Douglas Burkhardt grew up in Perrysburg, OH and started dancing at the age of 4. He moved to New York to attend Marymount Manhattan College on scholarship under the direction of Katie Langan. While attending this illustrious institution he was a member of the Marymount Manhattan College Dance Company for three years. In 2016 he earned his BFA in dance with a concentration in ballet and choreography. At this program, he performed the works of Murray Louis, Adam Barruch, Alexandra Damiani, Emery Lecrone, Aszure Barton, Sonya Tayeh, Dwight Rhoden, and many more. In December 2013, he was selected to perform with the historical Nikolais/Louis Dance Company on their tour across Kunming and Beijing, China. Aside from his performances, his student-choreographed works at Marymount over the 4 years earned him Marymount Manhattan College’s gold key in choreography representing “excellence” in the dance department. Outside of school, Douglas has performed in the Astaire Awards, A.C.E. Awards, BC Beat, Reverb Dance Festival and Destiny Rising at the Joyce. Douglas also participated in the pre-production for various Broadway productions such as Wild Party, Moulin Rouge and Rent Live on FOX. His summer training includes Hubbard Street’s professional intensive, San Francisco Conservatory and Springboard Danse Montreal. At these intensives he worked with renowned choreographers such as Johannes Wieland, Bobbi Jene Smith, Alex Ketley and more. Currently, Douglas is a performer in Punchdruck’s widely known immersive dance theater show Sleep No More. In addition to performing, Douglas has become a nationally recognized teacher and choreographer at various institutions including West Coast Dance Explosion and his alma matter, Marymount Manhattan College.

Dee Caspary choreographer and Director of Staging for Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/Love Show. He choreographs for So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars. He has directed and choreographed LIVE events for Billboard Live, Hard Rock Café, Oakley, Key Club, and The Stone Movement. Dance Magazine said, “Dee Caspary is the modern day Fosse of our generation.” Dee has choreographed for professional companies worldwide.

Alyssa Cebulski, from Michigan, joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in NYC in 2016 and has performed in Chronicle, Maple Leaf Rag, Diversion of Angels and Primitive Mysteries. Outside from her work with Graham she has performed works by Dwight Rhoden, Aszure Barton, Kate Skarpetowska, Larry Keigwin, and others. Alyssa was a member of Graham 2 and has a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College.

Morgan Lanskyis an alumni of JAOD, began dancing at the age of three here. She graduated from Wayne State University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. While at Wayne, Morgan performed with their three performance companies under the direction of Meg Paul. She has also performed in pieces and taken instruction under Jen Freeman, Doug Verone, Dwight Rhonden, Stefanie Battent-Bland, and many others. Morgan has continued to expand her dance education and choreographic experiences while teaching full time at JAOD where she works hard with our elite team and our recreational program! You can find her teaching technique, cleaning our guest pieces, and doing some choreography of her own!

Nick Lazzarini was the very first winner of the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance. He has been dancing since age four and began teaching and choreographing at the age of 14.

Extensively trained in Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Ballet and Modern dance styles, as a young dancer he toured Europe with the RAW dance company, which was founded by choreographer Mia Michaels.

Nick has graced the cover of Dance Spirit magazine three times and has been featured in multiple films including Step Up Revolution. He has performed at the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and has danced with music sensations such as Adele on Dancing With the Stars, Kelly Clarkson at the American Music Awards, and Florence and the Machine at the MTV Video Music Awards. He is a founding member of Shaping Sound, with Travis Wall; a journey that was documented on Oxygen’s All the Right Moves.

Judy Rice is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada and has performed extensively across the U.S. and Canada including the Joffrey Ballet, the National Tap Dance Company of Canada, and American Ballet Comedy. She is the inaugural recipient of the SMTD Teaching Excellence Award and am the Co-Founder and Director of Alpha Dance Convention. She has 30 years experience teaching for regional companies and festivals as well as Company Dance, DMA, DEA, CNADM, SADM, 3D Dance Network, The Joffrey Ballet School, The Joffrey Ballet, Steps, and the Dance Teacher Magazine Summer Conference.  Rice has been a judge for ADA, and HEADLINERS, and has been on the faculty for Dance Masters Teacher Training School, CNADM training school, NUVO, 24Seven and ASH Productions.  She was a contributing writer to Goldrush magazine.

Originally from Temecula, California, Annelise Ritacca began her dance training when she was 3 before moving to Detroit, Michigan where she trained at Juliana’s Academy of Dance! When she was 12, she joined the First National Tour of Billy Elliot The Musical for two years. She moved to New York City to pursue dance at Pace University’s commercial dance program, under Rhonda Miller. Annelise is a recent 2020 graduate and holds a BFA in Commercial Dance. At Pace she has worked with choreographers such as Mandy Moore, Jen Hamilton, Dee Caspary, Josh Prince, Luam, Josh Bergasse, Jess Hendricks, Martha Nichols and Paul McGill to name a few. Annelise has appeared on The Today Show, Youtube Brandcast, and with Dance Lab NY. She has assisted Rhonda Miller, Dee Caspary, Shannon Mather and Kyle Hanagami on various projects.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Ida Saki trained at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. She furthered her studies at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and soon after, became a closing member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet after dancing with them from 2011-2015.

She has performed in the Off-Broadway show, The Lucky Ones, Sonya Tayeh’s You’ll Still Call Me By Name, and played Lady Macbeth as well as being Rehearsal Director for the immersive show, Sleep No More. She was named one of Dance Magazine‘s Top 25 to Watch and awarded Modern Dance Winner by NFAA YoungArts where she was also named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts.

Saki is the Assistant Choreographer and played Electra in the film, CATS. She is a featured dancer in the upcoming In The Heights and Netflix’s Halston, as well as the Associate Choreographer on a new Amazon film, Birds of Paradise, all being released in 2021. She is a lead dancer in Coldplay’s Cry, Cry, Cry Music Video and is the Associate Choreographer of Ziwe’s new show on Showtime.

Saki is a co-founder of Dancer’s Give Back Dallas, a non-profit raising funds for cancer research and patient support.

Nick Zborowski began his dance training at the age of 12 studying all forms of dance it grew into a career that has spanned over 30 years! Nick pursued his commercial dance career in LA for 12 years and highlights include touring the world with Latin superstar Chayanne, working with Celine Dion’s dancers during her residency at Caesar’s Palace for “A New Day”, and teaching on faculty at the legendary Debbie Reynold’s Dance Studio in North Hollywood. Nick served as the hip hop instructor turned Director of Adrenaline and Revive Dance Conventions for 20 years, is the founder of Urban Legends, and now primarily teaches master classes and choreography all over the country focusing on his biggest passion…teaching!
Nick’s proudest role is as a husband and daddy to Jackson and Lola. Nick enjoys sharing the experiences in his career to educate serious dancers on the realities of the professional dance industry and providing them with the tools and knowledge to succeed in any capacity.