MEET OUR STAFF
RACHAL ARONSON
Owner, Director
Rachal has been dancing since she herself was in preschool! For over 15 years, she has taught dance, from toddlers to adults at various schools in the Boston area, including The Newton Montessori School, The Preschool Experience, Small Wonders Preschool, Brookline Ballet, The Tony Williams Dance Studio, The Jeannette Neil Dance Studio, and has also taught at the Cambridge Public Schools, Dean College, Simmons College, and the student dance company at Harvard University. In addition to extensive study in Boston and New York, Rachal has had intensive training with renowned teacher, Lynn Simonson, in the Simonson Technique, an anatomically aware approach to movement. Rachal has performed in Boston and New York with Greenglass Dance Theater and has performed with Jazz Inc., ACE Entertainment and on HGTV's Spontaneous Celebrations. A mother of three, ages 2 to 13 years, Rachal brings a unique blend of nurturing and expertise into the classroom. She loves nothing more than to help spread the love of dance.
ERIN JANISZEWSKI
Teacher
Erin Janiszewski, an Indianapolis native and current Boston resident, brings more than 20 years of dance experience in teaching and performing. Her versatile training in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, and Modern have given her the opportunity to work in a wide variety of venues.
Erin trained as an apprentice at the Broadway Theatre Project, a student at the American Ballet Theatre intensive and on scholarship with Tremaine Dance Conventions. Erin continued her diverse dance education in college, earning her degree in Dance Performance at Ball State University where she performed at the DUMBO Dance Festival in New York, The American College Dance Festival Association Gala Performance and various musicals and dance concerts. Erin also performed in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean Islands with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
She currently performs with Cambridge Dance Company. Since returning to the U.S., Erin has been teaching at dance studios and camps throughout her native Indiana and locally in Massachusetts. Her choreography has been featured at the Project Excel Awards and at the world premiere of the musical, The Circus in Winter.
Whether teaching children’s work or adults, she loves to inspire and challenge students through all styles of dance. Each class is a new opportunity to learn, play and create.
HANNAH CYR
Teacher
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia Hannah Cyr moved to Natick, Massachusetts in 2013 and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Hannah is a recent graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a graduate of the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts.
Hannah discovered her passion to work with individuals of all ages and abilities by accepting the role as a teaching assistant for Step by Step, a dance program for individuals with Autism and Down’s Syndrome. This inspired her to lead her own classes for Movement Matters, a dance program for seniors with limited ability. Hannah’s interest in community outreach brought her the opportunity to intern for Boston University's REACH program, a summer dance community engagement program where she taught and performed for children ages three to seventeen.
Gaining enriching experiences through international advocacy, Hannah traveled with Juntos Collective to Guatemala and Mexico to perform and teach classes to local children. Through her work at The Eliot School and The Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, she discovered a new desire to teach creative movement class, and create pieces with students in the private and public school systems. Hannah was named the 2019–2020 Jan Veen/Faith Clark Dance Pedagogy Scholar at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
VALERIE MAIO
Teacher
Valerie is a skilled instructor of all levels of ballet from pre-ballet and creative movement to advanced ballet, pointe, and variations. She is a long-time instructor and administrator with BalletRox in Boston, MA where she currently oversees dance programming in Boston Public Schools in addition to grant-writing and fundraising responsibilities. With a background in Creative Arts Youth Development, and Adaptive Dance training from Boston Ballet, Valerie is committed to making dance accessible for all. Originally from NY, Valerie studied dance at Eglevsky School of Ballet, earned a B.S. degree in Dance, Skidmore College, and M.S. degree in Arts Administration from Lesley University. She recently completed National Curriculum Training and is ABT® Certified Teacher, Pre-Primary through Level 3.
ASHLEY JOHNSON
Teacher
Growing up in San Jose, California, Ashley dedicated much of her early training years to classical ballet school at Los Gatos Ballet. Following her time there, Ashley attended The Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance with a Minor in Creative Entrepreneurship. During her time at the Conservatory Ashley had the opportunity to train under various acclaimed teachers in ballet, jazz, modern, salsa, African dance, counter technique, and much more. Ashley is excited to continue teaching as she enters these new opportunities within dance and movement. Ashley currently resides in Boston MA, and hopes to continue her journey within movement, pushing her boundaries creatively and personally, as well as developing her other interests, in business, fashion and the culinary arts.
Olga is originally from Russia where she began her dancing education at the age of nine. Taught the Vaganova method, she acquired the best academic traditions of classical Russian ballet. After graduating from Saratov Ballet Academy at the top of her class, she joined her hometown ballet theater. Three years later Olga moved to Moscow to join the Moscow City Ballet of Smirnov-Golovanov with which she toured the world for four years, performing as a corps-de-ballet and soloist dancer. Once in Boston, she continued dancing professionally and began her teaching career in 2008. Working with children of all ages, Olga has been involved with staging and choreographing recitals during the past 14 years at different studios and in public school setting throughout the greater Boston area. Her professional teaching engagements include Boston University, Tony Williams Dance Center, BalletRox, North End Music Performance Center among others. Olga is excited to share with children her experience and love of dancing.
OLGA MARCHENKO
Teacher
ASHLEY ENG
Teacher
Hoang-Anh (Ashley) Eng started her dance training at the age of 3. Ashley attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) and was a company member of the Houston Repertory Dance Ensemble (HRDE). At HSPVA, Ashley trained in a high focus curriculum including ballet, modern, tap, improvisation, composition, musical theatre, jazz, and modern partnering. She had the opportunity to attend summer sessions at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, Northwest Dance Project, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. A recent graduate from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Ashley has received her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance with an emphasis in composition and a minor in Creative Entrepreneurship. She has performed works by Kate Weare, Maleek Washington, Ruka Hatua-saar White, William Issac, and Robert Moses. She has both participated and choreographed in various projects and short films with local Boston artists, rising musicians for their music videos, and fellow Berklee and Conservatory students as well as the Boston dance community. She is currently an administrative assistant and an advisory committee member for Midday Movement Series, a Boston based non-profit dance organization. Through teaching at local studios, mentor work for the Young Audience Come and Explore Camp, and working as an instructor through Movement Matters, a program teaching movement to elders in nursing homes, Ashley's brought her love of dance to all ages and abilities. She hopes to continue performing concert works and exploring unfamiliar movement styles to adapt into her vocabulary as a dancer as well as an instructor and choreographer.
ARMONI MOODY
Teacher
Armoni Moody is a dance wellness educator from Atlanta, GA who believes in the power of building self-love and self-empowerment through creativity and culture. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and Education Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master of Education in Arts Ed. and Human Development & Psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She has taught in a variety of Pre-K-12th Grade spaces from non-profit programs to public, charter, and private schools in New York, Atlanta, and Boston as well as overseas in Colon, Panama. In addition to working with youth, Armoni also serves adult communities through her movement-based wellness and fitness brand, Mantra Movements, LLC.
STATIX
Teacher
Statix is a versatile dancer and choreographer in the Boston area who brings over ten years of experience to his classes. He specializes in Street/Urban Dance styles, such as Krump, Hip Hop, and Popping/Animation. Always infusing fun into his classes, he has taught at Brookline Academy of Dance, Urbanity and Tony Williams Dance Center. He has an Associate of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts from Bunker Hill Community College. He has danced with artists including Mya, Mario and Chris Brown, as well as Black Flag Dance crew, Trend n Motion, Island Vybez and Phunk Phenomenon. His goal is to inspire and uplift youth through street dance culture. His motto in life is, “practice makes progress".
AMANDA
Teacher
Amanda Bogdan is a professionally trained dancer and choreographer who grew up in Andover, Connecticut. She is currently an online student in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Amanda began her training at the age of 2. She joined a professional ballet company at the age of 8, where she spent 8 years performing in the Nutcracker, as well as other works such as American In Paris, Minister’s Black Veil, Borodin, Peter and the Wolf, Swan Lake and Rachmaninoff. Throughout middle and high school, Amanda spent her summers working with Joffrey Ballet School in their Ballet Summer Intensive and Jazz/Contemporary Summer Intensive. Amanda participated in the Rockettes Summer Intensive as well, and spent her summers of 2018/19 working with Artiston Pro Ballet in Pula, Croatia. Amanda enjoys teaching and choreographing ballet, tap, hiphop, jazz, lyrical, contemporary and pom pom/drill team. Amanda is currently a professional dancer for the NBA team, Boston Celtics, as well as the WNBA team, Connecticut Sun. She looks forward to sharing her love for dance through performing, teaching and choreographing.
MIRA GÖKSEL
Teacher
Mira Göksel started dancing at the age of 4 in their hometown of Izmir, Turkey. She continued her dance training in the UK at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, and later as a trainee at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. In May of 2022, they graduated from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance and an emphasis in Dance Composition. With a deep love for teaching, she has had the joy of traveling to Colombia with the JUNTOS Collective, teaching kids and performing in local schools and studios throughout the country. She has also worked as a Movement Matters instructor, a program inspired by the Mark Morris Dance Group's “Dance for Parkinson's®”, where she taught low impact classes in community centers and retirement homes throughout Boston. Göksel has had the pleasure of showcasing original work on the Boston Conservatory Mainstage, co-directing and co-choreographing two evening length performances in Boston, and presenting remotely with freeskewl, WestFest, and BAAD!. Mira aspires to always create an inclusive and expressive space with their investment in mutual support, aid, respect, and harmony, leading with her love of having fun and learning creatively and freely.
Lanae brings over 15 years of experience in customer support/service to Preschool Moves/School Moves. With eight of those years as an entrepreneur, Lanae has experience in many fields including retail sales, real estate sales and marketing, event planning and promotion, non-profit administration, and email marketing. She is a passionate music and dance lover who lacks musical and dance skills but has mastered the art of 1-click shopping on Amazon.
LANAE DOBBINS
Communications/Administrative Support
Julia grew up in small-town Delavan, WI, attended The University of Wisconsin Madison and went on to found her business, More Devine Design, in 2017. She's been in the design industry for over 10 years now and loves to help women create lives they love, by supporting their small businesses with branding, website design, social media management, and more. Julia also co-owns Cuore Mio Co., an adoption profile design studio, that helps bring adoptive families together to experience a lifetime of love. She has a background in hip-hop and competitive dance and is so grateful that she gets to help spread the love of dance through her role with School Moves/Preschool Moves!
JULIA MEDEMA
Social Media/Marketing Support