About the Instructors & Staff:
About the Director
MARIA DIMAGGIO-HUBER has danced since the age of two. She danced professionally nation wide, touring the Country with Sesame Street Live International Tour "Let's Be Friends". Maria enjoyed costume work so much she went on to portray Angelica from the Rugrats. Maria has been invited to dance for Disney in Japan and has appeared on "Entertainment Tonight" dancing for well known actors and actresses and their families. She's danced, modeled, and narrated for the North American International Auto Shows, danced and sung in Off-Broadway Musicals, danced for cable music videos, and has instructed Master dance classes at Oakland University and Macomb Community College. Maria is a former member of the Macomb Ballet Company. She danced with MBC in such classic romantic works as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Les Sylphides. Maria has choreographed for award winning dance companies, dance teams, and multiple hair shows in Michigan. Ms Huber has studied dance throughout the country, primarily in New York and LA. In the 90's, Ms Maria made the move to North Hollywood, CA to continue her studies in dance. She trained under the intense instruction of Joe Tremaine and associates at the studio, formerly named, Tremaine Dance Center. Maria danced with the top dance teachers /choreographers in the field. Maria presently sits on the General Board of the Cecchetti Council of America. She has studied Cecchetti levels I-VII, and has passed student and teacher exams levels I-V. Maria has had numerous students pass cecchetti exams with honors. Many of Maria's students have danced with professional ballet companies in performances such as the "Nutcracker" and" La Bayadere". You may have seen Maria in the commercial for World Gym & Fitness Center or Sesame Street Lives' commercial as Roxy Marie or Prairie Dawn. Maria has instructed dance for 23 years and is great with children! As a former competitive bodybuilder, she is also very fitness orientated. Maria has choreographed and won multiple top overall and special dance awards, including "Most Entertaining" dance, six consecutive years! She has been awarded “Best Choreography” for her dance Pieces. Ms Huber has judged for dance competitions regionally and nationally. In June 2007, Ms Maria was awarded “Top Teacher” at Kids Artistic National Dance Competition. In November 2008, she directed RPDA dancers and teachers in the televised Feature Act for the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ms Huber continues her studies today to remain a creditable dance teacher and studio owner.
ABOUT THE TEACHERS...
Miss Natalie recently moved here from Phoenix, Arizona. While in Arizona, Natalie worked for the NBA Phoenix Suns on an entertainment team called the Safari Squad, danced for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury Hip-Hop Squad, and was assistant director and senior instructor at a studio named Arizona Angels. Natalie has been dancing since she was three and is trained in all aspects of the sport. She graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre with an emphasis in performance. Miss Natalie was on the court this past season as a Detroit Piston "Automotion" dancer. You can view Ms Natalie’s Hollywood style photos in this years Detroit Piston Automotion Calendar.
Mr. Josh
Rhythm Po!nte Dance Academy is pleased to introduce this Pop-n-Lock Professional to our Staff:
T.V. Appearances:
•
Good Morning America (Freestyle Champion)
•The Wade Robson Project on MTV
•United Auto Insurance Commercial
•Advance America Commercial
Stage Performances:
•Off-Broadway show “Dreams Do Travel” Choreographed and
Directed by Darrin Henson- (NSYNC, Britney Spears, J-LO, and Michael Jackson)
•Numerous studio and local dance shows
Dance and Choreography Credits:
•Multi-Award winning Dancer and Choreographer for competition dance Teams for 8 yrs.
•X - Factor workshop (Taught choreography with Darrin Henson)
•2 time Dancer of the Year Finalist in Las Vegas
•4 Chicago Bulls Halftime show performances
Music Mixing:
•Professional Remixing of music.
Ms Denise has been a Radio City Rockette since 1997 and toured nationally with the Tony Award winning musical, Crazy For You. Denise has also had the honor of performing the choreography of Savion Glover at a showcase in New York City. She performed on tour in Australia in 2002, dancing all over the continent in Elvis to the Max. Denise’s credits also include film, commercials, and industrials.
Teaching credits include classes at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway, two of the largest dance studios in the country, as well as The Rockette Experience© at Radio City Music Hall. Her choreography has been seen in many productions in which she also performed at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada. The winner of the talent portion of the Miss Michigan Pageant in 2002 performed Ms. Caston's choreography, as did the runner-up to Jr. Mr. Dance of America (Dance Masters of America) in 2000, along with other local and national scholarship competition winners.
Denise grew up dancing in the metropolitan Detroit area, where she had a role in coordinating the Detroit Tap Festival and got to study with luminaries such as Dianne Walker, Robert Reed, Van Porter, LaVaughn Robinson, Lane Alexander, Cholly Atkins, and many more. She was also the Project Manager for Tradition In Tap, Inc., an organization dedicated to preserving the history of tap dance through semi-annual workshops in New York City. Students attend from all over the world to learn original choreography from the masters themselves or their protégés.
Miss Lindsey has been taking classes with Ms Maria since she was a young child. Lindsey is a well rounded dancer having studied most styles of dance. Her forte is Hip-Hop and she enjoys teaching and choreographing routines. As former Co-Captain of the Eisenhower Dance Team, Lindsey is no stranger to choreographing for large groups of dancers. Miss Lindsey attends Oakland University where she is pursuing dance.
B-Boy Pete teaches break dance at RPDA. In 2009 he won a dance scholarship to L.A. in a B-Boy Battle at the "Shock Dance Intensive". Pete is a former RPDA Company member and can grab anybody's attention with his strong b-boy skills!
B-Boy Chan - AKA B-boy Nova of Hardcore Detroit
started dancing when he was 13 years old,
worked with KRS 1, Doug E Fresh, Sugar Hill Gang, VP(of italy), and was selected to work with Jesse Mccartney.
Chan is the youngest powermover in Michigan !
He has done a lot of traveling and has met people all over the world networking through dance.
Dr. Jennifer - Dr. Jennifer Tillinger began dancing at the age of four and training with Ann Parsley at the age of eleven. Dr. Tillinger was one of the original members of the Macomb Ballet Company and has performed the role of Cinderella. Her passion to dance drove her to continue her dance education at the University of Michigan where she received a BFA in Dance. Dr. Tillinger has danced and choreographed professionally throughout the Metro-Detroit area and has toured with the International Auto Show. Dr. Tillinger has been teaching dance since 1988 and is a certified instructor of the Cecchetti Method of Ballet. She holds certificates for teachers grades I – VI and has been preparing and presenting students and teachers for ballet since 1993. Dr. Tillinger also has a Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences from Oakland University, where she is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Chemistry.
Miss Sarah - Bio coming soon
OFFICE STAFF:
Mr Josh is our friendly Office Manager. He works Monday-Friday from 3:30-8:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
