short ballet "Alice in Wonderland", along with many other short ballets and contemporary pieces. Le Studio was later voted “Best Dance Studio” of Pasadena.

Melissa moved back to South Florida in 2011 and continues her work as an active choreographer and as the Director of Ballet for Wellington Ballet Theatre, choreographing several full-length ballets each year. She has also been teaching for Dance Arts Conservatory Center for the Performing Arts since 2011 and is now director of their ballet program as well.

Melissa has had students accepted into many programs such as American Ballet Theater (ABT), Boston Ballet trainee program, Gelsey Kirland's Academy, Julliard, Los Angeles School of the Arts, Arizona University, The Rock School, Joffrey Chicago, Orlando Ballet, BAK school of the Arts and The Colburn Pre-Professional Training Program.  She is also wrapping up her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and believes these studies have been a tremendous help in understanding her students and their development. Melissa is an ABT Certified teacher who has successfully completed the ABT Teaceher Training intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum.

BEGINNER BALLET TEACHER

Elizabeth is a 2nd generation Florida native who grew up dancing with studios and companies in Palm Beach County. In high school, she performed regularly at local events like SunFest, the South Florida Fair, the Delray Affair, and she competed and won many awards nationally in Orlando and Los Angeles, was invited to compete internationally in Japan, performed at half-time with the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders, and was invited to perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She took a break from dance while earning her BFA in Fine Arts and her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University.  


No matter if she is teaching in South Florida classrooms, running children's camps, coaching swim team, or simply being a mom, Elizabeth's priority has always been to create a safe and nurturing environment where children can thrive.  For the past decade, her focus has been on homeschooling her 2 children, Arik and Ariel. Now that her children are older, she is happy to have returned to the studio where she continues her own ballet studies as an adult dancer. Dance is a source of absolute joy in her life and with the advice and training of talented and inspiring teachers at Dance Arts Conservatory, Paris Ballet, Ballet Florida, Orlando Ballet and DUCON's summer ballet intensives, Elizabeth has much wisdom to share. She is excited to be joining our staff as our Primary through Level 2 Ballet instructor. 

BEGINNER TAP/JAZZ

ACRO & LYRICAL TEACHER

Natalia  Torano has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She graduated with  distinction in dance from The Kings Academy and participated in school  musicals and dance showcases. Natalia is currently studying at Palm  Beach State College.

At  TADA, she has performed as the Ballerina Doll in The Nutcracker,  Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, and Captain Hook in Peter Pan. She  has also assisted in TADA’s musical theatre summer camp for several  years.

Natalia is excited to continue dancing through teaching and sharing her love of performance with students.

MUSICAL THEATER CHOREOGRAPHER

ADULT TAP & JAZZ TEACHER 

Ms Demi is a professional actor, dancer and singer and the resident choreographer for youth musical theatre productions at TADA. She is an alumni of BAK Middle School of Arts and Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of Arts. She has been working in the performing arts industry for many years making her breakthrough in regional theatre at the age of 12.  She has been featured on several national TV commercials and on “David Makes Man” on the OWN network.  She was a co-founder and choreographer for CAST (Collaborative Artists Singing Troupe) and WAVE (Wellington Artists Vocal Ensemble). Both these non-profit youth organizations served the community through performances for senior centers, hospitals and community events and children’s charities. She has taught dance, music and gymnastics for the past 10 years and loves watching her students progress and master technique. She is currently completing a degree in Psychology at the  University of Central Florida. She hopes to integrate her knowledge with her diverse artistic background to find creative ways to integrate the arts as therapy for her clients in the future.