ContempraDance School consists of professional dance educators and performers experienced in every aspect of dance. Each member is unique to their approach to teaching while sharing their expertise in a very nurturing and caring environment.

  • Pre-Dance- Gail, Syanne, Sophia
  • Ballet- Sophia, Syanne, Rachel
  • Pointe- Sophia, Rachel
  • Jazz -Gail, Beth Ann, Jess, Juliette
  • Conditioning class- Sophia
  • Musical Theater- Jess 
  • Contemporary/Lyrical- Rachel, Jess. Cassandra
  • Modern– Gail
  • Tap– Jess
  • Hip Hop– Jahzara, Beth Ann
Gail Vartanian

Gail Vartanian

Jazz, Modern, Pre-Dance

Gail is the director/owner of ContempraDance School. She is originally from Philadelphia where Ms. Vartanian began her training in Modern and Ballet under the direction of Brigitta Trombler and Meli Davis. She attended York University in Toronto where she was a Modern Dance major studying Cunningham, Graham, Horton and Limon techniques. Over the years she has had extensive Jazz Dance training with Eva vonGercsy, Robert Archard, Jo Jo Smith, Frank Hatchett, Luigi, and others.

Gail has performed in various Modern and Jazz dance companies such as City Center Dance Theater of Atlanta, Company Kaye, L’Image Dance Company of Miami, Palm Beach Ballet and her own company, ContempraDANCE Theatre. She was lead dancer and assistant choreographer with Miami’s Les Folles Theater Dance Review and also Resorts International’s “Le Cabaret” in Paradise Island, Bahamas and Atlantic City, New Jersey. She has also choreographed and performed in Andrea Lauren’s opening act for Salt ‘N’ Pepa in Florida. Margarita Von Bahr, Director of the National Ballet of Finland, invited Ms. Vartanian to compose the only Modern/Jazz solo for the International Gala Dance Festival in Finland. Her choreography has also been presented at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach, Florida, Poland and throughout the Philadelphia and Delaware area. Gail and her dancers were excited to be selected to be involved in a film documentary with singer/composer Michael Sembello dancing to his infamous Flashdance hit, “Maniac” The film was released in Spring 2013.

For the past thirty-five years, Gail has been teaching her own style of dance incorporating Modern, Jazz, Lyrical and Blues. Her classes are technically based, emphasizing physicality and musicality. Her students have performed for the President of the United States, numerous Broadway musicals, ballet companies worldwide, and Madonna’s touring company. Ms. Vartanian has taught in various cities such as Montreal, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Miami and Philadelphia.

In 2015, Gail served as panelist on the 2015 Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Advisory Panel for PPA’s Program Stream awards.

Gail is also the Artistic Director of the ContempraDANCE Theatre, a non-profit Modern/Jazz Dance Company she formed in 1990. Her highly acclaimed Company is based at the School, staging performances year round with original dance works. Please check out the website at:ContempraDance Theatre for more information.

Gail takes pride in her school and faculty and feels very blessed to be around such amazing and talented students every day.

Juliette

Juliette

Jazz

Juliette began her dance journey at New England Dance Center in Westfield, MA where she trained and competed for over 12 years in several styles, including contemporary, ballet, jazz, acrobatics, and hip hop. Throughout her competitive career, Juliette discovered her passion for performing, and had the privilege of attending some of the country’s largest competitions including New York City Dance Alliance and Starpower National Talent Competition. Juliette is currently attends Villanova University, where she is the Technique Captain of the Villanova Dance Team. As a member of VUDT, Juliette performs at some of the world’s most prominent arenas, including Madison Square Garden and the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Juliette’s passion for dance extends to teaching and choreographing, where she hopes to inspire the next generation of artists. Juliette is also a competition choreographer for our ContempraYouth Dancers.

Rachel Noonan

Rachel Noonan

Ballet, Pointe, Contemporary

Rachel  has a BFA in English (Writing) and Dance from  Eastern University. She is from Salisbury, Maryland, and has 18 years of dance experience mostly from Salisbury Dance Academy where she grew proficiency in numerous styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, modern, musical theater, contemporary, lyrical, and hip hop. She participated in multiple nonprofit organizations like First Position Performance Troupe where she danced for numerous charity events, such as Relay For Life and Horizon, and at Disney World twice on their stage in Disney Springs and in the World Dance parade. With the Eastern Shore Ballet Theater, another nonprofit which she spent 15 years with, she participated in numerous ballets such as Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and The Nutcracker. She has choreographed for her school drama, The Addams Family and a solo entitled In The Rain. At Eastern University, she choreographed Hanging On, Differences Aside, and her senior thesis Found Wandering. Rachel is currently a member of the Glorify Performing Arts Company in West Chester Pa. Rachel is also choreographer for the ContempraYouth Dance Team. She is excited to be part of ContempraDance faculty.

Jessica Melck

Jessica Melck

Musical Theater, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap

Jess  began dancing at age 5 and really started to love it when she tried tap at age 10. She later explored more styles and has tried almost everything, but loves modern, contemporary, jazz, musical theatre, and tap the most. While Jess was studying for her dual major in fine arts and art education at Millersville University, she was a member of Expressions dance and served as the organization’s Modern teacher for 5 semesters.

Along with Expressions, Jess worked as choreographer with the All Campus Musical Organization (ACMO) on two of its main stage productions: Anything Goes (2018), and Pippin (2019). She was awarded for excellence in choreography at the KCACTF for her work on Pippin. In addition to dance, Jess is an art teacher for the Consortium of the Arts program in Upper Merion Township and works as a paraprofessional helping autistic students in Upper Merion School District. Jess is autistic herself and it is her passion to help make the voices of her students heard. She’s currently assistant director and choreographer for the ContempraYouth Dancers. It’s such a joy to have Ms. Jess on faculty at ContempraDance School!

Cassandra

Cassandra

Contemporary

Cassandra “Cass” is a dancer, choreographer, and educator from Allentown, PA. She has a B.A. in Dance and Psychology from Eastern University. She has been dancing in several genres (ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, pointe, lyrical, modern, contemporary, and african) for 17  years. Cassandra is currently  performing with Roger Lee Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

Jahzara

Jahzara

Hip Hop

Jahzara is currently attending Eastern University, pursuing a BA in Dance and BS in Exercise Science. Jahzara was a Company Member of the Artist Simply Human’s 2023-2024 Season, is featured in the ballet training system, “Grunt if you Understand”, and has been a member of Eastern University’s Dance team since 2023. Dancing competitively since the age of 5, she has vast experienced in jazz, tap, ballet, street funk, hip hop, acrobatics, lyrical, african, and contemporary dance styles. Over the years, she has trained under the leadership of award-winning choreographers, distinguished teachers and various artists from East to West Coast. Artists that have poured into her include Lisa Gottlieb, Kimberly Landle, Michelle Wurtz, Heather Jean Wilson, Gabby Wright, Julie Berardi, Larissa Haberle, Leigh Anna Kennett, Dez Soliven, Trovaris Wilson, Maud Arnold, Lisette Bustamante, Matt Smith and Hannah Gossett to name a few. Jahzara has been teaching since 2019, sharing her love of dance, bright smile, and joyous laughter with her students, who lovingly call her, “Miss Jazzy”. She is eager to make the world a little brighter through artistic expression. Jahzara enjoys teaching all age ranges, various styles, and is excited to continue sharing her love of dance with others!

Beth Ann Rejonis

Beth Ann Rejonis

Jazz, Hip Hop

Beth Ann has a BA in Dance and Drama from Bard College, NY and an MA in Dance/Movement Therapy from Drexel/Hahnemann University. Beth Ann began her dance training with the Swarthmore Ballet Theater where she learned ballet, Martha Graham and Horton modern techniques, and jazz. She continued in college where she added Limon, and Cunningham techniques as well as Hip Hop/Street Funk and Flamenco dance to her repertoire. Beth Ann has been teaching creative movement, modern, ballet, jazz and musical theater dance for over 25 years. She has choreographed and performed numerous original pieces in Philadelphia and New York. She has also choregraphed for a variety of children and adult musical theater productions including “The Music Man”, “Baby”, “Peter Pan”, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.  Beth Ann is a long time faculty member and fantastic! 

Sophia Pinkham

Sophia Pinkham

Ballet, Pointe, Contemporary, Conditioning class, Pre-Dance

Sophia began dance classes at age 3 and fell in love with movement. She began assistant teaching at age 12, where she learned of love teaching dance. She has performed many leading roles in her pre-professional dance career and placed top 12 at YAGP her senior year for classical variations. After high school she spent two years dancing with Nashville Ballet Company in the trainee program and taught her second year there. Afterwards she went to Eastern University where she earned a degree in kinesiology. She is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. She currently performs with the Roger Lee Dance Company and KCBC. She teaches ballet/pre-pointe/pointe, contemporary, lyrical, and conditioning classes. She has choreographed for competitions such as YAGP, Elite, Elevate, and Access Broadway. She has also choreographed for independent shows and Eastern University’s Dance Department Showcases. Sophia is currently assistant director and choreographer for the ContempraYouth Dancers and a member of our professional company, ContempraDANCE Theatre Company. We are so excited to have Sophia as part of our Contempra faculty!

 

Syanne Pichon

Syanne Pichon

Ballet, Pre-Dance

Syanne began her dance training at Motion’s Dance Studio in Cottonport, Louisiana. She currently attends Eastern University’s College of Arts and Humanities working toward her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance. She has recently performed in Eastern’s Musings and Spring Forward concerts, where she performed in various dances under Gabby Wright and Mary Chase respectively, as well as student-led choreographed pieces. Currently Syanne studies under Professors Michelle Wurtz and Stephen Welsh at Eastern University. She has been dancing for eleven years, and has trained in Modern, Classical, Lyrical, Ballet, as well as Jazz and Tap dance. She has performed in the Motion’s Dance Studio for nine years, where she also an assistant teaching Ballet, Tap, and Jazz to students from ages three to thirteen. Syanne has also choreographed for musical pieces such as her high school’s production of Newsies, and various musical showings at Avoyelles Public Charter School. Syanne’s favorite type of dance is modern ballet. She aspires to open and run her own dance studio for Pre-K to high school students sometime in the near future. Syanne is an amazing addition to our Contempra faculty!

 

September thru June Class Schedule 2025-2026

Classes Start September 8th 2025

Session 1  Sep. 8th - Dec. 7th 2025

Session 2  Dec. 8th - March 14th 2026

Session 3  March 15th - June 13th 2026 (please email us for availability since most classes are full at this point due to our June recital )

VIEW TUITION PRICES

ContempraDance has incorporated online registration and payments through The Studio Director. Clicking the register/login button will take you to the Fall/Spring class list. You will need to sign in or create an account if you have not already. There is also a Studio Director app that you can download. Please contact us with any questions.

 

Congratulations 2025 Seniors!

Congratulations to our 2025 seniors Alex and Siena! We will miss you so much! 
Your passion, dedication, and heart lit up our studio for years. We are so proud of you!

ContempraDance 2025 Rehearsal Clip from “Gotta Dance” Recital

This recital was amazing. The dancers were extremely talented and of course our little ones were a big hit!! I am so fortunate to have such a fantastic faculty and students. The recital video link will be sent to everyone. Thank you for a great season and look forward to the next!

Our “LIVE IT UP” 2022 Dance Recital was a huge success Saturday June 4th. Over 600 people attended. The dancers were absolutely amazing and blew the audience away! My faculty and I were so impressed and just loved seeing smiling dancers on stage.  It’s been 3 years since we had our last recital at Valley Forge Middle School.  It was nice to be back.

Our “LIVE IT UP” 2022 Dance Recital was a huge success Saturday June 4th. Over 600 people attended. The dancers were absolutely amazing and blew the audience away! My faculty and I were so impressed and just loved seeing smiling dancers on stage.  It’s been 3 years since we had our last recital at Valley Forge Middle School.  It was nice to be back.

Austin Johnson amazed the audience with his senior solo, Sound of Silence choreographed by Daria Johston. Austin has been with Contempra for over 10 years and part of the Contempra Youth Dance Company.  He was recently accepted to Cornell University. We are so proud of him. Austin is not only a fantastic and gifted dancer but an incredible person. We are going to miss him so much and wish him the best!!

Congratulations to everyone that performed on Saturday. AMAZING!!!

Picture below is Austin with Ms. Gail and Ms .Daria.

Main Line Love Award

ContempraDance School is excited to announce we are the proud winner of the Main Line Love Award Best Dance Studio 2021.

Thank you to those that voted. We appreciate your support!

 

Congratulations to Ms. Daria!

Our Youth Ensemble Director and Instructor, Ms. Daria has been accepted into Temple’s MFA program for dance. We are so excited for her and very proud!

Good Luck!

Elevate Dance Competition 2019. Congrats to our amazing dancers! Great job!

So Majorly Proud of these kids! First Comp of the Season! Group Receiving the Highest Adjudication and 1st Overall! Teen Soloist Maria also receiving the Highest Adjudication and 1st Overall! And Several other Overalls in the Top 5! And 2 Judge Awards Great Job Team! All of our Hard work has payed off! And this is Only the Beginning!! Special thanks to our amazing choreographers, Bilal, Daria, Tia and Swan!!

Main Line Parent and Philadlephia Family LOVE award. ContempraDance School 2016, 2017, and 2021 LOVE award winner for "Best Dance Studio on the Main Line". 2019 LOVE award and 2022, 2023  "Family Favorite"

©2025 ContempraDance School |487 Devon Park Drive, #206 The Meadows | Wayne, PA 19087 | Office 610-225-3007