Diane Dragone

Diane Dragone is the founding director/choreographer /teacher for  the Kennedy Dancers Repertory  Company and the  Kennedy Dancers School since 1977.
The Kennedy Dancers is a non-profit corp.  Diane Dragone created the Dance curriculum for the Hudson County Schools of Technology. She taught the gifted and talented and special education dance programs at Hudson County High Tech and Hudson County prep schools as well as classes at the Hudson County Juvenile Detention center. She was also a returning  guest teacher of dance at Hudson County Community College. Ms Dragone is a certified  teacher of dance in the state of New Jersey. During her career she has performed and created countless choreographies for many regional dance, theater and opera  companies  The Kennedy Dancers have performed in over 400  grammar, high schools and universities  and performed  in theaters  up and down the eastern seaboard including the White House as well as U.S.O. tours.  The Kennedy Dancers are 6 time award winners of Citations of excellence from New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Diane is the executive producer of  the 8 time award winning cable television  program “Dance Vista” seen on assorted cable television systems throughout and beyond 22 states.

Eva Hackett

Eva was born and raised in Spain and started dancing at a young age. She completed her R.A.D. exams from grade 1 to advanced 1 as well as Modern Dance Imperial Society exams. In 2016 she moved to New York City to attend Joffrey Ballet School. She graduated with a BFA from Joffrey Ballet School and NJCU in 2022. She is the newest member of our staff and teaches classes for the Inner City Youth Pre Professional and Senior programs.

Erica Miellet

Erica is originally from Connecticut, where she danced professionally with Ballet Hartford, Dimensional Dance, and Mystic Ballet, before becoming a co-founder of New England Ballet Collective in 2019. Since moving to New York in 2020, Erica has performed in productions with Ballet Bloom Project, New Rising Sun Dance Project, The Muse Brooklyn, and American Liberty Ballet.

Kat Reese

Kathryn “Kat” Reese is a member and Co-Director of the Kennedy Dancers Professional Dance Company and Director of our Teen Inner City Youth Dance Company. She grew up in Eatontown, NJ, & began dancing at the age of 3. For 15 years, Kat studied & performed a range of styles, including modern, ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, hip hop, & musical theatre. From there, Kat went on to attend Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. In 2014, she graduated summa cum Laude with her BFA in dance, after working with numerous renowned teachers & guest artists including Doug Elkins, Stefanie Batten Bland, Brian Brooks, & Manuel Vignoulle. She is currently a member of The Equus Projects, directed by JoAnna Mendl Shaw, & is in her Third year teaching for The Kennedy Dancers, Inc.

Imani Ippolito

Imani is an Assistant Teacher and has been a member of the Inner City Youth Perfor-mance and Competition Team for the past three years. She continues to hone her dance skills while performing and training at The Kennedy Dancers, Inc. Imani is a multi-gold medal winner at the Starbound Competition.

Tallia A. Petrone

Tallia A. Petrone is a professional ballerina, choreographer and director in New York City, NY. She graduated from Arts Immersion and the Zamuel Ballet School in 2017. She trained at the Joffrey Ballet School as a Ballet Trainee, and graduated in 2019.

Her professional debut was with the Gwinnett Dance Project in Atlanta, Georgia (2020), and Tallia moved back to New York to further pursue her dream of performing as a professional ballerina. In February 2022, she founded the Pandora Ballet Company, where she is the director and choreographer.

Tallia loves teaching the next generation of dancers, and uses dance history to help guide and inform her classes and choreography.