Our Staff

Kim Crispino - Artistic Director

Kim Crispino is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Dance Central performing arts. She has been dancing since the age of five. Kim was trained locally in jazz and tap and and studied with Alvin Ailey as part of the Fordham University partnership with the prestigious dance school. After college Kim taught jazz and tap at various schools in Rockland and Bergen counties. Kim and her friend Annie decided it was time that a dance teacher and a dancer mom join forces to open a school that caters to both students and their parents. She loves teaching and watching her students learn, practice, compete and develop into wonderful young adults!

Annie Paratore - Administrative Director

Annie Paratore is the Administrative Director and co-founder of Dance Central performing arts. Her passion for the art of dance and the joy of watching dance students blossom had her join forces with her dance instructor friend Kim to open DCPA and become the ultimate dance mom! Annie takes care of all of the administrative details and ensures that every student has a wonderful and rewarding experience at DCPA.

Lily Arseneau

Lily Arseneau has been a dancer at Dance Central performing arts since she was 8 years old. She danced competitively with us until she graduated and attended James Madison University.

During her time as a student at Dance Central her dance team performed in many high scoring award winning routines. Several of her routines were invited to the World Dance Championships at the Meadowlands, where one of their pieces scored in the Top 10 and was invited back to the Final Challenge. Many of her routines have won the Xcalibur Award at our National Dance Competitions in Wildwood. Her beautiful solos consistently placed in the Top 5 Overalls.

Lily was a student teacher during her time at DCPA. She was well loved by all of our younger students, choreographing creative, fun and upbeat routines for them to perform during our recitals. She has now returned "home" to Dance Central to continue her passion for dance by teaching Hip Hop to our intermediate level students. Lily's greatest role at Dance Central was performing as the Ring Master in The Greatest Show Recital in June of 2019.

Melissa Behler

Melissa Behler comes with 20 plus years of gymnastics training, as well as, a background in jazz, ballet, and tap. Melissa started as a student at Fancy Feet Dance Studio in 1990 and with hard work and dedication and a love for gymnastics, she achieved high levels of expertise in Gymnastics and has competed and won many accolades for her abilities. Her desire to share her skills and experience, she became an instructor at Dance Central. Melissa has been teaching for over 15 years. She has taught all ages, teaching basic beginner, intermediate and advanced floor gymnastics. Two of her students were sought after for their gymnastics skills and recently performed on “30 ROCK.” She is certified by Dance Educators of America, United Gymnastics Federation, Acrobatic Arts, a professional curriculum for acrobatic dance, and is a certified Zumba instructor. She was also awarded “Teacher of the Year” by the Bronx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She loves being part of the Dance Central Family.

Jenna Burke

Bridget Clark

Bridget teaches musical theater at DCPA. A member of the studio family since its opening, she has been "The Voice of Dance Central" serving as emcee for all recitals and is a proud DCPA Company Mom. Bridget is experienced in musical and dramatic theater both on stage as a performer and off stage as director/producer. She's appeared in several local theater productions, directed productions at St. Thomas Aquinas College and was nominated as Performer of the Year for the Arts Council of Rockland.

Lyla Fernandez

Allie Giorgio

Miss Allie has been dancing since the age of three and has expertise in Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, Creative Movement, Tap, Pointe and Lyrical. She has studied in New York City as well as Lafayette, Louisiana to become certified by both Dance Educators of America and Leap and Learn Childhood Development program. She has been teaching and choreographing for dance studios in the tri-state area for fourteen years where she has won many choreography awards. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, she obtained the title of “Platinum Winning Choreographer” in four different dance competitions. Miss Allie still takes dance class at Broadway Dance Center in New York City. She loves bringing her upbeat yet professional teaching style to all of her students.

Jade Jevnik

Jade Jevnik received training with The New York Ballet Institute, Valentina Kozlova’s Dance Conservatory of New York and Irine Fokine’s School of Ballet. To pursue her dance training further, Jade left home at fourteen to attend ballet boarding high school at Bossov Ballet Theatre and The Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, where she was the recipient of the Donna Neri Scholarship Award. Jade’s summer intensives include the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Ballet Austin, American Ballet Theatre (New York City), The Academie Americaine de Danse de Paris (France) and the Angel Corella Ballet Program (Spain). Jade’s highlighted performance credits include dancing with Momix at Yankee Stadium for Pope Benedict XVI, and the Neva Rainbow Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating from the Nutmeg Conservatory, Jade joined Rochester City Ballet as a company member in 2010 and later on joined Ballet Des Ameriques Company.

Emily Lopez Pastin

Emily López Pastin is a dedicated dance educator and choreographer with a background in various genres, including ballet, modern, tap, jazz, and contemporary. She began formal dance training at the age of five at Premiere Dance Studio, just outside of Philadelphia, PA, where she developed a strong foundation in dance technique and artistry. Emily holds an MBA in Organizational Management and a BS in Dance and Business Management from Eastern University, where her training focused mainly on modern techniques (Horton and Graham), jazz (musical theater, commercial, and lyrical), ballet (RAD curriculum), and dance anatomy.

During her academic years, Emily’s choreography was selected to be featured and adjudicated at the American College Dance Festival Mid-Atlantic Conference in 2018. In addition to her education, she served as the Executive Assistant for the Fine & Performing Arts at Eastern University, overseeing the Dance, Music, and Theatre Departments, and as the Interim Creative Arts Director for The Salvation Army (TSA) Potomac Division, where she led initiatives for young actors and dancers.

Emily’s performance and teaching background includes a diverse range of experiences that have taken her throughout the East Coast and internationally, including several seasons as a dancer for MOVE Dance Company, performing at the O2 Arena in London for TSA’s International Congress in 2015, teaching in Johannesburg and Thohoyandou, South Africa, in 2011, serving as a teacher and choreographer for TAM Conservatory, and adjudicating TSA’s Star Search competition, evaluating emerging dancers, actors, and musicians at the Divisional and Territorial levels.

Emily loves sharing her passion for the arts with young dancers and is thrilled to be a part of the Dance Central family!