Kids Instructors

Danielle Ivory DeRuyter

Danielle Ivory DeRuyter  began her dance training in North Royalton, OH at Studio 82 Performing Arts Center.  In 1998 she moved to New York City to further her dance training at Marymount Manhattan College. Here she  studied all styles of dance and earned a BFA in Dance with a minor in Education. Since then, Danielle has been fortunate to perform in numerous venues around the world,  from a principle role in the Off-Off Broadway musical There’s a Marquee, to the European and North American tours of Sesame Street Live!, to several industrial shows for L’Oreal just to name a few.   Danielle's greatest passion is teaching children the joy of dance! She has taught at The Ailey School and Apple Seeds here in the city and numerous dance studios in the tri-state area and is excited to join the MMAC Family!  

David Ellis

David Ellis is originally from Washington DC and currently lives in New York City. A graduate of Oberlin College, he earned a BA in Mathematics and Theater. Mr. Ellis has acted in numerous theatre productions across the country. Favorite roles include Orlando in As You Like It, Bassanio in Merchant of Venice and Judas in Godspell. He also performed as a juggler, improv artist and clown with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Krooze Komics and at the KimTom International Clowning Festival in Shanghai, China, and at the New York Renaissance Festival in Two Stoopid Guys, a juggling and magic show that he co-created.

As a teacher, Mr. Ellis enjoys bringing theatre arts to children through workshops and classroom teaching. He worked as an Actor/Teacher for Ohio's Great Lakes Theater Festival. With this theatre company, he made classic literature come alive in the classroom during week-long residencies. Mr. Ellis also taught for the Summer Arts Education program of the Cleveland Public School District and created the curriculum that combined theatre and juggling. In New York, he has worked with Circus Minimus teaching juggling skills to young children.

Erin Fogarty

Erin Fogarty studied both theatre and dance at Marymount Manhattan College.  After graduating with a BFA in Dance, she joined Carolina Ballet where she performed roles in a number of George Balanchine’s most famous works as well as works by Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Robert Weiss.  After moving back to New York City, she joined Ballet NY and performed in their Fall season at The Joyce Theater. She also recently made her New York theatre debut at Theatre Row in Heiress productions’ production of THREE MOVEMENTS, a play by Martin Zimmerman.

Alka Kuruvilla

A graduate from the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in biology and a minor in education, Alka Kuruvilla’s love for educating young minds is limitless! A MMAC Kids veteran, she is returning--while continuing her education to become an elementary school teacher--to continue to inspire children and introduce them to the arts.

Karen Lacy

Karen Lacy is a teaching artist in the New York City public schools with American Ballet Theatre and teaches ballet and modern dance classes to ages 3 through adult. She graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in dance and English. Selected dance credits include work with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York City Opera, Neville Dance Theatre, Eglevsky Ballet, John Passafiume Dancers, and Covenant Ballet Theatre. Her choreography credits include La Traviata, Once Upon A Mattress, Romance Romance, The Big One, and 14 years of work with the School of the Garden State Ballet in New Jersey. Karen also choreographs each summer at the LucyMosesSchool for Music and Dance in Manhattan. Karen enjoys her work as a senior fitter and dance teacher liaison at Gaynor Minden.

Melanie Pasignajen

Melanie Pasignajen is a dancer, choreographer, and early childhood teacher. As director of the MMAC Kids Program, she believes that there are infinite possibilities to nurture the creative mind of a child. Melanie's studied psychology and social work at Rutgers University. Her studies, coupled with her passion for dance, inspired her more than 11-year devotion to teaching in the dance studio and classroom. She learned urban street dancing and various dance forms at age 4, and was choreographing by age 11. Melanie's work has been performed by college teams, in multiple showcases, and in the other competitive arenas.

Stephanie Sine-Wilson

Stephanie holds a BFA in musical theatre from Oklahoma City University and is an alumn of Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project where she learned to shuffle-off-to-Buffalo with likes of Gregory Hines and Savion Glover.  As a performer, Stephanie was last seen touring the globe in the Britney Spears' Circus World Tour.  New York City Theatre:  Stop The World I Wanna Get Off, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Cosmic Calamities of Henry Noodle.  Favorite roles:  Mickey in My One and Only (national tour), Georgie in The Full Monty, Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Gloria in Damn Yankees.  Film and TV credits: tap teacher in the Emmy Award winning children's program, Cyberchase; For Real, Strange Things Happen At Sundown, and several episodes of That's KENtertainment.  Comedy and Variety: Comix, Don't Tell Mama's, UCB and The Duplex.  Stephanie also performs with the Big Apple Circus outreach programs and assists the aerial dance classes at MMAC.  She teaches early childhood classes where she believes in instilling a lifelong appreciation for the arts by creating opportunities for children to express themselves creatively through dance and theatre arts.

Polly Solomon

Polly has always loved the feeling that comes from connecting with an audience.  While working on her BA in Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz, she started taking aerial acrobatic lessons in preparation for a dance concert.  This was her introduction to the wonderful world of circus.  Life hasn't been the same since.  When she's not bringing circus into the lives of children or acting, Polly also coaches figure skating and does work in all aspects of theatre.