Helene Joy Chapman (Owner/Director/Instructor)
Miss Helene began dancing at the tender age of 7, at which time the she realized this was what she wanted to do forever. In 1982, she became certified by test to teach through Dance Masters, and her lifelong dream of being a Studio owner came true.
Helene has enjoyed using her dance knowledge through different outlets throughout the years. She has judged for many Dance Competitions, Pageants and choreographed many productions for Schools and Theater groups.
In 2009 Helene developed her “Adaptive Dance” Program, and it’s been a big hit ever since! This is a class designed for children that “learn differently” (children with high functioning autism and other special needs) to learn dance movement with the help of assistants to cater to each child individually. Students work on dance steps, while learning structure of lines and formations in the classroom and are accompanied by “Dance Buddies”. Helene decided to create this unique dance experience when a parent reached out to her, looking for a dance program for her daughter.
Helene’s love for dance is personified through her dance instruction. Through the years her students have won numerous awards in dance and many have gone on to dance professionally, teach, choreograph and some have become studio owners themselves.
Shayna Chapman (Instructor)
Miss Shayna has over 30 years of dance experience with a strong focus on pre-professional and competitive dance. She began her dance training under her mother, Helene Joy Chapman at the early age of 2. Her passion for dance grew immensely and by the age of 14 was selected to tour the country with the Dance Olympus faculty and performed in the closing show in each city.
Shayna trained as a competitive dancer for over a decade, competing regionally and nationally across the New England Area. During her senior year of dancing, she placed first at nationals with her self-choreographed routine and won the elite award that landed her a spotlight feature in “Dance Spirit Magazine”. She was picked amongst hundreds of dancers for her outstanding versatility and diverse sense of style.
By the time she was 17 years old, Shayna was teaching at the YMCA, local elementary schools as well as her home studio – Helene Joy School of Dance. She continued to teach dance to multiple dance studios in Massachusetts for several years, building her dance resume and touching the lives of hundreds of students she had the pleasure of working with.
Shayna has recently trained and is now certified to teach Progressing Ballet Technique which certifies that she has learned the understanding of activating muscle memory to activate “turn out”, “adage movements”, “allegro”, “batterie” and controlled landings. She has certification how to break down the exercises, build the exercises, the appropriate age relevant to each exercise, use of correct muscle groups that assist each movement and how to transfer the muscle memory into dance class.
She has trained many students for almost 20 years who have competed regionally, nationally and also invited to compete in the World Dance Championship where her students placed in the top 15 in the World. She is incredibly passionate about teaching dance and crafting creative and unique choreography for each student.
Amanda Thomson (Instructor)
Miss Amanda is originally from East Boston Massachusetts, where she started dancing at the age of 5. She grew up attending conventions and dancing competitively at Sheila Rosanio’s School of Dance and Gymnastics. She studied the art of commercial dancing at Phunk Phenomenon Dance Complex and Green Street Studios. Amanda continues to take various amounts of master classes from choreographers as well as assisting them.
Amanda has traveled on tour across the United States and internationally working for worldwide leader in dance competitions, Starpower National Talent Competition. Being on tour has given her the opportunity to travel and encounter the most amazing dancers and choreographers.
With over 5 years of teaching experience she continues to specialize in hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, jazz and acrobatics/tumble. Amanda hopes to share her creative concepts and visualizations with her students of HJSOD!
Sarah Strong (Instructor)
Miss Sarah is a young and exuberant ballet teacher in Northern Massachusetts, where she has resided her whole life. After graduating from Dean College in 2018, where she earned her BA in both Dance and Arts and Entertainment Management, she decided to dedicate her life to teaching dance to the upcoming generations. During her studies at Dean, she partook in various disciplines including Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Horton, Tap, Hip Hop, and Ballroom. Additionally, she focused on the anatomy of dancers through Bartinieff fundamentals, Anatomy classes, and working with her athletic trainer.
Originally trained at New England Civic Ballet under the direction of Roshni Pecora and Phyllis George, Sarah has performed in many ballet productions in both soloist and corps roles, including Mouse Queen and Spanish in The Nutcracker, and as Sleepy in Snow White. While at Dean, Sarah was also cast in multiple pointe companies and was asked to be a part of the restaging of William Evans’ “Rhythms of the Earth” to be performed as part of a William Evans production. Additionally, Sarah was selected multiple times to be a choreographer for the New Dancer Showcase for freshmen dance majors at Dean. Notable teachers include Jill Silverman, Laura Young, Todd Shanks, Kristina Berger, Jeremy Ruth Howes, Roshni Pecora, William Evans, and Adrianne Hawkins. Sarah is excited to continue sharing her passion for ballet and terrible puns with her students!
Analisa Palla (Instructor)
Miss Analisa began her dance journey taking classes at Helene Joy School of Dance. Dancing from age three to high school graduation, Analisa knew that she could always have a dance family to come back to during school breaks once attending Keene State College to receive a BA in Dance and a BS in Business Management. Under the mentorship of Cynthia McLaughlin, she studied modern-contemporary dance technique and Laban technique for choreography research. In 2023, her piece titled ‘di sec tion’, was chosen to represent the college at the American College Dance Association. Analisa attended the American Dance Festival in the Summer of 2023 with the help of one recreational scholarship and one academic excellence scholarship from the college to advance her dance studies. Also a member of the Keene State College Dance Team, Analisa competed at the Universal Dance Association competition in 2023 and 2024, becoming a 2024 UDA Open Gameday Division finalist. Closing out her 4 years in Keene, she received the Alta Lu Townes Memorial Dance Award at the 2024 Honors Convocation award ceremony. Analisa is excited to work with the future generations of HJSOD dancers and the staff that trained her into the person and dancer she is today.
Therese Eisner (Instructor)
Miss Therese has over 40 years of dance experience. She began at the Taylor Dance studio at the of 4. After the closure of that studio she transferred to Ferreira School of Dance where she studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz. Competing annually at the Terpsichore Awards. She began teacher training as an assistant in 1983 under the direction of Diane Ferreira. She continued her education attending teaching workshops at Dance Olympus in Boston and New York. During this time, she decided to focus on her first love, Ballet. She began teaching her own classes in 1985.
In 1989 she Graduated from Salem State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography. While there, she continued her dance education in Ballet with a variety of faculty at Salem State. Therese began Teaching Ballet, Tap, and Jazz at Helene Joy School of Dance in the early 1990’s at the Beverly studio. Moved with Helene to the Middleton Studio Concentrating mostly on Ballet & Pointe. She has instructed beginner, intermediate, adults and advanced students.
In the early 2000’s she took a break from teaching to raise her family. During this time, she continued to dance, taking classes at various studio’s including Andover School of Ballet and Boston Ballet School. Most recently expanding her dance knowledge taking Ball Room Dancing for fun.
Therese has recently trained and is now certified to teach Progressing Ballet Technique which certifies that she has learned the understanding of activating muscle memory to activate “turn out”, “adage movements”, “allegro”, “batterie” and controlled landings. She has certification how to break down the exercises, build the exercises, the appropriate age relevant to each exercise, use of correct muscle groups that assist each movement and how to transfer the muscle memory into the ballet class. She is excited to bring her knowledge to her students at Helene Joy School of Dance.