Vermont Center for Dance Education

09/11/2025

Day one was a success! We can’t wait to see the rest of our dancers this week!

Faculty pictured from left to right: Lauren Chirico, Tegan Lewis-Waite, Stefania Nardi, Katye Robare Munger, Zoë Marr-Hilliard, Alycia Hollister, and Twyla Marr

09/08/2025

Best of luck to Marble City School of Dance on the first day of their first season!
Classes start today at their location, 217G Woodstock Ave. in Rutland Vermont. Registration is still open for enrollment and trial classes. Contact [email protected] for more info and join the best dance family in town!

09/05/2025

Marble City School of Dance is set to start their first season. Visit their page and their website to find out more about the newest dance school in Rutland, how it's connected to Vermont Center for Dance Education and what they have to offer.

09/05/2025

Born-and-raised in Vermont, Twyla Marr has danced since the age of seven, beginning her training at Adams School of Dance. She studied ballet, modern, jazz and tap, performed as a member of the Vermont Chamber Ballet, and eventually taught classes to younger students at the school.

She continued her training at Smith College, earning a B.A. in Dance, with a minor in Landscape Studies. While at Smith, she performed in many faculty and student dance concerts and was Co-Artistic Director of the student-run dance company, Celebrations. She enjoyed exploring diverse dance styles and learning many aspects of backstage work and production.

Since college, she has danced in various shows and groups, including DanceFest Vermont, the Vermont Opera Project, and Vital Spark North. She is currently a member of the Marble Valley Dance Collective, for which she teaches, choreographs and performs.

Twyla loves art, traveling, being in nature, working with children, and laughing with her friends and family.

08/27/2025

Stefania Nardi began her dance training at the age of 9 in Italy. At 19, she became a member of the Balletto Apuano, where she studied the Legat Russian ballet system and she took exams of the Russian Ballet Society. During that time, she also had the opportunity to study with Russian teachers of the caliber of Natalia Krassowska, Alexander Stanov, Boris Brevagdze, and Svetlana Osiyeva.

After graduating from the Teacher Training Program at the prestigious National Academy of Dance in Rome, Stefania moved to Vermont where she became a member of the Vermont Chamber Ballet. She later became a faculty member of the Adams School of Dance. She often traveled to New York City to study with master teachers of the Limón Dance Company and attended dance intensives held by the Limón Foundation.

In 2011, Ms. Nardi took over Adams School of Dance and founded Vermont Center for Dance Education, which she directed until June 2025.

Stefania is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Pre-Primary through Level Seven of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum and certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She has continued to further her knowledge by regularly attending continuing education workshops for teachers at the JKO school of American Ballet Theatre in New York City, the “Ideas Exchange” for teachers at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto, several pedagogical webinars for teachers with Franco DeVita and Raymond Lukens, co-authors of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, webinars hosted by the Royal Ballet School in London and monothematic masters held by Ateneo della Danza in Italy.

In 2019, Ms. Nardi started her journey in the fascinating world of professional tutu construction by attending seminars with Claudia Folts in North Carolina and hopes some day to turn her passion for costuming in a career as a tutu designer.

08/27/2025

Katye Robare Munger started her dance training at the Adams School of Dance at the age of three. She studied ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance during her 15 years at the studio, and she was honored to be a principal dancer with the Vermont Chamber Ballet.

Katye graduated from Hofstra University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Video and Television Production and a minor in Dance. While at the university, she tutored and taught ballet classes in addition to her dance studies, including dance appreciation, choreography, ballet, modern, and tap. She received her Masters in Arts degree from the New School in 2011, and holds two certificates in Leadership. 

Katye is the Assistant Vice President of Digital at Heritage Family Credit Union, where she manages all facets of digital interactions with members and strives to improve digital user experiences. She also offers website building for local businesses. Katye serves on various non-profit boards and committees in her spare time, including being a founding board member and original president of Rutland Young Professionals. She recently started dancing with the Marble Valley Dance Collective and looks forward to more performance opportunities with them!

Katye previously taught ballet, jazz, contemporary, and tap at the Adams School of Dance before joining the faculty at the Vermont Center for Dance Education in the Spring of 2012. She is very excited to continue to work alongside her dance family at MCSD.

When not dancing, Katye can be found nerding out over TV and movies, crafting at home with her son, and spending time quality time with her husband and lovely old lap dog, Olive.

08/27/2025

Tegan Lewis-Waite has always loved dancing and expressing herself through movement! She started dance classes at the age of 3 and later joined Adams School of Dance in 2008. She graduated from Vermont Center for Dance Education, under the direction of Stefania Nardi, in 2014, where she studied and trained in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and modern. She started working at the studio as a teacher in 2013, and she loves being a part of the creative team and working with the students!

Tegan started choreographing for Rip Jackson within the Rutland community in 2011. Later, she worked as a local director and choreographer for musical theatre projects with various groups, including GCC, local elementary and high schools, and most notably, Rutland Youth Theater! She is passionate about working with youth and young adults to bring the stage to life through movement.

Outside the studio, Tegan worked as an elementary school teacher until 2023, leaving to pursue further education and birth work as a local doula. Currently, she is studying to become a childbirth educator! She loves hiking and adventuring outside, baking breads, muffins, and other yummy treats, traveling (specifically to the ocean & National Parks), and most of all, Tegan loves spending time with her family, her husband Aaron, and little daughter Marigold. Her most important and rewarding job is being Goldie’s mama. ♥️

08/27/2025

A native of Burleson, Texas, Lauren Chirico is a lifelong learner with a deep-rooted passion for ballet. A certified Bolshoi Vaganova instructor and classically trained dancer, she has studied and performed various ballet styles. Most recently, she has found profound inspiration in neoclassical ballet and choreography. Her love for dance began in childhood, often twirling on tiptoes and lost in daydreams. Over the years, her admiration for legendary ballerinas Ulyana Lopatkina and Svetlana Zakharova has fueled her dedication and helped her persevere through the challenges of the art form.

She began her formal training under Margo Dean at the Margo Dean School of Ballet in Fort Worth, Texas, where she studied with world-class instructors from diverse backgrounds through Ballet Concerto. Her performance experience includes numerous productions at the Will Rogers Theater and educational ballet demonstrations for schools throughout Fort Worth, introducing young audiences to the beauty of ballet.

In addition to her dance education, she earned an Associate of Arts and Sciences degree from the Ogle School of Hair, Skin, and Nails in Arlington, Texas, where she became a licensed cosmetologist with the goal of pursuing makeup artistry.

Now based in Upstate New York, she is a teacher and performer with Saratoga City Ballet. She continues her training under renowned instructors, including YAGP coach and judge Runqiao Du, as well as Vaganova specialist Mrs. Fernanda. She has also spent three years studying under Stefania Nardi at the Vermont Center of Dance Education. Her next focus is choreography, through which she seeks to express her evolving artistic vision.

When not in the studio, she is a devoted wife and mother who enjoys gardening, creating natural skincare products for her business, Wolf and Moon Apothecary, cooking cultural meals, cheering at her children’s soccer games, or supporting her son at the motocross track.

08/27/2025

Alycia Hollister began her dance career at the age of 5. She danced throughout high school with the Adams School of Dance, which later became the Vermont Center for Dance Education.

After high school, Alycia continued her dance education throughout college at SUNY Potsdam while she studied to receive her BS in Business Administration and a minor in Dance. At SUNY Potsdam, she participated in many student-choreographed productions. After undergraduate school, Alycia attended Castleton University to receive her Master’s in Accounting.

Since graduating from Castleton University, Alycia has participated in a number of performances in the area for Ballet Vermont, Marble Valley Dance Collective, State University - Castleton Campus, and Stone Valley Arts. When she is not dancing she can be found working as a CPA at Mary P Hollister CPA PC, or at home with her family and fur babies.

08/27/2025

Zoë Marr Hilliard is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, visual artist, mother of three, and born-and-raised Vermonter.

She earned her B.A. from Smith College with a double major in Dance and Sculpture and has worked in the arts ever since. Zoë has been teaching dance, choreographing, and performing professionally in Vermont since 2009. In addition to performing her own choreography at various venues around the state, she has also danced professionally for Ballet Vermont, the Vermont Opera Project, Cradle to Grave Arts, and Vital Spark North.

Zoë teaches dance at Vermont State University - Castleton Campus, is an integrative arts teacher in Creative Movement and Theater at the Green Mountain Community School, and leads art camps for kids at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center. Zoë has choreographed for Castleton University’s Theater Department, Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theater, Marble Valley Players, and Rutland Youth Theater. She is one of the founders and Vice President of Marble Valley Dance Collective, for which she also teaches, choreographs, and dances. Zoë taught and choreographed for Vermont Center for Dance Education starting in 2011.

One of the joys of Zoë’s career is getting to work with dance students ranging in age from 3 to 60 weekly across her multiple teaching jobs. When not dancing, she loves to create collage work, metal sculpture, and sewing projects, but her most amazing creations of all are her daughter and twin sons!

08/11/2025