Team

Heide Stiel

Heide began her professional persuits and extensive study at the age of 15 in New York City.  Professional performances across the east coast included the Delaware Arts Festival in Wilmington, Delaware; Stowe Winter Carnival in Stowe, Vermont; the Imagination Celebration in Albany, NY; Children’s Cabaret Theatre at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ; Great Adventure Theme Park in Jackson, NJ; Folk Dance Theatre in New York City; Broadway Dance Center benefit for the World Trade Center and recently she was in “Holiday Spectacular” in Pelham, NY.

Heide found a greater passion for teaching bringing her to coordinate various dance programs for local studios, a Theater Arts Curriculum for Indian River Plantation in Florida and has worked for 14 summers at Mohawk Day Camps in White Plains, NY.

Choreography projects include Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY and St. Catherine’s Performing Arts Guild in Ringwood, NJ which produced musicals productions of “South Pacific,” “Camelot,” “Carousel,” and “Anything Goes.”  In past years she performed in Irine Fokine’s “ The Nutcracker,” was a guest teacher at Ridgewood High School and choreographed and performed last summer in “The Gondoliers” with the Iron Mountain Stage Company in Ringwood.  Last fall, she worked with a concert group “Youth Song’ in Ramsey, NJ.  This past year Heide has played the Evil Fairy in a production of “Sleeping Beauty.”  This past summer she was the Wicked Witch of the West,in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Heide continually studies to improve her skills and talents and attends classes in New York City at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, New Dance Group and is a participant in Folk Dance Theater.  She holds her undergraduate degree in Human Services and Dance Therapy from S.U.N.Y. and is member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Heide taught ballet and jazz at Ringwood Academy for the Performing Arts and became Director in 1999.  In 2002 the studio moved in Oakland, NJ and became the Bergen Dance Center. In 2005 the Bergen Dance Center opened a second location in Montville, NJ. Continually keeping active in her field, she currently choreography’s for the Midland Park Senior Tap Dancers and Movement Specialist at Palistage Tenafly, NJ.

In June 2001 Heide was featured in a special issue of “Dance Teacher” magazine, in the article “Serects of a Successful Studio Owner.”  Recently, Heide was in a photograph use in the directory of “Dance Teacher” magazine May 2004.

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Niall O' Leary (Choreographer, Performer)

Niall O’Leary T.C.R.G. is a former all-Ireland and world champion.  His teachers included Kevin Massey – proclaimed by Michael Flately to be the greatest Irish dancer ever, and Rory O’Connor- the first man to do Irish dancing on the radio.

Niall O’Leary qualified as an Irish dance instructor in 1994.  He is registered with the Irish Dancing Commission in Dublin and is a member of the IDTANA and the IDTANA Mid-Atlantic Region.  The Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance was founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1995.  It was established in New York in 1996 and at the Bergen Dance Center, New Jersey in 2002.  Our goal is excellence in Irish Dance.

In 1996 he put together and choreographed the first ever multi-national team to compete in the World Irish Dance Championships, including dancers from Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Botswana, USA and Ireland.  The Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe have toured with the Three Irish Tenors, performed at the St. Patrick’s Day Ball in the Plaza Hotel, Manhattan, the American-Ireland Fund dinner, various festivals, Union Square in Manhattan and in 2001 did a
hugely successful tour of Japan.

Niall O’Leary performs regularly as a solo artist, in duet with Darrah Carr, and with various acts such as Natalie MacMaster, Cherish The Ladies, The Prodigals, The Andy Cooney Band, Atlantic Wave, The McCabes, Ceili Rain and Green Fields of America.  He conducts occasional dance workshops around the US.  He was honored by Irish-America Magazine in 2004 in their ‘Top 100'.  He is chairman of Ull Mor CCE, the Manhattan branch of Comhaltas.  He is a feis musician, and also practices as an architect.  www.nialloleary.com

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Jennifer Ward (Choreographer, Lighting Designer, Asst. Producer)

Jennifer DeBritton is a performer, choreographer, producer and teacher.  She currently teaches ballet, pointe, modern, hiphop, and jazz at Bergen Dance Center in Oakland, New Jersey, as well as, ballet and pointe at Ms. Huguette’s Dance & Theatrical Studio in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Recently Jennifer produced and choreographed for her own show Transition Testimonies in New York City.  Jennifer is a member of the Albano Ballet Company of America in Hartford, CT and Momentum Dance Theater in New York City.  She choreographed “The Nutcracker 2003” for Inspire Us Productions.

Jennifer recently graduated with her Master of Fine Arts in dance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts and has her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from California State University, Long Beach.  Jennifer is a former member of Ballet Repertory Theatre in Huntington Beach, CA where she was a soloist for five years.  She also was performer in the parades and show support for Disneyland.  Along with her work as a performer, choreographer and teacher, Jennifer is a freelance lighting designer and stage manager. 

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