Instructors

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.

Performance Team

Cara has been teaching dance in the New England area since 2005 and has been dancing since the age of three. She grew up in Portland, where she studied at Maine State Ballet, Portland Ballet and Casco Bay Movers. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a B.A. in English/Journalism and a minor in Dance. She was a member of the UNH Dance Company and also had the opportunity to study aerial dance!
After college, she worked for several years as a news, features and sports reporter in the Boston area, but kept finding herself pulled to dance. She performed with DancEdge, Intimations Dance, OnStage Dance Company, DanceWorks Boston, the Boston Cannons Dance Team and the Lowell Devils Ice Girls. As a teacher, Cara worked with students at Broadway Bound Dance Center, the Arlington Dance Place, Starline Academy for the Performing Arts and Creative Steps Dance Studio. Cara also spent five years working for Boston Ballet School, serving in multiple roles as well as completing the Boston Ballet Adaptive Dance Training in August 2016.
In 2018,Cara founded the Joy and Movement (JAM) Adaptive Dance Program in 2018.. JAM is a fully inclusive dance curriculum for children with physical, developmental, learning and/or sensory differences. She designed the curriculum specifically to provide her students with opportunities to enhance their gross and fine motor skills, balance, coordination, social skills, self-esteem, communication, and self-regulation.
Cara earned her M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Dance/Movement Therapy in May 2019 from Lesley University. She is also an Endorsed Practitioner of Rainbowdance, a certified Rhythm Works Integrative Dance instructor and a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT) with the American Dance Therapy Association.
When not dancing, Cara works as a clinical counselor at a therapeutic boarding school. She loves baseball, hockey, ice skating, kayaking, running, reading the Sunday newspaper and doing crossword puzzles!

Tap, Young Children Dance
Hayden has been dancing for 19 years and began her dance education at Brixham Danceworks in South Berwick, Maine. During high school she was a part of Marshwood Marching Hawks for 5 years, with her final 2 as Drum Major. She was the coach of the Marshwood Middle School Winterguard, choreographing their 2016 program- The Little Robot (based on Wall-E). After graduation she joined the Dance Team at Lesley University, choreographing 3 group pieces and 4 solos. She has taken at least one class in almost every style, including Tap, Hip Hop, Ballet, Modern, Contemporary and Jazz. This is her first year teaching at Joy of Dance and she is excited to join for this season!

Contemporary Modern and Lyrical
Sarah was born and raised in Milford, CT where she started her dance career at just three years old.  She grew to study ballet, jazz, musical theatre, contemporary, modern, lyrical, tap, and hip hop! Through a partnership with her home studio, Sarah trained at Broadway Dance Center in NYC where she has been able to train with some of the top choreographers in the city.

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!

Young Children’s Dance, Hip Hop, Hip Hop Troupe
Katie has been dancing since she was only two years old. As she grew older, she started training in classical ballet.  After falling in love with ballet, Katie began training in Jazz, Pointe, Hip Hop, Tap, Step and Contemporary. She was also an assistant teacher throughout her four years of high school where she taught ballet every Saturday morning. In her senior year, Katie was thrilled to be asked to choreograph a hip hop and tap piece for the studio’s end of the year recital.
After High School, Katie’s love for dance continued to grow.   She jumped on the opportunity to teach Hip Hop to recreation programs and as well as summer classes at a studio near her hometown on Cape Cod.  While studying at the University of New Hampshire, Katie continues to teach and choreograph for a student run dance program called Sisters in Step.
Katie is a senior this year and plans to be a child life specialist once she graduates. Katie loves working with children of all ages and is so excited to be part of the Joy of Dance family!

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.