Get to Know
Miss Stephanie Matthews
Welcome to Spot On Dance Academy (Spot On or S.O.D.A., for short)! Opening Spot On has taken a lot of planning and organization. I am grateful for all my experiences and I’ve learned more than I could have imagined. I’ve grown not only as an entrepreneur and dancer but also as a person!
I started dance class at age 7 at Marlene Blank’s School of Dance in Horsham, PA. After Marlene retired, I attended Hatboro Dance Studio/Sandi Spicer Dance Studio in Hatboro, PA and then transferred to Dance to the Music School of Dance in Horsham, PA where I danced until I graduated from Hatboro-Horsham High School.
Following graduation, I attended Montgomery County Community College graduating with an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education (Birth-4th Grade) as well as a certificate in Entrepreneurship.
While in college, I worked full time as a teacher at a licensed home daycare in Horsham, PA serving children birth-age 5. I had an amazing mentor who expanded my knowledge of teaching and I can’t thank her enough!
In the evenings, I worked at Dance to the Music School of Dance as their office administrator and I also had the privilege of teaching there too! It was during that time that I realized not only my love of teaching dance, but also organization and business.
After 4 years at Dance to the Music, I partnered to open Dance Time Dance Academy in Dresher, PA. What a challenging and fun time establishing a successful business and making wonderful relationships with dancers and their families! Five years into Dance Time, I decided to sell the business to my partner and start preparing to open Spot On. I took advantage of the lockdown months to plan, research, educate, and prepare myself to open the doors of Spot On Dance Academy.
My hopes are to create
· a positive, warm environment for everyone (dancers and their families)
· “home”; where everyone is noticed, cared for, loved, and welcomed.
· a place where each child is accepted and nurtured at their level.
I am looking forward to many years of memories with my dancers and their families. Thank you for being a part of my dream, for sharing your dancer with me, and for helping create many beautiful memories!
Stephanie Matthews, owner
Meet the SODA Staff
Miss Hannah Sattazahn
Hannah Sattazahn is a performing artist, choreographer, and visual artist currently based in Philadelphia, PA. Hannah dove into the arts at the age of 5; training in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and modern at Greater York Dance in York, PA. Performing throughout her childhood in their ballet company’s productions of The Nutcracker, Carnival of the Animals, and at the Lincoln Center in NYC. Her knack for expression launched her into the world of theatre at the age of 9. As a teenage artist, Hannah performed in more than 25 dance and professional regional theatre productions and began student teaching and choreographing peers and younger students. Hannah went on to receive her BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in 2019, performing both onstage and creating choreography for Fringe involved productions. Upon graduation, Hannah continued to perform consecutively at The Broadway Theatre of Pitman in NJ, teach at Music Theatre Philly’s summer camps, and had geared up to choreograph her third Fringe show, when the pandemic hit. This universal pause allowed Hannah to take a step back from a life of performance to understand where her next step should be. Hannah is elated to give back to the community that helped shape her, especially now, at a crucial time in the pandemic where mental health matters. Hannah is honored to grand jete into her first year of dance instruction with Spot On Dance Academy, and intends to help shape the intuitive, creative artists of tomorrow.
Miss Donna Panarello
Miss Donna began her dance career at the age of 13, taking dance classes at many local studios in Bucks County and Philadelphia. She studied all styles of dance including: Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Modern, Hip-Hop, Tap, Irish Dancing, Ballroom, and Belly Dance. In addition to becoming a dance instructor she also holds her E-RYT and YACEP yoga certifications, Kids Yoga certification, Barre certification, Pilates certification, and specializes in Life Wellness for Postnatal Care. Miss Donna was part of her college dance team (Penn State), appeared in off-Broadway plays as both a lead and chores dancer (Lead dancer in Damn Yankees play), premiered in Atlantic City (at various casinos), and was a renowned professional belly dancer in the tri-state area for 16 years. She appeared in a Bollywood music video, and has won top title awards in various styles of dance throughout her competition years. She has taught classes, by request, at University of the Arts, University of the Sciences, Cedar Crest College, Temple University, and many other local studios. She continues to be a student of dance by taking master workshops and as many local classes as her schedule allows. She is honored and excited to be a part of the SODA family and share her love of movement.
Miss Jennifer DeBree
Jennifer has been teaching in the tristate area since 1996. She served as Artistic Director for the Doylestown Ballet Company where she created several full length original ballets. She also served as Assistant Director and Ballet Mistress of Ballet Concerto along with performing as a Principal Adjunct Artist. She is currently on faculty at Budzynski Ballet Theater, the Professional Dance Academy of Montgomery County and Denise Gucwa’s School of Dance.
She has performed as a Guest Artist in Maryland, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some of her roles include “Titania” in Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Belle” in Beauty and The Beast; “Snow Queen, Dewdrop, Spanish Lead and Arabian” in The Nutcracker; “Pas De Trios” and “Petits Cygnets” in Swan Lake. With soloist roles in Paquita, Concerto Barocco, Cinderella, Who Cares, Dracula, Serenade, Rhapsody in Blue and numerous original works.
Formerly with Brandywine Ballet, Dance Theater of Pennsylvania, Harford Ballet, Ballet Concerto and Mid-Atlantic Dance Theater. She has trained with Richmond Ballet and Columbia City Ballet. Some of her instructors include the notable Gelsey Kirkland, Cherie Noble, Leslie Brown and David Howard. Jennifer has had extensive training and performing in Vaganova, Cecchetti, R.A.D. and Balanchine disciplines. Jen’s other areas of extensive expertise are costuming, lighting and effects, and prop master builder.
She loves training students and propelling them past their limits; as well as fine tuning movement and performance qualities in her dancers. She specializes in engaging the technical connections between body and mind and progressing those connections to her dancers. Jennifer attended Temple University as a Dance Minor and Criminal Justice major. She began dancing at the very late age of 16 as a hobby and her love for ballet became her career. She is currently the operations supervisor at Pinnacle Pavement where she has worked for 14 years. Jen launched her craft business “Moose on the Loose By Jennifer” in 2019. She lives with her husband and daughter who is currently majoring in dietetics (specializing in eating disorders) at Immaculata University.
Miss Maureen Rafferty
Miss Maureen is about to begin her eleventh year of teaching dance and her third year at SODA. She is a Teacher, Choreographer, Designer and Photographer, but above all else, she is a storyteller. After 6 years of competitive dance, she realized that her choreography needed a platform without restriction or expectation. She had stories to tell and needed the freedom to take the risk. So, with a handful of former students, she started Turning Pages Dance Company, a pre professional performance company with a focus on stroytelling. Turning Pages has performed in various festivals and showcases in the area, including Flair Dance Festival, Allegory Dance Theatre's Illumination Series, and Artistic Edge Dance Company's Artists Merging showcase. You can also always catch them at Philly Dance Day every summer.
Miss Maureen has not been shy about expressing her gratitude for the family she has made at SODA. It is her home away from home. She feels so blessed to be part of such a fun and inspiring studio!
Mrs. (Dolores) Matthews
Meet Mrs. (Dolores) Matthews! MANY of you will recognize Mrs. Matthews (otherwise known as Miss Stephanie’s mom)! She’s literally the MOM of the studio!
Mrs. Matthews has been teaching preschool and elementary school for over 25 years. She grew up in East Rockaway, New York and moved to Pennsylvania to attend college.
Mrs. Matthews danced in high school at the local dance studio and enjoyed partaking in her school theater. She still likes to jump in and take adult classes every once in a while!
You’ll see Mrs. Matthews at the front desk every day! If you have any questions, need to make a payment, or just want to say hi, stop by!
Miss Torre Viola
Torre Viola is from Newtown, Pennsylvania where she studied dance for 15 years. Her training focused on classical ballet and Broadway jazz, along with tap and lyrical. Torre attended college at the Pennsylvania State University, where she took ballet classes from university staff and joined a few dance organizations to build upon her skills. She was exposed to opportunities to learn new styles of dance such as hip hop and swing dancing, as well as curate her ballet technique. Torre also began to dabble in teaching and choreographing, focusing on creating lyrical and ballet pieces from solos to large groups. During her last two years in college, she also taught jazz, lyrical, and hip hop at the Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop where she learned that teaching dance was her passion. After college, Torre moved to Denver, Colorado, where she joined the teaching staff of the Colorado Ballet’s Educational Engagement program, teaching ballet and creative movement to students around Denver. She taught various dance workshops for the Colorado Ballet as well. Torre also found a love swing dancing in Denver, making some of her favorite mountain memories swing dancing at the Mercury Cafe. A couple months ago, Torre moved back to PA, and she is extremely excited to join the Spot On Dance Academy family in the fall!
Miss Chrissy Innes
Chrissy Innes is a dancer from Horsham, PA. She began dancing at the age of 5 taking classes and dancing competitively in various styles through her senior year of high school at Dance to the Music. These styles include tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, musical theater, lyrical, and contemporary. She continued her dance education at Ursinus College where she majored in Applied Economics and minored in dance. At Ursinus, she broadened her knowledge of many styles of dance including African dance. She performed in Ursinus College Dance Company, performed and choreographed multiple dances for the student run dance company Escape Velocity, and was captain of the Ursinus College Dance Team. Chrissy is excited to continue her dance journey as an instructor at Spot On!
Mr. Shaun Furter
Shaun is excited to be returning to Spot On for his second year! He is a recent transplant to Philadelphia. He moved to continue his career in arts administration after graduating from Case Western Reserve University where he studied Marketing and Theater. He now works for Pig Iron Theatre Company in development. He has been studying and teaching dance for years in Philly, Cleveland, and back in Houston for 13 years now. His dance journey began in theater, performing in shows like Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, and Les Mis. He then continued his training at the Houston Performing Arts Company with Jade Whitemire and Terrill Mitchell along with competing at regional and national competitions such as Radix and Starquest, where he received many awards and accolades. At university he began choregraphing musicals for the CWRU Footlighters Theater Organization. From there, he began instructing for numerous schools ranging from two-year-old students to pre-professional and competitive dancers. He is ready to continue sharing his love of dance with the students at SODA!
Miss Aurora Manning
Aurora Manning has been a tumbling instructor for four years and a gymnastics instructor for three years. She has coached children from age three to adults age sixty-five! Her personal goal is to make sure everyone is having fun and is excited to come back to class!
Aurora started tumbling at the age of 8. She attended Upper Merrion Dance and Gymnastics Center. While increasing her tumbling skills, Aurora joined cheerleading in 2013. She cheered throughout high school at Archbishop John Carroll and up until 2019 at West Chester University. In 2018, she started coaching tumbling at UMDGC. In 2019 Aurora began coaching gymnastics as well. She recently moved to Horsham, Pa, and was interested in coaching tumbling and gymnastics closer to home. “I’m so excited to be teaching tumbling classes at Spot On Dance Academy!”
Miss TIffany Clotaire
Tiffany Clotaire, an experienced dance educator, received her early training at Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) middle school and high school, majoring in dance. She honed her skills as a former company member of Philadanco (D2) and holds a BFA in Dance from Temple University, where she was awarded the Rose Vernick Choreograph award. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Tiffany instructs various dance forms at East Coast studios and schools. A sought-after guest choreographer, she crafts captivating pieces for showcases, musical theater productions, and competitions. Tiffany's dedication to nurturing confidence, fostering community, and promoting dance excellence continues to inspire her students to excel, all while maintaining a harmonious family life.
Ms. Stephanie Dempsey
Ms. Stephanie Dempsey is a graduate of Kutztown University, with degrees in Sociology and Social Work. She was a member of her college cheer team. Before college, she cheered and coached for 5 years. Stephanie cheered in the 2000 Probowl in Hawaii. In addition to cheering, Stephanie also took many years of Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, Acro, Modern and Tap. She is currently a dancer in the adult tap class here at SODA. After college Stephanie coached gymnastics for 10 years with children 12 months old to Level 6 Team. Stephanie also taught Acro dance for the past 5 years. “I am looking forward to teaching Acro at SODA because I love teaching and watching the children master new skills.”