21 Cottage Street, Milford, New Hampshire 03055
Our Faculty
Tanya Bosse, Artistic Director
TANYA... grew up in Temple, NH. She has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the NH Institute of Art. Tanya is an Acrobatic Arts certified teacher and has studied dance techniques in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, Theater, Improvisation, and Children’s Dance. She has over 17 years of teaching experience working with students ages 2- adult. Her professional career includes dancing in productions of “CATS”, “Singing in the Rain” and “Westside Story”. Tanya served as Varsity Head Coach of Souhegan High School’s Dance Team from 2007-2011. Tanya created a community dance outreach program called, “Page to Stage” and has collaborated with several elementary schools including T.E.S and G.E.S to promote reading through dance. As a studio owner, Tanya has developed her own dance syllabus for both the Dance Tot and Acro Tot programs at DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC and has trained her faculty in this creative movement based approach to teaching children ages 2-5 the basic foundation of dance and acrobatics. She has served as a guest master class teacher throughout the country teaching Contemporary, Jazz and Acrobatics. Since opening DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC in 2013 Tanya has been awarded numerous choreography awards, including multiple IDA nominations for Contemporary and Jazz as well as the Apogee award for the highest scoring routine of the weekend from StarQuest and Groove among others. Tanya is a StarQuest judge and loves having the opportunity to provide feedback for dancers, teachers and studio owners. In 2019 DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC received the Charles A. Hildebrandt award for Holocaust and Genocide studies for Tanya’s choreography of “Porajamos”, performed by her Performance Company Dancers ages 6-16.Tanya is so grateful to be able to share her love of dance and her creative choreography combined with technical dance artistry with the community.
Aaron Tolson, Tap Dance
A New Hampshire native, Aaron started dancing at the age of 10. At 14 the tap prodigy was invited to perform in the Great Tap Reunion at the Apollo Theatre alongside tap legends Derick Grant, Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines, as well as the rest of the cast of the movie TAP!
That same year Aaron joined his high school track team. Throughout his four-year high school career Aaron set every school record in each event he competed in, including the 55 and 300-meter indoor dashes and the 100 and 200-meter outdoor events. His times qualified Aaron to compete in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials and earned him induction into the Memorial High School and Manchester, NH Halls of Fame. He also earned a full scholarship to St. John's University, where he once again set records in track, a number of which still stand to this day. In 1996 he was invited to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials.
When not on the track or in class studying communications, Aaron was in Manhattan honing his tap skills. During his senior year he successfully auditioned for the New York Shakespeare Festival tap program, also known as Funk U! Soon, Aaron became a company member of Manhattan Tap and worked in the show Tap Dogs. Jumping feet-first into choreography, he landed a job with Absolut in a national tour titled Absolut Tap!
Soon after Aaron accepted a role in the national and international tours of Riverdance. He was a featured soloist and captain of the tap dancers for six years as he performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, on various TV shows, at NBA games, and stages all over the world over.
In 2006 Aaron began working with longtime friend, Derick Grant on Imagine Tap!, a Chicago-based show whose formation would become the subject of a feature-length documentary, titled Tap or Die.
As a faculty member at The Boston Conservatory and Plymouth State University, Aaron choreographed, produced and directed Something to Tap About, Tapped, Tapped In, and Inspired, all of which featured performers from his own New England Tap Ensemble. Aaron formed New England Tap Ensemble, a non-profit organization, in May of 2007, to promote the art of tap in the community while fostering a sense of individuality in a professional artist.
From Montana to Moscow, Aaron has performed and taught at numerous festivals including LA Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Beantown Tap Fest, Tap United, Tampa Bay Tap Festival, Tap Kids Brazil International Tap Festival, and FeetxFeet. Other favorite performances include Brookline Chorus Duke Ellington Sacred Concert, The Late Show with Liam O'Conner in Ireland, and playing Drosselmeyer in Clara's Dream in A Jazz Nutcracker.
Aaron is currently on faculty with Broadway Dance Center and Peridance Capezio Center in New York City and is the director of Tap2You, an all-tap dance competition. In addition, he is the national spokesperson for SoDanca, and the Director of Speaking In Taps, a pre-professional youth company.
Sole Power is Aaron Tolson's latest project, and one that allows him to share his love of tap with non-dancers, while working out and staying fit at the same time. Sole Power is an exciting new program straight out of NYC that combines tap dance with cardio class to deliver a fun, effective workout. Ideal for first time hoofers and seasoned dancers alike, Sole Power classes burn calories and strengthen all the major muscle groups as they turn participants into super-fit tap dancers. Aaron currently lives in New Hampshire with his wife Emily, daughters Charlotte & Alexis and their miniature schnauzer, Mighty.
Angela V. Carter, Ballet
Ms. Carter's professional dance career began at the age 14 when she appeared with the Houston Ballet. She has danced and toured with Ballet Concerto, Ballet Galaxy, Milwaukee Ballet, Atlantic Ballet, and Ballet New England. From 1995-2007, Ms. Carter has been a Company Member, Ballet Mistress, Principal Dancer, Certified Pilates Instructor, Principal Instructor of Classical Ballet, Junior Company Coordinator, Company Instructor, School Director, and 2006 Artistic Director of Nutcracker, for Ballet New England. She has held the position of Principal Ballet Instructor at Fusion Dance Academy in Dover, NH, since 2007. In 2008, Ms. Carter established and directed the Junior and Senior Ballet Company at Fusion Dance Academy, now known as the Cocheco Falls Ballet Company. Her repertory includes Amazing Grace, Bolero, Concerto, Transfixed, Tango, Nutcracker, and children's stories: Snow White, Alice In Wonderland, and Cinderella. She has appeared as a guest instructor with ballet companies in MA, ME, NH, FL, VA and VT. .
Tina Cassidy, Faculty Member
Tina Cassidy, a native of Erie, PA, trained under Arlene Ashton Hay of the Diana Byer’s Dance Ring and later Robert Steele and Jeff Satinoff of the Elliot Feld Ballet. Ms. Cassidy received her BA in Dance from Mercyhurst University and her MFA in Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Her professional affiliations include the Lake Erie Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theater, Indianapolis Dance Company, Boston Dance Company, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Melrose Youth Ballet and the Northern Ballet Theatre of Nashua, NH for ten seasons. Ms. Cassidy is a former Adjunct Faculty member at Berwick Academy and Northern Essex Community College. For twenty seasons, Ms. Cassidy was a Faculty Member and later Director with Northern Ballet Theatre Dance Centre where she has taught ballet, pointe, and contemporary dance and choreographed original works including the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Favorite dance roles include Concerto Barocco, Walpurgisnaught, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella; Flower Festival at Genzano; Balanchine’s Tarantella, Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty and Snow Queen, Sugarplum, and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker. Ms. Cassidy has previously danced in six operatic centerpieces with the Boston Early Music Festival including the Grammy nominated Ariadne. Ms Cassidy has also choreographed extensively for musical theatre including the Actorsingers, NH Theatre Factory, Nashua High School , Music and Drama Company, StageCoach Productions, and Peacock Players of Nashua where she received an award for “The Best Choreographer of a Community Musical†at the NH Theatre Awards.
Deanna Shenk, Faculty Member
Deanna Shenk grew up in Milford, NH where she currently resides with her husband, 2 sons and 2 daughters ranging in age from 19 to 6 years. From about age 5, Deanna danced at the Milford Dance Workshop where she studied ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance. She moved away from Milford for a few years to attend UNH in Durham where she received a B.S. in Physical Education and a Minor in Dance. During and after college Deanna began working at Gymnastics Village in Amherst, NH, a family business owned by her mother-in-law Judy Shenk. She is currently the Director at Gymnastics Village where she has now worked for 19 years and is gearing up to be the future owner. Throughout the years she has worked with children 18 mos to 18 years, preschoolers, recreational gymnasts and competitive team gymnasts. Her love of dance, the arts and performance has remained throughout the years and she is happy to work with dancers at DanceWorks and bring her two daughters to the studio.
Lauren Lassila
Lauren grew up in Hollis, NH and began her training at the age of two under Tanya Bosse and Kathy Blake. She competed many solos choreographed by Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya, Phyllis Drennan, and Amy Piantaggini, winning various competitions, titles, and scholarships. She later studied under Patricia Lavoie at Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater where she danced soloist roles in the production of the Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadere, and works by Ashley Walton, Bafana Matea, Benjamin Briones, Patricia Lavoie, and Douglas Davis. In 2014, she received recognition for her performance in Impetus by Ashley Walton at the Regional Dance America festival in Philadelphia. She then began studying at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary, Darla Hoover, Nicholas Ade, and Amanda Edge. In her three years of study she performed dozens of ballets and works from CPYB’s diverse repertoire. She performed soloist roles in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Alan Hineline’s The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Jukebox, Roseland Pictures, and Quindectet, Rex Wheeler’s Memoir, and Jean Williams’ Sunday Afternoon in the Park. Lauren will be a trainee with Cincinnati Ballet starting in August 2018.
Liz Calabria, Faculty Member
Liz has been teaching dance for over 28 years. During this time she has taught Tap, Ballet, Jazz and Musical Theater at several local studios and the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club. Liz is very excited to bring her love of dance and the arts to DanceWorks Movement Design, LLC.
In August 2013 Liz opened Art Happens, a creative art studio located in Milford, NH where she has expanded her passion for the arts. Liz and her husband Paul also own and operate 'Weddings in New England', she is a Justice of the Peace and serves as Wedding Coordinator. Liz also works as choreographer for many local theatre groups including Riverbend Youth Company, Amherst PTA and Bedford High School Theatre Company. She has been certified through the Dance Teacher's Club of Boston and attended the Dance Teacher Summit in NYC for several summers. Liz is thrilled to join the amazing faculty at DanceWorks to share her enthusiasm and love of dance and theatre!