FACULTY

Jil Matrisciano established RISE Vineyard Performing Arts in 2007 with the idea of providing Island children with a classical and diverse dance education in a studio setting that they could call home. She has a Masters of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance from the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport. Additionally, her under graduate degrees include a BS in Physical Education and an AA in Dance. Jil has been performing and teaching on Martha’s Vineyard for over 12 years with The Yard, Children’s Island Theatre, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Minnesingers, and through private instruction.

Jil was a faculty member with the Dean College dance department from 2003 to 2006. At Dean she also worked privately with students through the college’s Academic Tutoring Services. In 2006, Jil left Dean to pursue her classical Pilates certification which she obtained through The Vineyard Pilates Center and The Pilates Center of Boulder, CO. Jil continues to teach at The Vineyard Pilates Center, instructing and mentoring individuals toward physical well-being.

As director of, She-figured Dance (SfD), established in 2001, Jil has presented the company in such venues The Dance Complex in Boston and The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard where her company presented their first evening’s length performance of ‘Bits of Leverage ‘. Most recently, She-figured Dance worked in collaboration with the Somarela Fund to present a benefit performance of ‘Defining Gravity: Dances for Botswana’. Other SfD performances include Choreographer’s Group: Boston 2004, TEN’S THE LIMIT: Boston 2003, SUNY Brockport 2003, The 2002 Cape & Islands Dance Festival, and Built On Stilts 2000–2008. A former member of Ellis Wood Dance of NYC, Jil’s performing credits include: Tribecca Performing Arts Center, Judson Church, St. Marks Church, The Yard, UC Berkeley, and SUNY Brockport. She was a scholarship recipient and Teaching Assistant for the Dance Department at SUNY Brockport. Her choreography has been recognized by The American Dance Festival, naming her the 1999 recipient of the Bessie Schenberg Scholarship for Choreographic Potential – acknowledging her solo work, ‘Her Last Breath’. Jil has performed the work choreographers Shapiro & Smith, Randy James, Ellis Wood, Susannah Newman and Santo Gilgio. Other honors include The American College Dance Festival Gala, SUNY College at Brockport ACDFA selected performer, and Dean College Dance Company. She is a member of Dance Masters of America and has been instructing dance for 20 years teaching at festivals, private studios, and colleges in the Northeast and New York.

 

Claire Baione, BA in Dance, is from Reading, MA. While pursuing her undergraduate degree from Dean College, she was honored with the college’s Performing Arts Scholarship for her dance achievements. Claire has been a professional member of She-figured Dance since 2004. Other company work includes Naganuma Dance and Influx Dance of Boston; she has also worked with various Downtown choreographers while living in New York City and through her time spent at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina. Most recently Claire performed at the Yard with Marta Renzi; she continues to choreograph and present her own solo and group work throughout New England. She has choreographed for Dean College and has been a guest artist at several private dance studios in Massachusettes and Conneticut. In conjunction with her dance background, Claire is presently finishing her classical Pilates certification at the Vineyard Pilates Center. As a member of the RISE faculty since 2008, Claire is honored to pass on her love for dance through her valued work with the wonderful dancers of RISE Vineyard Performing Arts.

Stefanie Hecht began her dance training at the age of six with Marion Chaeff at the Academy of Ballet in Oakland, New Jersey. She has also studied ballet with Henry King Kopp, Edward Verso, Janet Mitchell, Richard Thomas, Maestro Vincenzo Celli and Hannah Kerrigan. Her most recent studies were with Yuliya Akopian and Andrey Shakhin, both former principal dancers with the Bolshoi Ballet.Stefanie performed as a soloist with Festival Dance Theatre, and has been a member ofSoaring Dance Theater, Terpsichore Dancers and Mixed Bag Dancers performing ballet, modern, jazz and tap. She taught both ballet and jazz at Dance Arts of Bergen County in Ramsey, New Jersey, and has also taught ballet at Bandwagon Ballet in Warwick,New York and Terpsichore, the Dancer School in Harriman, New York. Stefanie has been teaching ballet at RISE since 2007.

 

Jesse Keller, originally from Ashland, Ohio, graduated in 2009 from Ohio University with a BFA in Performance and Choreography. Soon after she began performing with Company Stefanie Batten Bland in Paris, France and New York City. She continues dancing for SBB and they are currently being commissioned through the Baryshnikov Art Center as one of Baryshnikov’s ‘dance fellows’. Jesse began teaching in a pre-professional ballet company in 2004 and has been teaching a diverse age base of students in studios, universities, and through The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard. Jesse came to the Vineyard in 2009 as an intern for The Yard and was hooked on island life after this experience. She now holds the position as The Yard’s Resident Manager of Island Programs and Education and is looking forward to being a part of the RISE Vineyard Performing Arts faculty.

Daryl Owens, BFA in Dance, attended the high school and college dance program at The North Carolina School of the Arts. After college, she joined the professional world of dance and table waiting in New York City where her choreography was presented by Dance Theater Workshop, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Danspace Project, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Williamsburg Art Nexus and The Yard. Daryl has performed with esteemed friends and colleagues including Rebecca Lazier/Terrain Dance, Curt Haworth, Edisa Weeks and John Kelly. While in New York Daryl became involved in movement therapies, yoga and developmental movement study. She was invited to attend several summer residencies at The Yard to perform and choreograph, and during one in 2004 she was unable to leave Martha’s Vineyard. She expanded her study of movement therapies to include the Kripalu School of Massage where she trained in Swedish, Therapeutic and Deep Tissue massage. After beginning her Pilates training in high school, her interest was rekindled on Martha’s Vineyard and she currently teaches at the Vineyard Pilates Center.

Maggie Sarmiento, BFA in Dance, is a mid-westerner hailing from St. Louis, Missouri. Now living on beautiful MV, Maggie has 20 years of dance training in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop, acrobatics, and sports acrobatics with 10 of those years spent sharing her knowledge through teaching. Her studies include work with choreographers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, L.A., NYC and at the American Dance Festival in NC. Maggie’s professional career includes performances with “Move” St. Louis, RASA Dance Chicago, The Sesame Street Live Tour, and She-figured Dance of Martha’s Vineyard, as well as community performances with The Yard’s Bessie Schonberg Residency and Built On Stilts on 2010-2011. In the Fall of 2008, Maggie joined the RISE Vineyard Performing Arts faculty where she teaches acrobatics and all genres of dance. Her future plans include to continue to inspire her students through her own passion for movement and performance, conclude her classical pilates certification at Vineyard Pilates Center, and to explore her next performance opportunity.

PMB 215 . 455 STATE ROAD . VINEYARD HAVEN, MA 02568 WOODLAND BUSINESS CENTER . 508.693.2262