Dance Center Faculty
Gia Carson - Director
Gia began dancing at the Dance Center at the age of 6, where she continued her studies in Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Lyrical Dance and Hip Hop through her teen years. She also trained in Classical Ballet at the Gene Murray School of Dance, a well respected and recognized technical dance school in Salem, MA. At the age of 16 Gia was selected to tour the country as one of Art Stone's Dance Olympus V.I.P Dancers. A VIP has a once in a lifetime opportunity to study with a highly skilled and competent group of professionals, while traveling throughout the United States. A VIP becomes a stronger technician, a better performer and a more mature person after an exciting, educational and exhausting summer with this tour. After high school, Gia continued her studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida with concentration in Classical Ballet and Modern Dance. After marrying and beginning her family, Gia returned to the Dance Center of Danvers to pursue her love of teaching and help keep the studio the successful teaching facility that it has always been.
AnnMarie Bedard
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Coming Soon!
Laura Caira
Laura began dancing at the age of 3 in Marblehead where she continued her studies in Jazz, Tap, Classical Ballet, Lyrical, Modern and Hip Hop Dance through her teen years. She also trained in Classical Ballet at The Marblehead School of Ballet and attended may intensive Jazz classes under the instruction of Jeanette Neil in Boston. Laura was a member and Captain of her Dance School Competition Team and also a member and Captain of her High School Dance Team. She was recently a participant of the Salem State College Repertory Dance Team where she is continuing her Dance and Business Education. We are very excited to have Laura at the Dance Center where she brings us her strong technical background, exceptional choreography and style, and her inviting and enthusiastic personality.
Shelli Silverberg
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Shelli began dancing at the age of 5 at The Bakers School of Dance where she began her training in Jazz, Tap and Classical Ballet. She then moved onto competitive dancing at Kathy Medina's Studio of Dance when she was 10 years old. Throughout her Dance career she has been trained extensively in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Modern, and Musical Theatre. Shelli has competed in many Regional, National and World Competitions. At the age of 15 she was nominated with her studio for the United States Dance Team where shee came together with The Gold Studio of Dance to represent the United States in Germany. Shelli competed with a large group in the formations category, where they went on to win 2nd place in the world! After High School Shelli joined the Reperatory Dance Theater at Salem State College where she stayed for 6 semesters, 4 of which she was a Choreographer. Along with being a part of RDT, Shelli graduated Salem State with a Nursing Degree. She is currently working as a School Nurse for Autistic children. We are thrilled to have Shelli join our Dance Center Family where she brings to us her amazing dance education.
Shauna Whalen
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Shauna began dancing at The Dance Center of Danvers at an early age where she learned her basic subjects of Jazz, Tap and Ballet. She continually educated herself in these subjects by attending dance class at many prestigious schools throughout Massachusetts including Gene Murray, The Marblehead School of Ballet and The Boston Ballet. Shauna moved on to dance at Karla Pattavina Dance Academy where she began teaching. After high school Shauna attended Roger Williams University where she graduated as a Dance Major. She then moved out West to pursue training, teaching and performing with The Aspen Ballet Company and Aspen High School. Shauna also performed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta Georgia. After returning home she continued to perform with the North Shore Civic Ballet, Dance Olympus and Starpower. Shauna also continued her teachings at Performance Plus in Salisbury and Young World in Quincy. She is currently a guest judge at numerous competitions and a Certified Instructor through the Dance Teachers Training Club of Boston. We truly welcome Miss Shauna back to the Dance Center and are very excited to have her as part of our family.