Main St. 56 Dance Company
Teaching Staff
instructors:
BRIANA BLAIR KELLY - DIRECTOr
Briana Blair Kelly is a multidisciplinary artist and dance educator in Rochester, NY. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from SUNY Fredonia and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from SUNY Brockport. She is Adjunct Faculty at Niagara University, where she teaches Jazz and Irish dance. Kelly is the Artistic Director of ROCeltic; a Rochester based performance company. She is the Director of the Main St. 56 Dance Company where she also teaches Tap, Theater dance, Irish dance, and Contemporary. Kelly is a Dance Adjudicator for the Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s Stars of Tomorrow. Kelly is the choreographer for Monroe Community College and the Main St. 56 Theater. www.brianablairkelly.com
Fiona Kier
Fiona Kier is a 2019 graduate from Nazareth College. During her time at Nazareth she was part of the Dance Concerts and Dance Revues as a choreographer, dancer, and Assistant Director. Nazareth College and ROCeltic provided her the opportunity to perform in the Rochester Fringe Festival in 2018 and 2019. She has performed her own choreography at the Bill Evans Somatic Dance Conference and the Salt City Dance Festival. Fiona has been Irish dancing for 20 years and is a Nationally ranked Irish Dancer. She is still competitively dancing and will be competing in the 2021 Oireachtas. Fiona has been teaching for four years and absolutely loves to teach and pass on her passion for ballet and Irish dance to her students.
Sarah Spina
Sarah Spina graduated from Nazareth College with a B.S. Degree in Dance Studies in 2019 and has since been teaching at various studios throughout the Rochester area such as Finger Lakes Ballet Academy, Dance Emporium, The Floor Dance Company as well as guest teaching at the Nazareth College MAD Dance Festival this past fall. They have also had the privilege of performing in the Rochester Fringe Festival as well as choreographing for Nazareth College for three years for the Spring Dance Concert. They are so excited to be joining the Main Street 56 Dance Company and continue sharing their love of dance with young dancers!
JUnior Instructors:
samantha Balbi
Samantha Balbi has been dancing for 15 years and competing in all style for 14 years. She has received many scholarships to perform nationally and also received judges' awards such as "best stage presence" and "most energetic". Samantha has been a student at Main St. 56 Dance Company for almost 4 years and also trains at MCA Gymnastics. She has been a part of at least 20 productions with Batavia Players, Inc. Samantha is currently a junior at Batavia High School and participates in Varsity Cheerleading for football and basketball.
emma cline
Emma started her dance career at 7 years old with the McMahon School of Irish Dance. During her time here, she competed at many feiseanna, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Oireachtas from 2011-2017, and the North American National Competition in 2015. Emma stopped Irish dancing for a short period of time but started again with Main St. 56 Dance Company in 2018. She now dances with Jamieson School of Irish Dance and will hopefully return to competition soon. She is looking forward to teaching kids to love Irish dance as much as she does.
jocelyn coburn
Jocelyn is 17 years old and has been dancing with Main St. 56 Dance Company for 4 years. She has been acting since she was 6 years old and has preformed in over 30 shows with Batavia players. Jocelyn is a member of the Main St. 56 Dance Company competition team and will be participating in her first competitions this Spring.
Ariana desa Frias
Ariana is 17 years old and has been dancing since she was 2 years old. She trains in all styles but specializes in tap. She is a member of Chloe Arnold’s tap group Sole Talk and recently had the honor of performing at Radio City Music Hall with the Syncopated Ladies. She auditioned and was selected for the 2019 and 2020 NYSSMA All-State Conference treble choir and through the American Protegé competition she will perform at Carnegie Hall in May. She also auditioned and was chosen to be a Wild Apprentice, touring with the dance convention for the 2020-2021 dance season.
lauren halle
photo and bio coming soon!
kayla stone
Growing up in Batavia, Kayla started dance at the age of 3 at Suzanne’s School of Dance. Here she learned ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and cheer dance. By 7, she started Irish dancing at McMahon’s School of Irish Dance. She competed at many local feiseanna along with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Oireachtas from 2013-2016 and the 2015 North American Nationals. She took a break from competitions in 2017 and began Irish dancing at Main St. 56 Dance Company. She performed with ROCeltic at the Rochester Fringe Festival for 2 years. Currently, Kayla is dancing with Jamieson Irish Dance in hopes to return to competitions and she is looking forward to sharing her love for Irish Dance with others.
teaching assistants
Melania Desa Frias
Melania is 15 years old and has been dancing since the age of 2. She has participated in dance competitions since the of age 5 and has done numerous conventions and performances. She is a member of Chloe Arnold’s No Filter Sole Talk Youth tap company. Through them, she had the incredible opportunity to perform at JPMorgan and Chase’s Woman on the Move Leadership Conference at Radio City Music Hall with the Syncopated Ladies. She is so excited to assist and share her love of dance with others.
Leigh Lefevre
Leigh LeFevre is going into her Sophomore year in high school and lives in Batavia. She has been dancing at Main St 56 Dance Academy for 4 years. She joined the competition team this past year, and her tap solo placed first in its division at the Groove competition. Leigh also enjoys acting and has been performing with the Batavia Players since she was in 5th grade.
kathryn Mcclellan - teaching assistant
photo and bio coming soon!
