DIRECTOR
MICHELLE KELLY WURF : Tots/Toddlers, Creative Movement, Modern, Contemporary
Michelle Kelly Wurf has been teaching dance throughout New York City, Westchester and Philadelphia for over 25 years. She began dancing at the age of 11 and hasn’t stopped since. After spending many years dancing and performing in the suburbs of Philadelphia, she continued to study dance at NYU and went on to earn her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She danced professionally in New York City and Philadelphia with various choreographers and was a company member of Ausdruckstanz Dance Theater and Copperworks Dance Company. Currently she is dancing with TeatoLocal choreographer, Joel Sherry. She began teaching for Kids Co-Motion in 1994 and became the Director of their Westchester Division for 10 years. In 2013, she opened her own studio, MK Dance, in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Michelle has taught throughout Philadelphia, NYC and Westchester at various studios and schools, including: the Lamm Institute Pre-School in Brooklyn; the Grafflin Elementary School of Chappaqua; the Katonah Elementary School; the Riverdale Neighborhood House; the Children's Garden Center in Tarrytown; the Temple Beth Shalom Nursery School and Hillside Elementary School in Hastings-on-Hudson; the Chabad Pre-School, the Christian Pre-School, and Springhurst Elementary School in Dobbs Ferry: and the Virginia Marx Children Center at Westchester Community College. She was the Division Chair (Dance for Early Childhood) at the Y Dance Academy in Tarrytown and taught at the Rivertown Dance Academy in Tarrytown. Michelle resides in Dobbs Ferry with her husband and two children.
TEACHERS
ANDREA MONTEZ : Tots/Toddlers, Creative Movement, Ballet, Movement for Boys
Andrea Montez has earned her BFA in Dance from The College at Brockport and recently completed an MFA degree in Choreography from Wilson College. Being a New York City based dance artist, Andrea has had the great pleasure to perform for Mariah Maloney Dance, Falcon Dance, 92Y’s Community Dance Project NYC, Sarah Rose Dance and Asterial Dance. Last spring, Andrea premiered and self-produced an original dance theatre work entitled In Correspondence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She continues to choreograph on professional dancers in addition to teaching dance at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center and MK Dance. Andrea has years of experience teaching to many student populations in a variety of styles and ages. Andrea is thrilled to have been a part of MK Dance for the past five years and looks forward to continuing her passion for dance and teaching.
BILLY COHEN : Hip Hop
Billy Cohen, hailing from outside Boston, started his hip hop training at the young age of six at Joanne Langione Dance Center with his identical twin brother, and continued his training at Hofstra University while receiving a B.S. Degree in Dance Education. This training at Hofstra gave him the opportunity to work with artists such as Fredrick Earl Mosley, Doug Varone, David Parker, Heather Waldon, Ellie Kusner, Bill Young, and Barbara Angeline, as well as train with Hofstra’s most notable Dance Department alumni, Larry Keigwin, on scholarship. Billy also created two works that represented Hofstra at American Collegiate Dance Association Conferences, and co-choreographed his own fully-produced evening dance show, “jux•ta•po•si•tion”. Outside of school, he continued his training with Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester and at Generation IV, learning and performing choreography from Teddy Forance, Devin Jamieson, Derek Mitchell, Emily Greenwell, Candace Brown, Jeff Lapes, Noel Bajades, Jonny Forance, and Emma Portner. Recently, Billy’s choreography was included in a segment of MTV’s Episode 2 of “Lit!” sponsored by Beats by Dre. Signed to Bloc Talent agency, Bill has worked with Reebok and was casted as a Principal Dancer in the upcoming season of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, choreographed by Marguerite Derricks. Earlier this year, Billy starred in a viral video called “Student vs. Teacher Battle”, totaling over 22 million views on all social media platforms and appearing on multiple news networks, including a short segment on “Inside Edition”. With his education background, Billy Cohen hopes to have continuous success in the dance industry, and to someday travel the world doing what he loves best: creating, performing, and sharing his knowledge of dance to next upcoming generation of artists.
.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
MARY FORD-SUSSMAN : Adult Modern
Mary Ford-Sussman has had a varied and extensive career as a modern dancer, teacher and choreographer. Most notably she was a principal dancer with the Limon Dance Company from 1996-2004 and the Mary Anthony Dance Theatre from 1994-2006. She is recognized for her musicality, lyricism, dramatic power and luminous performing presence. Ms. Ford-Sussman has taught modern dance technique and composition nationally and internationally and has been commissioned to choreograph works for Springfield College, SUNY Buffalo, and the Masters School, among others. In the spring of 2015, Mary was invited to create a new work for a RAW workshop in Tarrytown. Along with collaborator Akiko Ko, she created an original duet, PATH, which will be further developed this year. She has taught Dance and Movement for children for SummerArts Camp in the Rivertowns since 2012. Sensing a lack of dance offerings for adults in the Rivertowns, Mary began teaching Modern Dance for adults in 2012 and classes continue to grow steadily. She is happy to be asked to join the faculty of MK Dance. Mary lives in Dobbs Ferry with her husband, Bill, her daughter, Aleah, two dogs and a cat.
LILI THOMAS : Musical Theatre Workshops
Lili Thomas was most recently seen in “Only Human” with Gary Busey off broadway, and the sold out run of “Hello Girls” off broadway. Her favorite regional professional theatre credits include A Chorus Line (Sheila), Rent (Mimi), Cabaret (Lulu), Pippin (Fastrada), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Marcy Park), Miss Saigon (Gigi), and The King and I (Tuptim). New York City workshops include Sound of Plaid, Radiant Baby (both with writer Stuart Ross), and Metropolis (with Golden Globe and Academy Award winning writer, Joseph Brooks). She was the Young Soprano in the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Garden of Light (Disney Millennium Symphonies) at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic. Lili holds a BFA from NYU (Tisch School of the Arts/CAP21) and is a proud member of Actors Equity. Lili is also a voice teacher based in lower Westchester, NY. lilithomasvoice.com
SHARON McCANN-DOYLE : Adult Ballet
Sharon McCann-Doyle is trained as a classical ballet dancer. She was member of Eglevsky Ballet under the direction of Jane Miller and Paul Gifford and danced in a variety of soloist and corp rolls in both repertoire pieces as well as story ballets. As a young dancer she performed with New York City Ballet in works choreographed by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Her training includes North Carolina School of the Arts, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet and Mid-Atlantic Ballet. Sharon has taught both children and adults classes and relishes the opportunity to bring a sense of body awareness and joy of movement and dance to new students. Sharon holds a MS in Social Research and currently works part-time at Columbia University. She recently moved with her husband and four children to Dobbs Ferry.