Our Talented Staff

While all of our instructional staff come from a variety of backgrounds,
they all have one thing in common -
professional experience and the love of dance.

 

Artistic Director:
Penni Greenly
Jazz, Tap,
Child Ballet,
Pre-Combo,
Dance Movement

read bio
 
Ballet Director:
Julie Bravata
Ballet
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Instructor:
Anne Polajenko
Ballet
read bio
Instructor:
Tracy Mozingo
Ballet
read bio
Instructor:
Stacy Marzullo
Tap, Jazz

read bio
Instructor:
Jean Louisa
Bradford
Tap
read bio
 
Instructor:
Heather McVey
Pre-Combo;
Southern Strut
Director
read bio

 

Instructor:
Giselle Guillen
Ballet
read bio
Instructor:
Kristen Deiser
Jazz, Tap, Starlets
read bio
Instructor:
Lori Morales
Jazz, Hip-Hop, Tap
read bio
   
Instructor:
Jason Masloski
(bio coming soon)
Pre-Combo
Kelly Palmieri

read bio
Office Manager:
Cheryl Cimilluca
read bio
 
 

Artistic Director - Penni Greenly: Jazz, Tap, Child Ballet,
Pre-Combo,  Dance Movement

Ms. Penni Greenly is the Artistic Director of Southern Dance Theatre (SDT). She takes great pride in establishing a school dedicated to education and achievement in the arts. She is a former Jazz Soloist and member of the Palm Beach Ballet Company. She is most noted for her award winning and innovative choreography, which has been seen across the U.S. and abroad. Penni has been very instrumental in the development of dance programs in the public school system. She is also the Director of the Dancer's Edge Company and teaches pre-combo classes as well as tap, ballet, jazz and dance movement.

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Ballet Director - Julie Bravata
Julie Bravata is from Honolulu, Hawaii, where she received her early dance training from Barbara Theusen. She continued her studies on full scholarship at the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, IL, and in New York City at the School of American Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre Scholarship Program, and with Madame Darvash. At the age of 15, Julie became a member of the American Ballet Theatre II. Three years later, Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to join the American Ballet Theatre under his artistic direction. During her six years there, she was privileged to work with some of the world's leading choreographers, such as, Kenneth MacMillan, Antony Tudor, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. While with American Ballet Theatre, Julie appeared in several Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center television special presentations. She then went on to dance as a soloist with Ballet Du Nord in France and with the Feld Ballet in New York City. Since retiring from her performing career in 1988, Julie has taught all levels of ballet from creative movement through professional classes in New York, Oregon and South Florida. Julie joined the dance faculty of Southern Dance Theatre in 1994 and in January 2000 she became the director of the ballet department. In April 2002, Julie received a certificate of recognition from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for inspiring young dancers, and her commitment to the arts.

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Instructor - Anne Polajenko: Ballet
French born ballerina, Anne Polajenko, enjoyed a long professional career with major European ballet companies, during which time she performed every classical ballet and had works created especially for her. She worked with such diverse choreographers as Antony Tudor, Nicholas Beriosoff and Serge Golovine. The culmination of her career came when George Balanchine became Artistic Advisor to the Geneva Grand Theatre Ballet, where Anne was a soloist. For the next four years she had the privilege of dancing 14 of his ballets, most notably Symphony in C, Serenade, 4 Temperaments, Agon and Concerto Barocco. At the same time, she became company regisseur and under Balanchine's expert tutelage, she learned the intricacies of company management. Retired from the stage in 1973, Anne devoted herself to teaching and coaching future generations of dancers. Her teaching credits include Point Park College (Pittsburgh, PA), Houston Ballet (Princ. Teacher and Ballet Mistress), Ballet Florida, Harid Conservatory and Miami City Ballet. From 1976-88 she was the Artistic Director of Houston Dance Center, a school and company she helped found and whose students joined such companies as San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Cleveland Ballet and Joffrey II. In addition to teaching and choreographing, Anne conducted a series of lecture performances for schools and civic organizations. In 1978, she was awarded a grant by Young Audiences, Inc., to bring Peter and the Wolf to 120,000 school children. Anne has been a guest teacher or choreographer for schools and companies throughout the Southeastern United States, as well as for Dance Masters of America. She has been honored by the City of Houston and the State of Texas for her commitment on behalf of the arts, and recognized by the National Foundation for the Arts as a Teacher of a Presidential Scholar. In 1999, Anne became the dance coordinator for Heritage Arts, an arts education program held at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach. In addition, she directs the dance Outreach Program for disadvantaged children at Miami City Ballet, Delray Beach.

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Instructor - Tracy Mozingo: Ballet
Mr. Mozingo was born in North Carolina and graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts. He then continued his studies at Pacific North West Ballet and the Houston Ballet Academy. He joined the Houston Ballet Company where he was able to perform a diverse repertoire from classical to modern under the direction of Ben Stevenson. Tracy then found a new home with Ballet Florida. He loves the company because of the innovative new work, wide range of choreographers and the extraordinary group of people he considers his family. Some of the choreographers he has worked with include; Peter Martins (Waltz Project), Mauricio Wainrot (Libertango, Anne Frank and Beyond Memory), Daniel Ezralow (Read My Hips and Spark), Mark Godden (Threshold), Alvin Ailey (The River), Vicente Nebrada (Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Firebird and Gemini), Ben Stevenson (Four Last Songs, Three Preludes and Five Poems) and Marie Hale (Spring Waters). In his free time he is both a teacher and choreographer with Palm Beach Ballet Center and The Academy of Ballet Florida. In addition, he has created works for Ballet Florida's Step Ahead program and Houston Ballet Academy. Tracy also enjoys spending time at the beach surfing, golfing and working on his computer.

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Instructor - Jean Louisa Bradford: Tap
Jean Louisa or “MisWesa” as she is known by hundreds of dancers across the Southeast…eats, sleeps and breathes dancing and music.  She began her early dance training at Age 4 in Charleston, South Carolina.  Her early teachers were Cecelia Vaughn, Trudy Oltmann and Joan Simmons.  In 1979, her mother, Jean, an accomplished dancer herself opened DANCE UNLIMITED STUDIOS.  Jean Louisa was her mother’s assistant and began traveling to various studios, seminars, workshops and conventions to study with professional instructors and choreographers from all over the United States. She has studied with Luigi, Gus Giordano, Joe Malone, Joe Tremaine, Frank Hatchett, Mia Michaels.  She considers her training with Tap Dance legends Al Gilbert, Henri LeTang and Debbie Dee her most rewarding experiences of her career. She began teaching her own classes at age 18 and was the founder and coach of the “JAZZ UNLIMITED DANCE COMPANY”. This talented group delighted thousands in audiences all over the state and won local, state, regional and national awards.  Graduates of her classes have gone on to dance and receive dance degrees from OCU, ECU, The College of Charleston, Winthrop, Clemson, USC, U of U and UNLV.

Professionally, she has danced in the mini-series “QUEEN”.  She served as the choreographer for the Showtime Movie “THEY WATCH” and she served as the dance consultant on the remake of the classic “THE YEARLING”.  All of which were filmed on location near her hometown.  She served as the choreographer for the MISS SOUTH CAROLINA USA PAGEANT FOR 3 years and THE MISS NORTH CAROLINA USA PAGEANT FOR 2 years.  She has choreographed and danced in numerous local and regional theater productions.  Her love for music led her to a dual career for several years as an on-air radio personality. Then she taught herself how to “beat mix” music and has thousands of hours “in the booth” and “on the turntables” at numerous SC clubs.

In 2001 “MisWesa” obtained her certification from the SC ARTS COMMISSION to teach, direct and choreograph in any state supported fine arts program.  She has worked with dozens of schools as a “DANCE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE”.  From 2001 to 2004 she taught for the “PROJECT ARTISTIC” Fine Arts Grant program as well as the other fine arts programs such as the “SC CREATIVE TEACHING INSTITUTE” and the “PICCOLO PROJECT” in conjunction with “SPOLETO” the “Festival of Two Worlds”. 

Before moving to South Florida in 2005, she taught in excess of 15 classes a week for DANCE EXPRESS CHARLESTON which is a mobile dance program that reaches over 200 students in classes at 22 facilities in the Charleston area.  Since moving to Florida “MisWesa” has taught for BRAVO! ACADEMY FOR PERFORMING ARTS, SUMMIT MONTESSORI SCHOOL, UNITY SCHOOL, PALM BEACH BALLET CENTER and will begin her 2nd year on the distinguished faculty of SOUTHERN DANCE THEATRE.

Although she is a busy dance teacher and choreographer, Jean Louisa is also the mother of twin girls and an active community volunteer. Her hobbies include taking care of her cats, reading, the beach, biking, power walking, gardening and FSU football!

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Instructor - Stacy Marzullo: Tap, Jazz
Stacy has been dancing since the age of seven, training in ballet, tap and jazz. While in high school, she danced on scholarship at Joe Tremaine's in Hollywood, CA, and also received a Fine Arts recognition from Eastern Washington University. Other jazz artists she has studied with are Doug Caldwell, Gus Giordano and Luigi. Some of her professional career credits include performing with The Greg Thompson Follies aboard the M/S Song of America, with Dennis Levinson Productions at Harrah's in Atlantic City and a Tribute to Broadway in Miami Beach. Her TV credits include a national commercial for RCCL and as a featured performer for the Miss. WA. USA Pageant. Along the way she has been blessed with the opportunity to meet many star performers such as Ben Vereen, Sammy Davis Jr., Rita Moreno, Suzanne Summers and Linda Carter. Stacy is currently the Dance Team Director for St. Marks Catholic School and the Dance Enrichment Instructor for American Heritage in Delray Beach.

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Instructor - Kristen Deiser: Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pre-Combo
Kristen Deiser has had formal training in tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, pointe, and acrobats. Kristen has been dancing for 17 years. During that time she has been a member of a competition dance team and toured with Hoctor's Dance Caravan. She was a member of her high school and college dance drill team and participated in numerous sporting halftime shows including the 1999 Super Bowl. Kristen's teaching experience ranges from teaching underprivileged kids to a middle school basketball dance team to teaching tap, ballet and lyrical at a dance school in Orlando, Florida. Her credits also include choreographing for dance classes and summer camps. She is currently working towards her degree in Elementary Education at Florida Atlantic University.

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 Instructor - Lori Cimilluca-Morales: Jazz, Hip-Hop

See Lori's bio on our Success Stories Page

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 Instructor - Heather McVey: Pre-Combo
Heather began her dance training at the age of six at Southern Dance Theatre. She was a soloist and a member of the Dancer's Edge Company for eight years. She has training in jazz, tap, ballet, pointe, hip-hop, and lyrical. Heather has performed with the Miami City Ballet in The Nutcracker, in the Super Bowl XXXIII halftime show, as well as numerous Miami Dolphins Halftime shows. She has been assisting in the Pre-Combo department since 1998. Heather attends Florida Atlantic University on an Academic Scholarship with a major in Elementary Education. Heather is very excited to be teaching at Southern Dance Theatre!

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Instructor - Giselle Guillen: Ballet
Giselle Guillen began her studies at a very young age, in her home country of Panama. At age 13, she joined the National Ballet of Panama, where she danced in such works as Les Sylphides, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty. Giselle later completed her studies in Venezuela and was a member of the Ballet Juvenil de Caracas. She returned to Panama as a soloist with the national company, dancing Paquita, Giselle, Nutcracker, Raymonda, in Vivaldi's Four Seasons and in many other classical and neo-classical works.

Over the years, she studied with the well-known masters such as Fernando Alonso, Jelko Yuresha, Belinda Wright and Laura Alonso.

In 1996, Giselle and her sister opened G&G Dance Studio in Panama, where she served as Artistic Director and Principal Instructor for 10 years. Her students have ranged from age 3 to adults. Several have attended seminars and international competitions in Italy, Czech Republic, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama and in Orlando and Las Vegas. Giselle's students have won many high honors and awards over the years.

Miss Giselle's purpose as a dancer and teacher is to guide young ladies in the discipline of Ballet, to encourage them toward personal successes and to expand their cultural horizon.

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 Instructor - Jason Masloski

Bio coming soon
 

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Pre-Combo - Kelly Palmieri
Kelly Palmieri was an Atlantic High School Eagle-Ette for three years. She was Captain and a soloist in her Senior year. She worked with Michael Morse her last year on Eagle-Ettes and later served as his assistant for the Southern Strut Dance team. Kelly is teaching our Pre-Combo classes to young dancers just starting their dance careers.

Kelly's daughter, Emily, is also a student at the studio and aspires to be a ballerina when she grows up!

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Office Manager - Cheryl Cimilluca
Cheryl began her association with Southern Dance Theatre in September 1983, when she brought her daughter, Lori, to "Opening Day" classes. Her 20+ years with Southern Dance, first as a parent and then employee, give her a unique perspective for her position as office manager. Cheryl founded and served as President of a scholarship program that helped with financing for deserving students. As a parent of a professional dancer, Cheryl enjoys sharing "what to do?" information with students and parents who also wish to pursue a career in dance. (See more about Cheryl's daughter Lori on our Success Stories page.)

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