Laura Osgood - Artistic Director and Owner
- Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, and Pre-Dance Classes

A native of Wilmington, “Miss Laura” has been a dance educator for over fifteen years. For eleven of those years Laura was the lead choreographer for the Tap & Jazz program at The North Reading School of Ballet. Under her guidance and direction the program flourished. She also developed a high caliber performance team that showcased dance talent at local competitions and benefit events.

Laura strives to produce well-rounded dancers, both recreational and competitive. As a choreographer, her students have won numerous high gold and platinum awards as well as specialty and overall high score performance awards at various regional competitions. She holds a bachelors degree in business management from Salem State College.

Laura’s dance background is diverse. Her primary training took place at Broadway Dance Academy in Tewksbury, MA where she discovered her love of dance. She has had the opportunity to train with top educators throughout Boston and New York such as Jeannette Neill, Thelma Goldberg, Barbara Duffy, and Marcus Schulkind. She is a graduate of The Dance Teachers’ Club of Boston.

As a professional dancer, Laura’s credits include performing with Celebrity Cruise Lines, Lily Langtry’s Dinner Theater of Pennsylvania, touring Canada with the Simply Magic Show, and as a New England Patriots cheerleader. Laura enjoys using her professional dance experience in teaching her students.

Laura is fulfilling a life long dream by opening the doors of Wilmington Dance Academy. She looks forward to building a school based upon teamwork, spirit and a passion for the art of dance.

Ruth Bronwen – Ballet and Pointe

Ruth Bronwen, a native Bostonian, received her early training and performance experience with Virginia Williams and Laura Young at the Boston Ballet, and with Cornelia Sampson at the Rochester School of Dance, Michigan. Her later training included four years with Mme. Tatiana Nikolaevna Legat at the Boston Ballet.  She then attended UMASS Boston earning a BA with honors in English and Dance.  Ruth has performed collaborative, ensemble and soloist work with Boston Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Marcus Schulkind, Kinodance, and José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre of Boston; she has presented her own work throughout New England.  Important recent teachers and mentors include Anne Tolbert, Marcus Schulkind, Cosmin Marculetiu and Lorraine Chapman.  Ruth is a founding director of the International Ballet Academy of Norwell, and currently dances with Lorraine Chapman: the Company, and Contrapose Dance.

Jennifer Keller Rathbun – Pre-Dance, Ballet, Jazz/Tap, Lyrical & Zumba

Jennifer Keller Rathbun has studied various forms of dance including ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, tap, Latin and theatre for over 25 years, receiving her primary instruction from Genevieve Severens.
She is Assistant Director of School Outreach Partnerships & SummerARTS at Community Music Center of Boston through which she teaches dance and drama in the Boston Public Schools in addition to overseeing more than 25 school sites and teaching artists.  She has taught for many years at various metro-Boston dance studios and is thrilled to be dancing with her WDA family again this year!
Miss Jenn is certified in group exercise by AFAA and is also a licensed Zumba instructor.  Her graduate work at Lesley University in Elementary Education specialized in creative arts in learning.  Her passions for both the performing arts and fitness inform her teaching each and every day. 
Most recently, Jennifer performed with the Lexington Womens Dance Ensemble.  She worked for several years with the Albany Berkshire Ballet as rehearsal mistress for The Nutcracker and often stage manages productions for local dance groups.  She is delighted to share the joy of dance with her students and strives to make her classes creative, safe spaces for dancers of all ages and abilities to explore and enjoy movement.

Nancy Murphy - Ballroom

Nancy began dancing at the age of 3.  Her early dance experience was in ballet, tap & jazz.  As an adult, she performed with the Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble for several years and moved into the world of partnered dance.  She began teaching in 1989.  Nancy has performed at many local events over the years, such as CIABDA's Cape celebration of National Ballroom Dance Week and the Boston Tango Society's annual Boston Tango Festival.  She teaches in the Boston area, in Merrimac, and is on the guest faculty at the Marblehead School of Ballet.  Nancy also periodically guest teaches at other venues, such as teaching Argnetine Tango in Bangor, Maine, Salsa at the annual fundraiser for the North Shore Civic Ballet, and Swing at Swing City in Boston.  She also runs a monthly dance social in Amesbury.

Jill Newman - Hip Hop, Jazz and Tap

Jill Newman began her dance training in Dallas, TX at the Dallas Powerhouse of Dance studying under Kim McSwain and Roger Lee in styles of ballet, jazz, and hip hop.  From there she moved to Boston, MA and continued dancing vigorously through high school in those styles as well as in tap and lyrical. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Jill continued dancing and expanded her repertoire to include West African and Tribal Fusion. She was taught by and performed with Sekou Sylla, who was a principal dancer in the Guinea African Ballet, and also studied with Marilyn Sylla and Donna Mejia.  Jill taught jazz and hip hop at The Northampton School of Dance in Northampton, MA for two years. Her creative and challenging choreography has helped the studio’s dance team and soloists win many awards at competitions.  Jill graduated magma cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a sociology degree in May 2009. Recently she completed an internship at Dance Place, a non profit dance organization in Washington D.C. where she worked in Arts Administration, worked with children in an after school setting, taught outreach dance classes, and performed with the D.C. based companies DanceNOW Productions Inc., and the Life, Rhythm Move Project.

Kimberly Penta - Jazz and Lyrical

Kimberly Penta received her primary dance instruction at the North Reading School of Ballet, where she received much of her jazz, tap, and lyrical training from Laura Osgood.  She also participated in the Albany Berkshire Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” for ten years, including roles with the professional company.  Kim continued her study of dance at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2010.  There she received a BA in History with minors in Dance and Education.  She participated in and served as the captain of Salve Regina’s Extensions Dance Company, a group of dancers assembled by audition.  In addition, she performed and choreographed for both the company and a student-run dance club and had many opportunities to perform throughout New England.   In 2010, her choreography was selected by the company director to be performed in an adjudicated concert at the American College Dance Festival in Boston.  As a graduating senior, Kim was the recipient of the Dance Award, given by the Theater Arts Department.   She looks forward to joining the WDA community this year!

Lisa Cataldo, a native of Wilmington, has always been extremely active. From an early age, she kept active dancing, cheerleading and weight training. She has her Bachelor of Science in Sports, Fitness & Leisure Studies and her Associate of Science in Physical Therapy. She has worked as an Exercise Physiologist, Physical Therapist Assistant, Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor or Pilates Instructor since the early 1990s. She came upon Pilates taking a continuing education course in 2001 when she was pregnant with her first child. She discovered then, and continues to love, how Pilates is challenging and inspiring at every level of fitness and for every individual body. She began teaching Pilates in 2003 with her first certification through the IWA to teach Pilates Fundamentals and in 2007 got certified through Peak Pilates with Clare Dunphy, a notable and highly respected instructor in the field, who trained with Master Teacher RomanaKryzanowska. Lisa is Advanced Mat Certified and has been trained in the MVe Fitness Chair and Barrel. She also recently got trained in the TRX. She loves sharing her passion for Pilates at Wilmington Dance Academy.pilatesforyou2@yahoo.com

Andrea Fugere - Tap and Pre-Dance

Andrea began dancing at the age of 8 years old. She has been instructed in all areas of dance including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz and lyrical. She trained at the Alice Franz Dancing School in Lawrence, MA where she also first started teaching. She has attended several dancer and teacher workshops through The Dance Teacher's Club of Boston, and the Northeast Workshop for Dancers. During college Andrea was an active member of the Syracuse Dance Team. Andrea has been a part of the WDA family since its start along with her two children. She has taken many adult dance classes and has substitute taught in many of Miss Laura's classes. Andrea is thrilled to officially join the WDA teaching staff and share her passion and excitement for dance with her students.

Lucy Warren-Whitman - Ballet, Pointe, and Contemporary

Lucy Warren-Whitman is a proud native of the Boston area. She received her early classical ballet training from her parents Rachel Whitman and Skip Warren. She then trained under Larissa Luvisicuk in the Vagonova Method and started her apprenticeship at North Atlantic Ballet. She continued her training at the Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts as a full scholarship student under the tutelage of Samuel Kurkijan and Sydelle Gomberg. She has since been dancing and choreographing in the Boston area with Contrapose Dance and has been guest artist at Pioneer Valley Ballet, Spindle City Ballet, and Boston Dance Company. She is an accomplished teacher and motivator for students. Her coaching has led many of her students to successful careers in dance. She is looking forward to passing her knowledge and love of dance to the students at the Wilmington Dance Academy.

Emily Bean - Lyrical

Emily began dancing at the age of 3 at North Reading School of Ballet where she trained with Miss Laura in tap, jazz, and lyrical. She was cast in several productions of the Albany Berkshire Ballets' The Nutcracker. She has been at Wilmington Dance Academy since its beginning and has been a class demonstartor and an assistant teacher. She's enjoyed being a member of their performance team and has won several awards with them; her most recent being her special award for dynamics for her "Lola" solo. She's recently completed a summer dance program at Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, MA. Emily is the vice-president of her class, a member of the National Honor Society, and is involved in the student mentoring program, as well as being involved in student council. She looks forward to beginning her teaching career at Wilmington Dance Academy.