Teachers
Julie Rizzo-Morbidelli (Director)
Julie Rizzo-Morbidelli is a graduate of Gloria Jean Studio of Dance, Danstarz Dance Team, and was member of the United States Tap Dance Team. She competed in Germany where the U.S. Team won the silver medal in the World Championship. Her expertise in tap has won her many high score awards in national dance competitions. She has won pageant titles such as America's Teen Yankee Miss and Teen Miss New Haven County. Julie recently graduated from Saint Joseph College where she was the president and choreographer of the Saint Joseph College Dance Ensemble. Julie represented the college at the Ted Hershey Dance Marathon and choreographed a piece for the 5x5 Dance Festival where she had the opportunity to work with Lorelei Chang. She is very excited to continue her work as a dancer and choreographer through Dance City and The Arts.
Brooke Daigle
Brooke Daigle is a current undergraduate at University of New Haven. She has danced for 16 years at Nutmeg PAC. She specializes in acrobatics but has training for many other styles like jazz, tap, and contemporary. I have had many opportunities including Walt Disney Parades, starting a Dance Team at Southington High School, and has won many awards throughout her years. She hopes to help children find love in dance while learning many helpful tips.
Madison
Madison Bennett spent 14 years at Dance City and the Arts training in ballet, jazz, tap, and contemporary. She achieved many group and solo awards while on the competition team. In her high school years she studied ballet and modern at the Greater Hartford Academy of Arts. There, she performed pieces choreographed by Margo Sappington as well as repertoire from the Limon dance company.
Brandon
Brandon is a Hip Hop and urban dancer from the Hartford area who has been training in dance for the past 10 years. He got his start dancing as a praise dancer in church. From there, he moved onto Stepping when got to college, where he competed in the NYC area for 4 years. During this time, he also attended The Artist Collective's summer youth program and started learning African and modern dance. Also, he was selected to participate in a showcase at The Ailey Citigroup Theater under the direction of Bev Brown. Upon returning home, he immediately started to train in hip hop, popping, modern technique and ballet at Studio 860 and Island Reflections Dance Theater Company. He is currently a member of 860 Senior Company (formerly Team 860) and still regularly travels to compete in competitions such as World of Dance and Hip Hop International.
Mena
Mena Wyman (they/them) is a movement-based artist originally from the Chicago suburbs. They spent their time in Chicago training with the likes of Lizzie Mackenzie, Sara Bibik & Jacob Frazier. Upon graduating high school Mena relocated to Boston to attend The Boston Conservatory where they earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance with emphasis in Pedagogy & Composition. While studying under renowned faculty such as Marcus Schulkind, Kurt Douglas & Daniel McCusker- Mena filled their time outside of classes with extra curricular and pre-professional projects including movement creation for various original student works in the Conservatory's theatre department, a performance with Berklee College of Music's Global Jazz Institute, and community service through Movement Matters and Boston String Academy. Mena is thrilled to be joining the DCA staff and to share their appreciation for movement & the human body with their new students!
Samantha
Samantha Storm is a current English and Writing undergraduate student at Central Connecticut State University. She has a passion for all forms of art and movement, and trained for sixteen years at Dance Incorporated under Dorothy Zerio. As a student, Samantha trained primarily in classical ballet, contemporary, jazz, hiphop, and musical theater. She is currently a member of Dancentral and has participated as a student dancer in four showcases. Last winter, she attended the New England American College Dance Association In Cambridge, Massachusetts, presenting a student piece choreographed by Rubie Kollman. Samantha has also choreographed the Southington Youth Summer Theater Footlight’s productions, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, and “Camp Rock”, for the past two years. She is currently choreographing a large group contemporary piece for the 2026 student choreographer’s showcase, at CCSU. She is thrilled to work with new and familiar faces, and to help spread the joy of dance!
Tiana
With over 20 years of dance experience, Tiana Jarrett, began her training at Milford Performing Arts Center in 2003, studying ballet, tap, jazz, and acrobatics before discovering her passion for hip hop in 2004. She joined the studio’s competition team, earning multiple competition wins, and continued developing her performance skills through hip hop and competitive cheerleading at All Star Gym. In 2015, she joined the Southern Connecticut State University dance club, Symphonic Pulse Dance Company, where she began choreographing and further developed her unique creative style. She is passionate about helping dancers build confidence, develop their technique, express their individuality, and grow both as performers and as individuals. Her goal is to create an encouraging environment where students can challenge themselves, embrace their creativity, and develop a lasting love for dance.
Ms. Kelly
Ms. Kelly began her dance training at Alyce Carella Dance Center in West Hartford, where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, and pointe. Ms. Kelly competed in dance competitions until she graduated in 2022. After graduation, Ms. Kelly moved to Long Island, New York, to pursue her passion for dance at Hofstra University. During her four years at Hofstra, she performed in 25 productions and choreographed nine original works. She recently graduated with her BFA in Performance. While living on Long Island, Ms. Kelly continued sharing her passion for dance through teaching at local dance schools. She taught summer contemporary, jazz, and technique classes. Also ballet and technique classes throughout the year! Ms. Kelly is excited to continue her teaching career in Connecticut. She currently teaches at Alyce Carella in West Hartford and Dance City and the Arts in Southington. She is passionate about helping dancers develop their technique, confidence, creativity, and love for dance.
