Boca Dance Studio Staff

DIRECTORS:

As professional dancers, Jo-D Meacham and Melanie Gibbs have performed throughout North America, Japan, Finland and the Caribbean for audiences of 20 to 20,000. They have worked with celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Greg Kinnear, Wayne Brady, Dick Clark, John Stamos, the Beach Boys, Bill Gates and Loretta Lynn. They were proud to work with the athletes of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta as well as perform in season openers for the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers.

Jo-D and Melanie have both danced in live musical theater and countless industrial shows for clients such as Microsoft, The Discovery Channel, Pepsi, Caesar's Palace Las Vegas, The Riviera Las Vegas, Silja Cruise Line, IBM, Tupperware, Kroger Foods, Bellsouth and Coca-Cola. In addition, they have performed concert works with the Body and Soul Dance Theatre under Barbara Sloan and New World School of the Arts under Daniel Lewis. They have been invited to dance with River North Dance Chicago, DanceNow! Ensemble and the Radio City Rockettes.

As teachers and choreographers, Jo-D and Melanie have worked around the US and are known for their distinctive personal styles and award-winning competition choreography. They have choreographed for Dance Caravan, Ft. Lauderdale Children's Theater, French Woods Festival of Performing Arts, South Florida Youth Symphony and Junior League of Ft. Lauderdale. When not at BDS they travel as judges for national competition, do guest choreography and teach master classes for dance studios and organizations including Dance Masters of Florida. Most recently Jo-D and Melanie guest choreographed for studios in Knoxville, TN and Wellington, FL and exhibited choreography at the 7th Annual Choreographers' Ball.

STAFF:

CINDY IVANOSKI founded Boca Dance Studio in 1983 and operated it successfully for 21 years before "retiring" in 2004. Cindy comes from a professional dancing family and her father, Bill Cassidy, owned nine dance studios in Ohio for 35 years. She traveled for ten years performing dance and acrobatic acts throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico and is a member of the Professional Dance Teachers Association. She now "performs" as full-time Office Manager for the studio.

DANIELA NASCIMENTO is a Royal Academy of Dancing certified teacher originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has 15 years of experience teaching ballet, pointe and character and 16 years of experience as a professional dancer. Daniela has performed locally for Boca Ballet Theatre and in Brazil for Ilara Lopes and Nice Leite Nucleo de Danca. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Education from the Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in Sao Paulo and received her RAD certificates in 1997 from legendary ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, the president of the Royal Academy.

RACHEL TALASKO is a BDS alumnus and is currently a student at FAU. She has 17 years of dance education and has trained with many professional teachers including Willie Brown, Augusto Soledade and Gary Lund. Rachel has performed in Disney's Magic Kingdom and EPCOT parks as well as in an Off-Broadway show with Break the Floor Productions, and was invited to dance with Miami's TranZenDance Company. Rachel co-choreographed Sentimental Journey and Pink: Cruisers and Crooners of the 1950's for the Crest Theatre and has won several High Score awards at competition with her choreography.

BRITTANY LENTS received most of her dance training in Boca Raton. She performed in Walt Disney World's Beauty and the Beast as well as in several industrial shows, and had the privilege of working with Ed McMahon on his TV show "Next Big Star." Brittany went on to Fordham University in NYC with the Alvin Ailey Company, followed by a stint at Radio City Music Hall as a world-famous Rockette. She has also been featured on television on Sex and the City, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Law and Order: SVU, and in film in The Stepford Wives. Brittany teaches and choreographs throughout S. Florida and judges for International Dance Challenge talent competition.

CARA ROBERTS started dancing at age 3 at Pro Am Dance Studio in Fort Lauderdale and went on to teach at Coral Springs Academy of Dance. Tap, her favorite subject, led her to BDS where she enjoys a wonderful group of ladies on Monday nights and an energetic group of children on Saturdays. During the day, Cara works in Organizational Development for Westside Regional Medical Center in Plantation.

HARRIET WILSON studied with dance pioneer Luigi in NYC and subsequently taught and performed with his jazz dance company. She studied with Madam Darvash as well as David Storey, teaching for him throughout New York City in major dance studios and assisting him in many of his projects including industrial shows, nightclub acts, concert work and a national television commercial.

SERRENA KIVIROGLU is a BDS and Dance Academy of North Lauderdale alumnus with 15 years of dance training including the Monsters of Hip Hop tour. She currently attends FAU and is much beloved by her students.

BRIANA TALASKO and KATIE WESTRICH are 14 year students at BDS and award-winning competitive dancers. They have been featured in Sentimental Journey, Pink: Cruisers and Crooners of the 1950's, The Choreographer's Ball and participated in the Florida Dance Festival at the New World School of the Arts and Pacific Coast Dance Fest as well as worked with preschoolers at Congregation Bnai Israel.

MEGAN MINOTTI is a Boca Dance Studio alumnus and currently attends Florida Atlantic University. She is an experienced competitor and was a member of the Spanish River High School dance team for three years. Megan has furthered her dance education at workshops like Broadway Dance Center’s The Pulse and Break the Floor’s Jump! and has taught for PopStars Inc. in addition to classes and summer camps at BDS.

BROOK PHIPPS has 16 years of dance experience including Parkway Middle School for the Arts. She was Assistant Director of Parkway’s Pizzazz Dance Company and a member of the DANZA dance company at the University of Florida. Brook is a former competitor and counts Elaine Jekels, Denyse Brooks and Roni Mahler as influences. She is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Education.

KRISTEN SLADKY - Kristin has been dancing for 20 years and received most of her training here in South Florida. She is a former competitive dancer and has performed nationally in Orlando and Las Vegas. Kristin has been teaching locally for ten years and holds a Master's Degree in School Counseling.

NICOLE LANGBEHN - Bio coming soon!