Tara Framer

Alison A. Owusu

Choreographer

Alison A. Owusu is an internationally decorated choreographer/instructor in the tri-state area. Her dynamic and energetic approach to teaching dance makes her beloved by hundreds of her students and the dance community. Alison is the creator of The Alison Owusu Experience Dance Company (best 2016), owner and artistic director of Passion Flux Dance Co (Est 2020, original company Est 2010) in Teaneck, NJ. In addition to Alison’s many achievements, she is a two time consecutive Helen Hayes “The Metros” award winner for outstanding choreography and a two-time Paper Mill Playhouse (2-17 & 2018) nominee for her choreographic work in the Northern Valley Old Tappan High School’s musical Tarzan, Bring it On and Chicago. She is a recipient of the outstanding choreography award from Monsters of Hip-Hop 2021. 

Alison has trained at the world-renowned Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in NYC. She focuses on the studies of ballet, hip-hop, modern, contemporary jazz, African, tap and jazz. Her experience has allowed her to train among esteemed teachers/choreographers in the business such as Debbie Allen and Gus Salmon, to name a few. She has extensive training in modern Horton, Graham, and Limon techniques. Alison holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and health with a minor in dance from Montclair State University.

Alison’s choreography has graced the stages of Alvin Ailey Black Box Theatre, Merce Cunningham Black Box Theatre, Drexel Performance Theatre, and Margarita at the National Performance Theatre in Venezuela. She choreographed The Music Hall Academy’s production of Bring It On in July 2022.

Deborah Toteda

Choreographer

Deborah Toteda is happy to be back at The Music Hall Academy, having previously choreographed the fall 2022 production of The Addams Family. She is the Director of Dance at Harrison High School and serves as the choreographer for their award winning musical theater program, The Footlight Players. She is the recipient of 5 Metropolitan High School Theater Awards (Metros) and was recognized nationally by USA Today for her work in Rye Neck High School’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has performed roles in many dinner theater, off-broadway and regional theater productions and has toured internationally with Regency Cruises as a member of their musical theater troupe. Deborah holds a BA in Dance and Theater Education and a Masters in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy from Manhattanville College.

Stephen Ferri

Musical Director

Stephen Ferri has worked on over 200 productions in his varied career as a music director, orchestrator, keyboardist/programmer and stage/production manager. He has had the privilege to work On & Off Broadway and with The New York Musical Theatre Festival, Westchester Broadway Theatre, Sandbox Theatre, White Plains PAC, and numerous other venues across the country. Favorite credits include Disney’s On the Record, Heathers, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, Carrie, Dogfight, Little Mermaid, Color Purple,Bare, Avenue Q, Spring Awakening & Next To Normal. As an orchestrator: Foreverman (NYMF), Edges, Roads Courageous, Symphonic version of Songs for A New World and From Broadway With Love which aired on PBS. Other NY theatre credits include: Tuck Everlasting, Dear Evan Hansen, Kinky Boots, War Paint, Theatre World Awards, Analog &Vinyl (National Alliance for Musical Theatre). Stephen was named one of Westchester Magazine‘s “Top People To Watch” and received its “Best of Westchester” award for music direction. Other accolades include 914 Inc’s “Westchester Wunderkind”, the NYMF Award for “Outstanding Orchestration” for Foreverman and The Helen Hayes Theatre Award for “Achievement in Technical Production”. Stephen holds a BFA in Stage Management from Purchase College’s Conservatory of Theater Arts, and is the founder of both the New Musical Theatre Series and Harrison Summer Theatre and currently serves as the Executive Producer for White Plains PAC. 

Halie Morris

Cello Lessons

Halie Morris is well-versed in a variety of musical styles, received a B.M. in Violincello Performance and B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Oberlin College & Conservatory and a M.M. in Violincello Performance from Northwestern University. In recent years, she has performed in various venues, ranging from Joe’s Pub, BAM, and Third Street Music School to the crypts of Greenwood Cemetery. A chamber music enthusiast, she was previously a member of the Bar Hop String Quartet. She has performed with numerous ensembles, including PROTESTRA, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Orchestra of the Bronx, North Carolina Opera, New Music Raleigh and Wet Ink Ensemble.

Nicki Miller

Aerial Silks

Nicki Miller is an interdisciplinary poetic storyteller and educator based in and around NYC. Her work as a movement coach spans 15 years as a NASM certified personal trainer and over a decade of performing and coaching aerial silks and rope throughout the US. Since 2020, Nicki’s teaching has evolved to include an emphasis on the intersections of imagination, somatics, and neuroplasticity with movement rehab and technique. Learn more at movementmissinglinks.com.

As an artist, Nicki is most known for her work as co-founding artistic director of Only Child Aerial Theatre and co-creator of Sticks & Stone with Benjamin E. Oyzon. As a freelance artist, Nicki works with theatre, opera, and dance companies to integrate aerial rigging and choreography into their storytelling in imaginative and dramaturgically informed ways. She also works as an actor, aerial dancer and movement artist for theatre and film. She is currently an MFA candidate in Theatre at Sarah Lawrence College. Learn more at nickimiller.com

Jesse Cody

Aerial Silks

Jesse Cody was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. She attended Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania where she double majored in English and Theatre. It was at college that she discovered her love of circus. Her junior year, after returning from studying Commedia dell’Arte and Physical Theater in Arezzo, Italy at the Accademia del’Arte, she decided to take an aerial silk class as an extracurricular credit. Her senior year, she was asked to join Muhlenberg’s student-run circus program to perform an aerial-duet in their main stage production “Atlas.” Upon graduating in 2015, she moved back home to Georgia where she performed for The Up Factory hanging off a billboard for Columbus’ Midnight Run. Jesse moved to the greater New York area in 2016. Here, she continued to train and perform in NYC, broadening her repertoire to include aerial rope, Spanish web, circus hammock, and lyra/hoop. She performed aerial rope at The House of Yes in Brooklyn, NY; aerial silks for Street Cirque’s production of Boudicca at the Muse in Brooklyn, NY; and has performed aerial, acrobatics, and stilt-walking for numerous private events and festivals/street shows. She has also gone on tour with Westchester Circus Arts show Circus Ta-Da performing a Spanish web solo.