CELEBRATING OUR 20TH SEASON
Staff
Meet our award winning staff!
Owner/Director- Erika Aresta- Maiello
Mrs. Erika’s love for dance started very young. She has been dancing since the age of three and competing since the age of four. She has won numerous awards as a dancer. Some of her achievements include: placing 3rd in the nation at National Dance Association, NDA’s “All American” for three years, and held the title “Best Turns and Leaps” for two years running. Mrs. Erika has been teaching dance since the age of 16 and choreographing competition numbers since 17. Mrs. Erika won the 2005 Top Choreographer Award in the Teen Solo category at Star Systems Competition and the 2006 Young Choreographer Award at American Dance Awards. Mrs. Erika’s Dancin’ on the Edge Dance Team was invited to the New York City Dance Alliance Nationals the first year Dancin on the Edge opened. Over the past seven years, Mrs. Erika has added multiple choreography awards to her list including 2009 Diamond Award at Rhythms in Dance. She holds an Associates Degree in Small Business Management and continues to take master classes and keep herself knowledgeable and active in the dance community.
Devan is currently pursuing her Master in Arts Administration at Rowan University. Devan has been teaching for the past decade and has 30 years of dance training under her belt.
While training as a dance major at Montclair State, Devan continued her education working with artists such as Nancy Lushington, Cynthia Thole, Lonnie Morretton, Lynn Grossman, Diann Sichel and Karen Gayle. Miss Devan has experience volunteering and teaching movement classes to the developmentally disabled, and has performed with dancers responding to AIDS, and at other benefits for Lupus and Cancer research. Her professional credits include but are not limited to multiple Nutcracker performances, "Fashion is Art" at the Prudential Center, The Hatch Festival in New York City, and multiple years performing as a lead in a Nutcracker to help underprivileged dancers achieve a dance education. Devan has received numerous awards for outstanding choreography from competitions at both the regional and national levels including Starbound, Rhythms in Dance, Star Quest, Fierce dance challenge, StarPower, Dance Xplosion, and many others. In addition to attending competitions with her students, Devan is also a professional adjudicator for a regional and national competition and serves as the Arts and Wellness coordinator for a non-profit in Monmouth county to bring arts and mental health to underserved communities. As the artistic director here at Dancin on the Edge, Miss Devan believes in the importance of a well rounded, technical education and consistently works with her staff to continue the exceptional level of education given.
Owner/Artistic Director- Devan Brash
Kristin Leonardis- Hip Hop
Kristin has more than 22 years of dance training & is a graduate of Montclair State University’s College of the Arts. She graduated from MSU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Education, a minor in Business, was a member of the Dance & Theater repertory company and a group fitness instructor.
She has extensive commercial (and conservatory based) dance training, in all styles of dance, and has trained & performed with many well-known dancers & choreographers on both the east and west coasts. Her credits include numerous music videos (including Kat DeLuna’s “Drop it Low”), The Wendy Williams Show, Hip Hop Squares, “Star Maker” on Lifetime with Laurieann Gibson, Freestyle Legends Tour (for artists Rockell, Noel, Cynthia & Joe Zangie), Coca Cola, Disneyworld, The Russian Nutcracker and various live performances at Radio City Music Hall, NJPAC, PNC Arts Center, Jones Beach, Wachovia Center, Amalie Arena, Hard Rock Café, Madison Square Garden and a private event for Madonna.
Kristin is a member of Rhythm City Entertainment, Breaking Conformity Productions, Latin Fusion Dance Project and a current cast member of the Dead Man’s Party dance show at Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s Fright Fest. She works with various artists & choreographers, choreographs and teaches various classes and workshops in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia and is a certified Zumba instructor.
Toby Harris- Tap
Toby has been dancing since the tender age of two. He has studied the art of tap with Gregory Hines and Savion Glover just to name a few. He has won such awards as top dance soloist of New Jersey, Mr. Dance America, NAACP national talent award and the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s dance scholarship. Toby has appeared in the Off-Broadway play Runaways as well as the music video for the Kinks, and had a 13 year worldwide tour of Riverdance the Show to start his career as a professional tap dancer. Toby is also amazing with kids and works with them on a recreational and competitive level having won numerous top awards for his choreography already.
Annie Johnson- Ballet
Annie Johnson began her dance training in her hometown of Hamilton, NJ with training from Julie Caprio at the age of 4. She attended dance summer intensives throughout her high school career which included American Ballet Theatre, NY, Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, and Boca Ballet Theatre. She continued her dance training at Butler University, graduating in 2016 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in dance performance studying classical ballet technique, modern, jazz, character, and contemporary. While at Butler she performed roles in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and was able to work with guest choreographers with the most recent being Lesley Telford. In the summer of 2014 she traveled to Eastern Europe with members of Butler Ballet. While there she performed and trained at the Roman Turczynowicz National School of Ballet in Warsaw, the Fundacja Edukacji Atystycznej in Krakow, the Olga Slawska-Lipczynska National School of Ballet in Poznan, the Eva Jaczova National Dance Conservatory in Bratislava, and the Department of Dance at the National Conservatory in Prague.The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, performed and trained at the Roman Turczynowicz National School of Ballet in Warsaw, the Fundacja Edukacji Atystycznej in Krakow, the Olga Slawska-Lipczynska National School of Ballet in Poznan, the Eva Jaczova National Dance Conservatory in Bratislava, and the Department of Dance at the National Conservatory in Prague.
Olivia DeFabritus- Studio Manager/Instructor
Olivia's love for dance began at the age of two and she began competing at the age of nine. During her time at Dancin’ On The Edge, she gained knowledge and experience in all styles of dance. Her experience coupled with her motivation to help those around her lead to her being named as an assistant teacher at age fourteen. Along with dancing at the studio and attending many summer intensives, Olivia trained at the FPAC performing arts program at Howell High School for all four years. During this time she performed in three of Howell’s Drama Club productions, was honored to be dance captain her senior year, and was awarded with the Outstanding Growth in Choreography Award in 2019. Along with this she had the opportunity to take classes from many different artist in the professional world. After her fifteen years at Dancin’ On The Edge and graduating high school, Olivia moved on to study Dance Education at Montclair State University. Through her time in the program she had the opportunity to work with many great choreographers, performed in shows, and work alongside amazing peers. Olivia now continues her education studying Family Science and Human Development with a concentration in K-6 Education. With Olivia’s third year of teaching at Dancin’ On The Edge approaching, she’s extremely excited for the challenges ahead and can’t wait to pass down her love for dance to her incoming students!
Victor Hom
Victor has been dancing for most of his life with over 34 years of experience. Some of his early training in ballet and modern dance was with the Dance Theater of Harlem, Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, Nutmeg Ballet, Hamilton Ballet Theater and the Princeton Ballet School as a scholarship student. Victor received his BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. He also studied pedagogy with distinguished authors John Barker, School of Classical Dance and John White, Teaching Classical Dance.
As a professional dancer, Victor toured internationally with the Caracas Ballet performing on stages around the world including Israel, China, Russia and Venezuela. He has also danced nationally with HT Chen and Dancers. His performance garnered critical acclaim from Richard Christiansen, the Chief Dance Critic of the Chicago Tribune, saying ”Victor Bob Hom, is a Chen Dancer of speed, grace and elegant technique…”. He was also invited to compete in the Dancing With the Stars National Tour. Throughout the years, Victor has taught master classes at Arizona State University, Jacksonville University, Colombia College, Hunter College, Mercer County Community College, Temple University and his alma mater SUNY Purchase. Victor was USAG safety certified and has coached athletes in gymnastics and tumbling for several gyms including Central Jersey All Stars, Sunburst Gymnastics and Eastern Gymnastics.
Anthony Sadorski
Anthony Sadorski has been dancing for over 13 years. Growing up in the competition dance circuit, Anthony has been trained in many styles including contemporary, modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, musical theater and acrobatics. Anthony graduated from Georgian Court University with a Bachelor’s degree in Dance. While at Georgian Court, Anthony trained heavily in modern and ballet along with improvisation and choreography studies. He has worked with a local dance company, Axelrod contemporary ballet company, for their variation of The Nutcracker. Anthony also completed the Broadway Dance Center choreography intensive and is certified with acrobatic arts. Anthony is passionate about teaching and choreographing and wants to teach the next generation to find what they love most in life as well as becoming amazing human beings.
Valerie Hine
Valerie began dancing at the age of three training at Standing Ovation School of Dance in Brick, New Jersey. For many years she was a member of their competition team, which gave her the opportunities to travel to numerous dance competitions and conventions learning from some of the best names in the dance industry. During this time she has received several awards and titles. One of those being the TNT scholarship winner for Dancers Inc in 2019. That award gave her the opportunity to travel with them and learn the ins and outs of working for a dance competition. In that same year, Valerie was cast in an Off Broadway Production of “Over The Rainbow” as a dancer and an understudy for one of the lead roles, Elphaba. Valerie moved to Los Angeles, California and studied at Hussian College, Los Angeles for two years as a Commercial Dance major. While training in Los Angeles, she became versatile in acting, filmmaking, producing, and directing. She is currently attending Ocean County College studying Exercise Science and Kinesiology. She is then transferring to Kean University where she will be a student in the Pre Physical Therapy Program studying to become a Physical Therapist. Valerie has a wide variety of goals she would love to accomplish. She continues to work hard to push herself as a dancer, performer, and an artist to hopefully inspire younger generations to do the same. Many artists have inspired her to work hard at making her dreams a reality and she hopes to do the same for others.
Kassie Ruboyianes
Kassie Ruboyianes is a K-5 Elementary Dance Educator at the George L. Catrambone School in Long Branch, NJ and earned her EdM in Dance Education from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Kassie completed her full-time student teaching at Trenton Central High School under the direction and mentorship of Elizabeth Zwierzynski. During her first year at Rutgers, Kassie was awarded the EdM Dance Education Student Scholarship and inducted into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts. Before attending Rutgers, Kassie received certifications in both Acrobatic Arts Module 1 and Polestar Pilates Mat. She also interned with the non-profit Dance New Jersey (DNJ) as both a Communications Intern and an Administrative Assistant while under the direction of Cristina Marte. At DNJ, Kassie helped to run events such as Show Up and Dance, Show Up and Dance on the Beach, Annual Festival, First Look, Board meetings, various Professional Development workshops, and Connection Calls.
Kassie was a company member in a local New Jersey hip-hop company and an apprentice with Nickerson-Rossi Dance in Philadelphia. She studied at Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester where she performed works by April Cook, Alicia McGinty, and Phil Orsano at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Other training includes Nickerson-Rossi Dance Summer Series, Point Park University’s International Summer Dance, The Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive, and the MetDance Professional Intensive where she performed works by choreographers such as Kellie Hodges, Kiki Lucas, Michael Nickerson-Rossi, and Kate Skarpetowska. With almost a decade of experience, Kassie’s love of teaching and choreographing has allowed her to teach various styles and set choreography on competition teams for private studios around New Jersey. Kassie was also a Teaching Artist for Monmouth Arts and has set work on the dance students at Red Bank Regional. For two seasons, Kassie was the head coach for the Ranney Dance Team in Tinton Falls, NJ. In 2016, Kassie graduated from Point Park University with a BA in Jazz Dance, where she performed works from choreographers such as Kiki Lucas, Jill Randolph-Lazzini, Kellie Hodges, and Heather Goelz. Kassie attended high school at the Ocean County Vocational Technical School Performing Arts Academy where she studied dance under Kelly Bourke, Melissa Faisst, and Cristina Marte.
