Theresa A. Velardi, Teri, is certified to teach Classical Ballet (Cecchetti method) and Tap through Dance Masters of America, Dance Educators of America and Associated Dance Teachers of New Jersey. She has been teaching in the performing arts since 1972.
Teri has an extensive training background. She studied at Perry and Keller School of Dance, East Orange, New Jersey under Mary Ann Perry and Gail Keller where she trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Precision Dance, Acrobatics, and Hawaiian/Tahitian. She also studied at New Jersey School of Ballet under Carolyn Clark, and with Edward Villella. She studied Tap, Jazz and Acrobatics with Charles Kelley at Fondsworth and Hauer in Manhattan and Jazz with Phil Black while attending classes at Broadway Dance Center, in NYC. Teri also studied at the Luigi Dance Center, NYC, and at the Raul Gilabert Dance Center, NYC.
Teri has been on faculty at Mary Ann Perry School of Dance, East Hanover, New Jersey where she taught Tap, Acrobatics, and Middle Eastern Dance, and Woodbridge School for Performing Arts, Woodbridge, New Jersey, now Central Jersey School of Dance and Gymnastics. She was also a director/teacher at the DeBellis Music Center, Newark, New Jersey. Teri recently taught at the Donna Frech School of Dance in Norwich, NY teaching Ballet and Pointe from 2008 to 2011 and L A Dance Academy in Edmeston, NY from 2010 to 2015 teaching Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Acrobatics, Musical Theater, Hawaiian dance.
Teri owned and operated 2 dance studios, T & C Dance Company North in Bloomfield and T & C Dance Company South in Bayville, New Jersey, and was a member of the New Jersey Dance Theatre Guild where she held the position of Tap Syllabus Director. She created a graded tap syllabus and choreographed routines for beginner through advanced tap training to be used by Guild members.
As a member of the New Jersey Dance Theatre Regional Ballet Company, she was a Nutcracker Rehearsal Teacher for first act and second act Russian and Waltz of the Flowers, while working along side Marina Stavitskaya of the Kirov Ballet.
In addition, Teri has taught and performed in many dance ministries, such as at the Church of Grace & Peace, Toms River, NJ, where she taught Ballet, Israeli Folk Dance, Mime, Sign Language to Music, and Choreography for holidays and special events. There she lead a ministry of 52 dancers from ages 4 to adult where she taught the dancers to use the gift of dance as worship as in Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 150:4
Teri’s dance home is a new school she and her husband opened in August 2015. Ostego School of Dance and Performing Arts, in West Burlington, NY. The dance genres taught are – Ballet, Tap, Pointe, Jazz, Acrobatics, Lyrical, Modern, Musical Theatre, Acting and Voice. Beginning in the summer of 2020, K-Pop. The Wharton Valley Dance Theatre, the performance company of the school, was birthed in the Fall of 2017 with a group of exceptional dancers performing at a small town Fall Festival. The dance company has grown and are the axis of our small town Nutcracker and variety show each Christmas.
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