Diane Dragone has been the founding director, choreographer, and teacher for The Kennedy Dancers Repertory Company and The Kennedy Dancers School since 1977. The Kennedy Dancers is a non-profit organization. Diane Dragone developed the dance curriculum for the Hudson County Schools of Technology, where she taught both gifted and talented students as well as special education dance programs. Hudson County juvenile detention center, Saint Joseph’s school of the blind and special projects in over 15 Jersey City public schools. She is a certified dance teacher in the state of New Jersey. Throughout her career, Ms. Dragone has performed and worked with several esteemed productions and companies, including North Jersey Ballet, New York Opera Ballet, Garden State Opera, Garden State Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra Jr., Bob Fosse Productions, and in Equity and regional tours of Bye Bye Birdie, West Side Story, South Pacific, Hello, Dolly!, Pippin, Butterflies Are Free, Sweet Charity, NoNo Nanette & Kiss Me, Kate. She also performed on U.S.O. tours aboard aircraft carriers, at the White House, the Garden State Arts Center, Continental Arena, and many other venues. Kennedy Dancers is recognized as one of the top 100 American modern and contemporary dance companies. The organization is a six-time recipient of Citations of Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Diane Dragone is also the executive producer of the award-winning cable television program Dance Vista, which has received eight awards and is broadcast across various cable television systems in over 22 states.

Dance Teacher:

Maria Gracia Perez is a NYC- based dancer and choreographer. She was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and is a graduate of the Certificate Program at Peridance Center in NYC. She started dancing at a very young age, training in a wide range of styles that included Peruvian folklorico, Latin dances, commercial dances, contemporary dance, and ballet. Maria also had the opportunity to study at renowned summer programs Batsheva Dance Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Raca Centro D’Artes and The Joffrey Ballet School. In Lima, she performed as part of Dactilares Peru Contemporary Dance Company and Pepe Hevia Dance Company,  after which she moved to NYC to further her training. Since then she has performed works by choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Rami Be’er, Josie Walsh, Edson Santos, Angelica Stiskin, Caleb Teicher, Assaf Salhov, Igal Perry, Alexander Anderson, among others.

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.

Davinara Marcario is a dance educator and professional performer based in NJ/NYC. After receiving her Dance BFA at Rutgers University, she’s had the opportunity to present choreographic work in Manhattan, and perform professional as a company artist with Company of Collaborative Artist (CoCA). As an instructor she teaches Ballet, Contemporary, Hiphop, and K-pop. Marcario is super excited to start her teaching journey with Kennedy Dancers on Tuesday/Wednesdays in their 2024-2025 season. Besides dance, Marcario is also a Social Media Manager, and Pilates Instructor.

Gianna is one of our teachers who has risen through the ranks from student, Inner City Youth Dance Company member to soloistin our professional companies.