Studio 85 Staff Members

Kristen has been dancing since she was 3 years old. Her passion for dance grew throughout her childhood, where she trained in all aspects of dance and competed in regional and national competitions. Following high school, Kristen was accepted into the renowned dance program at Oklahoma City University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance. After college, Kristen moved to Las Vegas to pursue her a career as professional dancer. She performed with magician David Darkstone, danced in the popular show “Legends in Concert”, and she worked at the Rio Hotel and Casino, dancing for Dick Foster Productions. 

After many years in Vegas, Kristen decided to return to her home state of Connecticut to raise a family and continue her dance career as an instructor. She has been teaching children of all ages tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre and ballet, as well choreographing for competitive dancers. Kristen’s choreography has won multiple overall high score awards at the regional and national level! With over 30 years under her belt in dance performance and instruction, Kristen decided to make her dream a reality, and open Studio 85. She is excited to bring her love for dance and jitter glitter to Canton, where she can teach kids the same passion, style, and confidence that she learned while performing on stage. Kristen resides in Canton, with her husband Nick and her children Teagan and Dax, all of whom can frequently be spotted at Studio 85. 

Roxanne Lebenzon began studying Vaganova Ballet at the Atlantic Ballet Company and Bossov Ballet Theater in Maine. She continued her ballet education at Northwest Studio for Ballet in California, performing lead roles in Don Quixote, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Under the direction of Ron Cunningham, Roxanne received the opportunity to perform as a flower in the Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker. She also performed in the corps with State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara in their productions of Secret Garden and Beauty and the Beast, and in lead roles in Cinderella and The Jungle Book.

In 2013, Roxanne began pursuing an Honors BFA in Ballet at the University of Utah. In addition to rigorous ballet training, Roxanne studied kinesiology, pedagogy, choreography, and character dance. She performed with Utah Ballet continuously throughout her time in Utah, including dancing full-length ballets at Kingsbury Hall. She graduated with her Honors BFA in 2017. Roxanne was also a guest artist with the Theater Arts Alliance in California, dancing the role of Sugarplum Fairy in their Nutcracker, and an artist with a project-based modern company, Cat and Fish Dances located in Utah.

In 2019 Roxanne became a guest artist with Ballet Theater Company in Hartford and joined The Hartford Dance Collective as a Resident Artist. Through The Dance Collective, she has performed in numerous public and outreach performances. Most recently, she presented her own work for International Women Women’s Day (CT) and at Crafted (Real Art ways, Hartford). She is thrilled to join Studio 85 as ballet faculty!

Besides dance, Roxanne currently is an Old World Archaeology graduate student pursing her Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut."

Taylor is a freelance dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Hartford, CT.  She grew up dancing competitively and furthered her training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she received a BFA in Dance in 2017.  There she had the opportunity to work with renowned dance faculty and guest choreographers including Jesse Zaritt, Katie Swords-Thurman, Sidra Bell, Netta Yerushalmy, Robert Burden and Helen Simoneau. 

 Alongside rigorous training in modern, ballet, tap, hip-hop and contemporary forms, Taylor’s training at the University of the Arts had a strong basis in pedagogy, somatics, and dance theory and criticism.  Following graduation, Taylor relocated to Brooklyn, NY where she was able to perform and present some of her own work in several venues across the city including Triskelion Arts, Gibney Dance Center, Dixon Place and the Center for Performance Research.  Since returning to her home state of Connecticut, Taylor has been on staff at one other competitive dance studio teaching hip-hop, ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and acrobatic dance as well as choreographing several routines for the studio’s competition team.  She has also had the pleasure of performing with the Judy Dworin Performance Project, Rebecca Pappas and Peter Kyle.  Taylor is currently teaching at the Greater Hartford Arts Academy, in the Theater department at the Hartt School.  

Since January of 2020, Taylor has also been a Resident Artist with the Hartford Dance Collective where she teaches tap and contemporary technique class and is in the process of choreographing several pieces of work with other Collective dancers.  She is also a teaching artist with Judy Dworin’s “Moving Matters” arts intervention program in Hartford public schools.  

Taylor is thrilled to be joining the Studio 85 family and cannot wait to work with its promising young dancers!

Emily Wiseman, originally from New Hope, Pennsylvania, grew up training in ballet, jazz, modern, and contemporary under Janet Mangiaracina, Victoria Szeplaki, Pamela Levy, and Mark and Melissa Roxey. 

At the age of 16, she studied at the American Academy of Ballet Summer School of Excellence with a scholarship. Upon graduation, she moved to Dallas, TX where she trained year-round with the Joffrey Ballet School. In 2020, she was offered a traineeship with Avant Chamber Ballet, where she performed with the professional company in roles such as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and Spanish and Waltz of the Flowers in the Nutcracker. In the summer of 2021, she moved to Ohio to work with the Cleveland Ballet. She danced there for 2 years, performing various corps de ballet roles with the company in Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Swan Lake. 

Emily’s teaching experience includes teaching at various dance studios and schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas, and Ohio, as well as the School of Cleveland Ballet’s outreach program teaching dance in public schools throughout the city. She holds a Level 2 teacher certification for Progressing Ballet Technique. Additionally, she has worked as a preschool teacher and after school care teacher. She has just moved to West Hartford where she will be dancing with New England Ballet Theatre. 

Emily loves teaching and spreading her love for dance to all her students. She is so excited to join the faculty at Studio 85!

Katie Grady found her love of dance and performing early in life. From the age of two, she studied a variety of styles including: jazz, tap, ballet, musical theater, lyrical, and contemporary. Katie spent eight years competing in those styles at numerous competitions and performing at local events. 

After high school, she continued her dance training at the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment. Throughout her four years in the program, she had countless opportunities to perform, hold management positions, and choreograph. 

Katie graduated in May of 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Dance Management and a minor in Business Entrepreneurship from Oklahoma City University. Now back in Connecticut, Katie looks forward to being an official part of the Studio 85 family!