Guest Artists

Joelle Cosentino (Team PMD Choreographer, Guest Artist)
Originally from New Jersey, Joelle Cosentino received her BA from the School of Arts and Architecture at UCLA with a degree in World Arts and Cultures, concentrating in Dance. After graduating with honors, Joelle danced and performed with such greats as Beyonce, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Jaime Foxx, and Jamie Lee Curtis. She has been featured in the feature film DREAMGIRLS alongside Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson and in GOING THE DISTANCE with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Her television credits include Fox's Mad-TV, Days of Our Lives, the Jimmy Kimmel Show, as well as numerous shows for Comedy Central, Spike-TV, and MTV. She has over a dozen national commercials to her credit including Chick-Fil-A, Sears, Replay-TV, Grey Goose, Right Guard and Intel Computers. Joelle also toured North Africa and Europe with a Bollywood-Tech Dance Company, where she performed at UNESCO in Paris. She teaches, choreographs, and consults at numerous dance studios around the country and is CEO of College Prep for Dancers, the first college prep program exclusively for dancers.

Tim Fournier
Tim is originally from Boston where he trained with the highest level of dance educators in the country. His young training included numerous master teachers from all over the world concentrating on technique, artistry, and performance in styles ranging from tap (his first love) to ballet and jazz/hip hop. Tim’s professional career started at the early age of 9 with a performance on “Star Search.” His resume since then has included “Boys & Girls” starring Freddie Prince Jr., “Cinderelmo”, “Jerry Lewis Telethon”, Goodwill Games, “Peter Pan”, Radio City Music Hall, Tokyo Disneyland, West Side Story (European Tour), Crazy For You, Sea Doo, Reebock, Compaq, Intel, Beauty & the Beast (Walt Disney World), YM Magazine, and more. He has worked with famous stars as Debbie Gibson, Linda Eder, Bebe & Cece Winnans, Fayard Nicholas, (of the Nicholas Brothers), All 4 One, Cathy Rigby, Claire Forlani, Keri Russell, Brandy, and more. Mr. Fournier has been teaching choreographing and judging dance competitions for over 10 years. He prides himself on his innovative choreography from his unique experiences in the business. Recently, Tim has been training music artists in Korea, Japan, and Thailand, and choreographing shows with the companies GMM Grammy & RS Promotion.

Karen Hughes (Finale Choreographer)
Karen taught dance at PMD from 1991 – 2007, instructing our younger dancers in tap, ballet, and jazz. She has been choreographing our finales for more than ten years. Karen is an assistant principal at Mountview Middle School in Holden. She lives in Princeton with her husband, Scott and their sons, Brady and Taylor!  Karen is very excited to continue to be a member of the PMD staff as their finale choreographer.

Ashleigh Hunter
Ashleigh Hunter comes from a family of dance. She received her early training at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville under her mother, Desiree LeFebvre. At a young age, Ashleigh began attending various dance competitions and conventions winning numerous awards & scholarships. At the age of 10, she started traveling to New York City every summer to train. Ashleigh later went on to study at Munro Ballet Studios under the direction of Cristina Stirling Munro where she danced with the Corpus Christi Ballet for five consecutive seasons. During that time she performed roles in several productions ranging from classics such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake to new modern and contemporary works. Ashleigh was accepted into American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive in 2002 & 2003 and Marymount Manhattan College in NYC to study dance. She has spent the past seven years teaching and choreographing on the faculty at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville where her students are continuously being awarded and honored at some of the country’s top dance competitions, conventions, and intensives. She is also currently an instructor for Circuit, an in-studio convention. In addition to teaching, Ashleigh continues to take class, train, and audition as much as possible.

James Kinney (Team PMD Choreographer, Guest Artist)
James Kinney puts a contemporary spin on classic theater dance — taking his cues from the great choreographers of Broadway — creating a new and exciting style all his own. His Broadway credits include: Fosse, Dance of Death, Barry Manilow’s Harmony and the most recent revival of Sweet Charity, starring Christina Applegate, where he also served as the production’s Assistant Dance Captain. He continued preserving the “Fosse style” when he became the Dance Captain for choreographer Wayne Cilento’s First National Tour of Sweet Charity, starring Molly Ringwald.

Monica Lessard
Monica is a 2007 graduate of Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA where she majored in dance with a concentration in contemporary jazz.  Training and performing with the Playhouse Dance Company at Point Park, Monica showcased her professional expertise as a featured and solo dancer in various productions giving her the opportunity to work with many dancers and choreographers in the Pittsburg area.  She also had the chance to perform in American College Dance Festival performances throughout the United States.  Monica’s commitment to dance began early.  Training with studios throughout the New Hampshire area she studied ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, acro and choreography.  She is grateful and proud to be part of the PMD family, where she has been able to share her passion for dance with so many talented young dancers.

Ian Matysiak
Mr. Matysiak, a native of West Boylston, Massachusetts, started his intensive ballet training after getting accepted into the Walnut Hill School, a premier performing arts boarding school. Upon graduating, Ian studied with the Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education in the school's advanced level. Throughout the years, he has attended summer programs at the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the FBP Center for Dance Education. With Festival Ballet Providence, Ian has performed in Giselle, Eldar Aliev’s A Thousand and One Nights,Viktor Plotnikov’s Cinderella and The Widow’s Broom, and in Gianni DiMarco’s Fiesta Italiano. This is Mr. Matysiak's third season with FBP.

Danny Poland
Danny Poland as a certified Dance Master of America, A.D.A.P.T., A.C.T.R.A., and EQUITY is a native of Toronto. He danced professionally all across the U.S. and in Canada doing many shows such as "Funny Girl", "H.M.S. Pinafore", "Mame", Music Man", and "Annie". Danny also performed regularly on many television shows such as "Wayne and Schuster", Tommy Hunter", Juno Awards", "Genie Awards", "ACTRA Awards", Canada Day on Parliament Hill", and "DuMaurier Search for the Stars" to name just a few. He toured with Patsy Gallant, Alberta '75 and many Industrial conventions. You may have seen him in the movies "Heavenly Bodies" or "Loose Screws". Danny has also received numerous choreography awards and was most proud to receive "The Sherry Gold Memorial Award for Excellence in Choreography" at the American Dance Awards. Danny adjudicates and is in high demand as a Master Class teacher all over Canada and the U.S. He is also very busy choreographing many live fashion shows such as the Promenade and Eaton Centre and live industrials for " Mark Kay", Polaris" and Princess Cruise Lines". Most recently he choreographed "Evita" at the St. Lawrence Centre.

Bryan Steele
Bryan Steele has been teaching in the Chelmsford area for the past 13 years.  He has been on the faculties of Boston Ballet, Walnut Hill School, Dance Productions, New Hampshire School of Ballet to name just a few.  Currently on the faculty oat Dean College, Bryan has taught master classes throughout the United States, Germany, Venezuela, France, Ecuador and Spain.  Bryan has been choreographing for competitive groups and professional companies for over 15 years.  He has won numerous awards on a regional, national and international level.  He has self-produced 6 concerts of his own work in the Boston area.  His dances have been set on Prometheus Dance Company, Company of Two, Wheaton College Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Walnut Hill and other local companies.  Bryan has recently retired from performing.  Some of the companies he had the pleasure of dancing with are Prometheus, Impulse, Island Moving Company, Ariel Dance Theatre, Body Language Dancers, Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble and many other independent choreographers.  Bryan has also performed in hundreds of industrial shows, commercials and videos. For the past several years, Bryan has enjoyed judging for Olympic Miss and Dance Xplosion dance competitions.   Bryan takes all his experience from the professional companies; commercial work and master class teaching and brings this knowledge and love of the arts to his students at The Academy of Performing Arts, New England.

Jackie Walsh
Jaclyn K. Walsh began her training at Walker’s Dance in Lowell, Massachusetts, furthering her studies at the Walnut Hill School under the direction of Michael Owen. During this time, she performed in France and Germany, receiving the Bronze Medal at the World Showdance Championship in Riesa. Under scholarship, she received her BFA in dance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Here, she had the privilege to perform original works by Susan Marshall and Ronald K. Brown. Her passion for continuing her dance education motivates her continously attend various workshops and intensives. Past workshops include the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive, Paul Taylor Summer and Winter Intensives and the Doug Varone Winter Intensive. Her choreography has been presented at the 92nd St. Y Fridays at Noonseries. Her work has won her numerous awards and titles, including Headliner’s National Choreographer of the Year in 2009. Shortly after, Ms. Walsh along with her students were featured in Dance Spirit and Dance Teacher Magazine. Her choreography and teaching has been pursued up and down the east coast. Jaclyn has performed as a member of Skybetter and Associates, Patricia Noworol Dance, and James Martin Music/Dance. She recently had the privilege of performing with Keigwin and Company for their 2010 season at the Joyce Theater in New York City.