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Our Faculty

  • Artistic Director

    grew up in Temple, NH. She has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the NH Institute of Art. Tanya is an Acrobatic Arts certified teacher and has studied dance techniques in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, Theater, Improvisation, and Children’s Dance. She has over 17 years of teaching experience working with students ages 2- adult. Her professional career includes dancing in productions of “CATS”, “Singing in the Rain” and “Westside Story”. Tanya served as Varsity Head Coach of Souhegan High School’s Dance Team from 2007-2011. Tanya created a community dance outreach program called, “Page to Stage” and has collaborated with several elementary schools including T.E.S and G.E.S to promote reading through dance. As a studio owner, Tanya has developed her own dance syllabus for both the Dance Tot and Acro Tot programs at DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC and has trained her faculty in this creative movement based approach to teaching children ages 2-5 the basic foundation of dance and acrobatics. She has served as a guest master class teacher throughout the country teaching Contemporary, Jazz and Acrobatics. Since opening DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC in 2013 Tanya has been awarded numerous choreography awards, including multiple IDA nominations for Contemporary and Jazz as well as the Apogee award for the highest scoring routine of the weekend from StarQuest and Groove among others. Tanya is a StarQuest judge and loves having the opportunity to provide feedback for dancers, teachers and studio owners. In 2019 DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC received the Charles A. Hildebrandt award for Holocaust and Genocide studies for Tanya’s choreography of “Porajamos”, performed by her Performance Company Dancers ages 6-16.Tanya is so grateful to be able to share her love of dance and her creative choreography combined with technical dance artistry with the community.

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  • Assistant Director

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  • Administrative Director

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  • Tap Dance

    Michael is a versatile dancer and U.S. Presidential Scholar Semifinalist, celebrated for his innovative rhythms and magnetic stage presence. A Jacob’s Pillow alumnus and YoungArts Winner, he dances professionally with Fourth Dimension Tap Co. and NSquared Dance, as well as regional ballet productions. He has studied with countless notable tap dance professionals, including Derick Grant, Max Pollak, Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Anthony Morigerato, Michelle Dorrance, and many others. Michael choreographs and teaches at dance studios and festivals nationwide and performs wherever he goes, captivating audiences with his musicality, improvisation, polyrhythms, and storytelling. His creative work includes two full-length solo tap productions and multiple dance films, notably one in which he solves a Rubik’s Cube while tap dancing. Michael continues to expand the language of rhythm tap through innovative movement and musical exploration.

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  • Assistant Competition Director

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  • Faculty Member

    Rachel resides and grew up dancing in New Hampshire where she trained and competed for 15 years. She received her BFA in Dance (Modern) with a minor in Business Management from Point Park University. Here she had the privilege of taking part in many conservatory works by choreographers including Ronen Koresh, Adam Hougland, Stephanie Martinez, Mark Burrell, Doug Bentz, and Kiesha Lalama. Since graduating, Rachel has worked with Natalie Johnson Dance, Boston Community Dance Project, Pantos Project, Boston's Odyssey Opera, and music artists including NKOTB & Jay Psaros.

    Rachel is currently a company dancer with NSquared Dance Company and travels throughout New England as a guest teacher & adjudicator for programs including Contemporize and Dance Masters New England.

    In her classes, Rachel strives to create an atmosphere where her students will have the ability to enhance their technique but also become more aware of their own artistry, dynamics, and performance as dancers.

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  • Faculty Member

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  • Faculty Member

    Tina Cassidy, a native of Erie, PA, trained under Arlene Ashton Hay of the Diana Byers Dance Ring and later Robert Steele and Jeff Satinoff of the Elliot Feld Ballet. Ms. Cassidy received her BA in Dance from Mercyhurst University and her MFA in Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Her professional affiliations include the Lake Erie Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theater, Indianapolis Dance Company, Boston Dance Company, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Melrose Youth Ballet, and the Northern Ballet Theatre of Nashua, NH, for ten seasons. Ms. Cassidy is a former Adjunct Faculty member at Berwick Academy and Northern Essex Community College. For twenty seasons, Ms. Cassidy was a Faculty Member and later Director with Northern Ballet Theatre Dance Centre where she has taught ballet, pointe, and contemporary dance and choreographed original works including the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Favorite dance roles include Concerto Barocco, Walpurgisnaught, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella; Flower Festival at Genzano; Balanchine's Tarantella, Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty and Snow Queen, Sugarplum, and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. Ms. Cassidy has previously danced in six operatic centerpieces with the Boston Early Music Festival including the Grammy nominated Ariadne. Ms Cassidy has also choreographed extensively for musical theatre including the Actorsingers, NH Theatre Factory, Nashua High School , Music and Drama Company, StageCoach Productions, and Peacock Players of Nashua where she received an award for The Best Choreographer of a Community Musical at the NH Theatre Awards.

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  • Faculty Member

    Deanna Shenk grew up in Milford, NH where she currently resides with her husband, two sons and two daughters ranging in age from 19 to 6 years. From age 5, Deanna danced at the Milford Dance Workshop, where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance. She moved away from Milford for a few years to attend UNH in Durham, where she received a B.S. in Physical Education and a Minor in Dance. During and after college, Deanna began working at Gymnastics Village in Amherst, NH, a family business owned by her mother-in-law, Judy Shenk. She is currently the Director at Gymnastics Village, where she has worked for 19 years and is gearing up to be the future owner. She has worked with children 18 mos to 18 years, preschoolers, recreational gymnasts, and competitive team gymnasts. Her love of dance, the arts, and performance has remained throughout the years, and she is happy to work with dancers at DanceWorks and bring her two daughters to the studio.