Faculty & Staff

Director - Spotlight Vermont
Co Founder - Vermont Musical Theatre Academy

Teaches - Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater Dance, Ballet

Jen has been dancing most of her life.  She started dance at the age of 5 at the prestigious "June Claire School of Dance" on Long Island.  She later went on to be one of their youngest teachers at age 16.  Despite her young age, Jen traveled to New York City weekly to study with some of the top dance teachers & choreographers at studios like Steps, Broadway Dance, Phil Black Studio and more. 

 In 1987 she moved to Vermont. Although she was asked to fly back to New York weekly to continue teaching there, she decided instead to begin her own dance program in Middlebury. In 1996, Spotlight On Dance was born.  

 Jen is extremely grateful for the opportunity to teach students of all ages, and share her love of dance!  She has seen some of her students move on to pursue performing arts professionally.  However, she is most proud of her contribution toward having her students grow up in her studio to become strong, confident and disciplined individuals.  She is a teacher and mentor to many!

Managing Director - Spotlight Vermont
Co-founder - Vermont Theatre Academy

Teaches - Acting, On Camera Acting, Song Interpretation, Musical Theater Performance, Intro to Performance, Film and Media Production, Hybrid Performance Production

Singer, actor, director and performing arts photographer, Tim also brings many years of business, marketing and financial management experience to Spotlight, having worked in banking, technology and government sectors for many years.

Over the years, Tim has appeared regionally in dozens of shows, including Brigadoon (Tommy), The Rainmaker(File), Fool for Love (Old Man), A Little Night Music (Fredrik), Jesus Christ Superstar (Pilate), The Fantasticks (El Gallo, Bellomy), The Sound of Music (Captain VonTrapp), Oliver! (Mr. Bumble), The Producers (Max Bialystock) and many more. Tim was also a member of the popular cabaret group Encore! performing all around New England and in NYC for over 20 years.

As a visual artist, Tim has photographed some of the world’s top dance companies and performers, including; Dance Theater of Harlem, Martha Graham Company, Abraham.In.Motion, August Wilson Dance Ensemble, Tap Kids, Katherine Crockett, Kyle Abraham, Bill Evans and many more. His work can be seen here.

Teaches - Musical Theatre, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop Lite

Elisa Van Duyne is a professional performer, choreographer and arts educator with over 20 years experience in theatre and musical theatre. As a performer, she's been seen and heard on Broadway: “42nd Street”, “Beauty and the Beast,” “Finian’s Rainbow”, “110 In The Shade” on TV: “Person of Interest”, “As The World Turns,” “2001 TONY Awards,” as well as Off-Broadway, European & national tours, and regional theaters all over the country. She has choreographed for universities, international entertainment companies, BC/EFA benefit concerts and professional theaters. Her work includes "Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Oklahoma,” “Big River,” "Footloose," ”Hairspray,” “The Who's Tommy" as well as stand alone contemporary and tap dance pieces. As an arts educator, she’s taught in NYC at Cap 21, Broadway Dance Center, and AMDA; Paper Mill Playhouse and local performing arts schools across the nation. She is currently on staff at The Flynn Center for Performing Arts.

Teaches - Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern Jazz, Creative

Evelyne has been teaching pre-school dance for several years and has also taught ballet, modern and jazz at St. Michael's College, UVM, Vermont Conservatory of Ballet and at Essex High School. She performed professionally with Ottawa Dance Theater, Theater of Giants, Axis Mime and on cruises. Evelyne trained at Boston Conservatory of Music, Alvin Ailey Center, Les Ballets-Jazz and with Shelley Ismail. And as a youngster, she leaped into the competitive field of gymnastics. She is delighted and looking forward to teaching at Spotlight in Vergennes!

Teaches - Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet and Tumble

Nancy continues to increase her education as a dancer and teacher. From Virginia Tanner, noted teacher of children, to Laura Glen modern Dance teacher from Julliard. From study with tap masters Jeanne Hill and Lisa Hopkins and ballet with Shelley Ismail to more than 30 Summers of teacher education programs including American Dance Festival, White Mountain Summer Dance Festival (to name a few) Nancy has been a student and teacher of dance every one of the 45 years that she has lived in Vermont.
She loves dance, teaching dance and her students.

Teaches - Jazz and Contemporary

Cara has been dancing for 34 years and teaching for 21 years .

Cara Beyor has lived most of her life in New England and New York. Training with multiple studios as well as master classes with teachers from NYC. She started her dance life with Canterella (now the Albany-Berkshire Ballet) then with David DeMarie dance studio in Buffalo NY where she competed for 4 years . She started the first high school dance team in Western MA in 1995-6 at her high school. After that she danced in college with Ellen Sinopoli and a student organization at Russell Sage college. After graduating from college she moved to VT and found Spotlight on dance after trying classes in multiple places. "Spotlight is the perfect fit; a place that I can share with students my love of dance and help build confidence while learning something they can enjoy for the rest of their lives."

Teaches - Ballet

Shelley began dancing as a young girl in the NY metro area, and trained for nine years at the old Metropolitan Opera School of Ballet. She studied with Margaret Craske, Alfredo Corvino and Anthony Tudor, whom Shelley considers an essential influence on her life and philosophy of dance. Young Shelley spent her summers at Jacobs Pillow and as a teen spent a year at the Royal Ballet School in London. Her
professional career began moving to Paris dancing with the Ludmila Tcherina Company, the Nice Opera Ballet and onto the Basil Opera Ballet. Returning to NYC for a year of concert work, Shelley settled
for the next ten years in Montreal, dancing as soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Balanchine balllets and numerous contemporary modern works. She moved on to start a small company with choreographer Lawrence Gradus called Entresix that performed over two hundred performances a year all over Canada. Shelley returned to NYC to study with Maggie Black.

Ms. Black was famous for creating a new ballet technique based in anatomy. This technique stressed working with a neutral spine, and proper pelvic alignment. Many of the world most elite dancers, including Vermont’s own Kevin McKenzie( former principal dancer and now Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater), studied with Ms. Black to heal injuries, and extend their dance careers. Shelley greatly absorbed her message of using a pure and holistic approach in teaching. Shelley brought this approach back to Montreal and taught for both the Les Grand school and Company.

After leaving Montreal, Shelley retired and moved to Vermont. She has taught throughout Franklin and Chittenden Counties. Shelley has received choreographic grants and with them started a small company of young dancers. The dancers performed and did lecture demonstrations in various schools.
Shelley taught for years at the Movement Center, and for about the last decade has taught here at Spotlight Vermont. Shelley is also available for private lessons, and coaching (For the more advanced dancer). She has trained many dancers who have become professional ballet and Modern dancers. As well, Shelley has helped many dancers get into elite schools and professional programs.

Shelley may soon retire, but hopes to pass on her passion for the beauty of this art form, the technique gained by proper training, and the joy of dancing purely without affectation for as long as she is able. A dancer who studies primarily with Shelley will rarely be injured, and will reach full potential; a well trained dancer is a pure and beautiful dancer, and the hallmark of a “Shelley trained dancer”.

Recently celebrating a milestone birthday , Shelly went to India for six weeks and attained her Yoga Certification; so fitting given her teacher and mentor Antony Tudor was a dedicated Zen Buddhist.
Shelley brings a rare combination of excellent training, years of performing around the world, expertise in teaching and coaching, and a mindful yogic mindset that makes her classes uniquely high quality. Her zest for both dance and life are an incredible example for not just her students, but all who know her.

Teaches - Lyrical, Contemporary, Jazz, Ballet Substitute, Private Lessons

Liz Moore began dancing at 4 years old on Long Island , NY. By her teen years she was dancing full time at Dot Mackey Dance, student teaching and traveling to Manhattan for classes, conventions and the occasional competition. Liz graduated from SUNY Geneseo after studying psychology and dance. She danced thirty to forty hours a week, and was a performer and choreographer for the Geneseo Dance Ensemble and Orchesis Club; specializing in Modern Dance choreography, with emphasis on the Fall and Recovery technique of Doris Humphrey.

Liz moved to Vermont in 1988, and began performing and teaching locally soon after arrival. She has been an Adjunct Professor of Dance at St. Michael’s College for over twenty five years., teaching Modern, Jazz, Advanced Technique, Ballet and Musical Theater Dance. While at SMC , she has been involved with or choreographed many shows on their Main stage: both faculty and student productions, as well as the St. Michael’s Playhouse. She has also been the the SMC Dance Team advisor.
Liz has also choreographed for Lyric Theater, South Burlington Dance team, and has had Modern choreography performed on the Flynn Stage.

She is available for private lessons for most any style, dance stretch, dance stretch for body acceptance, and college audition preparation/personalized choreography.

In September 2018, Liz started the Moore Dance Company, sponsored by Spotlight Vermont. Combining her passion for dance and social justice, the Moore Dance Company has raised money for the Spotlight scholarship fund, and over two thousand dollars for Ibutwa, a Vermont based charity for women in the Congo.

A long term practitioner of yoga and meditation, Liz has certification for Mindfulness in the classroom. Bringing these practices to the studio, along with years of continued study and experience have helped create an atmosphere of work with intention, and fun; always trying to remember that when we dance we are showing people who we truly are.

Teaches - Tap and Ballet

Lauren is from Colchester, Vermont and has been dancing at Spotlight since she was 3 years old. Lauren is a freshman at the University of Vermont, and majoring in Microbiology and minoring in Emergency Medical Services. Lauren is an EMT for both Colchester Rescue and UVM Rescue. In her free time she loves to hang out with friends, ski, and of course dance.

Teachers - Hip Hop & Contemporary

Sarah Ryan was born and raised in Essex, VT where she trained in tap, jazz, and hip hop at local studios since the age of 4.

After attending St. Michael's College, she moved to Los Angeles to dance and train with the world's best choreographers, teachers, and dancers. She was apart of the LA Unbound dance company, performing jazz funk and musical theatre pieces.

From Los Angeles, Sarah moved to Boulder, CO. She was a member of a hip hop dance company as well as a professional contemporary dance company, Rogue Co. Sarah choreographed several pieces for Rogue Co. including tap!

Sarah has taught movement, and dance classes in Vermont, Los Angeles, and Boulder, CO to children from age 4 through college.

Dancing is Sarah's passion, and she cannot wait to share it with you!