Lisa Zola - DeLibero | Director Lisa has been dancing since the age of seven. She started her dance training at The Ballet Studio under the direction of her mom, Beverly Zola. While taking weekly classes at The Ballet Studio, Lisa attended master dance classes and workshops in New York City, while also attending classes at Princeton Ballet. As well as a love for dance, she also played sports throughout her elementary, middle, and high school years. Lisa attended The College of New Jersey where she received a Bachelors degree in psychology, with a minor in journalism. During her years at TCNJ, she wrote a fitness and nutrition column for The Signal, the college newspaper. She then attended Rider University where she received a graduate teaching degree in elementary education. Lisa is presently attending Rider University Graduate school where she will receive a Life and Career Coaching Graduate Certificate.

Sherri began dancing at The Ballet Studio at the age of three under the direction of Beverly Zola, owner and former ballerina with the Thomas Cannon Ballet Company. She attended Rutgers University where she graduated with a BA in Sociology and was certified as an elementary school teacher. During college she pursued her love of dance as captain of the nationally ranked RU dance team and as a Universal Dance Association instructor. After graduation, she was honored to become part of the TBS staff and work alongside her mentor, friend, and director, Miss Lisa. Sherri�s passion for dance and teaching continue as she heads the competition program at the studio and works as a fourth grade teacher at Errickson School in Freehold. She is forever grateful to teach at the studio where she grew up and to be part of an amazing staff which she considers family.

Amber began dancing at the age of 3, under the direction of Beverly Zola, at The Ballet Studio. She previously danced with her high school dance team as well as attending recreational dance classes in NY & NJ. Amber enjoys teaching, choreographing, and interacting with the students while they learn. She currently teaches combination classes. She graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Chemical Engineering, with minors in Economics and Psychology. Amber currently works for Church & Dwight.

Cara has been dancing since the age of three. She started participating in dance competitions at the age of eight to the age of eighteen. She received an associates degree in the Arts from Mercer County Community College where she studied dance. She was a part of the Mercer Dance Ensemble for two years. She recently transferred to Richard Stockton College where she plans on recieving a Bachelors in Dance with a concentration in Pre Movement Therapy. She is also a member of the dance team for Stockton. She plans on receiving her Masters and becoming a Dance Therapist. This is her third year teaching jazz and hip hop at TBS and she loves every minute of it! ut. Michaela is so excited to be helping out again this year, and looks forward to making more amazing memories!

Erika began dancing at the age of 3 under the direction of Ms. Irene Parker. She continued her enjoyment of dance at the Dance Shop under Ms. Joyce Smilek for 12 years. At the Dance Shop Erika participated in tap, jazz, lyrical and ballet she also took part in competitions. After Erika finished high school she began taking classes and teaching with Ms. Lisa at the Ballet Studio. She also participated in competitions. During the same time Erika attended MCCC and graduated from Rowan University with a BA in History. While at Rowan University Erika launch the Rowan Dance Team. They performed at home football and basketball games as well as school functions. She currently is employed by the State of NJ as a Senior Police Officer with the Department of Human Services. She still continues to enjoy her love for dance by instructing and choreographing for students performing solos, duets, and trios.

Amanda began dancing at The Ballet Studio when she was five years old. She started with foundations in ballet technique and eventually moved on to jazz, lyrical and pointe. In addition to these classes, Amanda joined the competitive dancers at The Ballet Studio until graduating from high school in 2006. Upon graduation, she became a Ballet Studio staff member. Amanda is currently a junior at The College of New Jersey where she is pursuing a double major in Special Education and Math, Science, Technology and a double minor in Psychology and Communication Disorders. While academics hold the highest regard, Amanda also finds time to dance on TCNJ's Dance Team. The dance team attends camp every summer, performs at home football and basketball games, as well as other campus events, holds an annual fundraiser Dancers for Cancer, and competes every January at the Universal Dance Association's College Dance Team Nationals in Walt Disney World. Amanda currently teaches advanced level hip-hop at The Ballet Studio.

Alicia began dancing at the age of 4, under the direction of Irene Parker in Trenton, New Jersey. As her love of dance grew stronger, she attended classes at The Dance Shop in Hamilton Square for 11 years where she study tap, ballet, and jazz. She was also a member of the Competition Team who won many awards in both tap and jazz. She has also taken classes and workshops in New Jersey and New York. After High School Graduation she began assisting at The Ballet Studio in the Competition and PreSchool Programs. She attended Mercer County Community College and Georgian Court College in Lakewood, NJ, where she studied Special Education. She has taught the in the PreSchool program for the past 19 years and has been Director of the PreSchool Program for the past 2 years. She also teaches Ballet and Jazz in the intermediate classes. The Ballet Studio is her second home and all present, past and future students are her Kids!

Miss Tara has been a part of The Ballet Studio since the age of three. She has been taking classes at TBS for twenty seven years. Her mother, and two sisters have also been students at TBS. Tara began as an assistant instructor and then became an instructor working primarily with pre-schoolers to students in 5th grade. Tara has attended numerous classes at Princeton Ballet. She has also attended dance teacher Intensive workshops in New York City and the Meadowlands. Tara is a graduate of The Art Institute of Philadelphia where she received high honors status. Tara feels that The Ballet Studio and dance have been a big part of who she is today.

Courtney began her dancing career at the age of three at the Hamilton YMCA. At five years old, she started at The Ballet Studio with Miss Lisa as her teacher, and loved it. During her years at TBS, Courtney was on the competitive team from the age of eight to eighteen, winning many awards and competing in nationals. After graduating high school, Courtney attended Rider University and graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2016 with her degree in Elementary Education, Psychology, and a minor in Special Education. She currently teaches elementary and special education. Courtney has loved dancing since a very young age, and was excited to return to The Ballet Studio as an instructor in 2016. She is thrilled to be back doing what she loves as an instructor and co-choreographer for the competition team.

Ashlee began her dancing career at the age of 3 at The Ballet Studio. She refused to switch dancing schools when moving to Pennsylvania in the third grade. She taught alongside of Mrs. Tara and Miss Stacy for many years. She was also on the Competition Team for 5 years. After high school, Ashlee attended Millersville University where she graduated in May 2017 with a BSE-Social Studies Education Degree for 7th-12th grade students. She is very excited to be back home at The Ballet Studio to continue her career as a choreographer. Ashlee fully believes and lives the moto, "Dancing with your feet is one thing, but dancing with your heart is another."

Originally from Robbinsville, NJ, Olivia grew up dancing at local studio Ballet Technique under the direction of Julie A. Caprio, performing classical ballet works. Pursuing a double major in English and Dance, Olivia attended the Ailey School in the fall of 2014. While at the Ailey School, Olivia worked with choreographers such as Tom Gold, Jaclyn Buglisi, and Breton Tyner-Bryan as well as performed works by Alvin Ailey including excerpts from Night Creature and Revelations. In June of 2017, Olivia performed in the Alvin Ailey Spirit Gala at Lincoln Center, debuting choreography by Tracy Inman, Robert Battle, and Ari Mayzick. During fall of her junior year, Olivia accepted a contract with Ballet Hispanico's second company (BHdos) under the direction of Nicholas Villeneuve and Johan Rivera. At Ballet Hispanico, Olivia learned and performed repertory by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Eduardo Vilaro, Pedro Ruiz, and Talley Beatty, performing at the Apollo Theater. She has attended summer intensives at BalletX, American Ballet Theater, and Koltun Ballet Theater to name a few. While in New York, Olivia also pursued her passion for fitness, teaching cardio-based rowing classes downtown at Current Fitness. Olivia graduated from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program May 2018, and she is currently freelancing with professional dance companies in New York City.

Daria danced at The Ballet Studio since the age of three. She went on to study ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, and lyrical. During high school she joined the competition team and participated in duets, solos, and group numbers. In her junior and senior years of high school, Daria volunteered teaching the youngest dancers at The Ballet Studio. Daria is currently a senior at The College of New Jersey where she majors in Business Administration with a specialty in Marketing and a minor in Communications. She was a member of the TCNJ Dance Team where she attended the UDA Dance Team Nationals in Walt Disney World. Currently, Daria dances for Turbulence, the Semi-Pro Arena Football League Dance Team. Daria will be teaching competition solos and duets this year and upon graduation will be a permanent staff member of the TBS dance family.

Nina began dancing at The Ballet Studio at the age of 3. She began competing with TBS at age 5 and was part of the Philadelphia 76ers Pre-Pro team. Her dance career continued through high school and college. She attended the Pennsylvania State University, where she received a BS in Mathematics, minors in Dance and Italian, and choreographed for Whiplash Dance Team. She currently works as a Middle School Math Teacher at Trenton Catholic Academy. She has recently been accepted to Rider University to pursue a Graduate degree in Education. Nina is truly grateful to be given the opportunity to teach at the studio where she first fell in love with dance.

Julia started dancing at The Ballet Studio at the age of 3. She enjoyed dancing as well as having a love for photography, art, and playing field hockey. Julia attened Montclair State University where she majored in Family and Child Studies. Her love for children made her decide to attend Rider University, where she received her Graduate Teacher Certificate and is presently completing a Masters degree in education. She is currently teaching third grade at Robinson Elementary School in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

Jordan Jackson | Guest Instructor Jordan Joel Jackson, a native of Somerset, New Jersey, began his formal dance training at Inspira Performing Arts and Cultural Center and continued at Manhattan Youth Ballet. Mr. Jackson is a graduate of Somerset County Vocational and Technical High Schools Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program. He is a 2x bronze medalist from the NAACP ACT-SO competition. He is also a recipient of the Paul Robeson Youth Achievement Art Award and a Certificate of Appreciation from the New Brunswick Area Branch of the NAACP. Jackson has performed in works by Frederick Earl Mosley, Clifton Brown, Antonio Brown, Artis Smith, Jessica DiMauro-Marks, and Maureen Glennon-Clayton. He is currently attending Montclair State University, majoring in Dance and Education. During his freshman year of college, he was named a Rehearsal Assistant to Jessica DiMauro-Marks for her work entitled Underneath.

Currently, Luke is receiving a Minor in Dance from the University of Pittsburgh under the direction of Susan Gillis-Kruman, Jessica Marino, and Jil Stifel. He has grown up dancing since he was 7 years old. Luke primarily studied dance at Dance Arts of Yardley in Lower Makefield, PA for 11 years with Andrea Bontoni, Jaime Santoro, Christina Castro, Melissa Profy, and Sakie Hachiya. While at Dance Arts of Yardley, Luke was a Senior Company Captain of the competition teams and was tasked with rehearsing and the cleaning of the various competition dances for the various ages and levels. While at Dance Arts, he was given the unique opportunity to student choreograph, under the advisement of Andrea Bontoni, for various ages and levels of the competition students. Luke started choreographing when he was thirteen and his choreography has won numerous top overall awards and special judges awards at various regional dance competitions and at nationals. Luke still sets pieces of choreography for competitions during winter break, as well as, choreograph for the dance productions, musicals, and concerts at the University of Pittsburgh. With regards to teaching and instruction, Luke completed a two-year teaching training program that included observational learning and feedback instruction from numerous instructors at Dance Arts of Yardley. He also has studied proper dance pedagogy under Susan Gillis-Kruman at Pitt. Luke has experience teaching children ages 5-18 in ballet, jazz, jazz funk, hip-hop, musical theater, contemporary/lyrical and modern. Some other class options that Luke teaches include improv classes, jumps and turns, and stretch/strengthening classes.

Caitlin started dancing at The Ballet Studio when she was three years old. Since then, she has graduated from Robbinsville High School and is now taking classes at Mercer County Community College. After completing her associates degree in Dance-Fine Arts, she plans to being my second major to become a Physical Therapist Assistant. The past two years she has been in five performances at Mercer, taken classes with multiple dance companies, and continued to perform in the annual recitals at TBS. Caitlin is so grateful for her years at the studio and can't wait to become an official staff member in the future!

I started dancing when I was 9 years old at The Ballet Studio. My first teacher at The Ballet Studio was Ms. Victoria. I still remember the first dance I did and, I still have the costume. That was one of my favorite costumes and one of my favorite dances. It was Stand By Me from Ben E King, still to this day is one of my favorite songs. Mrs, Victoria told us while we are dancing this dance to think about someone we lost and dance our hearts out. Ever since then every lyrical dance I dance, I think about all the love ones I've lost. My junior year of high school I joined the competition team. We did Mamma Mia one of my favorite movies. Over my years at the studio I met people and became best friends with all of the girls. I love all the girls at The Ballet Studio and all the teachers. The Ballet Studio will forever be my favorite place and second home.