MEET TEAM LARKIN
KELLEY LARKIN & DANIELLE LARKIN
OWNERS, CHOREOGRAPHERS,DIRECTORS
KELLEY LARKIN
DANIELLE LARKIN
Nicole LaGuardia Danced and trained under the instruction of Studio L owners, Kelley and Danielle Larkin. Nicole then attended Arizona State University where she earned her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies. She spent four years on the nationally ranked Sun Devil Dance Team, two of which she was captain. Some of Nicoles credits include dancing for the Superbowl XLII Halftime Show, Jonas Brothers, Wyclef Jean, she was featured as Sports Illustrated’s Cheerleader of the week, is a Knicks City Dancer alumni and danced for the TV Show Lip Sync Battle.
Nicole has now been the director of Studio L Dance Co.’s Hoboken Location since its inception 6 years ago!
NICOLE LAGUARDIA
DIRECTOR OF STUDIO L HOBOKEN
Jamie Gallo began dancing at a young age in Plymouth, Michigan and fell more in love with the art as she grew older. She trained in all disciplines in dance throughout her life and knew she wanted to become an instructor to inspire and share her knowledge with others. Jamie grew up dancing competitively and attended multiple workshops, competitions and conventions where she received numerous scholarships, awards and overall title achievements at the regional and national level. Jamie moved out to New Jersey immediately after high school to teach, learn and train from Studio L Owners Kelley and Danielle Larkin. Jamie graduated with a communications degree from Ramapo College and continued to study and train in New York City at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. She has performed on Good Morning America’s “Amber Ready Alert” on ABC, she has appeared on Dance moms, danced in multiple Pistons pre shows and half time show performances, choreographed for the Bergen Stars New Jersey Jets and Pop Warner Bergen Allstars, as well as performed with the amazing Wyclef Jean and other artists. She has also acted on the show Extreme Forensics on Investigation Discovery and has participated in a couple of movies. On top of all this, Jamie has been teaching for many years now and has received multiple high score achievements for her dances and has received an abundance of choreography awards. She is the Director of our Bridgewater location and loves every minute of it. She has trained many talented dancers that have won numerous titles, overall achievements, and students that are now on Nationally ranked Collegiate Dance Teams. Jamies goal as a teacher is to not only give her students the best training possible, but to inspire and motivate her dancers to always take a risk and to step out of their comfort zones to push themselves to be the best dancers and people they can be.
JAMIE GALLO
DIRECTOR OF STUDIO L BRIDGEWATER
Trained under the instruction of Kelley and Danielle Larkin, Natalie received her dance education at Studio L, where she grew up as a competitive dancer. There she was exposed to a variety of dance styles and technical training including lyrical, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, contortion, and much more. Throughout the years, Natalie has attended many dance conventions and master classes, which has given her the ability to learn from top choreographers in the industry. In addition to competitive dance, Natalie has performed at the Harlem Globe Trotters Half Time Show and has appeared in Wyclef Jean’s “Kiss the Sky” music video. After saying goodbye to the competitive dance scene, Natalie continues to keep her passion for dance strong by taking classes at Broadway Dance Center and attending professional dance conventions. It was the consistent determination and motivation she received by Team Larkin that shaped her into the dancer and teacher she is now. Taking those skills with her, Natalie hopes to implement the same teaching techniques to help her students push themselves beyond their limits.
NATALIE SOBIESKI
Growing up as a Larkin Dancer, Tyler has been apart of our program for nineteen years. From being a competitive dancer to instructor, he has learned so much about what it takes to build a strong competitive team. He’s done some professional television work like America’s Got Talent, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and more! Also, becoming involved in a passion for the Universal Dance Association (UDA) on the collegiate and high school level. He’s done choreography for Florida State University, University of Alabama, Marist College & Temple University! Being the head coach of our All-Star program alongside owner Kelley Larkin, Tyler wishes to continue his professional career in choreography and performance while training the youth of today!
TYLER GLOVIN
Jessica West Regan (RAD, RTS) began her dance education at age 3 in Toronto under the instruction of Linda Collins. She earned her Honors B.F.A. in Musical Theater from The New School University in NYC, diploma in Dance and Musical Theater from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC, and Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies from the Royal Academy of Dance in London, with additional training at the National Ballet of Canada.
She has been trained in multidisciplinary ballet teaching curriculums including RAD, CPYB and ABT, and continues her professional development annually. In addition to her 15 years of competitive dance and ballet examinations, her NYC performance career includes 10 years of starring in and dance captaining the off Broadway show, The Awesome 80s Prom, being featured in DANCE SPIRIT magazine, and numerous dance, choreography, acting, and singing jobs in theater, TV and film in NYC and across North America.
JESSICA WEST REGAN
ROCKY SMITH
Rocky's been dancing since the age of three. He comes from a family who all share the love of dance. Rocky has had extensive training in all styles of dance including ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary and hip hop. After studying with the School of American Ballet in New York, Rocky moved to New Jersey and began training From the age of 12, he's been instructed primarily by Kelley and Danielle Larkin. After graduating Rocky began his journey with Rasta Thomas's Bad Boys of Dance in which he toured Europe for the 2 years. Rocky’s work also includes performing in the off broadway hit “Illuminate; Artist of light, appearing on the Netflix series “The Get Down” and industrials for Google, Microsoft and Samsung.
Jessica has been dancing since the age of three and is professionally trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop and musical theater. Jessica trained at Center Stage Dance and Theater School and studied under the guidance of renowned teachers and choreographers. Jessica has also received professional training in voice. On the regional and national competition circuit, Jessica has been on the receiving end of numerous awards for her group performances with C.A.T.S., and more notably for her solo performances in both tap and jazz. For the past five years she has earned the opportunity to dance at Radio City Music Hall at the prestigious Rockettes Invitational Week. Now attending Montclair State University with a major in Biology, Jessica has continued her training as an executive board member of the Montclair State Dance Team earning a National Title in Division III Team Performance. Jessica plays double bass and the piano and in what little free time she has, she is a competitive sailor.
JESSICA CASTIGLIONE
Patrick Daniel is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer living in Brooklyn, New York. While attending high school he had extensive training with Orlando Ballet, ABT Austin, The Rock School, and Joffrey Ballet. Upon completion of high school he attended the University Of The Arts in Philadelphia on full scholarship for 2 years. After his second year in college Patrick began touring with Bad Boys of Ballet for 5 years across Europe and performing at various industrials. Patrick has also danced with Stacey Tookey’s Still Motion Dance Company, shot a music video for Logo TV and recently shot a commercial for the brand OPPO. Now residing in New York he teaches and choreographs for professional and preprofessional students globally and signed as a dancer with MSA Agency.
PATRICK DANIEL
Lexi Johnson grew up as a competitive dancer in Minnesota and became a teachers assistant by age 11. Right after graduating high school she moved to NYC and trained in Broadway Dance Centers professional semester program during the fall of 2015. Directly after she started auditioning in the city and kept up her training by taking classes at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Since then she has been blessed with a couple contracts during the Christmas seasons. Her favorite experience was performing for Disney at Saks 5th avenue Christmas light show in 2017.
Lexi Johnson started teaching at Studio L in the fall of 2018. Her favorite style to teach is Contemporary. Now after teaching for a couple years, she can’t imagine not sharing her love and passion for dance with our Studio L Dancers.
LEXI JOHNSON
Katie Antonucci competitively danced her entire childhood in Monmouth county where she grew up. She always wanted to teach and choreograph, so she l continued her education at Towson University, concentrating in both dance and theatre. Upon graduation, She taught full time at varies studios and choreographed for several award winning dance companies. During that time, she also took on numerous dance gigs performing and choreographing for local talent, was featured on the Style Network, guest judging at varies established competitions, and even filmed a pilot reality dance show following her and her selected students in the dance world. Katie's most recent students have gone on to star in Disneys, “Stuck in the middle”, "Dog with a Blog", Broadway's "Priscilla Queen of the Desert", "Matilda", MTVs “Making the band” and “NYC Rockettes" just to name a few. She has been rewarded by professional credits on screen and in Broadway playbills from her students for the training they received by her. She is highly skilled in conditioning dancers into professionals and helping students reach abilities far past their expectations. She continues her training by attending and teaching professional classes, workshops and intensives to keep her classes and students current. Today, Katie is not only super excited to be teaching at Studio L, but for her daughters, Kylah and Kinzley, to be studying dance under such amazing direction!
KATIE ANTONUCCI
Lori Carlucci is an accomplished performer, choreographer, and dance educator. Lori trained is trained in Ballet, Jazz, Baton Twirling, Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Pom-Pon/Dance, Tap, and Modern dance. Lori attended New Jersey School of Ballet for several years along with other studios in New Jersey. She competed across the United States and also performed in the Soviet Union and Denmark. In addition to being a member and former Captain of a World-Champion Baton and Dance Company, she later returned to teach and choreograph them. Lori was Captain and Choreographer of the University of Maryland Dance Team and has been the Director of 2 successful dance studio for many years and has been teaching and choreographing for competition teams throughout.
As a professional, Lori has taught Jazz, Hip-Hop, Baton Twirling, Pom Pon, Pre-Ballet/Tap, Ballet, Tap, and Lyrical to dancers from ages 3-adult. Her students have won National and World Championships. She was also a model/dancer for Sashay Entertainment, performing in industrials sponsored by MCI, Tower Records, Bubbles Hair Salons, and County Seat Clothing Company in the DC Metro Area. In addition, she served as Head Instructor/Choreographer for the Eastern Dance Association, instructing technical workshops and dance camps along the East Coast. In addition to her dance experience, she was also a qualified judge with the Mid-Atlantic Pom and Dance Association in the DC Metro area as well as a judge for dance competitions in the tri-state area.
Lori also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maryland along with a Minor in Dance. She currently works in the Flemington Raritan School District and has also completed a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration, as well. Miss Lori looks forward to continuing to challenge each student to strive to improve in all aspects of their dance ability, and to be lifelong learners. She is excited to be a part of Studio L and to share her love of dance and fitness with them!
LORI CARLUCCI
STEVE HIGGINS
Steve Higgins is a USAG certified instructor and has been coaching since 2013.
Steve has been tumbling since he was a toddler and competed in Artistic Gymnastics for most of his life until 2013. After this, Steve continued to advance his tumbling skills in other areas. For two years, he competed in competitive cheerleading where he excelled in perfecting difficult skills on a foam floor.
As if that wasn’t enough, he found the world of competitive dance at Studio L where he was a company dancer for 2-3 years. Found a home at Studio L, the one student changed gears to become one of the instructors at the Studio L Acro Lab and head coach of pre-team and Levels 1 through 5
When Steve is not at Studio L, he is a stagehand, working for the Night Crew at Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
Vanya Spirova has over 10 years of experience in professional acrobatics and gymnastics. She is an Acrobatic Gymnastics Youths World Champion. Vanya has a Bachelor degree from National Sports Academy Bulgaria. Her education and work experience have shaped her valuable skills in persistence, diligence, impeccable focus, and attention to detail. She also has undergone training in interpersonal skills, team building, and team work. Vanya achieves her goals with a steady mind and hard work. She has a friendly and open demeanor. Vanya’s most valuable asset is her positive outlook on life.
VANYA SPIROVA
Danny Flips is a USAG Certified Gymnastics Coach and is the Head Coach of our Competitive Trampoline & Tumbling Team. Danny has trained in gymnastics since the age of three and competed until he was 15 years of age. After retiring from the competitive world of gymnastics, Danny continued training in tumbling in various arenas; some of which include:
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2005-2008 NBA Seasons New Jersey Nets- Captain & Co-Choreographer
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2007-2015 NBA Seasons NBA Fan Patrol Team Member & Captain
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2008-2011 NBA Season New York Knicks- Acroback Tumbler
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2012-2013 NBA Season Brooklyn Nets- Team HYPE Member
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2013-2015 NBA Seasons Air Elite Dunk Team Member/Tumbler
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2017 WWE Stunt Coordinator for WrestleMania
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2017 SNL Performance as seen here: https://youtu.be/eIdXxDARU_
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Performed at 9 NBA All STAR Games
Of all his accomplishments, his most proud is performing at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games as a Team Member of the NBA Fan Patrol. During the Olympics Games, Danny performed at 52 Men’s and Women’s basketball games over a 3-week period representing the United States.
When Danny is not coaching at Studio L, he is a full time stage hand at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center and has been there since 2010.