Dance Northeast Beg/Int Master Class Instructors
Ballet
Aisilyn O’Rourke
Aisilyn O’Rourke began her dance career at Corinne’s School of Dance in Rochester, NH. While at Corinne’s, she studied various styles of dance with a focus in Broadway style Jazz, Kickline, and Tap as part of the competition team. She went on to graduate from Plymouth State University and received a B.A. in History with a double minor in Northern New England Heritage Studies and Dance. While at PSU, Aisilyn was a member of the Dance Division under the direction of Amanda Whitworth, studying Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Modern styles along with Dance Theory and History. While at PSU, she expanded her studies to include Giordano Jazz, Dance Pedagogy, and Stage Management under the tutelage of Lenore Sousa and Jacqueline Young. Aisilyn later received her M.S. in Library Information Science and Technology from Simmons University but continued her dance training through Sole City Dance. Aisilyn has continued to perform and stage manage for local productions including the Lila Festival. Her favorite part about being a dance teacher is seeing her students flourish and finding new ways to teach and choreograph. When she’s not at the studio, Aisilyn works as a school librarian and enjoys spending quiet afternoons with her husband, cat and colony of plants.
Contemporary
Danielle Coombs
Danielle began her dance training at Adagio Dance Academy, in Exeter NH at 3 years old. Throughout her 15 years dancing at Adagio, she trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop and Lyrical/Contemporary, with most of those years dancing competitively across New England. Danielle continued her dance education at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). During her time at UNH, she trained in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Pointe and Aerial Dance. She became a member of the Jazz, Tap, Aerial (JTA) section of the UNH Dance Company for 2 years. Throughout her 4 years in the UNH Dance program, Danielle performed and choreographed multiple dance and aerial semester showcases. She graduated in 2018 from UNH, with a Dance minor and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Mechanical Engineering.
Danielle is a current faculty member at Sole City Dance, where she teaches Hip Hop, Jazz and Contemporary. At Sole City, she has choreographed for the “Young Company”, Sole City Dance’s community outreach and performance company. Additionally, choreographing for “Dance Northeast” and “Moving Forward”, along with the end of year “Sole to Soul” Recitals. She also is Nimble Arts certified to teach Aerial Dance. Danielle hopes to continue to inspire her students to share in her passion for dance and performing. Danielle continues to perform in New England at Lila Dance Festival, Sole City Dance and is a current member of the Passion Dance Project performance dance company.
Tap
Caitlin Craven
Caitlin found her love for dance growing up at the Creative Dance Workshop of Bow where she trained in the styles of tap, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, and ballet. In high school, Caitlin attended the Dance Teacher Education Program at the Dance Teachers’ Club of Boston, becoming a certified dance instructor. After her certification, Caitlin not only began teaching at her studio, but also began choreographing school musicals. Over the course of six years she choreographed several shows including Mary Poppins Jr, Shrek Jr, and Alice in Wonderland Jr.
Caitlin earned her undergraduate degree at the University of New Hampshire, dual majoring in Education and Psychology and minoring in Dance. She then went on to earn her Master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of New Hampshire.
Caitlin performed in the UNH Dance Company for four years where she trained in the styles of jazz, tap, and aerial. She served as co-captain of the company during her senior year (2022-2023). During her time in the UNH dance program, she was a part of the college’s first-ever certification course in becoming an aerial dance instructor.
Caitlin has taught at Sole City Dance for four years and enjoys sharing her love of tap with her classes. She hopes to ignite an excitement for tap in her students through improvisation, creative movement, and collaboration.
Jazz
Lauren Pina
Lauren is a recent graduate of the University of New Hampshire where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a minor in dance. While at UNH, Lauren studied tap, jazz, aerial, and choreography. This allowed her to showcase her own choreography in shows the students put on at the university. Also while at UNH, Lauren was a part of the UNH dance company her junior and senior years. In this company, she specialized in jazz, tap, and aerial. During her time in the UNH dance program, she was a part of the college’s first ever certification course in becoming an aerial dance instructor.
Before dancing at UNH, Lauren began dancing at the age of 2 at Bakers Dance Studio. After a year there, she continued her dance career at Kaleidoscope of Dance and Gymnastics for the following 2 years. She then finished off her dancing career attending Erica’s Dance Academy for 12 years. At Erica’s, she studied ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and acro. At the age of 10, she began dancing competitively. Then, at the age of 12 Lauren’s curiosity for teaching began as she was selected and trained to be an assistant teacher. Over the years she has worked with ages 5 through 18 and began choreographing at the age of 16.
Lauren is also a certified Acrobatic Arts Instructor.