About the Dance Faculty
Full-time Faculty
Sheila Sullivan
Dance Department Coordinator, Dance Department Artistic Director, Level 3 Advisor
Modern 3, Ballet 1/Anatomy, Composition, Choreography
Sheila has her Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Temple University and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has taught at Temple University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Randolph Macon College and Raritan Valley Community College. Sheila was on the original Arts panel for the NJ Department of Education and was instrumental in the writing and implementation of the NJ Dance Standards, Dance Certification for teachers, as well as one of the authors of the Vocational Arts Dance Exit exam. She danced professionally from 1983-1993, where she was rehearsal director and principal dancer of several small modern dance companies in New York, Philadelphia, and finally, right here in New Jersey. She had her own dance company, Dance Network, for three years until her first child was born. She is a Certified Movement Analyst as well as a Certified Private Trainer. In 2020, Sheila became a Professional Energy Practitioner, using the physio philosophy of JIn Shin Jyutsu, for balancing and harmonizing the body. She has a practice in Bound Brook and Far Hills. Sheila has been at Vo-Tech since 1989.
Maureen Glennon Clayton
Artistic Director of Repertory Company, Level 1 Advisor, NHSDA Chapter Sponsor, Little Steps
Modern 1 & 2, Improvisation, Teaching Methods, Composition, Choreography
Maureen received her Master of Arts in Dance Education in December, 2022 and has her BFA in Dance from Montclair State University. She has taught Master Classes throughout the United States and, in 2008 & 2010, taught at A Taste of NY, a summer dance intensive in Cyprus. In 2011, Maureen was one of eight dance educators chosen from a national pool to receive a Dance Educator Fellowship that provided the funds for the three-week festival held at Bates College in Maine. Maureen has been part of the dance faculty at Montclair State University, Centenary University, Union County College, and County College of Morris. She has taught at numerous K-12 public and private schools and dance studios throughout NJ. She has danced professionally with Freespace Dance, where she is an original co-founder, Beyondance! and Umoja Dance Company. Her first professional dance gig was with Nicholas Rodriguez and Dance Compass, with whom she toured nationally. Maureen is the Founder & Artistic Director of moe-tion dance theater, a NJ modern dance theater company. (www.moetiondancetheater.org) Currently, three SCVTHS Dance alums are dancing with her company! Maureen and her company are members of NDEO and Dance New Jersey, where she was on the board for over 10 years. During her term she was an active board member and served as President, Nomination Chair and Dance Education Chair. Maureen graduated from the Breathe for Change 200-hour Wellness, SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and Yoga Teacher Training Program in July 2023 and is now a Certified Yoga Instructor and SEL Facilitator. In the summer of 2024, Maureen's workshop, Movement Heals, was selected to be presented at Bill Evan's 10th Annual Somatic Dance and Movement Conference in Port Townsend, Washington. Maureen has been at Vo-Tech since 2005.
Mary Lynne McAnally
Artistic Director of Tap Company, Level 2 Advisor
Jazz 1, 2 & 3, Tap, Composition, Choreography, Pilates Certificate
Mary Lynne has a Master of Arts & Choreography from UCLA, and a BA from Mason Gross – School of the Arts/Rutgers University. She has taught at the University of California Los Angeles and Grant McEwan College in Alberta, Canada. She was the resident choreographer for the Edmonton Festival Ballet where she choreographed Duke Ellington’s Jazz Nutcracker, which has been part of the company’s repertory ever since. Mary Lynne has danced professionally in over 15 musicals throughout Europe and the United States. She worked as the resident choreographer for Ballet Classique and Entertainment, a production company based in Hannover, Germany, choreographing European tours from 1986-2001. Mary Lynne’s choreography, Down to Business and Hats Off to Fosse, was selected to be performed at the NY Jazz Choreography Project. Mary Lynne is trained in STOTT Pilates. She has been teaching at Vo-Tech since 1994.
Laurie Reader works as the Production Manager and Lighting Designer for all of the Performing Arts programs. Her training in both lighting design and production management was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI. After leaving Madison she moved on to work at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA and then West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, freelancing with various dance companies as a lighting designer along the way. After her marriage, she moved to New Jersey and began travelling with the national tour of CATS (still lighting, not dancing). During the down time from the tour, she designed Off Broadway for Music Theatre Group and assisted both on and off Broadway, still freelancing with various dance companies. She began work at Vo-Tech after the birth of her third child, teaching lighting design to the dance students.
Part-time Faculty
Ballet 2
Erika Mero began her dance training at Princeton Ballet School. As a dancer in the Professional Training Program, she studied with Elisabeth Carroll, Septime Webre, Maria Youskevitch, Mary Pat Robertson and Douglas Martin. Ms. Mero was a member of Princeton Ballet II, a pre-professional company of the school, where she performed works by Sherry Alban and other members of the Princeton Ballet School staff. Later, as a dancer in American Repertory Ballet Workshop, she appeared in the premiere of Graham Lustig's Standstill and as the ballerina role of Swanhilda in Coppélia. She concurrently attended The Juilliard School's summer program for two years. In 2006, Ms. Mero graduated cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance from SUNY Purchase. While in attendance at SUNY, she began teaching at American Repertory Ballet's Princeton Ballet School. Ms. Mero was also an instructor with American Repertory Ballet's DANCE POWER in New Brunswick and was named the program's Curriculum and Assessment Supervisor. Her performance work includes two seasons with Stuart Loungway's Terra Firma Dance Theatre, several opera productions with Opera New Jersey and as a featured dancer/choreographer in Capriccio at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. In May 2010, Ms. Mero graduated with an MA in Dance Education with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University. She is an ABT-certified teacher who hassuccessfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT© National Training Curriculum. Ms. Mero was on the faculty for ABT's Young Dancer Summer Workshop in New York for eight seasons. In March 2019, Mero was the recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. Ms. Mero is currently an adjunct instructor at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, a Lecturer at Mason Gross School of the Arts - Rutgers University, and on faculty teaching all levels of ballet at Martin Center for Dance in Lawrenceville.
New Jersey Ballet Residency ~ Ballet 3
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, guest teacher, Zack Grubbs began his dance training at Tuzer Ballet to supplement his education as a competitive gymnast. He continued his ballet training at the University of Utah under Attila Ficzere and trained/performed with companies across the country including Ballet West and Boston Ballet, where he was a company dancer for four years. Zack then joined Cincinnati Ballet in 2002, and was promoted to Soloist in 2005 and Senior Soloist in 2008. He has also performed with opera companies across the U.S., including the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Cincinnati Opera. Throughout his performance career, Zack has worked with world renowned choreographers and repetiteurs including Trey McIntyre, Rudy van Dantzig, Mauricio Wainrot, Travis Wall, Victoria Simon, Lila York, Christopher Wheeldon and Stanton Welch. He has also worked as a repetiteur for Cincinnati Ballet and its Second Company, as well as a faculty member at the Otto M. Budig Academy. In September of 2016, he retired from Cincinnati Ballet’s professional company to assume the leadership position of Academy Principal at the Otto M. Budig Academy, where he helped develop Cincinnati Ballet’s first Professional Trainee Program. In 2022, he moved to New Jersey, where he joined the New Jersey Ballet School and is currently working as a teacher and repertoire coach.