Jennifer Faulkner (she/her)
Artistic Director, Empowering Dance Educator, Registered Yoga Teacher
Jennifer began studying dance at a very young age. She is trained in various styles, but has always had a love for ballet & modern dance. As she grew older, she continued her studies, and received a B.A. in dance from The University of Akron and a Mat Pilates certification. She also studied dance at The University of North Carolina, and attended New York University’s prestigious Summer Dance Program. Before starting her teaching career Jennifer performed for several years with The Choreographer’s Group in Boston.
One of her favorite things about teaching is the ah-ha moment: When you see a student working so hard and then they finally figure out how to execute a step properly. It’s a joy seeing them realize what they are truly capable of through commitment and focus.
When not at the studio you can find Jennifer painting, salsa dancing, taking aerial classes and planning her next adventure! She loves to travel and learn about different cultures. Jennifer also enjoys Yoga and in 2019, she completed her Yoga Teacher Training and is now a Registered Yoga Teacher.
Miss Courtney (she/her)
Empowering Dance Educator, Blossom, Thrive & Achieve Company Director
Courtney Witham began dancing at the mere age of 2! She is trained in several styles including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and more! As she grew older, Courtney followed her passion for dance in college and was a 4-year member of the Saint Anselm College Dance Team, where she served as Captain for the 2019-2020 season. She graduated from Saint Anselm with a BA in Elementary Education and continued her education at the University of Saint Joseph, where she graduated with an MA in Special Education Literacy. Courtney also has a love for fitness and is a Total Barre certified instructor.
One of her favorite things about teaching is building connections with her students. The connection is where the magic happens; it allows the dancers to feel comfortable to work hard, make the mistakes, grow as a person and dancer, which leads to the aha moment! Courtney loves being able to share her passion for dance with her students and help them to find their voice and confidence to shine. It’s a pleasure to be able to watch her students grow and realize their possibilities are endless!
When she’s not dancing or at the studio, you can find Courtney with her friends or family. She loves spending time at her family lake house in Connecticut! Courtney is an avid reader and music enthusiast. Chances are, she’s probably at a concert or listening to her record player! Courtney loves to cook and is always fooling around in her kitchen trying new recipes.
Miss Jill (she/her)
Empowering Dance Educator
Jill Murray grew up in Burlington, MA and began her training at the age of three at Suzanne’s Dance Connection where she danced competitively. She recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst with a Dual Degree – earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. In addition to being a member of the UMass Dance Company, she performed in multiple works in UMass Dance Senior Thesis Concerts, Faculty Concerts, as well as one of her most recent performances in the Dance Film with the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with Dr. Aston McCullough and Five College Dance Faculty, Convergence. Jill is thrilled to be dancing for the WNBA – Connecticut Sun Dance Team this season. She enjoys exploring her creativity by combining her passions in the styles of ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip-hop, and contemporary and is so excited to share her love for dance with her students!
One of her favorite aspects of teaching is sharing dance as an oasis. The personal expression and freedom she seeks in movement brings her infinite joy and she finds it rewarding to help others in developing this relationship with movement. Jill’s hobbies outside of the studio include going for walks through nature,
taking trips to the beach, and curling up watching shows and movies on Netflix!
Miss Muriel (she/her)
Studio Manager
Muriel Jones is an experienced marketing professional with a background in operations and customer service. Serving most exclusively in the events industry, she spent her career organizing and promoting leadership development classes, webinars, workshops, and conferences with a special focus on diversity & inclusion, and advancing women leaders in the workplace. Muriel holds a BA in International Business from the Institute Supérieur des Affaires et du Management in Paris, France.
Before settling down in New England in the mid 90’s, she studied in Madrid, Spain, and in Hartford, CT; and she held a 4-month internship as part of her course of studies in London, England. She values kindness and compassion in the workplace, and fosters nurturing working environments that are conducive to growth and self-discovery for all.
Miss Macie (she/her)
Empowering Dance Educator
Macie Werntz began dancing at age 7, starting with a weekly hip hop class. She instantly fell in love and has since trained in many styles such as Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Modern, and African diasporic forms. While dancing in high school, she won many awards at regional dance competitions, including special awards for artistry and expression. She also attended Generation IV dance intensives, training with choreographers for artists like Justin Timberlake and *NSYNC.
Macie attended Temple University as a BFA student in dance, and has since found a passion for teaching. Macie considers dance her favorite hobby, but in her free time she can be found reading or creating macrame and rugs! She loves to learn new crafts and skills. She has two dogs, Juno and Bleeker, both miniature poodles. Macie finds joy in spreading the love of movement and self expression through dance, and strives to see her students grow.
Miss Heidi (she/her)
Empowering Dance Educator
Heidi Knipfing began dancing at the age 3, and since then her passion for dance has grown more and more each day. Heidi has completed dance teacher training with the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston. In addition she has her BA in Dance at Dean College and a minor in Business Management. Along with studying various dance styles, such as ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, hip hop, and contemporary. She has also studied in composition of dance, pedagogy, dance history and anatomy. She hopes to help her students gain not only an understanding of dance, but a love for it as well.
Mr. Shawn (he/him)
Empowering Dance Educator
Shawn McClintock began his love for dance staring with performing in his local show choirs from 6th-12th grade. He was his show choirs’ dance captain both in middle & high school. He slowly began choreographing for his high school’s talent shows and various after school activities.
He began his dance career as a hip hop teacher at Morlock School of Dance in East Hartford, CT in 2014. He taught many classes from intro all the way to adult hip hop. He also began teaching competitively where various of his routines won platinum and was in the top 5 many times and even a special judges award! Shawn is super excited and eager to keep working on his craft with talented students of all ages and dance levels.
Miss Carol (she/her)
Empowering Dance Educator
Carol Schneider-Sereda fell in love with dance under the direction of her home teacher Pat MuCusker in Clark, New Jersey. It was from there that she was introduced to and performed as a soloist in the New Jersey Dance Theater Guild under the direction of Julliard ballet master, Alfredo Corvino. Ms. Sereda then immersed herself in Horton and Graham techniques as a scholarship student at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. This launched her career as a professional contemporary dancer and choreographer. It was then that she realized her early years of ballet training gave her the ability to expertly execute new and extreme ranges of dance vocabulary.
After performing in New York, Philadelphia, Portugal and England she permanently relocated to Boston to attend the Harvard-Radcliff Summer Dance program. In Boston she produced works at Mobius, the Cambridge Multi-Cultural Art Center, The Dance Complex, and was a member of Boston University’s Dance Collective, Peter Dimuro, and Paula Josa-Jones. Ms. Sereda taught for the Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts and was on faculty for 20 years at Boston Ballet School where she developed her comprehensive children’s syllabus for ages 3 to 8 uniquely incorporating American Sign Language.
As founder of her school Sereda DanceWorks, in Natick she encouraged young artists to pursue their journey and individuality through hip-hop, jazz, modern, ballet or improvisation. SDW’s students danced in yearly recitals, multiple dance competitions, The “Sub-Nut” a re-envisioned nutcracker, and a Moth styled evening of story-telling and dance. SDW was a two-time recipient of Mass Cultural Arts council grants for their outreach programs.
Ms. Sereda actively continues her teacher training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and most recently by using the Royal Academy of Dance pedagogy.
As a teacher, she pulls from each of those syllabi to help dancers understand how to turn raw material into a solid technical form. Miss Carol enjoys guiding students to push their boundaries of expression and range of motion and/or to consider pursuing their dreams of dance professionally. Since
free lancing Ms. Carol loves having more time to “micro-garden”, study American Sign Language and travel with her husband to visit her two daughters in Washington, D.C. and Ireland.