Rising Stars Studio of Dance
Rising Stars Studio of Dance
Learn.Achieve.Improve.Grow!
Learn.Achieve.Improve.Grow!
The Faculty
We love what we do
and it shows!
Mallory Chesler Horowitz, Director & Teaching Artist
Miss Mallory has been studying dance for over 30 years. She is a graduate from Montclair State University where she received a B.F.A. degree in dance with a concentration in ballet and modern techniques. While at Montclair, she worked with many choreographers and performed pieces choreographed by Sean Curran, Donna Sco, Kim Whittam, Lisa Grimes, Lonne Morreton, and Nancy Lushington to name a few. Mallory is currently the choreographer for the STARS award winning competition team. Many of her dances have received Platinums, high scores and even received the golden ticket to the World Dance Championship. Miss Mallory has also received many choreography awards for her work. She also choreographs for high school musicals, her most recent work being“Pippin” "Beauty and the Beast” ,“The Sound Of Music”, "The Wizard of Oz" and "Bye,Bye Birdie". Mallory was honored by Who’s Who Premier International for outstanding professionals in the dance industry for 2008-2009 and selected as Executive Professional of the year in 2009-2010. Mallory is also a proud member of National Association of Dance and Affiliated Arts for over 10 years and Dance New Jersey. She also has been involved with children’s outreach programs such as “Literacy Programs of NJ- Arts Come to Life”. Mallory feels very lucky to be able to impact children in a positive way through her love of the performing arts and is looking forward to a wonderful season!
Miss Morgan Markowski, Teaching Artist
Miss Morgan began her formal dance training at the age of three, studying ballet, modern, tap, jazz, lyrical, and hip-hop. She later stumbled across Irish-Step Dancing, which she quickly grew to love, and has since traveled the country competing at both the regional and national levels. Morgan is a recent (2012) graduate of Muhlenberg College (in Allentown, PA) with a B.A. in both Dance and Business Administration/Marketing. While at Muhlenberg, she had the invaluable opportunity to study under Karen Dearborn, Charles O. Anderson, Corrie Cowart, Shelley Oliver, Heidi Cruz, and Patti Bostick, continuing both her technical and academic dance training, while performing in many faculty and student choreographed concerts. Morgan also choreographed several pieces of her own, the most recent of which was Celtic; Knot, a fusion of modern and Irish-Step Dancing featured in Muhlenberg’s Dance Emerge. In 2011, Morgan was selected to study in Arezzo, Italy at the Accademia dell’Arte, where she furthered her study of ballet and modern composition, while expanding her dance palette to include tarantella and other dances of the Mediterranean. Morgan is so excited to join the Rising Stars family, and is looking forward to sharing what she has learned with the next generation of young dancers
Miss Jessie Whelan, Teaching Artist
Jessie Whelan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Montclair State University’s Department of Theater and Dance in 2012. Since graduating Miss Jessie has taught in various studios primarily in Northern New Jersey and her hometown studio where she grew up dancing in Forked River, New Jersey. Miss Jessie has taught dance in Manhattan and Newark Charter Schools, and currently runs the toddler dance program at the Alvin Ailey School in Manhattan. Miss Jessie has performed for various modern dance companies in central and northern New Jersey, Suffern (New York), and New York City. She holds additional certifications in Acrobatic Arts, Pilates, Personal Training, along with an additional Bachelor’s and Masters in Nutrition (Registered Dietitian eligible Spring 2024). When she’s not in the studio Miss Jessie loves dancing around and playing at home with her toddler daughter! Miss Jessie is so excited to be joining Rising Stars Studio of Dance and fostering the love of dance in children!
Miss Eugenia "Gigi" Grigorian , Teaching Artist
Miss Eugenia (or Miss Gigi) has always had a passion for teaching and dance! She has been dancing and competing since age seven, starting in ballet and continuing in jazz, lyrical and contemporary. During high school, she auditioned and was accepted into the Somerset County Gifted and Talented Dance Program and added improvisation, choreography, stage lighting and dance anatomy and physiology to her studies. Following high school, Miss Eugenia went on to attend the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and received a Minor in Dance and a Master’s degree in Education. Miss Eugenia’s love of teaching goes beyond dance as she now works as a middle school mathematics teacher since graduating college where she also continues to choreograph for their musical theater program. She is excited to join the Rising Stars team and watch her dancers learn, grow and shine!
Miss Gianna Bovino, Teaching Artist
Miss Gianna has been dancing at Rising Stars for 12 years. She has experience in Contemporary, lyrical, acro, jazz, tap, ballet, musical theatre, and hip hop. She has also been competing for 5 years. Throughout her years of competing she has received many judges awards for power and strength. She also competed at NADAA where she received High Score 13-15 age division, TOP SCORE division and Highest Scoring routine of the competition! Miss Gianna plans on attending Raritan Valley Community College to study dance and business. She will later transfer to Montclair State University to continue her education. She excited to be teaching along side Miss.Schuyler in acro classes this year and can’t wait to see all my students grow and work towards more skills! She is so excited to be teaching this year at Rising Stars!
Miss Kyleen Constant, Teaching Artist
Sabrina started her dance training at 6 years old. She has heavy experience with ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, and pom. Once she finished her dance training at RSD, she took her career to the collegiate level with the Rutgers University Dance Team. She has performed at local and national dance competitions, traveled to the ICU World Championship with the US National Pom Team, and performed with New Kids on the Block. When she is not in the studio, Sabrina is a full time orthopedic and sports physical therapist. In this next chapter of teaching at Rising Stars, she wishes to spread her love for the sport by challenging, guiding, and building a similar passion in the upcoming generation of dancers.
Miss Kyleen Constant is a recent graduate from East Carolina University with her BFA in dance performance and choreography. She is professionally trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, and contemporary. Along with performing in varying dance performances in university, she has studied abroad and danced in Nairobi, Kenya. Most recently she attended American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.
Miss Sabrina Estevez Teaching Artist
Miss Schuyler Van Allen, Teaching Artist
Miss Schuyler Van Allen, Teaching Artist
Miss Schuyler has been formally dancing since the age of six. As a child, she studied ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical. When she was ten, she began taking acro classes and discovered a talent for it. She competed on the floor exercise for her high school gymnastics team from 2008 to 2011. She was co-captain of her team and competed in two sectional championship competitions. Schuyler also acted and danced in many musical theater productions throughout her high school career. Following high school, Schuyler worked as an assistant teacher at a preschool while attending college. In 2016, Schuyler graduated from Kean University and now works as a public school third grade teacher. Schuyler loves teaching at Rising Stars! Seeing her students’ passion and excitement to learn gives her so much joy!
Miss Isabella Sterman, Teaching Artist
Miss Isabella (Miss Iz) is a recent Summa Cum Laude graduate from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Dance and Psychology! Growing up, she trained in competitive jazz, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, musical theater, and hip hop. In college, she was able to explore additional genres of dance including modern, heels, and salsa, and performed in various dance repertoire for Mason Gross School of the Arts. Outside of her curriculum, Miss Iz also explored Ballroom and Latin styles of dance and was the President of the Rutgers Ballroom Club and Team for two years. In addition, Miss Iz was a choreographer for the Rutgers Performing Dance Company for 5 semesters! She is so excited to teach at Rising Stars this year!