Diamond Dance
164 Halsey Road, Parsippany NJ 07054
Artistic Director/Owner: Mrs. Tiffany Edwards was born in Nutley, New Jersey where she began dancing at the age of 3 to later study all areas of dance including tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, lyrical, musical theatre, and hip hop. Tiffany had the honor in her Parsippany Hills High School years of being selected into the NJ Honors Choir, Morris County Honors Choir, and Female Women's Ensemble where they performed at Carnegie Hall. Tiffany has performed in over 18 musicals. She was the lead dancer and captain in her college performances: Kiss Me Kate, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, all under the direction of Marielaine R. Mammon and Colleen McArdle. She later was the lead as Maureen in an off Broadway rendition of 'RENT' in 2009 under the direction of Stan Barber. She began competitive dancing at Dancers In Motion of Nutley under the direction of Taheerah Allen in addition to taking classes at Broadway Dance Center and Alvin Ailey. While majoring in Dance Arts, Tiffany was under the ballet direction of Tammy Klinck, Modern direction of Trayer Run Kowzun, and Jo Ann Jones. Tiffany was a NYC semi-finalist on SYTYCD, 2nd round pick for Legally Blonde on Broadway, 4th round pick for the Brooklynettes and Jets Flight Crew. Tiffany has been on various televised events/shows such as, ESPN's PBA U.S Open, X-Factor, Karaoke Battle USA, Good Day NY, American Idol, and Lifetime's Dance Moms. From 2008 to 2013 Tiffany taught at 3 different dance academies in New Jersey prior to opening Diamond Dance where she taught, directed, office managed, and created lifelong bonds with those directors/owners whom she is still in contact with today. In 2012 Tiffany, at the age of 23 decided to take a chance and open Diamond Dance. Diamond Dance will be entering their 11'th dance season and continues to teach competitive and recreational dance as well as prepare all Diamond Dance students for future professional and college careers while teaching them the essence of bonding, teamwork, and self-esteem. Under her direction, the team has won top scoring overall awards at regional and national competitions, most recently being awarded the 2019 ADCC Studio Excellence Award and the 2022 & 2023 High Point Overall Award scoring the highest Solo/Duo/Trio and highest scoring Group number.
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying"
Michael Jordan
CPR/AED Certified
K-12 Certified: Dance & Gym USA
Continued Training: BDC, Alvin Ailey, Steps on Broadway
Dance and Theater: County College of Morris
Exercise Science: William Paterson University
Faculty
Courtney started dancing at the age of three and competitively since the age of five. She studied jazz, musical theater, tap, hip-hop, gymnastics, lyrical, contemporary, irish, ballet, modern, and pointe. Throughout her dancing career she has won numerous awards including many title and special awards. She won nationals with her solo her freshman year of high school where she appeared in Dancer Magazine and was on the flyer for On Stage America's national competition. She also won nationals her sophomore year in high school with her duet partner. Courtney was a competitive cheerleader and has cheered since the age of five. Her high school cheerleading team won nationals her sophomore year of high school in Orlando, Florida. After college, Courtney went on to study business for the arts, dance, and special education. She later went on to get her masters in education. Courtney has danced in three professional dancing tours: The Spirit of Christmas, Jim Linehan, and as Tinkerbell at an amusement park. She appeared on So You Think You Can Dance with her duet partner who recently made his Broadway Debt last year. Courtney was a finalist for the Bring It On, National Tour and made the top 3 for Big Red. At the age of nine, she was part of the final nine for Annie on Broadway. Courtney has taught competitive dance for 9 years and loves it! She is a special education teacher and play director at Franklin Borough School.
Claire Liskiewicz is a former Diamond Dance student who has had many dance achievements in her competitive dance career. Some of which include 1'st Overall Senior Soloist at our 2015 Nationals, 1'st Overall Soloist at our Regional competitions 2016, Highest scoring Routine out of over 300 routines at our 2017 Flanders NJ regional competition, 1'st Overall Senior Duo at our 2016 Nationals, as well as Miss That's Entertainment 2016!
This spring, Claire graduated Magna Cum Laude from Towson University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance & Choreography and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. At Towson, Claire has had the privilege of training under Catherine Horta-Hayden, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Vincent E. Thomas, Nicole Martinell, and Tracie Burton Hooper. Claire has pursued her passion for being on stage by participating in various performances, including the Towson University Dance Department's annual Inertia, DMPP, and Senior Seminar concerts. Claire has also had the opportunity to perform with the Towson University Dance Company for its past 3 seasons, both as a member of the company and as an ensemble dancer in Towson's Modern Repertoire class.
Claire has been a member of the Diamond Dance teaching staff since 2016, in addition to teaching at several studios along the East Coast. As a recent Towson graduate, Claire is excited to move back to New Jersey and continue her 5th season as a part of the Diamond Dance team.
Brooke Liskiewicz has been dancing since the age of two and competitively since the age of six. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hiphop, and musical theatre. Brooke is a former Diamond Dance student who has had many dance achievements in her competitive dancing career. Some of which include: 1st Place overall Teen Soloist Nationals 2018 and 2019, National Miss Elite 2019, 1st overall Teen Duo/Trio Regionals 2018, as well as Highest scoring soloist of all ages at Nationals both 2018 and 2019!
Brooke is currently a student at James Madison University, working on her Bachelor degree in Business Management as well as her Minor in Dance. At James Madison, Brooke will study technique in all styles of dance, human anatomy, dance education, and the history of dance. She has had the privilege of training under Suzanne Miller-Corso and Matthew Pardo and is excited for what is to come in her final two years at James Madison.
Brooke has been a member of the Diamond Dance teaching staff since 2018. Over the years, she has won many overall awards as a teacher/choreography. She hopes to share her passion for dance with all of her students, and guide them throughout their competition journey. Brooke is excited to continue her 4th season as a part of the Diamond Dance Staff.
Kaylee Losco has been dancing for 17 years and she has studied; jazz, contemporary, lyrical, tap, ballet, musical theatre, pointe, hip hop, acro, and modern. She studied these styles at Zodiacs Dance Academy. Kaylee has trained under Gianna Martello, Desmond Richardson, and Sheila Barker. She has won various regional and national titles. This year she was awarded Miss Starstruck 2022. Some of her performances include performing local theatre productions of Damn Yankees and Newsies, a music video for upcoming artist Angelica Caruso, and working with the Marketing Staff and starred in a video for ColorStreet Nails.
Kaylee is a current student at Morris County College where she is majoring in Dance. This will be Miss Kaylee's first year as a Diamond Dance Competition Dance Teacher. Kaylee hopes to continue her dance training and choreography on her journey through dance.
Miss Ava is one of our Senior team dancers and has been dancing at Diamond Dance since 2013. This will be Avas first year as a teacher at Diamond Dance. She is excited to switch rolls and see what her teaching future has in store.
Ava has won many regional and national awards. She has been in numerous first place overall routines/duos and most recently won the Overall High Point highest scoring group at Elite Dance Challenge. Ava has also always been involved in every team activity as well as every fundraiser/charity event. She is and always has been a philanthropist at heart.
Miss Samantha is one of our Senior team dancers and has been dancing at Diamond Dance since 2013. This will be Samanthas first year as a student teacher at Diamond Dance. She is excited to learn the ins and outs of teaching.
Samantha has won many regional and national awards. She has been in numerous first place overall routines/trios and most recently won the Overall High Point highest scoring group at Elite Dance Challenge. Samantha has always been someone that our younger students look up to. She radiates on stage and sheds that same light and positivity off stage. Samantha is a current student/dance member at a NJ vocational school. She hopes to continue dancing and one day study Early Education.
Deanna Drago is a dancer, choreographer and artist located in the New York/ New Jersey area. She recieved her early training from Dancers in Motion in Nutley, NJ under the mentorship of Taheerah Allen. She also has trained with New Jersey School of Ballet under the artistic direction of Carolyn Clark. Ms. Drago went on to further pursue dance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, under the direction of Donna- Faye Burchfield. Graduating with honors and a Bachelors in Fine Arts in May 2016 from the University, Deanna has had the opportunity to dance works by Gary Jeter, Meredith Rainey, Tommie-Waheed Evans, Wayne St. David, Sidra Bell, etc. From 2016- 2017 Deanna performed at sea with Royal Caribbean Productions as a dancer/aerialist. From summer 2017 until present day, Deanna has been performing with Norwegian Creative Studios as a dancer/aerialist and most recently in 2022 performed on the NCL Gem. She has gotten the opportunity to dance and fly in Broadway choreographer, Patti Wilcox's "Elements" and was recently the Aerial Captain on her last contract aboard the Norwegian Spirit (2019-2020). Deanna has had the opportunity to dance and fly as a featured guest in Headliner and Holiday Shows at sea as well as train with acrobats, dancers, and talented performers from Cirque Du Soleil and all over the world. Besides dancing professionally, Deanna also has a passion and hunger for teaching and choreographing. She has taught summer intensives at North Jersey studios since 2012 until present day, as well as assisted Taheerah Allen, her mentor, at conventions around the tri-state area. Ms. Drago looks forward to learning, growing, and sharing, as an artist in the dance community for many more years to come!
Emma Smith started dancing at the age of four. She received most of her dance training from Studio Allegro in Madison, New Jersey. She studied ballet and jazz and received many opportunities to perform solo roles throughout the years. Some memorable performances were when she had the privilege of being cast as Sugar Plum Fairy and Dewdrop in their annual Nutcracker performance. She also performed the variation from La Esmeralda as her senior solo in 2019.
Emma also continued to strengthen and refine her dance technique by attending several summer intensive programs. The summer programs that Emma attended included Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre NYC, and The French Academie of Ballet. Emma had the honor of attending classes taught by many ballet professionals from renowned companies such as Francois Perron and Cynthia Harvey. Throughout the summers, Emma had the opportunity to learn and perform the original choreography from famous ballets including Swan Lake and Paquita.
Now, Emma is continuing her dance education at Skidmore College as well as pursuing a degree in management and business. She is also receiving experience in teaching technique classes at Diamond Dance as well as assisting in office management responsibilities. Emma is excited to continue to share her passion for dance through teaching younger generations!
Alumni
Ashley Patterson was Diamond Dance's first student and went on to the University of Tampa where she is a double major in Film & Media Arts and Communications.
Claire Liskiewicz graduated from Towson University with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography and a BS in Economics.
Alfonse Napolitano
Montclair State University
Magna Cum Laude
BA in Dance Education K-12 NJ Certification; Completed credits for BFA in Dance Performance
Allie Cimaglia is a double major at Sacred Heart University in musical theatre and media arts.
Emma Wilcox will be performing in the national tour of Legally Blonde this year. For 2022-2023 tix visit the tours website.
