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Meet Our Family
Miss Jackie
Miss Jackie has been teaching dance for over ten years, the highlight of which has been working with all of you and your children! When she was only six years old she knew she wanted to open a dance studio, she knew it woud be named Jaclyn Carol's Dance, and she had even designed the logo. Flash forward to 2008 - Miss Jackie officially opens JCDA in Niagara Falls, NY while still in her sophmore year studying Dance and Interdiciplinary Arts for Children at The College at Brockport, commuting back and forth between teaching and studying to make her childhood dream a reality. The business grew quickly from a small shared space at the Summit Park Mall, to the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center, to a three-story property on Niagara Falls Blvd, to our most recent and largest expansion yet - our incredible new facility in Meadowbrook Square. Our dance family has grown from just 9 students and 3 staff members that first year, to over 300 students and 12 staff members today; but the dream continues.
Miss Jackie was the choreographer and founder of Destiny In Motion Dance Team of Niagara Falls, New York, where her choreography consistantly earned High Silver, Gold, and Platinum scores. She also teaches and choreographs for a comunity theater troupe, the Niagara Experience Players. Miss Jackie was choreographer for the college dance team at Canisius College, The Dance Griffs from 2012-2014 (National Champions 2012, Regional Champions 2012, 2013). She has also choreographs for the Niagara Wheatfield Senior High School Musicals and has choreographed for Edward Town Middle School Musicals.
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Miss Jackie has extensive experience teaching Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Lyrical/ Contemporary, Modern, Hiphop, and Musical Theatre. She has received dance training from such schools and individuals as Rachel Novelli, Kathy Abondanza, and Patti Hewitt of the Lewiston Dance Center, Courtney World, Marianne Reilly, Suzanne Oliver, Eddie Murphy, and Bill Evans of SUNY Brockport, and many workshops and classes at Niagara Community College, Tanzen Dance Company, Niagara Dance Centre, Niagara University, Buffalo State College, and The Broadway Dance Center. Miss Jackie holds a Bachelor Degree of Science in Dance and Interdisciplinary Arts for Children from The College at Brockport; State University of New York.
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Miss Jackie is also available for private lessons, please inqire for more details. Thank you for being a part of this dream!
Miss Shari
Co-owner and office manager of JCDA, Shari Palmer, has over a decade's worth of experience in the world of performing arts. Artistic Director for the Niagara Experience Players and dance mom for 20 years - Shari has been on both sides of the production. Miss Shari has been considered a dance mom by hundreds of kids throughout the ten years and has touched every child’s heart that she has worked with. Shari Palmer was also the President of the Wheatfield Music Parents Club 2009-2010. She has been a highly respected Real Estate agent with Hunt Real Estate for twenty-years. Her great organizational, business and customer service skills make her an asset to our team. Without Miss Shari JCDA could not exist. Find Miss Shari behind our front desk nearly every day!
Miss Julie
Miss Julianne is a graduate of Buffalo State College with a Bachelor degree in Music Education and Medaille College with a Masters degree in Special Education. She has danced at Lewiston Dance under Rachel Novelli, and Kathy Abondonza as well as at Adell’s School Of Dance. She is a founding member of the Destiny In Motion Dance Team and of Jaclyn Carol's Dance Academy. Miss Julianne is now a competition teacher at Jaclyn Carol’s Dance Academy where she has taught for ten years. Miss Julianne was the assistant vocal director for The Niagara Chorale Experience for two years. Miss Julianne has been the vocal director of the Niagara Experience Players, for eleven years and also was the Music Director, Choreographer, and Director for Annie Jr. at St. Andrew’s Country Day School. She has been a Music Teacher at Southside Elementary School for 3 years where she teaches general music and chorus for grades K-8. She also teaches private vocal and instrumental lessons to students of all ages. Miss Julianne is looking forward to another great year at JCDA! She can’t wait to see what more her students will accomplish!
Miss Audri
Audrianna Yates is a celebrated dancer and choreographer in the Western New York area. She started her dance training at a young age with Janet Dunstans Dance Academy and the Niagara Royaletts. Not only did she train in dance but in Musical Theater as well. At the age of 15 she was accepted into the New York State Summer School of the Arts. She continued her education with NCCC and SUNY New Paltz. Prior to teaching she has danced with companies including; Destiny in Motion, (Dancer), Tanzen Dance Co. ( Dancer/ Choreographer), Buffalo Contemporary(Dancer), and The Mone't Dance Co (Dancer). This will be her 8th year at JCDA. She is also currently the director of the Niagara Experience Players, a youth theater organization. Audrianna loves her JCDA family and is so excited for the next 10 years!
Miss Jill
Dance has been a part of Miss Jillian’s life since she was three years old. She grew up in Rochester, NY and took classes at (Denise’s) Dance Connection for 10 years. She attended many workshops through Dance Rochester and also assistant taught students ages 3-Teen for three years. Her teaching experience includes modern, jazz, hiphop, tap, ballet and lyrical. Miss Jillian graduated from the College at Brockport, State University of New York in May, 2011 and has her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Arts for Children with a Dance Concentration. This gave her the opportunity to teach creative movement collaboratively, with IAC majors, to many children throughout the Rochester area. She also participated in workshops such as Doug Varone and Dancers Company and performed in the Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble. She was also a member of the College at Brockport Emeralds Dance team for three years where she performed hiphop and jazz choreography.
Miss Jillian works for the Institutional Advancement Division at Daemen College and is also has her Master’s of Science degree in Executive Leadership and Change in Higher Education. Miss Jillian is so excited to be back in the studio and grateful to be a member of the JDCA family for her fourth year.
Miss Michelle
Michelle is a graduate from Buffalo State College with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and from Canisius with a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She currently works for Horizon Health Services as a counselor, mainly working with adolescents. Michelle has been dancing since age three and has studied under the instruction of Karen Tweedie-Oakley, Kim Tweedie-Fitch and Amy Roush. She has studied many styles including tap, jazz, ballet/pointe, hip hop, modern, acro and contemporary. Her love of dance continued as she was an original member for the Destiny in Motion dance team which competed at the competitive level for many years. This led her to the opportunity of teaching for Jackie since the studio opened and is grateful for the opportunity to work closely with the competition team. It has been an incredible journey over the last ten years, with much to be excited for in the upcoming season!
Miss Susan
Having started dancing at a young age, Susan has had the privilege to dance with many in the forms of tap, jazz, pointe and acrobatics. It was when she went to The University at Buffalo for dance and psychology that she began to focus on tap and acrobatics. She performed with the American Academy of Ballet, The Zodiaque Dance Company, and the Melanie Aceto Dance Company at Jacobs Pillow. She has since gotten her Masters in Physiology but is excited to share her passion and knowledge of dance with her new students.
Miss Jacquie
Jacquie has been dancing since the age of three. Although Jacquie moved several times growing up, dance remained in her life. Jacquie has trained with many local instructors including Patty Neal, Gary Marino, Cindy Carr and Judy Pickhardt. While dancing competitively at the local and national levels, Jacquie trained with many prestigious performers such as Gregory Hines and Luigi. She continued to share her love of dance and taught at Dance Spectrum for thirteen years. Jacquie took a break from teaching dance to start a family and focus on her elementary school teaching career but is excited to be back. Alongside teaching at JCDA, Jacquie has also choreographed 10 musicals for Sweet Home Middle School in Amherst, NY.
Miss Kim
Kim is an Adjunct Professor at Niagara County Community College (NCCC), faculty at The Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart and faculty at Jaclyn Carols Dance Academy teaching various styles of dance at all locations along with directing the resident dance company of NCCC, Tanzen.
Kim has performed professionally with Buffalo Contemporary Dance under the direction of Leslie Wexler and the Mone Dance Company under the direction of Nakita Mone. Kim has worked in an academic standing with H.T Chen and Dancers, Jose Limon and Doug Elkins through SUNY Brockport. Kim has performed at the International Dance Festival that was held in New York City. Recently, Kim has sat on a panel at the first Annual Dance Fair and Expo held in Amherst, New York. Kim holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance from SUNY Brockport. Kim is also a certified personal trainer through the National Federation of Personal Training (NFPT).
Kim continues to work in the Buffalo area by creating pieces and having them perform at various venues. Kim’s goal is to reach out to many community members to share the creative process and passion for dance. Kim also tours the dance company, Tanzen to various venues including, Niagara County Fair, Erie County Fair and most recently Dance Days of Buffalo.
Miss Kimmie
Miss Kimmie has been dancing since she was six years old, under many different styles. She is the assistant choreographer for the Niagara Experience Players, a summer theater program for kids. Miss Kimmie has been with JCDA since we began in 2007, competing with the JCDA Competition team for 9 years, earning Top Scores at National level competitions. She is currently attending NCCC while dancing with Tanzen Dance Company. She was an assistant teacher with JCDA for many years and joined the teaching staff in 2017. Miss Kimmie is very excited to work with your kids and can’t wait to see them on the big stage!
Mr. Josh
Mr. Josh is the Marketing Director and Office Assistant at Jaclyn Carol’s Dance Academy. Josh received his Bachelor degree in Broadcast Journalism and Digital Media from SUNY Brockport in 2011. Josh is responsible for the online face of the business managing the website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages as well as sending our email updates and implementing all of our digital marketing. He is also lead prop builder, set designer, road crew supervisor, sound engineer, videographer, head of facilities maintenance, and any other jobs we can throw at him. Josh is so humbled to be a part of this amazing dance family and so proud of Miss Jackie for all she has worked so hard for.