Faculty
Jennifer Keane Ackermann
Mrs. Ackermann began her training in New Jersey where she studied jazz, tap, and ballet, completing the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. She also studied ballet on scholarship with Pamela Critelli at Broadway Dance Center and at the School of American Ballet in NYC. As a young dancer, she competed and won both regional and national titles including Jr. Miss Dance Educators of America. Mrs. Ackermann was a member of Star Search’s Junior Dance Champions “America’s Apple Pie” and danced on the Jerry Lewis Telethon as well as for President Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C. She has performed in the New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker, on Mattel’s Barbie float in the Macy’s day parade, in the Junior Company of Maurice Brandon Curry's Jazz Dance America, and was a featured dancer in Bob Rizzo’s instructional dance videos “Rizz Bizz Kids.” In 2004, she performed in San Remo, Italy as a member of the NYU New Music and Dance Ensemble under the direction of Douglas Dunn.
Mrs. Ackermann spent thirteen years teaching dance in private dance studios. She was the manager of a competition team and choreographed work that earned her awards on both the regional and national level. In 2003, Mrs. Ackermann began teaching dance in the public school system when she created and began implementing the curriculum for the PCTI Dance Program. Since that time she has created the Dance Ensemble, started the PCTI chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts, and choreographed many of the school musicals including Celebration which earned her a nomination for the Paper Mill Rising Star Award. Mrs. Ackermann holds a BA from Rider University in English Literature and Elementary Education and a MA in Dance Education from New York University. She has completed the Horton Pedagogy Workshop at The Ailey School and is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Cassandra Rossi
Mrs. Rossi grew up dancing in New Jersey. She then moved west to attend Arizona State University where she received a BFA in Dance Performance. While at ASU, Mrs. Rossi was awarded the Katherine K. Herberger Scholarship as well as the Outstanding Performer Award. She was also a member of Phi Eta Sigma, National Honor Society, ASU Chapter. While in Arizona she danced with Temenos Dance Collective and Dance Arizona Repertory Theater, where she worked in the community to help bring dance to underprivileged youth throughout the greater Phoenix Area. Mrs. Rossi holds an EdM in Dance Education from Rutgers University. She was the Assistant Director of the Rutgers Pre-College Summer Dance Conservatory for three years, and was on faculty teaching modern technique, improvisation, and repertory for the program for five years. She was on faculty teaching jazz at the New Jersey School of Ballet for five years. Mrs. Rossi has been teaching dance at Passaic County Technical Institute since 2008 and is co-advisor for the Dance Ensemble and the National Honor Society for Dance Arts. She was a Part Time Lecturer at Rutgers University for the Graduate School of Education and Mason Gross School of the Arts for two years. She has presented at six National Dance Education Organization Conferences and presented at Dance and the Child International (daCi) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mrs. Rossi is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Mrs. Rossi is a Language of Dance® (LOD) Certified Master Practitioner and is on Faculty with the Language of Dance® Centre, USA, teaching the annual Foundations course. She has choreographed music videos for Bartees Strange (Wretched), Rick Ross and Dave East, and mewithoutYOU.
Mrs. Rossi served on the Board for Dance New Jersey from 2016-2021 and is currently a K12 Education Committee Member. She has been on the committee for Dance Against Cancer since 2016, which is an organization that benefits the American Cancer Society. She is a friend of Zeno Mountain Farm, a non profit in Vermont that hosts camps for adults with and without disabilities, where she also assists with choreography for their annual musical. Mrs. Rossi teaches fitness in Hoboken and Jersey City.