Faculty & Staff

Teaching Faculty

Laura Osgood - Artistic Director & Owner
Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical & Young Dancers

A native of Wilmington, Miss Laura has been a dance educator for over 20 years. She strives to produce well-rounded dancers, both recreational and competitive. As a choreographer, her students have won numerous overall high score performance awards as well as specialty awards at various national competitions. Miss Laura generously and her performance team dancers give back to the community by providing entertainment at many local and regional benefit events and fundraisers.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in business management from Salem State College.
 
Laura’s dance background is diverse. Her primary training took place at Broadway Dance Academy in Tewksbury, MA where she discovered her love of dance.  She has had the opportunity to train with top educators throughout Boston and New York such as Jeannette Neill, Thelma Goldberg, Barbara Duffy, and Marcus Schulkind.  She is a graduate of the Dance Teachers’ Club of Boston Dance Education training course.

As a professional dancer, Laura’s credits include performing with Celebrity Cruise Lines, Lily Langtry’s Dinner Theater of Pennsylvania, touring Canada with the Simply Magic Show, and as a New England Patriots cheerleader. Laura enjoys using her professional dance experience in teaching her students.

Laura is fulfilling a lifelong dream in Wilmington Dance Academy. She has built a school based upon teamwork and community with a spirit and a passion for the art of dance. Many of Laura’s former students have gone on to study dance in college and some have returned to WDA now in the role of instructor. It is the highest compliment for a teacher to see a student become a mentor and Laura has been blessed to see this cycle completed time and again.

Grace Armstrong - Hip Hop

Grace is from Rockland, Massachusetts and graduated from Stonehill College in May 2024 with a double major in Marketing and Dance, as well as a minor in Entreprenuership. Post graduation, she currently works in Distribution Supply Chain for TJX Companies Inc. in Woburn. She has been dancing since the age of three, and competed throughout her childhood starting at age six. Grace has danced in various styles such as jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, ballet, and musical theatre with her favorite being hip hop. At Stonehill College, she was a member of the Stoneworks Dance Company where she choreographed four hip hop routines as well as an opening production number for their showcases. Grace has also previously taught and choreographed at dance studios including Bcity Reps in Brockton, MA and Funky Feet School of Dance in Hingham, MA during her time in college. Grace is very excited to continue teaching and can't wait to bring her passion and love for hip hop to her students! 

Tara Babajtis - Jazz & Lyrical

Tara Babajtis has been dancing since age three and trained in the Boston area in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Modern and contemporary, under great teachers, such as Sandi Duncan and Nailah Bellinger. She attended college at Fordham University, in New York City, where she danced for both their dance ensemble, Expressions, and performed and choreographed for Fordham's nationally competing Dance Team. While in New York, Tara trained at Broadway Dance Center under some of the best choreographers the dance world has to offer, including Sheila Barker, Derek Mitchell, Brian Thomas and more. After college Tara spent several months as a featured dancer for a Boston based hip-hop company, Triiiple Threat Entertainment, under Carl Alleyne. She then accepted a year contract with Disney, where she performed in the Magic Kingdom's Castle Show as well as MGM's Fantasmic and numerous park parades. In Jacksonville, FL., Tara danced with Scott Leigh on the ‘Positive Influence Tour.’ She had the pleasure of teaching at Florida School of The Arts and choreographing for all the University’s dance majors.Tara then moved to Los Angeles where she started and ran her own dance company for several years; guiding her students through competitive dance and furthering their dance career. She has won numerous choreography awards from several dance competitions, such as Bravo, Headliners, and Starquest. Tara is thrilled to be back home teaching in New England after 16 years away. For the last five years she acted as Company Director and choreographer for On Your Toes in Acton. Tara is excited to work with new dancers and challenge them in new ways and guide them to reach all of their potential!

Emily Bean - Performance Team Assistant Director, Lyrical & Jazz

Emily is a proud Boston native who began dancing at the age of three and instantly fell in love. Her training includes ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary, among other styles. In 2016 she received her degree from Roger Williams University in Dance and Performance Studies and Global Communication. At RWU, she’s performed in numerous dance theatre shows, at the American College Dance Association, and has had the opportunity to work with and perform with some wonderful guest choreographers. Emily is continually taking classes in the Boston area and looks forward to returning back to WDA to share her passion with the students.   Emily’s choreography has been represented at various regional competitions; her students have earned high score and numerous choreography and technical excellence awards.

Rachel Burke - Ballet & Pointe

Rachel Ann Burke is a Cambridge native. She received her early training under Larissa Luvisichuk in the Vaganova method and went on to study at Boston Ballet and José Mateo Ballet Theatre. Rachel spent summers at American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, & Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. Following her early education she went on to receive her B.F.A in Dance & Ballet Pedagogy from the Boston Conservatory. 

For over 15 years, Rachel has been teaching ballet to youth and adults of all ages. She began her teaching career with creative movement classes for the youngest of dancers and has expanded into teaching tweens, teens, and adults at all abilities. She loves being able to coach and see the excitement and growth in her students.

Since the age of 17, Rachel has danced professionally with various companies and choreographers in the Boston area including: Contrapose Dance, José Mateo's Ballet Theatre, works by Gino de Marco, Tony Williams, and David Drummond. Currently, Rachel is excited and honored to be dancing with North Atlantic Ballet. Rachel is exceptionally proud to share her own training and professional experiences with her students.  

Brittney Bythrow - Tap, Jazz, Lyrical & Young Dancers

Brittney Bythrow has been dancing since age 3. She received most of her training from Nancy Chippendales Dance Studio, and Susan Woods Dancenter/Dance Academy of Stoneham. She has been trained in tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, and other styles. A graduate from Salem State with a double major in Elementary Education & Sports/Movement Sciences, she is now an elementary school teacher. She is excited to “dig-spank” into her next season at WDA teaching some of our young dancer and open level classes!

Lisa Cataldo — Core Fitness@WDA

Lisa Cataldo, a native of Wilmington, has always been extremely active. From an early age, she kept active dancing, cheerleading and weight training. She has her Bachelor of Science in Sports, Fitness & Leisure Studies and her Associate of Science in Physical Therapy. She has worked as an Exercise Physiologist, Physical Therapist Assistant, Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor or Pilates Instructor since the early 1990s. She came upon Pilates taking a continuing education course in 2001 when she was pregnant with her first child. She discovered then, and continues to love, how Pilates is challenging and inspiring at every level of fitness and for every individual body. She began teaching Pilates in 2003 with her first certification through the IWA to teach Pilates Fundamentals and in 2007 got certified through Peak Pilates with Clare Dunphy, a notable and highly respected instructor in the field, who trained with Master Teacher Romana Kryzanowska. Lisa is an Advanced Mat Certified Pilates Instructor and has been trained in the MVe Fitness Chair, Barrel, and TRX. She loves sharing her passion for Pilates and fitness at Wilmington Dance Academy. 

Olivia Coviello – Tap & Jazz

Olivia Coviello is a Boston-based dance teacher and choreographer. She grew up dancing in Malden, Massachusetts and eventually joined the Boston Tap Company at age sixteen where she performed at different venues across New England. Olivia graduated from Dean College in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Dance, concentrating in Studio Management. While at Dean, she served as a captain on the College’s tap dance team and participated in many faculty and student run performances as both dancer and choreographer. Aside from her college education , she received training and a teaching certification from the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston’s “Dance Education Training Courses”. Since her graduation, Olivia’s choreography has received top scores and judges awards at multiple competitions and conventions across New England. Olivia’s true passion is teaching, as she always strives to create an exciting and welcoming environment for her students to learn and thrive.

Angie DeWolf - Ballet Program Director

Angie DeWolf was born and raised in Greenville, PA. She received her formal ballet training from the Lake Erie Ballet located in Erie, PA under the direction of Sharon Filone. Here she trained under many renowned instructors including Bruce Marks, Duncan Noble, and Marcia Dale Weary. Angie went on to continue her ballet training in college at Michigan State University where she graduated with a degree in Kinesiology/Pre-Med and a Specialization in Dance. While there, she was a member of the Michigan State University Repertory Dance Company and the Greater Lansing Ballet Company in Lansing, MI, where she danced many soloist and principal roles. Additionally, she participated in a cultural exchange program with the Vaganova Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia. She has participated in numerous Regional Dance America Festivals throughout her training in both high school and college. Angie joined Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre (JMBT) in 2004 where she danced soloist and principal roles including Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She also originated principal roles in many of Jose Mateo's premieres including Risk of Repetition, Released, 1796, The Even and the Odd, Affairs, and New Pasts. During her time at JMBT, Angie was a Faculty Member, Ballet Mistress for the professional company, Director of the Upper Division within the school, Director of the pre-professional performing group YouthWorks, and Program Administrator. Her most recent choreography credits include ensemble works for the 2024 Youth America Grand Prix and Universal Ballet Competition, excerpts from The Nutcracker including Arabian Coffee, and a new work for Harvard Ballet Company's 2023 Spring Show.

Erika Hodnett - Young Dancers

Erika Hodnett has been dancing since she was 2 years old at a local studio where she studied ballet, tap and jazz as a competitive company member. Erika was offered a scholarship to Jeannette Neil Dance Studio in Boston when she was 15 years old.  She danced there until she graduated in 1998 and continued her dance education at UMass Amherst as a dance major. In 2002, Erika was offered a dance contract from Carnival Cruise Lines and traveled the world for 8 wonderful years as an entertainment dancer.  Erika has been teaching at local studios where she teaches the love of dance to the tiny dancers.  Erika’s favorite part of teaching is seeing the dancers smiling faces each week loving what they do! 

Tara Hurley - Acro/Tumble & Young Dancers

Tara Hurley grew up in Somerville where her passion for cheer and dance started at age 7. Tara coached high school cheerleading from 1995-2012. Along the way, she also coached at the youth and All Star levels.  Her teams earned countless league, regional and national titles.  After taking over her former high school cheer team, she started directing regular youth cheer clinics for the city of Somerville.  For years, Tara ran tumbling programs for cheerleaders of all ages at the Winthrop Gymnastics Academy and for the city of Everett.

Tara holds certifications with the National Federation of High School Cheerleaders, the MIAA and the MSAA for coaching instruction and safety.  She was a certified Massachusetts tournament line and penalty judge for over 6 years.  Outside of cheer and tumbling, Tara has a teaching certificate in early education and worked full time in the childcare field until opening her home daycare when becoming a mom to her own little cheerleader and dancer! 

Tara is also an exceptional photographer. She opened a studio full-time in 2014; focusing on family portraiture, boudoir and dancer shoots. She is super excited about working with young athletes and artists again!

Rebecca Kelley – Ballet & Pointe

Originally from Massachusetts, Rebecca found her love for ballet at Northeast School of Ballet. At 15, she moved to North Carolina to be a trainee with the Charlotte Ballet. The following year she went on to train at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL.  Rebecca then returned home to Boston as a Trainee with the Boston Ballet, performing alongside the company and training with the school.  In 2015, she joined the Corps de Ballet of the Los Angeles Ballet. There she performed works by Balanchine, Petipa, and Sir Fredrick Ashton. While in California, she taught ballet to ages 4 to adult. In 2018 Rebecca moved back to the east coast and has danced with the North Atlantic Ballet. In addition to performing and teaching, she is now pursuing her certification in teaching Pilates and a degree in Liberal Arts.

Claire Lane - Ballet & Pointe

Claire Lane is a dance artist, educator, choreographer and administrator. She graduated summa cum laude in 2020 from Smith College with a B.A. in Dance and French Studies with the distinction of highest honors. During her undergraduate studies, she performed in repertory by Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, Ephrat Asherie, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, and Rodger Blum. Claire furthered her Contemporary Dance training at P.A.R.T.S under the direction of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Belgium, and at Trinity Laban Conservatory in London.  Claire is co-Artistic Visionary of detritus dance, a Boston-based collective of multidisciplinary artists focused on reframing storytelling through the feminist gaze using contemporary dance, collage, and text. Her choreographic process works towards dismantling patriarchal systems and values through subversive gender performance. As a freelance dancer, Claire has worked with Kairos Dance Theater, Abilities Dance Boston, Chavi Bansal/Vimoksha Dance, Holly Stone/StoneWorks Productions, Haley Andrews/Andrews Movement, and Eliza Malecki Dance at esteemed venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston,  L.A. Dance Project, and Rhode Island College. As a Modern, Contemporary, and Ballet dance educator to toddlers through senior citizens, she uses somatic imagery to ignite imaginative play and curiosity with her students. She continues to hone her teaching practice with Midday Movement Series. 

Kelsye Trouville – Hip Hop & Young Dancers

Kelsye is a Boston native who began her dance training at the age of four with her aunt Laura and was one of the first students of Wilmington Dance Academy. She has been trained in ballet, contemporary, hip hop, tap, and jazz. After graduating from WDA, Kelsye received her bachelor’s degree in Educational Studies from Endicott College in 2018.  She is currently working towards her master’s in early childhood education. While at Endicott she was on the dance team for three years and had the chance to dance on the UDA Nationals stage with her team. She also performed many styles of dance including musical theater, modern, ballet, contemporary, jazz, and improve in the Endicott Dance Ensemble shows. She has been a guest choreographer for Wilmington Dance Academy for a number of years and is excited to teach and watch her students grow and create beautiful movement.

Ramiro Vaughan – Hip Hop

Bio Coming Soon

Kristin Wagner – Contemporary & Conditioning

Kristin Wagner is a mover based in the Greater Boston and Worcester areas. With a primary focus on contemporary dance forms, Kristin has been performing with a number of companies and freelance choreographers since 2012. She creates her own work both independently and as part of The Click (@the.click.boston) and Decent Dance (@decentdance). Over the past decade, Kristin has had the honor of performing on stages at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Boston Center for the Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Jordan Hall, The Dance Complex, and Green Street Studios, among others. Her choreographic work has been presented across the Northeast, including at the Salem Arts Festival, The Dance Complex, Tufts University, AS220, the Boston Center for the Arts Mills Gallery, and the Maine International Film Festival, among others. Kristin shares her love of movement with students ranging from youth to adult in competitive, pre-professional, collegiate and community-based environments, and has worked extensively in arts administration at major dance-based organizations in Boston, in addition to creating programs and opportunities independently. Kristin is committed to making the experience of movement more financially, emotionally, and intellectually accessible for students, performers and audience alike. She is a certified artist in the City of Boston and an RYT-200 yoga teacher, and has been supported through residencies and grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts, MASS MoCA, the cities of Boston and Worcester, The Dance Complex and the JMAC Worcester, among others. In both dance and yoga, Kristin is guided by the belief that authentic, uncensored movement can be a pathway for personal growth and healing. Learn more: bodiesmoving.com,  Instagram: @bodies_moving

Ruth Whitney - Ballet & Pointe

Ruth Whitney is a Boston based dancer who received her early training and performance experience with Boston Ballet, studying under Tatiana Nikolaevna Legat and Laura Young.   She has performed regionally and internationally with companies including Boston Ballet, Teatrul De Balet Sibiu, and most recently as a principal dancer with Festival Ballet Providence.  Her classical repertoir includes Odette/Odile, Aurora, Juliet (in Pavel Rotaru's Romeo and Juliet), Marguerite (in Gianni Di Marco's Lady of the Camelias), Firebird, and principal roles in The Nutcracker, George Balanchine's Apollo and Agon, Etudes, Carnival in Venice, Grand Pas Classique, Paquita, Les Sylphides, as well as featured roles in contemporary works by Gianni Di Marco (including Orpheus and Euridice with the Boston Baroque), Mihailo Djuric, Lorraine Chapman and Viktor Plotnikov (most notably Orchis and Coma), among others.  She teaches privately and has taught classes regionally including Jeannette Neills Dance Company, Boston Ballet and Elite Feet Artists Company.

In 2005, Ms. Whitney graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English and Dance from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.  Ruth is thrilled to be returning for another year as a Wilmington Dance Academy ballet instructor. 

Staff

Christine Brady — Office Manager

Christine Brady is usually the first person to greet your dancers with a smile and very often the first point of contact for families at Wilmington Dance Academy.  Aside from advising current and potential new families on which classes they’ll love, she also onboards new faculty, maintains our website, and manages the day-to-day operations at Wilmington Dance Academy. As WDA’s resident “wikihow”; Christine is your go-to when it comes to costumes, props, schedules, and even tips and tricks to get your dancer prepared for the stage!  (Never underestimate the power of negotiating with stickers and bandaids!)  On a personal note, Christine is a seasoned WDA “dance mom”; her daughters Reaghan and Norah are both members of the senior team.

Guest Faculty

Nancy Murphy – Ballroom

Nancy began dancing at the age of 3. Her early dance experience was in ballet, tap & jazz. As an adult, she performed with the Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble for several years and moved into the world of partnered dance. She began teaching in 1989. Nancy has performed at many local events over the years, such as CIABDA's Cape celebration of National Ballroom Dance Week and the Boston Tango Society's annual Boston Tango Festival. She teaches in the Boston area, in Merrimac, and is on the guest faculty at the Marblehead School of Ballet. Nancy also periodically guest teaches at other venues, such as teaching Argnetine Tango in Bangor, Maine, Salsa at the annual fundraiser for the North Shore Civic Ballet, and Swing at Swing City in Boston. She also runs a monthly dance social in Amesbury.

Carlena Osgood — Lyrical & Jazz

Carlena Osgood is a senior dancer at Wilmington Dance Academy and daughter of Wilmington Dance Academy owner Laura Osgood. Carlena has been dancing for 16 years with training in all genres of dance. She has been on the performance team at Wilmington Dance Academy for 11 years winning many overall high score and special awards. Carlena won 3rd place overall for her contemporary solo and top 12 for her classical variation at the Youth American Grand Prix Boston in 2021. She is a sophomore at the Ailey School at Fordham University to pursue a career in dance. Carlena has been an assistant teacher, substitute teacher, and guest team choreographer.

Kim Penta – Lyrical & Jazz

Kimberly Penta trained in many genres of dance at the North Reading School of Ballet, where she received much of her jazz, tap, and lyrical instruction from Laura Osgood.  She also participated in the Albany Berkshire Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” for ten years, including roles with the professional company.  Kim continued her study of dance at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI, graduating magna cum laude in 2010 with a BA in History and minors in Dance and Education. She participated in and served as the captain of Salve Regina’s audition-only Extensions Dance Company.  In addition, she performed and choreographed for both the company and a student-run dance club and had many opportunities to perform throughout New England. 

Her choreography was selected to be adjudicated at the 2010 American College Dance Festival in Boston.  As a graduating senior, Kim was the recipient of the Dance Award, given by the Theater Arts Department.  More recently, she performed professionally in the “Philipsz Sound Installation,” a modern dance performance, at the Peabody Essex Museum.  She also danced at the 2014 U.S. Prudential Figure Skating Championships in its 100th Anniversary Opening Ceremonies at the T.D. Garden.  Her choreography has been represented at both regional and national competitions, and her students have won many high score and special awards.  She joined the WDA family in 2010 and is excited to continue sharing her passion for technique and choreography with her students each year.

Jennifer Rathbun – VIP Dance

Jennifer (Keller) Rathbun has studied various styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, tap, Latin and musical theatre dance for over twenty-five years, receiving her primary instruction from Genevieve Severens.  Over the past eighteen years, she has taught all styles at various metro-Boston dance studios and public schools.  She is privileged to have been a part of the WDA family since 2011!

In her most recent professional role as Director of School Outreach at Community Music Center of Boston she oversaw music, dance and drama outreach programs throughout Boston Public Schools, reaching over 3,000 children annually, providing access-based arts initiatives for some of the city's most deserving populations.  She is currently providing artistic planning services to the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center in Foxboro and is serving as a mayoral appointment to the Attleboro Cultural Council.  In addition, she is an experienced stage manager, event producer and teacher-trainer.  When not working in the arts, she can be found either on a yoga mat, cuddling her pup Tessie-Lou, cooking for her family, or training dogs at her local animal shelter.

Miss Jenn is certified in group exercise by AFAA and is also a former Zumba instructor. Her graduate work at Lesley University in Elementary Education specialized in creative arts in learning. She is currently completing her RYT 200 hour yoga teacher certification. A passion for the performing arts, fitness and the transformative power of creative youth development inform her teaching practice each day.  She is delighted to share the joy of dance and drama with her students and strives to make her classes creative, safe spaces for dancers of all ages and abilities to explore and enjoy movement as they develop a positive growth mindset and embark on their own artistic paths as unique creators.