From a three-year-old dancer with a love for the stage to the founder and director of JD Dance Studio, Miss Julie’s entire life has been shaped by dance.

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Her journey began at just three years old, when she walked into her first dance class and quickly discovered a passion that would become much more than a childhood activity. Throughout her years as a dancer, she trained in a variety of styles, performed, competed, and experienced firsthand the confidence, friendships, discipline, and sense of belonging that dance can create.

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As her passion grew, so did her desire to understand dance not only as a performer, but as an educator. Miss Julie attended the Long Island High School for the Arts, where she pursued dance in a focused arts environment and continued developing her technical and artistic abilities. She went on to attend Hofstra University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Dance Education K-12 while teaching at the studio she grew up at, interning with The Streamlined Studio and beginning the path toward becoming a NYS certified dance educator.

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Miss Julie interned and later worked with The Streamlined Studio, helping dance studio owners throughout the industry grow and strengthen their businesses. Her work focused on marketing, business strategy, studio growth, and creating systems that allowed studios to operate more effectively and build stronger communities. This experience ultimately became an important part of her own philosophy as a studio owner: a great dance studio requires both excellent dance education and intentional, thoughtful leadership behind the scenes.

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After college, Miss Julie’s career took her into many different areas of the dance industry, giving her a perspective that extends far beyond the studio classroom. She went from an intern to employed with The Streamlined Studio and continued to teach at the studio where she had grown up at, an experience that allowed her to give back to the community that had helped shape her as a young dancer. During her time there, she also directed the studio’s Mini Competition Team, working with young dancers and developing her passion for nurturing dancers at the earliest stages of their competitive journey.

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Miss Julie also built a career in education. She served as Director of Dance at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset and later as Director of Dance at St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, where she taught dance and choreography and worked with students to develop their technique, artistry, confidence, and understanding of dance as an art form. She also directed student dance programs and companies, choreographed performances, and created opportunities for young dancers to experience the joy and responsibility that come with being part of a team. Her experiences as a dancer and educator eventually led her to become a New York State K–12 Certified Dance Educator, as well as a competition judge and mentor to dancers and educators.

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But perhaps the most important part of Miss Julie’s story is what she learned along the way. She learned that a dancer does not have to be the most naturally talented person in the room to succeed. She learned that confidence can be taught, that discipline can be developed, and that the right teacher can completely change the way a child sees themselves. She learned that competition can be an incredible opportunity when it is centered around growth, teamwork, and celebrating each dancer’s individual journey. And she learned that some of the most important lessons dancers take from the studio have nothing to do with dance at all.

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Those lessons became the foundation for JD Dance Studio.

Miss Julie founded JD with the belief that dancers deserve a place where they can be challenged while still feeling supported, where high-quality training and a positive environment can exist together, and where every child can feel like they belong.

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At JD, her goal has never been simply to create better dancers. It is to help create confident, creative, resilient, hardworking young people who carry the lessons they learn through dance with them far beyond the studio.

What began as one little girl falling in love with dance at the age of three has grown into a thriving dance community serving more than 250 dancers across two Long Island locations.

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Today, Miss Julie continues to teach, choreograph, direct, mentor, judge, and lead JD Dance Studio while remaining deeply involved in the day-to-day experience of her dancers and families. She believes that the greatest privilege of being a dance educator is getting to watch a child grow, not just as a dancer, but as a person.

 

Because for Miss Julie, dance has never just been about the steps. It is about the people those steps help us become.