K.T DaSilva
K.T grew up dancing at Riley's as it was her mother, Marion Walsh Riley's dance studio. K.T. continued her dance education at Central Connecticut State University. She studied dance under Catherine Fellows. K.T. has been teaching for over 40 years, and has taken her students all over the states to perform with dancers like Frank Hatchet, Gregory Hynes, and Savion Glover to name a few. Through Dance and her eagerness to give back to the community K.T. shapes her students to be beautiful young adults.
Brenna DaSilva
Brenna has followed in her families footsteps and began dancing at her mother and grandmothers studio at the age of 2 and continued dancing at Riley's until she graduated in 2004. Brenna also studied in the pre-professional program at the Hartford Ballet. Brenna toured with the Hartford Ballets production of the American Nutcracker directed By Kirk Peterson. She also performed in numerous Nutcrackers with the Albany Berkshire Ballet. Brenna Graduated from Sacred Heart University in 2008 with a BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Management. Dasilva was on the SHU dance team all four years. She was captain of the team in 2008 where they took 4th place at NDA nationals in Daytona Beach Florida. Brenna spent one summer as an NDA instructor. Since college Dasilva has been teaching full time at Riley's in addition to coaching and choreographing for numerous dance teams.
Melissa Howe
Melissa began dancing at Riley's School of Dance at the age of three, and continued dancing until graduating from Enfield High School in 2003. Melissa has danced in many performances of the Albany Berkshire Ballet's rendition of The Nutcracker. She has learned from many great dancers, including Gregory Hines and Frank Hatchett. She attended Central Connecticut State University where she was a part of Dancentral and the CCSU Dance Team. Since college, Melissa has been teaching part time at Riley's School of Dance.
Megan Blais
Megan Blais has been a family member of Riley’s School of Dance since 1983 where at the age of three she began taking dance lessons. Megan finished her dance career and graduated from Enrico Fermi High School in 1998. Megan began teaching at Riley’s following graduation. Megan has remained committed to art of dance and has developed a vast working knowledge as she has taught ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics. Megan is a Graduate of Springfield Technical Community College where she studied Early Childhood Education and a Graduate of Bay Path College where she earned a degree in Liberal Studies. Megan continued her education at Saint Joseph College where she received her teaching certification. Megan is currently employed by the town of Suffield, CT where she can be found teaching Kindergarten. Megan and her husband Chris, have two children Jordan and Morgan who both take lessons at Riley’s. For Megan and her family, Riley’s has truly become a family tradition. As the end of summer approaches, and the start of a new school year, this will be Megan’s 13th year teaching at Riley’s.
Rana Bailey
Rana Bailey is a lifetime dancer whose passion for the art blossomed from age three from Riley's School of Dance. As a student of Mrs. Marion Riley, she learned more than just dance but how to grow in life.Rana realized her love of dance was something more than a hobby and led to her continue her training and graduation from the Hartford Academy of Arts and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. After graduating, Rana moved to Manhattan where she performed with Fluid Edge, a modern jazz company, Tap Team II, a tap Philadelphia based tap company, and worked with Matthew Barney, Margaret Cho, B.D. Wong, and American Movie Channel's series "Into Character" on a number of film performances. While in Manhattan, Rana received training in Zumba - a new form of dance incorporating music with fitness. Rana wanted to share her knowledge and love of dance with other kids as was given to her from such a young age. She then returned home, to open up her own studio in Chester, CT and hopes to someday teach children a passion that will carry on through their lives. In addition to running her own studio in Chester Rana teaches Tap and Zumba one night a week at Rileys.
Peg Grey
Jill Grey
Meghan Dodd
Meghan Dodd started dancing at Riley’s at the age of two
and continued until she graduated in 2010. Meghan has also
studied at The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and
graduated with the “Emerging Artist Award”. She has
worked and performed with many companies such as, the Albany
Berkshire Ballet Company, Jane Comfort and Company,
Pilobolus, and performed classical works by Jose Limon. She
has also participated in a musical theatre production of
“Cabaret”. She now studies at the University of Hartford
as a dance major in the Hartt School under the direction of
Stephen Pier. She studies classical ballet and modern and
will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance.