Meet the Faculty
Jill A Brighton, Director
Children's and Adult Ballet, Children's and Adult Modern, Children's Musical Theatre Dance,
Children's PreTap, Children's Ensemble, Fraser Street Dancers
Jill has been director of CPDW since 1994. A native of State College, Jill graduated with highest honors from Penn State in 1991 and joined the CPDW faculty in 1990. A versatile teacher, Jill is the also the artistic director of the Fraser Street Dancers and the Children's Ensemble. She is a rostered artist with the PA Council on the Arts and maintains a presence in arts in education with the Galaxy Arts in Education Program of CIU 10. Jill enjoys working with diverse populations, including children with special needs and senior citizens.
Jill danced professionally with Happendance (Lansing, MI), Great Wave Dance Ensemble (New York, NY), and Pennsylvania Dance Theatre (State College, PA). In New York, she was a scholarship student and manager at Steps Studio. At Penn State, Jill performed with the Contemporary Dance Company and toured Israel with the Dance Collective. Jill is a practitioner and instructor of Yoga and Pilates, and enjoys working as a choreographer for a wide variety of musical theatre venues.
Christina Ford
Children's and Adult Tap
Christina began teaching at CPDW in 2014, and is currently a Lecturer and Mental Health Counselor in the Psychology Department at Penn State. Originally from Gainesville, FL, she trained primarily at the Nina Cameron Dancenter there. During her college years, she served as the president of the MIT dance troupe, co-producing and choreographing their work. Though trained in a variety of techniques, her specialty and favorite is tap. She has trained with teachers all over the world, including Nancy Newell (Washington, DC), Diane Davisson (Los Angeles, CA), and Yuval Beck (Tel Aviv, Israel). Christina completed a tap teacher training course with Hillary-Marie and is a Certified Level II iTap Teacher.
Emma Gould
Adult Ballet and Tap
Emma was first trained in ballet, tap, and jazz at Scripps Performing Arts Academy in San Diego, CA. In High School she trained at Virginia Beach Ballet Academy in VA. Emma attended summer intensive programs with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Kansas City Ballet in addition to performing in an annual Nutcracker and spring ballet. She attended Indiana University (IU) and obtained bachelor degrees in physics and astrophysics while continuing her dance training with the ballet faculty at the IU Jacobs School of Music where she assisted with many of the classes, and the tap faculty in the IU Musical Theatre department. Emma is now pursuing a PhD in physics at Penn State while continuing to focus on her love of dance as a faculty member at CPDW.
Children's Jazz
Portia has been dancing competitively for 17 years and has trained in a variety of styles including ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, tap, and hip hop. Throughout her training she has had the opportunity to learn from incredible choreographers including Courtney Schwartz, Kobi Rozenfeld, Even DeBenedetto, Rudy Abreu, and many more. Portia has toured with Heat Dance Competition and Convention's Pre-Professional Company, Heat Force. She began teaching as a teaching assistant, substitutee teacher, and dance camp counselor at Thrive the Essence of Dance, where she trained and competed for many years. Portia is excited to continue sharing her love of dance, helping students grow, as a faculty member at CPDW.
Portia Lisanti
Juliet Michalec
Children's Jazz and Lyrical
Juliet has been dancing for 19 years. She trained at both the Denver School of the Arts and the Dance Conservatory of Denver, studying classical ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. She supplemented her training with classes in traditional Flamenco and African dance. She participated in summer dance intensives with Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre throughout High School. Juliet is an Architecture major at Penn State, and is involved with Vole, Penn State's largest dance club, as a performer, teacher, and choreographer. She is excited to be teaching lyrical and jazz at CPDW.
Ruth Packard
Adult Lyrical/Jazz and and Hip Hop
Children's Jazz and Hip Hop
Ruth is a graduate of Sweet Briar College where she earned a BFA in dance. Ruth has studied many different genres, including ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, modern, and Scottish Highland - her favorite. She is a regular competitor in Scottish Highland, traveling regionally, nationally, and internationally. Ruth is a recent transplant to State College, previously living and teaching in Spotsylvania, VA. She plans to continue her studies with an MFA in dance in the near future.
Karen Stoner
Children's Creative Movement and PreBallet
Children's Advanced Ballet, PrePointe, Pointe
Karen studied with the Pennsylvania Ballet, International Ballet Theater, and Hartford Ballet before performing professionally with the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre until 2002. She graduated cum laude from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford with a degree in Children's Dance Pedagogy. Before joining the CPDW faculty in 2002, Karen taught at the School of the Hartford Ballet, in the Hartford Public School System, the school of the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre. Karen is also a Licensed Massage Therapist and is the owner of A Caring Touch: Massage Therapy.
