Adagio ballet new jersey staff

Melissa Villacres

Melissa was born and raised in Newark, NJ. She received her early dance training at The School of the Garden State Ballet. She performed in Garden State Ballet’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Nutcracker. She attended NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts and received her B.A. from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of The Arts. Melissa attended various summer programs studying with David Howard, The Joffrey Ballet, Hartford Ballet and San Diego Ballet. She also received training at STEPS, Broadway Dance Center, New Jersey Ballet and Theatre Arts Dance America (TADA). At TADA, she studied with Caroline Brown, Buddy Balou and Elaine Kudo (all American Ballet Theatre soloists), Lynne Grossman (Austin Ballet Theater) and Diane Orio-Gerberg (Joffrey Ballet).

Melissa performed soloist roles in The Nutcracker with both Empire State Ballet and New Jersey Ballet. At Theatre Arts, she performed in original works by Elaine Kudo, such as The Web and Entrada, Buddy Balou’s United Reverence, as well as productions of Les Sylphides and The Nutcracker. Melissa has enjoyed teaching ballet for over a decade. She has taught at Montclair State University, Theatre Arts Dance America and at SMAPA. She has been with SMAPA for several years and is also teaching private and group classes through Adagio Ballet New Jersey!