Lesley Nugnes

Lesley started dancing at the age of three and took recreational classes in tap, jazz, ballet and acro. When she was 9 years old, her acro teacher recommended her for gymnastics. With her dance background and foundation, she made the competitive team at her gym and competed through high school. During those years she was New Jersey State Champion and competed through USA Gymnastics Level 10. She competed for Eastern National Academy in Pompton Plains, but also for her high school varsity team. All four years of high school, she was awarded first team all-county, first team all-conference and all-state. In 2000, The Record named Lesley one of the gymnasts on the 1990's all-decade gymnastics team. Recreationally in high school, she also joined her school's competition cheer team where she was chosen individually to cheer at the Hula Bowl college all star game in Honolulu.  After high school, through college, she went to work for her childhood coach teaching gymnastics classes from pre-school through competitive level. In 2004, she became the varsity gymnastics coach at Wayne Valley High School in Wayne, NJ where, in her first year, the team beat school records and went on to win county, conference and state sectional championships. This also included many individual honors for her gymnasts. In her 12 years as head coach, her team went on to win three additional county championships, four conference championships and state accolades every year. Individually the team thrived as well. Lesley was personally awarded three time Passaic County Coach of the Year, four time Conference Coach of the Year and North Jersey Coach of the year twice.  She is USA Gymnastics safety certified in technique, stretching and spotting. Lesley lives in Frankford with her husband, Rick, son, Chase and daughter, Lilly.

Nicole Finley

Nicole Finley is a graduate of Montclair State University and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, concentrating in Modern and Ballet. She was the recipient of the Choreographic Excellence Award upon graduation. Nicole is from Marlboro, New York and has been dancing since she was 3 years old, performing throughout her childhood at many competitions, community and charity events. Ever since a young child she knew dance was an important part of her life and wanted to make it her career. She has had the privilege of working with amazing choreographers such as Maxine Steinman, JT Jenkins, Urban Bush Women, Jesse DeMauro, and Karen Gayle. She has attended American College Dance Festival, conventions in the tri-state area and Hip Hop Worlds competitions, of which she has taken those experiences and used them to help create her own choreographic style. Her professional career started with hip hop where she has done music videos with Diggy Simmons, Maino, Swizz Beatz, Juelz Santana and has performed all over the east coast for artists, charity and entertainment events. As a dance educator of most styles and techniques, Nicole loves to continue to learn and grow by taking classes in New York City, and attending teacher’s conventions.  Nicole has over 15 years of teaching experience ranging from ages three to adult and has won top score and choreography awards at regional and national competitions. As a dance instructor, Nicole is dedicated and always excited to share her love of dance and passion for choreography with all of her students.

Shannon Tobin

Shannon began dancing at the age of three, where she took classes in ballet, tap, jazz and acro. She then moved on to become a competitive gymnast until high school graduation.

From 1997 to 2004, she taught ballet, tap, jazz and tumbling classes at the former Sussex County Dance Academy. In 1999 she began coaching gymnastics at Shield's Gymnastics of Mt. Freedom, where she created her own competitive JOGA gymnastics team. In 2002 she graduated with an associate’s degree in dance and fine arts from Morris County Community College after completing courses in ballet, modern dance and choreography. She used this degree to begin choreographing gymnastics floor and balance beam routines for her own gymnastics team and several other gyms in the Morris county area. In 2004 she began working at Randolph Gymnastics where she coached teams in USAIGC and USAG, a Junior Olympic program. These teams went on to win many team and individual state and national titles including being ranked 2nd in the nation in 2008.

Currently Shannon still coaches competitive gymnastics. She resides in Byram, NJ with her husband, Scott, her 9 year old son, Tanner, and her 12 year old daughter, Ashlynn, who is a gymnast and competitive dancer.

Jaime Chervony

Jaime began her dance training at the age of 2.5. She studied all styles of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern and acro. She began competitive dance at the age of 9 where she won several top scores at both Regional and National levels. She has performed, competed and taken convention and Master classes all around the country traveling all over the US from New Jersey to California,  Massachusetts to Florida and may places in-between.  

After HS graduation Jaime attended Marymount Manhattan College where she studied for 4 years and graduated with her BA in Dance and minor in education while student teaching all over NYC public schools. After college, Jaime’s love of dance and dance degree landed her a teaching job in the Ringwood area where she was the competition director for 11 years, teaching and choreographing till the studio closed in 2012, a job teaching in Fairfield, Succasunna and another in Livingston which she has currently been at for 20 years in addition to teaching at Perfect Pointe where she will start her 6th year on staff. Her teaching experience ranges from ages two to adult and during this time she has won several top awards and special awards at competitions in the tri-state area.  Jaime resides in Sparta with her husband Joe, her 12 year old son Hunter, and 8 year old daughter, Kendall. She loves spending her free time with her family and just living life to the fullest everyday!

Melissa Reardon

Melissa Reardon has been dancing since the young age of 2 1/2. After obtaining her BFA in Dance from Montclair State University, Melissa began her teaching career and has been sharing her passion and love of her art for 15+ years. She has taught at many studios throughout New Jersey and taught at, and continues to choreograph for, Roxbury High School (Choice School of the Arts). Melissa holds her NJ certification to teach dance in public schools and continues to study at Broadway Dance Center, Steps and Peridance.

Melissa's work can be found throughout New York & New Jersey. Not only has her work won numerous choreography and high score awards, but has also been recognized as National Champions & invited to World Dance Championships several times. Her most recent work has been showcased at Jennifer Muller, The Works (NYC), Peridance (NYC) and various venues for Dance New Jersey's Show Up & Dance showcases.

Recently Melissa has been invited to choreograph for Dancers Make a Change Dance convention, has hosted workshops at various studios and is in the beginning stages of starting up a contemporary company to continue to showcase her work. She has also choreographed for The Dancers Dream Fund, assisted choreography for Roxbury High School musicals (Footloose, Beauty and the Beast & The Addams Family), taught workshops for MCST (VPA program), set choreography for The Nextstep Dance Company, Dance Innovations Performance Foundation, Randolph High School Dance Company and much more.

Marissa Ciancitto

Marissa Ciancitto has been dancing for over 16 years, 10 of which were right here at Perfect Pointe, and quickly fell in love with the art! She has studied hip hop, jazz, musical theater, modern, lyrical, jazz, ballet, and tap. While studying at Perfect Pointe, she was also a student teacher for many years here. Marissa graduated from High Point Regional High School where she took part as a dancer and dance captain in the school musical productions for four years. After high school, Marissa was a student at the County College of Morris where she received a dual degree in Dance and Liberal Arts for Humanities and Social Sciences. Marissa was chosen for many faculty pieces and also choreographed many of her own modern and jazz dances throughout her three years. At CCM she performed in many musicals including West Side Story, Marry Poppins, The Pajama Game, Little Mermaid, and many more. She also had the opportunity to perform, as a featured role, at the 42nd Street Y in NYC with the Garden State Dance Company in their Hip Hop/Modern performance of Alchemy. For two years Marissa also taught recreational and competition Hip-Hop and Jazz at a local studio. After graduating CCM in 2018, Marissa also choreographed The Jungle Book for the Newton Theater Arts Academy. Marissa then attended Monmouth University for two years and recently graduated with a degree in TV/Radio production. At Monmouth University she was in performance fundraisers for Broadway Cares and was an assistant choreographer for their The Drowsy Chaperone and Company productions. In addition to the musicals, Marissa was in 12 dance pieces each year, five of which she choreographed, including hip hop, theater, jazz, modern, etc. Marissa is excited to be teaching at Perfect Pointe and spreading her love for dance where it began.

Alana Antanaitis

Alana started dancing at the young age of 2 1/2. Throughout her dancing career, she studied ballet, tap, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, modern and contemporary. A majority of Alana’s dancing career was spent at Perfect Pointe when she joined back in 2005. When Alana was 12, she took her dancing passion to the next level and competitively danced as part of PAC. She attended many conventions in NYC, Philly, and throughout the state of NJ and took classes with many talented choreographers. While Alana was studying dance at the studio, she spent several years as a student teacher. 

Alana went to The University of Rhode Island where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology in 2018. During her time at school, she was a part of the dance company where she participated in multiple dances and performed each semester. Alana was also part of Greek life and took any dancing opportunity that came her way. She performed in dance numbers for fundraisers and helped choreograph with her sorority. 

Alana is excited to be back at Perfect Pointe to continue her love for the art of dance and share her love by teaching. 

Stephanie Correal 

Stephanie Correal is from North Caldwell, NJ and is a graduate of Seton Hall University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education concentrating in Special Education at the Early Childhood and Elementary level. She taught preschool in Lincoln Park for many years before moving to Sussex County. She then became a Stay-At-Home mom and is now returning to the classroom to once again teach preschool.

Stephanie’s daughter has been dancing at Perfect Pointe Performing Arts Studio since the age of 2 and is currently on the Company Team. Since her daughter has joined the Team, Stephanie has become a leading and active Board member for the Perfect Pointe Parents Association.

Stephanie spent most of her years dancing jazz, tap and ballet at The Caldwell School of Dance and The Dance Factory in Caldwell, NJ. She has also taken ballet and jazz at New Jersey School of Ballet. In 2003 she became a co-founder of the Seton Hall University Dance Team. In her last year of college she was hired as a Coach & Advisor for West Essex JHS, JV and Varsity dance teams. In 2009, she was hired as the Head Coach of a Semi-Professional dance team called the Hawkettes based out of Bergen County. In 2011 she helped create and coach a new Semi-Pro dance team called the New Jersey Emeralds. During this time, Stephanie also taught jazz and cheerdance at Essex Dance Academy in Fairfield NJ for 1st grade through High School.

Stephanie currently resides in Franklin with her children Carly, Collin and their dog Tyson. She loves spending time with her kids playing board games, reading books, playing outside or watching Disney movies. She is so excited to be teaching dance again and cannot wait to meet her dancing princesses.

Sarah Borino

Sarah started dancing at Perfect Pointe when she was at the age of three. She joined the dance company to compete when she was around seven years old. Sarah took many classes and studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, contemporary, hip hop and pointe. While she studied at Perfect Pointe, she started student teaching at around twelve years old. In 2018, she went to Joffrey Ballet School for a summer intensive where she was able to train with Amy Yakima from ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. Sarah graduated from High Point Regional High School in 2021 and attended Rutgers University - Mason Gross School for 1 year, majoring in dance. She got the opportunity to be in a piece for Dance Plus Fall 2021 choreographed by John Evans. She then transferred to County College of Morris to get her associates degree for dance instead. She is planning on graduating college in 2024. Sarah has been loving her time teaching at the place she grew up with and can’t wait to start her 3rd season as a teacher for Perfect Pointe!

Margo Donovan

Margo Donovan began dancing when she was just a toddler. She studied many styles throughout her early education, such as ballet, tap, jazz, and gymnastics. Her love and passion for the art continued to grow throughout the years. She continued her eduaction at  the County College of Morris where she graduated in 2017. Her education focused on ballet and modern techniques. While studying at CCM, she performed in numerous dance showcases, choreographed her very own piece, and danced in several Musical Theatre productions. During her time at CCM, she had the opportunity to perform in the American College Dance Association’s Northeast Region Conference and completed an internship in Arts Administration with Burklyn Ballet Theatre. This opportunity led her to work at their summer ballet intensive for the next two years, furthering her education in ballet and adminstration. She performed the role of “Head Mistress” in Graduation Ball at BBT in 2017 & 2018. Miss Margo is ecstatic to be back at Perfect Pointe where she can share her love and passion for dance with all of her students, as well as her new position as the Office Manager.