Faculty
Aaron Tolson
A New Hampshire native, Aaron started dancing at the age of ten. At 14 the tap prodigy was invited to perform in the Great Tap Reunion at the Apollo Theatre alongside tap legends Derick Grant, Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines, as well as the rest of the cast of the movie TAP!
When not on the track or in class studying communications, Aaron was in Manhattan honing his tap skills. During his senior year to successfully auditioned for the New York Shakespeare Festival tap program, also known as Funk U! Soon Aaron became a company member of Manhattan Tap and worked in the show Tap Dogs. Jumping feet-first into choreography, he landed a job with Absolut in a national tour titled Absolut Tap!
Soon after, Aaron accepted a role in the national and international tours of Riverdance. He was a featured soloist and captain of the tap dancers for six years as he performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, on various TV shows, at NBA games, and on stages the world over.
In 2006 Aaron began working with longtime friend Derick Grant on Imagine Tap!, a Chicago-based show whose formation would become the subject of a feature-length documentary, titled Tap or Die.
As a faculty member at The Boston Conservatory and Plymouth State University, Aaron choreographed, produced and directed Something to Tap About, Tapped, Tapped In and Inspired, all featuring performers from his own New England Tap Ensemble. Aaron formed New England Tap Ensemble, a non-profit organization, in May of 2007 to promote the art of tap in the community while fostering a sense of individuality in a professional artist.
From Montana to Moscow, Aaron has performed and taught at numerous festivals including LA Tap Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Beantown Tap Fest, Tap United, Tampa Bay Tap Festival, Tap Kids, Brazil International Tap Festival and FeetxFeet. Other favorite performances include Brookline Chorus’ Duke Ellington Sacred Concert, The Late Show with Liam O’Conner in Ireland, and playing Drosselmeyer in Clara’s Dream in A Jazz Nutcracker.
Aaron recently taught at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City. He is also the director of The Intensive, the national spokesperson for SoDanca, and the Director of Speaking In Taps, a pre-professional dance company.
Deo Mwano
Deo Mwano educates and motivates people to grow and to help others. As a person who loves challenges, Deo seeks to identify and solve problems for businesses, nonprofit organizations and education institutions. He is passionate about creating innovative ways to improve technology, education, customer experiences, and inspires others to engage with performing arts. Deo Mwano became the first adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University teaching dance courses that fused with cultural studies. Two of his special topic courses Evolution of Hip Hop and Theory of Movements and Practicality were very popular for students who wanted to fulfill an Art requirement course. Theory of Movements and Practicality, explored how danceand movements are part of everything we do. The course dissects sounds, lyrics and melodies, while discovering how it connects to movements and storytelling. The second course, Evolution of Hip-Hop explores the culture of urban city and urban music in how it contributed to the creation of Hip-Hop dance. The course highlights the connection of funk, disco, swing, and tap danceinto hip-hop dancing. Most recently, Deo became a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy teaching the first accredited Hip-Hop course in the history of the school. His honors include being named to 40 Under 40 as an emerging leader in New Hampshire in 2016 for integrating dance, education and social impact in his work.
Deo is a versatile choreographer, dancer and educator who dances various styles of dance and music. He has been studying dance for over 20 years in the styles of fusion jazz, street jazz, African dance and variety of hip hop styles. He has conducted dance workshops all over the U.S. Mwano has been impacting people all over the United States since the early age of 11 and it was only a matter of time before his impact reached the far corners of the world. His choreography has been performed in South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia through Youth with a Mission Performing Arts Program. Mwano worked with the Pakistani Educational Leadership Institute teaching dance and as a community advisor. He has had opportunities to showcase his choreography nationally and internationally. In 2010 Deo appeared in a TV special for the show, Dancing With The Star<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSuUFPt2nSc> where he choreographed and performed with his brothers and the professional dancers of the show. Deo enjoyed collaborating with Kim Johnson whom he co-choreographed the cha cha/ Hip Hop routine he performed on the show. Deo was able to use his creative thinking of merging the two styles together into a fun entertaining number. Deo is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with creative individuals and organizations. He is the founder of the dance movement called, Movement From Above<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4nQomFIWY>.vwww.Momwww.movementfromabove.comwww.DeoMwano.com
Nicole Kelley
Nicole has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years. Her choreography and training has won her students many Regional and National awards and recognition. Nicole's positive attitude, high energy level and commitment to teaching dance excellence adds a level of excitement to her classes. The special connection she shares with her students enables her to challenge, motivate and inspire them individually and as a class. Nicole loves sharing her passion and love of dance as the Director of Rhythm Dance Company!
Shaquille Worsley
Shaquille is a professional dancer, stunt performer, and certified Genius with Apple. He started as a self-taught dancer in Manchester, NH and has had the opportunity to perform for a variety of audiences and TV shows. He loves inspiring and being inspired. He feels the most important thing in life is to give back and every day he tries to live his life guided by this belief. He was a stunt performer and tricker with the Boston Celtic JetBlue Flight Crew. He has been featured in the music videos of Joyner Lucas and Chris Brown. Shaquille has been a dance teacher at various dance studios and has been working with 4-12 students at a local middle school for seven years, using dance to bridge culture differences and build alliances. Shaquille has been collaborating with DMC since he was in high school, lending his talent to assemblies at middle schools. He has traveled with DMC all over the country, inspiring audiences with his amazing acrobatic skills. He was recently featured in the Blueprint Project, playing the part of a teacher who is struggling to build connections with his students. Shaquille’s core commitment is to train and push himself, to challenge his physical ability, to the highest level every day.
Lauren Dattis
Lauren Dattis has been dancing for 17 years. She studies all styles of dance. She grew up attending New Hampshire School of Ballet run by Jennifer Rienert for 15 years. She was also part of Speaking in Taps run by Aaron Tolson for five years and was Captain of the company for three years. She is a student at Southern New Hampshire University Online studying Business Management. She also attends The Institute for American Musical Theatre in NYC trained by professionals on a daily basis. Ultimately, she aspires to be on a Broadway stage.