Founders
Florence Cruz, Dance Instructor
Florence began dancing at seven years of age. She earned a B.A. in Nutrition at Queens College, her first Masters in Health Administration at Hofstra University, and her second Masters in Education. She is an elementary school teacher for the New York City Department of Education. Florence is a mother of four daughters who take classes.
Jessica (St. Vil) Ulysse, Co-Owner / Dance Instructor
She is a graduate of Lehman College, where she received her B.A. in Mass Communications and Dance. She thus continued her training with a partial scholarship from the Alvin Ailey School; where she completed the independent study program. Jessica teaches classes and gives workshops in Ballet, Modern, and Afro-Caribbean dance. Some of her teaching credits include: Pratt Institute, the NAACP, NYC Sports and Arts, and the Dance New England Foundation in Maine. She currently works as a teaching artist for the Alvin Ailey arts in education program and for Purelements arts in education program. She has worked with many choreographers such as Christopher Huggins, Martial Roumain, Marcea Daiter, Sean Curran, Kayoko Sakoh, Kwame Ross, and Dyane Harvey. She has worked and performed with several dance theater companies, such as Feet of Rhythm, The Joan Peter’s Dance Company, Vissi Dance Theater, Tamboula D’ayiti, Opus Dance Theater, the Rod Rodgers dance company, and traveled to Haiti to perform as a guest artist with BFH (The National Ballet Folkloric of Haiti). In the spring of 2011, Jessica worked as a demonstrator/assistant for the Katherine Dunham seminar held at "Tisch School for the Arts" at NYU. Jessica also worked in collaboration with Unimix films; choreographing a short film titled “One More Try”. She is also artistic director/choreographer for KaNu Dance Theater. Jessica was honored in Washington DC by the National Museum of Women and the Haitian Embassy for her accomplishments in dance and for her continued dedication to Haitian culture. Jessica also traveled to Haiti with the New Waves Dance Institute during the summer of 2014, where she was just 1 of 50 dance professionals and educators from around the world that were invited to participate in this particular seminar. While there she studied and explored dance in the Caribbean, and collaborated with other dance professionals. Jessica is extremely grateful for all opportunities she has been given and aspires to continue to enrich her life and the lives of others through the arts. She is a proud mother of a baby girl.
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Patricia (St. Vil) Neal, Co-Owner / Dance Instructor
Patricia began dancing at four years of age. Her dance training ranges from Classical Ballet, Tap, Jazz, African, and Modern. She started teaching dance at 15 and was a member of Eluzions, a dance group that performed and competed at many events in and out of the tri-state area. Eluzions competed and won a talent showcase hosted by New York Newsday and the Queens Council of Arts. Patricia earned both her B.A. and M.S. in Chemistry at New York University. She currently works for a pharmaceutical company, located in NJ. She has two sons, both of which take classes.
Adele St. Vil, Bookkeeper
She is the mother/godmother of the other co-owners of Danse Xpressions LLC. She runs the office on weekdays and is there whenever she is needed. She retired from Coney Island Hospital's Radiology Department, where she worked for 30+ years. Adele is a mother of four and grandmother of ten.