Instructors

Owner/Director

Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Pointe, Contemporary Modern, Pre-Dance, Dance With Me, Performance Team Director

Lindsey Hadley has been studying dance for over 20 years. She grew up in Salem, NH, which is where she first fell in love with teaching dance as an assistant teacher in high school.
Lindsey continued her studies at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned a B.A. in Theatre with an emphasis in Dance with Gay Nardone, Mary Beth Marino and Larry Robertson. While a student in Durham, she performed for four years with the UNH Dance Company and choreographed many pieces for the student dance showcases. At UNH, she also had the opportunity to train in aerial dance, which taught her a new way to look at movement while utilizing the trapeze, silks, lyra and other apparatuses. Lindsey even spent time performing in theater productions at UNH and working backstage as a technical assistant.

Since college, Lindsey has been teaching in the Seacoast area and continuing her dance education. She danced with Boston-based dance company DancEdge for three years and directed several of UNH’s youth summer programs. Her choreography has been featured in UNH summer theater programs, the Little Red Wagon, Dance Northeast and the Charles River Dance Festival. She is also the artistic director of the Alegria Dance Company, which she founded in 2010. Each year Lindsey contributes to her continuing dance education by attending seminars and workshops in order to bring fresh ideas to the studio.

Lindsey has been teaching at Joy of Dance since 2005 and has been the owner since 2011. She is thrilled to continue the tradition of helping children to become dancers and dancers to become a part of the Joy of Dance family!

Studio Manager

Sara Martin, commonly known as SMartin, grew up in Connecticut but has lived on the Seacoast for the past 8 years. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2016 with a degrees in both Theatre(Acting) and Deaf Studies/ASL. Right after graduation she began work at Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth where she wore many hats, from Stage Manager(The Little Mermaid, A Christmas Carol, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol: The Musical) to Production Manager(Seussical the Musical, Miracle on 34th Street, Beauty and the Beast, Rocky Horror Picture Show). Outside of the Festival, she worked with New Hampshire Theatre Project(Portsmouth) and Entropy Theatre(Boston). When the world isn’t on lock-down, she is currently doing productions with Dive-In Productions and Firehouse Center for the Arts. Although she can’t do a time-step without saying the steps out loud, she can answer any Harry Potter trivia you ask. She also has a cat named Biscuit and she’s the best.

Office Manager

Tap, Contemporary Modern, Hip Hop, Hip Hop Troupe, Lyrical, Ballet, Jazz, Musical Theatre

Elissa has been studying dance for over 20 years. She is a seacoast NH native and started her training at Steppin’ Out Dance Academy. Elissa continued her education at Franklin Pierce University, receiving a degree in Arts Management and Dance. While at Franklin Pierce she was given the opportunity to study abroad in Lyon, France to experience “La Biennale de la Danse”. She was also able to choreograph for multiple performances while teaching and studying the NHDI curriculum. Since graduating, Elissa has continued to share her passion and joy for dance by teaching with local studios as well as serving as an administrative and production manager for several years. Elissa is also the Grant Coordinator for Forty Steps Dance, a modern company based in Nahant, MA. She is very excited to be teaching at Joy of Dance!

Young Children’s Program Manager

Young Children’s Dance

Maddi began her dance education over 20 years ago. She trained in multiple styles with studios in the Monadnock Region. After graduating high school, Maddi attended Franklin Pierce University and graduated with her B.S. in Marketing and Advertising. While at FPU, she performed with the university’s dance company to further her training. During her Junior and Senior years, she had the privilege of attending the American College Dance Festival. There she had the opportunity to train with many choreographers from across the country.

Since graduating, Maddi is thrilled to have had the opportunity to teach students age 1.5 to 18. She has also gained valuable experience in the business field as an administrative assistant and development assistant.

Maddi is ecstatic to join the JoD family in 2019, and bring her love of dance to the seacoast!

Dance With Me, Creative Movement, Pre-Dance

Miss Kim’s love for dance started when she was just 8 years old and never stopped! Her love for dance carried through to college when she received her Bachelor’s degree in Dance from Bridgewater State University. While at Bridgewater, she studied several forms of dance- ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop, lyrical and African dance as well as being a member of Bridgewater’s Dance Company.

After college, Kim completed the dance teachers course with the Dance Teachers Club of Boston, taught musical theatre with the South Shore School of Performing Arts and taught dance at Dance Workshop in Easton and Randolph.
When Kim lived in Keene, she ran a dance program, Miss Kim’s School of Dance, at the Keene Recreation Department. While running the program, she enjoyed teaching all ages and performing shows for the community. After moving to the seacoast, Kim found Joy of Dance and signed her daughter up for a Mommy and Me class. Kim started teaching the next year and has enjoyed working with the children as well as running the Barre fitness classes.

Dance With Me, Dance Explore, Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Tap

Emily began dancing when she was only 3 years old. At age 11, Emily found Joy of Dance and continue her training here through high school. She has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Hip Hop, Lyrical, competed with Joy of Dance’s Performance Team for 4 years and is a member of Alegria Dance Company. While at Joy of Dance, Emily has been fortunate to have studied under several teachers through the apprenticeship program for 6 years. She has been teaching her own classes for Joy of Dance for 4 years.

Emily loves to mix her passion with dance with her passion for working with kids. She plans to get a degree in early childhood education as well as continuing to expand her dance training.

Ballet, Pointe, Jazz

Marissa has over fifteen years of dance experience, training in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Broadway, Lyrical, Modern, and Contemporary. Along with training in her technique classes, she also performed in The Nutcracker, Dance Rochester/Dance Northeast, and across the seacoast with Sole City Dance’s Ensemble.

After high school, Marissa continued her studies at Franklin Pierce University for one year before transferring to the University of New Hampshire, where she received her B.A. in English Literature with a Minor in Dance. While at University, she had the fortune to train with Assaf Benchetrit, Gay Nardone and Susan Endrizzi, receive the Robert Alvin Performing Arts Scholarship from FPU, and perform as a member of the UNH Ballet Company for three years. Some of her favorite performance roles include Snow, Lead Arabian, Toy Flute, Flower, and Clara, all in the Nutcracker, Will O’ the Wisp (Hamlet: 7 Rooms, FPU), House Slave (Les Enslave, UNH), and Princess (Cinderella, UNH).

Not only has Marissa had the privilege of teaching young children’s dance around the seacoast, but she also taught her fellow classmates at FPU and UNH in Choreography and Pedagogy classes. Marissa joined the Joy of Dance staff in 2017 teaching in her main discipline of Ballet.