Sally Heaney [Director]
Sally Heaney is a 1976 High Honors graduate of Auburn High School. She has owned and operated her own dance center since 1977 offering a complete program of dance education. She is a member of Dance Educators of America, a national organization of certified Performing Arts instructors. Sally continues to study dance professionally in Boston and New York. Some of the outstanding teachers she has studied with are Eleanor Thompson, Jeannette Neil, Sam Fiorello, and E. Virginia Williams, to name a few. Among her accomplishments are scholarships from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and New England Dance Theater, Boston. Sally was one of 50 students selected nationally to study with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company's Summer Dance Program. She also performed in the Virgin Islands with a professional entertainment agency based out of Boston.
Caitlin Foley
Caitlin is a 1998 cum laude Wheaton College graduate. Caitlin was on the Dean's list for all 4 years, was an athletic scholar and was co-captain of the Wheaton Dance College Dance Company. Caitlin is certified to teach dance in the public schools and has her Master's degree in elementary education from Anna Maria College. Caitlin's choreography has won numerous national and regional recognition. She teaches all ages and levels at the Auburn Center. Caitlin is a fifth grade teacher in the Northboro public schools and resides in Auburn. Caitlin resides in Auburn with her husband Jay and her two daughters Nora 5 yrs and Clare 2 yrs.
Heather McDermott
Heather McDermott, daughter of director Sally Heaney, trained at the Sally McDermott Dance Centers for 15 years. She continued her professional dance studies at Dean College and Point Park University. Heather is a 2004 honors graduate of Dean College where she received her Associates Degree. A 2006 graduate of Point Park University, she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance concentrating in Jazz Dance. Her studies focused on Pedagogy, Dance Composition and Creative Movement. She has performed with Dean College Dance Company, Dance Team, Scholarship Showcase, Albany Berkshire Ballet, and Dance Prism. Heather has been choreographing for the Sally McDermott Dance Company for the past 6 years. She recently joined as a fulltime teacher at both the Auburn and Charlton Dance Centers. She teaches all ages, specializing in Jazz and Contemporary styles.
Megan McDermott
Megan, daughter of Sally Heaney, trained at the Sally McDermott Dance centers for 16 years. She studied in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, and Modern. She won many top scores and several scholarships as a performer. She extended her professional dance training on scholarship at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA where she studied dance with teachers such as Scott Jovovich, Kim Bears-Bailey, Brian Sanders, Molly Misgella, and Wayne St. David to name a few. She has been teaching all levels and styles of dance for SMDC since 2007. She also choreographs for the dance company and has received recognition for her choreography regionally.
Michelle Duclos
Michelle received her dance training at Diane Kelley Dance Studio, where she studied jazz, tap, ballet, pointe and modern. In addition, Michelle also performed with the Mary McInerney School of Irish Step Dancing, the Burncoat High School Dance Department and the New England Surge professional dance team. She has competed both regionally and nationally as a solo and group performer. Michelle graduated from Burncoat High School and the College of the Holy Cross with a degree in English and Education. She is certified to teach dance in the Massachusetts public schools and is currently teaching middle school English in Worcester.
Sarah Nugent
Sarah is a 2004 graduate of Doherty Memorial High School and the Sally McDermott Dance Centers, where she danced with the Company and competed regionally and nationally as a solo and group performer. As a student at Clark University she studied both psychology and biology. As a member and the 2008 treasurer of the Clark University Dance Society, she choreographed and performed in routines for local performances as well as fund raising events. In 2008 she performed in the Orange Bowl Halftime show in Orlando, Florida. Sarah now teaches various ages for both the Charlton and Auburn studios and the Dance Company.
Lynette McIntyre
Lynette has extensive Tap training from the Leon Collins Studio, Jeannette Neil's, and the Dance Center. Lynette resides in Oxford with her husband and son. Lynette teaches tap to our Dance Company at the Auburn Dance Center.
Kathryn "Kat" Damian
Kathryn "Kat" Damian, originally from Southbridge, MA began her dance training at Sally McDermott Dance Centers at the age of 4. She participated in many dance competitions as well as workshops during her adolescent years. She continued her dance training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA where she graduated with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Jazz Dance Performance. While at the University, she was honored to study under professionals such as Ronen Koresh, Scott Jovovich, Zane Booker, Robert Burden, and many more. She was also one of the original members of Xhale Dance Company, where she had the honor of performing in the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, PA. After graduating she started dancing and choreographing with Project Moshen, another dance company based out of Philadelphia. Along with dancing for Project Moshen, she instructed and choreographed for Springton Dance Academy, located in Edgemont, PA. During the past two summers, she has taught and choreographed for Springton Dance Academy's Phillies Dance Camp where she has choreographed routines that have been performed at Philadelphia Phillies games. She has since relocated back to Southbridge, MA where she is very excited to be joining the Sally McDermott Dance Center's teaching faculty.
Megan Berg
Megan Berg was a student at the Cathy Taylor School of Dance for 16 years, starting at the age of 2. After her training at Cathy Taylor's she received her B. A. in Dance and Sociology from Skidmore College and her Masters in Social Work from Smith School for Social Work. Throughout her professional dance career, Megan has danced with Boston and New York based dance companies including Kelly Donovan and Dancers, Andrea Blesso and Verhoff/LoTurco Danceworks. She was a scholarship student at Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago where she studied with well known choreographers including Nan Giordano and Jon Lehrer. Megan has studied and taught dance throughout the United States and Europe including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston and Paris.
Matt Hall
Matt is our SMDC Tumbling Instructor and is the Boys USAG Team Coach for Gymnastics Learning Center in Shrewsbury MA.
Jolanta Valeikaite
Born and raised in Vilnius, Lithuania, Ms. Valeikaite received her training from the Vilnius Ballet School. As a student, she received her break through at the age of 18 debuting in the title role of Giselle, whereupon she was promoted to soloist in the Lithuanian National Ballet Company. Her coaches include T. Legat, I. Kolpakova and P. Gusev. A principal dancer for 10 years with the company, her principal roles include those in Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda and Romeo and Juliet. She also toured extensively in the United States, South America and Europe. In 1988, she received prizes in international ballet competitions in Moscow, Varna and Paris.
Upon moving to Germany in 1992, Ms. Valeikaite became a principal dancer at Bonn Ballet (1992-1994) and Essen Ballet (1994-1997). Additionally, she has appeared as a guest artist with numerous other companies including V. Vasiliev-E. Maximova Company, the Bolshoi, Xin Peng Wang, and Ruth Page's The Nutcracker. She continues to collaborate with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater on numerous projects. From 1998 to 2001, she established, directed and instructed her own ballet school in Bonn. Since 2003, she has been a ballet mistress and choreographer for the Performing Arts School of Worcester while also teaching at several other dance schools.
