Faculty

Who We Are

Thiago Silva

School Director, Refinement & Artistry

Ballet Instructor

Thiago Silva is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He Began his dance training at Boca Ballet Theater in Boca Raton, Florida, under Dan Guin, Jane Tyree and Helen Greenford. He continued on to study with former Ballet Florida principal dancer Deborah Marquez at School of Ballet Arts in West Palm Beach. He later went on to perform professionally with Boca Ballet Theater and Arts Dance Generation in productions of The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle, La Bayadere, The Nutcracker and George Balanchine’s Serenade alongside American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet principal dancers: Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomez, Jose Manuel Correno, Daniel Ulbricht, Irina Dvorovenko, to name a few. In 2011, Mr. Silva danced a collection of jazz repertoire for the YPO Funding Organization of the Florida Grand Opera in Miami and taught at the inaugural session of the Ballet Central New Jersey Intensive. Mr. Silva was a 2012 member of O Dance, a dance festival which takes place in West Palm Beach, FL. He has performed as a guest artist with the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and has taught ballet for Rutgers University. Mr. Silva is delighted to have trained dancers for the Prix de Lausanne, Youth America Grand Prix, Miami International Ballet Competition, among other renown international ballet competitions. His students have been received top placements and highest awards, as well as invitations to international final events where they have placed and have been awarded prestigious scholarships. Mr. Silva has received the "Outstanding Teacher" Award at the Miami International Ballet Competition, as well as Youth America Grand Prix. He is proud to be the Founding School Director of BalletCNJ and looks forward to working with his students and helping them achieve their goals and dreams.

Nicolette Peron

Young Dancer Director, Foundation & Technique and Refinement & Artistry, Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Modern Instructor

Originally from Branchburg, New Jersey, Nicolette Peron started dancing when she was four years old at the studio, Gotta Dance, where she trained in jazz, tap, modern, ballet, and contemporary. She furthered her studies at Somerset County Vocational Technical High School in the Gifted and Talented Honors Dance Program. Through many community outreach programs and internships, her true interest in teaching sparked. She loves sharing and passing down all of her knowledge and training with younger generations. In May of 2021, Peron graduated Summa Cum Laude with honors and obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, VA) under the guidance of Maurice Fraga, Matthew Pardo, Shylo Martinez, and many others. Additionally, she has been involved in choreographic works by Tiffanie Carson, Jacob Brent, and Erica Helm, to name a few. She has also broadened her education by taking classes in kinesiology, dance history, stage lighting, costume design, dance composition, and methods for teaching dance. Peron has choreographed several works including, “the lives they leave behind”, “eidolon,” and “Drowning.” She is thankful for her study abroad opportunities at SU. These include the Ekilibre Annual Contact Improvisation Festival (2018) and attending Balett Akademien’s Study Abroad Program in Gothenburg, Sweden (2019). While in Virginia, she began her teaching career and was awarded the Robyn Hart Schroth Dance Education Scholarship. Her intent is to inspire, educate, and create for those around her, and to always have her passions coincide with her career. She is excited to be able to educate BalletCNJ's students with numerous styles as well as teaching BalletCNJ's youngest aspiring artists!

Tori Vinjamuri

Preparatory and Refinement & Artistry Ballet Instructor and Rehearsal Mistress

A native of Freehold, NJ, Tori received her ballet training at Princeton Ballet School. Upon graduation, she moved to Charlotte, NC where she was a trainee and apprentice with North Carolina Dance Theatre under the direction of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux for three years. In 2012, Tori moved back to New Jersey and danced professionally with Lustig Dance Theatre for four years. She has also danced with The Oakland Ballet in Oakland, CA for several years and with ARC Dance in Seattle, WA since 2012. Tori has been featured in many classical and contemporary works by chorographers Graham Lustig, Edwaard Liang, Alex Ketley, Gerard Theoret, Bat Abbit, Marie Chong, to name a few. In addition to professionally dancing, Tori has taught throughout New Jersey. Tori is excited to share her knowledge and passion with the BalletCNJ dancers.

Cynthia Gordon

Foundation & Technique and Refinement & Artistry Ballet Instructor

A native of upstate New York Cynthia has been teaching for over thirty years from the youngest of dancers to college bound and beyond. Cynthia graduated Summa Cum Laude with honors from Rowan University with undergraduate degrees in Education and Psychology. Cynthia is currently pursuing her Master of Arts at Rider University with a concentration in Dance Movement Therapy and a double major in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Career and Life Coaching. She has studied with numerous artists, highlights include Sulamith Messerer former Prima Ballerina from the Bolshoi Ballet, Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center, under George Balanchine and Oleg and Mireille Briansky, School of Berkshire Ballet, Hallenbeck School of Dance, and on scholarship to Princeton Ballet School and Joffrey Ballet. Cynthia also had the privilege of training with Hines & Hatchett the original dance teachers of the now renown Broadway Dance Center. She is certified by Dance Educators of America, a graduate of Empire State Theater and Mercer High School of Performing Arts, a certified aerobics instructor by American Aerobic Association International and on the faculty of Ballet Central New Jersey. Versed in every style of dance and performing arts Cynthia began a professional career as a child and has performed on Broadway, in television, movies and modeled for the World Modeling Association. Cynthia has numerous professional credits, her most memorable include performing at Radio City Music Hall, high wire flying with Peter Foy and walking Mercedes Fashion Week in NYC. Cynthia is a nationally awarded choreographer and was named by Dance Spirit Magazine as one of the top 50 “Dance Teachers on the Move”. Cynthia has extensive experience working with children of all abilities and ages in multiple education settings with a successful record of meeting student benchmarks, educational and life goals, college acceptances and professional careers. She also has extensive experience in curriculum development, early education, and applied behavioral analysis. On top of her numerous artistic credits, Cynthia also works as an in-home Behavioral Therapist working with children with autism and developmental disabilities and holds a full time position as an Administrative Assistant at the Montgomery Township School District. Cynthia is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and passion for the arts to inspire her students to achieve their goals and dreams.

Erin Ambry

Contemporary Dance Instructor

Born and raised in South Amboy, New Jersey, Erin Ambry began her dance training at Dance Stop Dance Education Center. She trained heavily in ballet, contemporary, modern, lyrical, jazz, tap, and hip hop, under the guidance of Gina Forcella, Thang Dao, Julie Shulman Friedrich, Al Blackstone, Sara Pyun and Rosemary Sabovick-Bleich. Early on, Erin was exposed to performing frequently through dance competitions and conventions. This exposure greatly aided in her desire to pursue dance as a career. In 2019, Erin graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Here, she continued to study modern and contemporary dance styles, as well as ballet. While in school, Erin performed choreographic works by Christian von Howard, Mark Morris, Lar Lubovitch, and Maxine Doyle. Throughout the summer months, Erin attended Pilobolus Summer Series (2016), NorthWest Dance Project Summer Intensive AP Platform (2017), and Hubbert Street Dance Chicago Summer Intensive (2018). In addition, Erin became a certified yoga instructor through the Om Factory School of Yoga. During the next few years after graduation, Erin continued to educate herself in different contemporary styles throughout the New York City dance scene, such as VimVigor Dance Company and Yin Yue Dance Company. Erin’s professional accomplishments include performing with Mignolo Dance Company, Ocampo/Wang Dance in Brooklyn, New York and Taipei, Taiwan, and Vanessa Long Dance Company. In 2021, Erin joined the Company of Collaborative Artists (CoCA) Moves under the direction of Camille Rennie and continues to dance with the company.

Lester Holmes

Adult Ballet Program Instructor

Lester Holmes has had an extensive professional career in NYC – Broadway, Off-Broadway, the Met, TV, dinner theater and nightclub. He started with ballet, having danced in a ballet company, and was an accomplished acrobat. In NYC, Mr. Holmes discovered jazz and tap. In time, being groomed by his iconic NYC teacher Charles Kelley, he transitioned into teaching and gave up his performance career. Lester has been teaching jazz, tap, ballet and acrobatics for over 3 decades. He has found his home in lovely Bucks County for the past 9 years and is very happy to be teaching ballet at MCCC and BalletCNJ currently.

Julia Cronce

Office Manager

Julia began taking dance classes at the age of 3 at Simone Dance Studio, where she trained in Ballet and Tap. She continued her training in dance, acting, vocal, and costuming at the OCVTS Performing Arts Academy high school. Through her teenage years she expanded her dance training, gaining extensive experience in musical theater dance, modern, ballet, and pointe. Upon graduation, she received her associates from Ocean County College in Theatre Arts. She has portrayed the Diana Morales swing for a 2021 production of A Chorus Line along with working on other performances, such as, Legally Blonde, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Blueberry Hill Accord, among others. In her free time she enjoys singing with her band. Julia is very enthusiastic about performing arts and helping young dancers develop their passion and talents. She is excited to be a part of helping BalletCNJ dancers achieve their goals.