Celebrating 50 Years of Dance Education
Where Movement Becomes Magic!
*Parking On Premises*
Jeannette Pilger-Brown
Jeannette Pilger-Brown is the Director of the Jersey City Dance Academy. She began her dance career at Jersey City Dance Academy at the age of 10. Jeannette received a B.S. degree from Boston University with a major in Film and Broadcasting and a minor in English. Jeannette has studied dance at Boston University, the Carnegie Arts Center in NYC, and Broadway Dance Center. After college Jeannette found herself back at the Jersey City Dance Academy and soon fulfilled a childhood dream by taking over the studio. Jeannette has dedicated her life to bringing the joy of dance to students of all ages. Jeannette has been trained in many styles of dance including Lyrical, Ballet, Jazz and Tap. She is also the director of the JCDA Dance Team. She donates many hours of her time choreographing and training students for competitions. She has won many awards for choreography at various competitions. Jeannette has also developed a specialized curriculum for Early Childhood Dance Training. This program for 2-5 year olds prepares children to dance through imagination and movement exercises.
Valenisa Gracy-Frye
Ms. Gracy-Frye started taking dance classes at the age of 4 at the Jersey City Dance Academy. She continued taking dances at Montclair State University. Ms. Gracy-Frye completed her Minor in dance from Montclair State University. While attending Montclair State University, she studied vigorously in the Dance Company’s Repertory Program. She trained and performed a variety of works by her skilled instructors, whom have been in professional dance companies such as The May O’Donnell and Paul Taylor Company. Her training experience included many forms of modern dance, such as techniques inspired by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon and her personal favorite, Alvin Ailey. In addition to her core classes, she enrolled in an African dance course where she learned to incorporate diversity and mobility in her dance practice.
The highlight of her training was performing “Footage,” by Lori Katterhenry, the director of the Montclair State Dance Company. Nevertheless, the most memorable part of her training, was performing Fredrick Earl Mosley’s piece, “Young and Free.” Ms. Gracy-Frye’s teaching experience includes working with children in a kinder gym/ creative movement class for Kinderdance Co., at the World of ABC Daycare. In her college training course, “Dance for Children” she instructed children at The Bradford Elementary School.
Prior to graduating from Montclair State University, Ms. Gracy-Frye returned to Jersey City Dance Academy, where she began teaching Modern dance. After graduating in 2018, she began teaching a variety of dance classes, such as early childhood: Tiny Tots and Rising Stars, Jazz, Contemporary, and Modern at JCDA. In 2019, she began training the JCDA Dance Company to compete in Regional Dance Competitions. Her most notable pieces “Thumbs,” “Show Yourself,” and “Maneater” received Platinum awards and placed 1st in their division.
In the Summer of 2022, Valenisa instructed dance at the Boys and Girls Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. She worked with students ages 4-13 years old. She composed and edited a dance film for an end of the summer showcase.
As a Dance Teacher, Valenisa feels that it is important to see her students grow and blossom. She strives to make a difference in her students’ lives and wants to push them to become the best that they can be. Valenisa wants her students to be proud of their accomplishments and enjoy all the hard work and dedication that they put into dance.
Natasha Del'Elmo
A master teacher based in New Jersey, Miss Natasha Del’Elmo has been sharing her love and passion for ballet through fun, edifying and enlightening classes for the last 25+ years.
Miss Natasha was trained and worked with great teachers and choreographers from around the world from an early age and through adulthood. Some of these were Lidija Franklin, Dilia Perez, Taormina Guevara, Keyla Ermecheo, Eric Volodin, Henry Danton, Tatiana Lancovits, Inna Zubkovskaya, Mikhail Kuharev, Hector Zaraspe, Nina Nikanorova, Ali Pourfarrokh, Carolyn Tener Brown, Peter Di Bonaventura, and Dorit Koppel.
Her performance and teaching experience include, but are not limited to Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Graduation Ball as well as original works.
Miss Natasha is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She’s also a recipient of several other teaching certificates.
One of Miss Natasha’s teaching philosophies is to observe how each individual dancer learns, then she applies that same approach to the whole class. This not only helps the students achieve success but also builds their self-esteem and confidence.
She also believes in cross-training her dancers to keep them injury-free as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Miss Del’Elmo has danced, taught, choreographed, and run freelance dance companies in Venezuela, Canada, and the United States. She has been teaching in the New York and New Jersey area for the past 20 years, 10 of which she has truly loved and enjoyed at Jersey City Dance Academy!
Natasha Luccia
Graduate from Marymount Manhattan College, Natasha Luccia has been teaching dance for over 15 years. Her favorite part about teaching watching the dancers take risks! She currently teaches Hip Hop and Intro to Tumble. She enjoys the creative process in her choreographies and watching it all come together. Natasha Luccia is really enjoying her time at Jersey City Dance Academy and the support of her colleagues and director.
Rachel Ambrose
Rachel Ambrose is a professional dance artist and teacher based in New York City. She is a proud graduate of Montclair State University, where she received her BFA in Dance and minor in musical theatre. She is continuing her training in New York City studying street styles with Jon Rua, Huu Rock, and Brianna Mercado.
She strives to make her class a safe, fun, and curiosity-driven environment. Her class structure is inspired by her mentor Tom McKie. It involves a cardio house dance warm up, learning hip hop techniques such as popping, waving, break dancing and ending with a fun combination.
Serena Brown
Serena Brown, a NJ native, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Montclair State University with a Bachlelors of Fine Art dance degree in May 2022. Brown graduated from Morris County School of Technology’s dance concentration in 2018. She has performed works by Stefanie Batten Bland, Ohad Naharin, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Jessica DiMauro Marks, Mark Harootian, Fredrick Earl Mosley, Larry Keigwin, and Helen Pickett. Brown has choreographed works for NYC and NJ Dance festivals as well as a myriad of Dance Film. She has been teaching at Jersey City Dance Academy since 2018. Brown was awarded the NJ Governor's Dance Arts in Education Award in 2017. Her teaching philosophy is to create a safe and welcoming learning environment. Her goal is to give each dancer a place to feel joy and comfort. Visit Serena's Website to learn more.