TDC Instructors
Sheri Daknis, Studio Director- Sheri has been instructing and choreographing dance and acrobatic classes at her family’s business, The Dance Centre, in South Toms River, NJ for over 30 years. She began her dance training at the age of three locally in NJ then began training dance and acrobatics at her mother’s studio when in opened in 1982. Sheri trained in gymnastics and cheer tumbling throughout middle and high school at Gymnastics Plus and Devlin Gymnastics in NJ. In college, she continued her dance training in ballet and modern dance at Rutgers University while dually pursuing her nursing degree and graduated from Rutgers with her RN and BSN in 1996. Over the past 30 years, Sheri has developed a robust competitive and recreational acrobatics program at The Dance Centre and became the studio owner and director in 2016. Throughout the years, her competitive acrobatics and dance teams have won numerous overall awards as well as choreography and entertainment awards. Over the last 15 years, Sheri has expanded her program to include the circus arts of contortion, hand balancing, aerial silks, static trapeze, and Lyra training in NYC, Philadelphia, and Vermont. In 2016, she received her specialized aerial silks certification from NECCA (New England Center for Circus Arts). In 2021, Sheri relocated The Dance Centre from the small three room studio where her mother started and built a state of the art six room performing and circus arts complex in South Toms River. Sheri also works as an independent contractor and consultant, traveling throughout the east coast to provide seminars and master classes in acrobatics, aerial silks, contortion, and hand balancing.
Bonnie Dirk- Bonnie started her teaching career at the young age of 16, instructing and choreographing at her parents’ business, The Dance Centre in South Toms River N.J. and has been employed by them for the past 34 years. She has studied many forms of dance including tap, ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and acrobatics. Her work has been influenced and inspired by many great teachers who she has trained with throughout the years, including Mallory Graham, Jerry Rose, Frank Hatchett, Mike Minery, Gregg Russell, Savion Glover, Mia Michaels, Joe Tremaine, and Daryl Retter. Early in her dance career, she toured with Dance Caravan and performed with the jazz company Sizzling Hot and the tap company, the N.J. Starlets. For 3 years, she performed as a dancer in both the Miss Atlantic City Pageant and the Miss New Jersey Pageant. She has studied the Royal Academy of Dance ballet method and received her assistant teacher and teacher certificate from the Jay Dash training school with high honors in tap. During her 34 year teaching career, she has choreographed numerous award-winning routines at many local and national competitions. Her production numbers have been featured in several showcases at national competitions over the years. She has had numerous students go on to study and achieve BFAs in dance from Mason Gross at Rutgers University, Montclair State University, and Stockton University and various other colleges for dance. Some of her students have become members of national dance teams and several, after completing their BFAs in dance, have become dance instructors and choreographers in some of our local, New Jersey Performing Arts High Schools, directors of their own personal studios, and some have come full circle back to The Dance Centre as choreographers and instructors. Miss Bonnie’s passion for dance is apparent in her dedication to and love for all of her students, nurturing them through their dance journey as if they were her own children.
Jessica Corrigan is a passionate and dedicated musical theater teacher with a deep love for inspiring young performers. She began her dance education at The Dance Centre at a very young age and continued training through competitions, conventions, and workshops across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other areas along the East Coast. She also studied acting for several years at the Weist Barron-Ryan Acting School, building a strong foundation in performance.
Jessica has taught students of all ages, helping them build confidence, develop their talents, and discover the joy of storytelling through song and dance. In addition to teaching, she has written several original children’s plays and directed numerous productions, including Broadway Dreams, Wonka Jr., Cinderella, and more. She also helped develop the musical theater program at The Dance Centre, which continues to thrive and has led to her being invited as a guest master teacher at workshops in the area.
Jessica is also an award-winning choreographer, having created numerous competitive routines that have received high honors and earned her multiple choreography awards. Her work blends strong technical foundation with creativity and emotional depth, consistently making an impact both on stage and in the lives of her students.
She brings over 20 years of experience in both dance and academic education, and also works as a special education teacher. Her creative approach and supportive energy make every rehearsal room a space where imagination takes center stage. Her proudest accomplishment is seeing her students break out of their shells, grow as individuals, and fall in love with dance and theatre.
Keryn Dirk-is a professional dancer and choreographer based out of NYC and NJ. She is trained in jazz, contemporary, lyrical, acrobatics, silks, ballet, hip-hop, musical theater and tap. She began her early years as a competitive dancer training at The Dance Centre and Abby Lee Dance Company earning multiple overall, titles and scholarships. She has performed in various NYC festivals and concept videos including Sybarite, Journey and World Of Dance. Keryn has also modeled for multiple runway shows and catalogs including American Girl Doll. She is an award-winning choreographer in the competition circuit. Keryn is currently a company member of McCrink & Co (a contemporary company) under the direction of Amber McCrink and she is also an alumni of Royal Thieves (a hip hop crew) under the direction
EmmaLee Hutchinson grew up in Wilmington, NC and moved to New York in 2021. Through this time, she has trained under Deshawn Da Prince, Keenan Cooks, Nick Dinicolangelo, Gwen Potter, Jason Williams, and Phil Orsano. EmmaLee is a member of Royal Thieves and the Hands Down Tap Project. A graduate of the Professional Semester (2021), EmmaLee has performed at events such as In(Finite), World of Dance, and DUMBO Drop. Their theater credits include 42nd Street, A Chorus Line, Sister Act and more. As a choreographer, EmmaLee has produced work for The Little Mermaid, The Womenless Beauty Pagent, and various competition pieces. With a passion for movement and a variety of dance styles they are dedicated to inspiring dancers of all levels, fostering creativity, and helping students develop both skill and confidence in their craft.
Allison Platt- attended Montclair State University, and is a May 2012 graduate of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a B.A. in dance and a concentration in studio operations. While in college, Allison participated and choreographed for many of Stockton Dance Company’s annual shows. She has worked with many teachers and performed in many pieces from prestigious choreographers such as Jae Hoon Lim’s (Koresh Dance) “Occupying Ambiguity”, Twyla Tharp’s “Torelli”, and Rebecca Stenn’s “Aviary”. She also has performed in many American College Dance Association performances, and even had the privilege to perform in the esteemed “gala performance”. In 2011, she was apart of the Philadelphia Soulmate’s dance team. For years after college she performed throughout the Philadelphia, New York and Southern New Jersey areas with various modern, contemporary and contemporary ballet companies.
Allison has been dancing for over 25 years and has been teaching and choreographing for various levels of ballet, pointe, lyrical and contemporary for over 15. In 2023, Allison along with her co ballet teacher and choreographer, Elise Klinger were certified in PBT. Allison is going on her 11th season at the dance Centre. In her 11 years with the studio she has helped to expand the ballet program in ways she could have never dreamed of. Starting with Friday evening and Saturday morning technique classes, to a prestigious audition only ballet competition company and most recently directing and choreographing her own Nutcracker. She looks forward to many more years working with the talented staff and dancers at TDC.
