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.
Kim Penta – Lyrical, Jazz, & Performance Team
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.
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.
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.
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 Dance Theatre. Rachel is exceptionally proud to share her own training and professional experiences with her students.
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 joined North Atlantic Dance Theatre. In addition to performing and teaching, she is now pursuing her certification in teaching Pilates and a degree in Liberal Arts.
Jennifer Binversie – Ballet & Pointe
Jennifer Binversie is a masters graduate of Colorado State University in the arts leadership and cultural management program. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from the University of Hartford Hartt School with a BFA in Dance Pedagogy and minors in Entrepreneurial Studies and Performing Arts Management. While at Hartt, Jennifer had the opportunity to perform classic works by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Martha Graham and Jose Limón.
Upon graduation Jennifer began dancing onboard Holland America Cruise Line. Returning to the U.S. in 2017 Binversie accepted the position as head of the dance department at a boarding school in downeast Maine where she developed a new dance curriculum for her students and brought abstract movement to an isolated community.
A Midwest native, Binversie relocated to Boston and is a dance educator for Boston Ballet School and Certified Pilates instructor at Upward Spiral Studio in Cambridge, MA. Her choreography has been viewed internationally over the years. She is currently a freelance dancer throughout New England performing in works from contemporary music videos, corporate events, to improvisational site specific exhibits.
Claire Lane - Ballet & Pointe
Claire Lane is a Boston-based dance artist and educator. In May of 2020 she graduated summa cum laude from Smith College with a B.A. in Dance and French Studies with the distinction of highest honors. A recipient of the Five College Dance Department Virginia K. Wagner Scholarship and the Smith College Excellence in Dance Studies award, she has performed in works by Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, Ephrat Asherie, Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, and Rodger Blum. Claire has presented her own choreography at Smith College, The Dance Complex in Boston, MA, and through virtual platforms including freeskewl’s FERN performance series and NACHMO Boston’s 2021 virtual showcase. A language enthusiast and global artist-scholar, Claire has pursued further dance training internationally at P.A.R.T.S under the direction of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in Belgium, and at Trinity Laban Conservatory in London. In 2015, she played the principal role of Dorothy in a production of “The Wizard of Oz” which was selected to represent the United States at the Surin International Folklore Festival in Thailand. As a freelance professional dancer, Claire is currently working on projects with Holly Stone/ StoneWork Productions and as a Shuffle Cohort Teacher and Community Outreach Coordinator for Midday Movement in Cambridge, MA. She is thrilled to be joining the faculty at Wilmington Dance Academy for the 2021-2022 season.
Hilary Mulligan - Ballet & Pointe
Hilary Mulligan (Pyo) began her dance training with the Laurel Ballet in Greensburg, PA. She attended summer intensives with BalletMet and Cincinnati Ballet and continued her training with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s pre-professional, full-time high school and graduate programs. Afterwards, she was a company dancer with the Georgia Ballet and the Brandywine Ballet Theatre. She performed in many new works and classic ballets including Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, The Firebird, Dracula, and George Balanchine’s Serenade.
Most recently, Hilary was the faculty director and ballet instructor with Oklahoma Performing Arts. In the past, she was an instructor and guest dancer with the Wilmington Ballet in DE and was a resident advisor for two summer intensives with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. Additionally, she performed with Theatre Tulsa and Portico Dance Theatre. Hilary also has a BA in English, with a concentration in writing, and certificate in ballet from West Chester University.
Hilary moved to Massachusetts in August 2021, and she is the Associate Director of College Counseling with Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She is so excited to join the Wilmington Dance Academy for the 2021-2022 season.
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!
Erin McNulty - Contemporary, Improv/Choreography, & Barre Conditioning
Erin McNulty is a New England-based contemporary dance artist and educator. Erin holds a B.S. from Boston University and a Postgraduate Diploma from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London, where she was the recipient of the Audrey Wethered Award. Erin currently serves as Instructional Coach & Lead Teaching Artist for Boston Ballet's Education & Community Initiatives team; and is on dance faculty at Boston University and Lebanon Ballet School of New Hampshire. She has also taught varied dance technique, creative practice, and fitness classes for such organizations as Artistree Community Arts of Vermont, Forme Barre Fitness, Roxbury Latin School, Total Eclipse Dance Studio, Torit Montessori School, and Providence College Dance Company among others.
As a performer, Erin has danced locally with Eliza Malecki Dance, Natalie Johnson Dance, Rachel Linsky, Kairos Dance Theater, Zoe Dance Company, Kelley Donovan & Dancers, and Paula Josa-Jones. Her own research-driven works for stage and film have been shown in the Bonnie Bird Theatre in London, as well as numerous Greater Boston arts festivals, professional dance concerts, and national and international independent film festivals. Erin is a 2018 and 2020 New England Dance Fund Award recipient through the New England Foundation for the Arts, and a 2020 Shawna Shea Memorial Foundation Women in Film Fellow.
Kristin Wagner – Contemporary & Conditioning
Kristin Wagner is a movement enthusiast living, learning and growing in Boston, MA. Since 2012, Kristin has been performing with a number of local contemporary dance theater companies and freelance choreographers, most notably: Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion and KAIROS Dance Theater, for whom she serves as Rehearsal Director and Principal Dancer. As “Decent Dance”, Kristin - with partner Tony Guglietti - creates accessible contemporary performance works that dabble in comedy, dramedy, and all things silly, sweet and true. Independently, her work is usually a bit more moody.
For three years, Kristin served as the Creative Director of the self-founded and now disbanded Lady BOS Productions, through which she supported the development and sustainability of local, independent dance and performance art through fundraising consultation, production planning and performance opportunities. She has also implemented educational programming and structural administrative systems for a number of established and influential community dance institutions, most notably The Dance Complex. In her administrative work, Kristin is motivated by the mission to make the experience of movement more financially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically accessible for students, performers, and audiences alike.
With a passion for supportive, rigorous, and eclectic dance education, Kristin has shared her these philosophies and more with students ranging from youth to adult in competitive, pre-professional, and collegiate environments across Massachusetts. Kristin is a certified artist in the City of Boston, an RYT-200 yoga teacher, and holds a B.A. in Hospitality Administration with a minor in dance from Boston University (2012, summa cum laude).
In all that she does, Kristin is guided by the belief that authentic, uncensored movement can be a pathway for personal growth, authenticity, and healing. She is fiercely femme-focused (girls rule) and deeply in love with her cat Lilah and her niece Jamie.
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!
Olivia Coviello – Tap
Olivia started taking dance classes at age three and has been dancing ever since. She developed a fascination for creating at a young age and has been assisting and teaching her own dance classes since age fourteen. Aside from the training she received at her dance studio, Olivia joined the Boston Tap Company at age sixteen where she performed at different venues across New England. She has also received training and a teaching certification from the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston’s “Dance Education Training Courses”. Olivia graduated from Dean College in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance, concentrating in Studio Management. She is always excited to share her passion for dance and the arts with students and is honored to be a part of the staff at Wilmington Dance Academy!
Jennifer Keller Rathbun – Musical Theater, Jazz & Young Dancers
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.
Emily Bean - Young Dancers, Lyrical, Jazz & Tap
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.
Ramiro Vaughan - Hip Hop
Ramiro Vaughan (Purpose) is street wise dancer of many diverse styles from Boston, MA. He has trained at Boston Ballet, Chu-Ling Academy in Chinese Dance, Boston University’s “Reach Program” and has curated his own style of Hip-Hop through the years of Hip Hop through years of street dance with crews, Hooligan Squad, Gooniez and Side St. the company. In his professional career he has been featured with Tony Williams “Urban Nutcracker”, Lorraine Chapman the Dance Company, North Atlantic Dance Theatre, Mystique Illusions Dance Theatre, Castle of Our Skins, and Jazz Inc. He has performed at Earth Dance, Outside of the Box with Tony Tucker, Dixon Place (NYC), and at the Alvin Ailey Citi Group Center (NYC) to name a few. Ramiro has been awarded first place in MIT 2 vs 2 All styles battle, 1 vs 1 All styles battle at Deborah Masons School of Dance, and awarded “Battle of the Night” at the East Session. He has been training younger generations in Hip-Hop for almost a decade teaching at Tony Williams Dance Center, Green St. Studio, The Dance Complex, Boston University’s Children’s program, and the Boston Public Schools. He is on staff at Wilmington Dance Academy and is bringing his Be Urself Youth Program to the Cambridge Public Schools and IPAC.
Kelsye Trouville – Hip Hop, Jazz, Contemporary
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 the past four years and is excited to start teaching and watch her students grow and create beautiful movement.
Julie Diorio – Voice and Piano
Julie is an active member of the Boston music scene and an award-winning songwriter and performer. She plays and sings with her original band, The Dirty Dottys, as well as several other ensembles in the New England area. Julie takes great joy from passing on her knowledge and helping others to achieve their goals. She has been teaching children and adults, both privately and in a group setting, since 2002. Julie’s lessons are fun, energetic, and customized to each student’s unique learning style and personal objectives. She teaches voice, guitar, piano, ukulele, drumset, songwriting, and recording, and she loves teaching a combination of these instruments and skills to give her students some variety!
Guest Choreographers
Holly Ann Jennings – Musical Theater
Holly Ann Jennings enjoys a well-rounded career as a performing and teaching artist. Her forte being musical theater, she has worked alongside award winning directors and actors in world premiere musicals as well as more traditional productions in Boston and throughout New England. Some of her favorite roles include Mary in Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Musical (premier), Luisa in The Fantastiks, Cosette in Les Misérables, and Carrie in Carousel, for which she received an IRNE nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Holly received her formal training at Boston Conservatory, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Vocal Performance. She has taught at Community Music Center of Boston and is currently on voice faculty at South Shore Conservatory.
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.