THE BROOKLYN DANCE CENTERS
Providing professional dance education for over 35 years
Faculty
Denise Rusinak
Owner & Artistic Director
Denise’s love of dance started at a neighborhood school where she studied ballet, tap and jazz from the age of 4. She went on to study at the world renowned School of American Ballet and holds a Bachelor’s in Dance from Brooklyn College. After graduating, Denise danced with The Brooklyn Dance Theater and Footfall Dance Co. Denise has won top choreography awards at Starpower, Dancer’s Inc. and That’s Entertainment national dance competitions. Denise’s dance “Confined” won first place out of over 500 dances performed by schools from all over the northeast. One of her most enjoyable experiences was having danced in the film, “Saturday Night Fever.” That performance led to roles in commercials, cable films and many TV Shows including “Midday Live”, “The David Susskind Show” and “The Stanley Siegal Show”. Denise has been featured on A & E’s “Biography” segment on disco and dance. She is proud to be certified by Dance Educators of America and has received a Certificate of Recognition from “Dance Teacher Magazine” for the past six years. Most recently, Denise choreographed and staged dances for KTU’s Disco Ball in Atlantic City in tribute of the 30th anniversary of “Saturday Night Fever.”
Michelle Di Muccio
Competition Team Director
Born in Sicily, Italy and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She began her dance training at the age of 9 at The Brooklyn Dance Centers training in ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, tap ad hip hop. She is a 2023 graduate from The University of Hartford's The Hartt School. Prior to college she was a part of the inaugural class of the Move(NYC) Young Professionals Program from 2016-2019 and Ballet Hispánico's La Academia Program from 2018-2019. Michelle attended Fort Hamilton High School's Joffrey Ballet School Program where she studied ballet and modern under the leadership of Sabrina Jaafar as well as where she had the privilege to give back by creating choreographic works in 2022. She has worked with various companies such as, Mark Morris Dance Group, Ballet Hispánico, The Joffrey Ballet School and The Martha Graham Dance Company. She has had the opportunities to perform in various theaters such as the Apollo Theatre, New York City Center, Carnegie Hall and The Joyce Theatre. Most recently she was a part of the 2023-2024 Ballet Hispánicos Pa'Lante Scholars Company.
Alexa Guariglia
Alexa found her love for dance at 3 years old when she began classes at the Brooklyn Dance Centers. She knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life dancing. She has studied dance in numerous styles such as Ballet, Contemporary, Graham & Horton Technique, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre, and Hip Hop. She continued her training at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, and has received her B.F.A. in Dance from Long Island University. She now has her Masters Degree for Exercise Science & Rehabilitation.
Alexa has participated in several shows including, “An Evening of Work with Nathanial Hunt”, “Steps Performance Lab”, and “Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance”. She recently participated in several dance films choreographed by Alenka Cizmesija: "Landing Point", "Across From Solitude", and "Flesh Form".
She absolutely loves working with her "tiny artists" here at BDC and is the proud competition Team Director. Alexa would like to thank Denise Rusinak, as well as her BDC Family for always inspiring her to achieve all her goals and continue her passion for dance.
Jessica Grant
Jessica is a military brat who grew up all over the US but claims her roots in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were most of her family is from. She grew up in competitive gymnastics and dance, and later went on to acting. Jess attended one of the top 10 performing arts high schools in the country, graduating with a college prep arts diploma. After receiving a scholarship to the American Music and Dramatic Academy, she moved to NYC and graduated on the Dean's List. She continued to take classes at various NYC dance schools (Westside Dance Project, New Dance Group). Jess's first dance gig was as a solo tap dancer for the American Teacher Awards on the Disney Channel. She later went on to work commercially as a dancer for VH1, AT&T, and FUSE tv. As a coach, she brought home gold medals several years in a row for her students in Hip Hop and Acro at the Macabi Jr Olympics. Jessica performed the lead role Off-Broadway in SHE HAS A NAME, played opposite Jim Parsons in "The King's Inn" and was recurring as Liv Russell on "As The World Turns”. She can also be seen as a co-star on The Blacklist (S6.E20) and a guest star on Chicago Med (S6.E13).
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Emory Campbell
Emory Ferra Campbell, from Brooklyn, NY, received her formal dance training at LaGuardia High School and The Hartt School. She has performed with The Francesca Harper Project, Depth Dance, The Painted Ladies, Mark Bankin Dance Company, and in productions at the Park Avenue Armory, Industry City, The Tank, and The Mckittrick Hotel. Emory also produces and choreographs her own work, specializing in theatricality, character work, and presentationalism. Emory has been teaching ballet and contemporary at Brooklyn Dance Centers since 2017, as well as teaching at Ballet Tech, and occasionally at Gibney Dance Center. She loves sharing her passion for strong technique and bold expression to dancers of all ages.
Erin Gonzales
Erin Gonzales (she/her) is from Southern California and began her dance training at California Dance Theatre, performing with Pacific Festival Ballet under the director of Kim Maselli. She graduated from SUNY Purchase in 2023 with a BFA in Dance and minor in Legal Studies. At Purchase she had the privilege to perform works by George Balanchine, Norbert de la Cruz III, and Ja'Malik. After graduating, Erin joined Ballet Hispánico in their Pa'LAnte Scholars Program,performing at Carnegie Hall and New York City Center. Erin has attended intensive programs including Gaga Lab in Tel Aviv, Israel and Ballet Hispánico's ChoreoLab. She also has experience in film and television, dancing in music videos for artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Zolita, and Apple TV's show "Loot".
Loredana Wolovich
Loredana was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She began dancing at the age of 5 training in ballet and jazz but began competitive dancing at the age of 9. She expanded her training with competitive dance in styles such as lyrical, tap, hip hop, and contemporary. Later on Loredana attended the Fort Hamilton High School Joffrey Dance Academy where she trained mainly in ballet and modern as well as improvisation under the guidance of Sabrina Jaafar. She had the opportunity to perform in various pieces by Maleek Washington, Roderick George, Darby Fulcher, etc. Loredana has been teaching since the age of 15 in a various range of ages from as young as 3 years old to 12 years old. She has taught styles such as ballet, tap and jazz and has loved being able to share her love for the art form through teaching.
Mr. Kid
Abdul Belle aka Mr. Kid, was born in Trinidad and grew up in Brooklyn NY. He found dance at the age of 14, dancing in school talent shows and school functions. Later on, he became a local NYC street performer and started booking professional jobs, such as, Stussy Clothing photo shoot, Jolly Rancher commercial, Nickelodeon commercial and also appearing on BET, MTV, VH1, NBC, and other cable networks.
Mr. Kid also realized he had the joy of teaching, so he started teaching his first Breaking class at a Long Island dance studio. In about a year he grew from two classes a week to eight classes a week, and went from teaching at three different studios to eight. In three years he had one of the most popular breaking classes in Brooklyn. Mr. Kid’s Hip Hop choreography also started to gain great recognition which led him to teach at various conventions, workshops and special
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guest teaching at various studios In New York and the tri-state area. From there he started his own DJ company called, Not Just Dancers Entertainment employing many professional dancers and provided internship for young aspiring dancers. But he wanted to do more so he started his own dance workshop company called, Innovations In Dance Development. The objective of this company was to bring high esteemed choreographers to young dancers who may not be able to have access to these teachers, ranging in all styles of dance. In 2015 he formed the "Mr. Kid's Protege Program". A program created to give young studio dancers opportunities beyond the studio and prepare them for their dance careers in performing and teaching.
Mr. Kid is well known for his community outreach work, from motivational speaking at public schools, Hunter College, performing for the Department of Homless Services, The Seton Foundation for Down syndrome & special needs and The Crossroads Juvenile Center. In 2015 he was elected president of Love No Hate, an Anti Bullying organization with hundreds of members and thousands of followers all over the world. His most recent project is his clothing line called 5678Steps. Mr. Kid's work continues to speak volumes, inspiring young and old dancers and non dancers, gaining tremendous support on an international level.
Nicholas Begun
Nicholas Begun (Brooklyn, NY) started to dance at a local studio, Atlantic Ballroom, at the age of 7, before enrolling at Ballet Tech the following year. He competed in ballroom up until attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where he received the Eleo Pomare Scholarship, and then went on to receive his BFA from the Ailey/Fordham program magna cum laude.
Nicholas’s credits include 3 seasons with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, touring nationally with Ailey 2, the Bessie Award winning installation of “The Let Go” at the Park Avenue Armory, the Holland Dance Festival, the West Side Story Broadway Lab, and many other industrials, music videos, and various projects.
Nicholas is passionate about helping to cultivate the next generation of dancers and looks forward to sharing his experience with them!
David Paul Kidder
David Paul Kidder is a dancer, actor, choreographer, and teacher based in New York City, Performance credits include: Broadway (The Who's Tommy), The Joyce (American Dance Machine), Radio City Music Hall (NBC Upfronts), National Tours (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, American Dance Spectacular), and many regional theaters across the country. He was a dancer in the recent film IF (directed by John Krasinski and choreographed by Mandy Moore and Al Blackstone) and was a dancer on season 29 of SNL (choreographed by Shannon Lewis). He is a company member with Kristin Sudeikis Dance and is a faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College.
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Clarissa Di Muccio
Clarissa was born in Sicily, Italy and was raised in Brooklyn, NY. She began dancing at BDC when she was 5 years old training in, ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. Growing up she has always pursued dance and has loved attending multiple competitions and conventions. She has always had a passion for teaching kids and is now one of BDC's faculty. She teaches recital combo classes as well as the petite level competition team.