Faculty

Ms. Harris hails from a very musical background. Her father was a composer/arranger and her mother was an opera singer. She began dancing at age 6 and has been teaching for 25 years. Ms. Harris has performed as a principal dancer with the Notara Dance theatre and The Roger Atkinson Ballet Company. She has performed in such roles as The Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker” and “Sadness” in the contemporary ballet “Psyche”. Jessica choreographed the musical “Oliver” for the Pocono Playhouse and was also a member of Pitt Dance Ensemble in Pittsburgh, PA. She studied Ballet and Jazz under Elaine Sutula and Tap under Mike Minery of Broadway Dance Center and continues to study her craft in NYC. She attended Blair Academy, The University of Pittsburgh and East Stroudsburg University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Business and Accounting. While at Blair, she founded “BAD” (Blair Academy Dancers) for which she choreographed and performed.

While director at the Dance Center she has staged, with Ms. Reid, “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake”, “La Bayadere”, “Don Quixote”, “Coppelia”, “Le Corsaire”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Giselle” and “Cinderella”.

Sarah Reid is a co-director of The Dance Center and its performing group, The Delaware Valley Dance Company. She was born in Buffalo, NY and spent her early years studying the Cecchetti Method of dance with Miss Norma Ferrara on Grand Island, NY.

Upon moving to the New York City area, Sarah studied under Mme. Seda and Tom Adair, who had studios in NYC, Beacon and Poughkeepsie, NY. Tom Adair, a former dancer with American Ballet Theatre, founded the Poughkeepsie Ballet Theatre, of which Sarah became a member. She danced corps and solo roles with the company in ballets such as "The Nutcracker", "Swan Lake" and "Les Sylphides". Fernando Bujones was a frequent guest artist with the company.

At the age of 14, Sarah was accepted in to the School of American Ballet (SAB), which is the official school of New York City Ballet, located in the Julliard building at Lincoln Center. At SAB, Sarah studied under the world renowned teachers Mme. Alexandra Danilova, Stanley Williams, Suki Schorer, Mme. Tumkovsky and Muriel Stuart. She had the privilege of watching dancers from NYCB take class, rehearse and perform.

At age 16, Sarah was given a full scholarship to study at Harkness House for Ballet Arts under the direction of David Howard and Maria Vegh. Harkness was located in a beautiful mansion near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had many amenities such as a masseuse and a dance library, as well as its own dance company and theatre building.

Upon graduating from Somers High School, Sarah was accepted by audition in to the dance department of SUNY Purchase College. Purchase College has one of the best dance departments and facilities in the country, and is one of the most difficult dance programs to be accepted in to. Sarah's ballet teachers at Purchase were Royes Fernandez, Rosanna Servalli, Ann Parson and William Glassman. Her favorite teacher was Royes, as she had seen him perform many times with American Ballet Theatre and thought he was the perfect ballet prince.

Sarah also studied the Cunningham, Limon and Graham methods of modern dance with teachers such as Mel Wong, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Carol Fried and Jim May.

After college, Sarah taught dance at various schools in West Chester County and also started a career as a pre-school teacher. In 1988 she moved with her husband Larry Braverman to Beach Lake, PA, and started the children's dance program at Flex Fitness Center in Milford, PA. She also earned her Montessori certification and taught for many years at the Homestead School in Glen Spey, NY.

In 1998, Sarah along with her co-director Jessica Harris, opened their own school, The Dance Center, in Port Jervis, NY. Sarah brings her years of experience, top notch dance education and most of all her love of the art form of ballet in to every class she teaches.

Carly Guerra has been dancing with The Dance Center since the age of 7 under the instructors Jessica Harris and Sarah Reid. During her time as a student, Carly enjoyed learning many forms of dance including Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop! Carly began assistant teaching for The Dance Center while in high school, where she has auditioned and been accepted into summer pre-professional programs such as The Rock School and The American Academy of Ballet. She attended the University Centenary where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biology with a concentration in Forensics. Carly was not capable of letting go of dance so she continued to study throughout college where she took Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Ethnic and Ballroom. During her training she performed in The Art of Motion Dance Theatre (AOM) original work entitled BRCA1/Genome piece. Carly also has taken many master classes from teachers including, Carolyn Dorfman, Philip Martin-Nielson, Kyle Wilder, John Magnus and Lynn Needle. Carly is excited and looks forward to sharing her gift and love of dance with the next generation of dancers!

Cassidy Guerra has been training at The Dance Center under Sarah Reid and Jessica Harris for over 10 years in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Hip Hop. For many years, she has auditioned and been accepted into summer pre-professional programs such as The Rock School for Dance Education, The Bolshoi Ballet and The American Academy of Ballet. At these intensives, she had the opportunity to study under professional dancers/teachers. Cassidy attended Hartford University where she continued to dance under prestige instructors. She has taken many master classes from teachers such as Paloma Herrera, Bojan and Stephanie Spassoff, directors of The Rock School and alumni of School of American Ballet, Beckanne Sisk, principal dancer with Ballet West, Jeanette Kakareka, Phillip M. Otto, Gina (Angelucci) Grace, Justin Allen, Mariaelena Ruiz, Brian Loftus, Mignon Furman, Philip Martin-Nielson, Kyle Wilder, Alexander Dutko and John Magnus. Cassidy had assisted with classes at The Dance Center before she was given several of her own classes to teach. She’s excited to share her passion for dancing with the upcoming generation. She enjoys the time with the kids and seeing their love for dance flourish.

Isabel Braverman has many years of both ballet and modern training, including 15 years of ballet training at The Dance Center under the instruction of Sarah Reid and Jessica Harris. She has taught summer classes and master classes at The Dance Center for the past two years. For many summers, she attended the American Academy of Ballet at SUNY Purchase, studied under renowned teachers and was chosen for performance variations. She graduated from Ithaca College where she majored in journalism and minored in dance. To complete the dance minor program, she took classes in ballet, modern, dance history, dance composition, and more. She studied under Amy O’Brien, who graduated from the dance program at SUNY Purchase and was a member of The Washington Ballet, and Lindsay Gilmour, who works as a professional dancer with Pearson Widrig Dance Theater, Yin Mei Dance and Imp Improvisation Performance Collective. While at Ithaca College, Isabel was in the dance company On the Floor for all four years. It is a dance group that performs in styles such as ballet, hip-hop, contemporary and more. During her senior year at college, Isabel was in the prestigious dance show “Illuminated Bodies,” which is produced by the Ithaca College Theater Department every four years, in the pointe piece “Momentum.” For Isabel, being in the show was a fantastic experience, as were all the performances she was in during her years at The Dance Center. Now, she returns to her roots to teach a class at The Dance Center, bringing her many years of training and experience in teaching. She is very excited to be a part of The Dance Center team once again!

Patti Ann grew up at the Dance Center taking classes in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, contemporary, and hip hop. During her school years, she auditioned for and attended summer dance intensives including American Academy of Ballet and Tap Kids. Throughout high school, Patti Ann choreographed and acted in the Port Jervis High School musicals including Little Shop of Horrors, Footloose, and Peter Pan. Upon high school graduation, Patti Ann attended Elmira College and SUNY New Paltz where she majored in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Throughout her time at Elmira College, she took dance classes and was a member of all dance clubs on campus including Orchesis (performed in recitals each semester), tap ensemble (performed in a recital each year), and dance line (performed during basketball games). She held multiple officer positions for Orchesis including senator, secretary, and president during which time she also choreographed group dance pieces for the recital each semester. Patti Ann tried to attend classes at The Dance Center as much as she could whenever she was home from college, but was thrilled to join The Dance Center faculty last summer after completion of her college degree. She is very excited to be back where her love of dancing first began and to help share that love of dance with all of her students.