We are
Millis Dance
We are passionate teachers and choreographers who want to deliver high quality dance education in a nurturing environment that will encourage your children to shine!
Faculty
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Director
Bekah Blair
Bekah Blair has over a decade of choreography and teaching experience. Her teaching philosophy and choreography reflect a deep belief in the importance of combining performance quality and emotional connection with technical execution. She has a strong and diverse background in many forms of dance including ballet, jazz, contemporary, and musical theater. She is the former owner and artistic director of Masters Dance Academy as well as Dance Department head at Charles River Creative Arts Program. Bekah also taught at Needham Dance Theatre, Showcase Dance Productions, and Feet in Motion. She has a B.A. in Dance Education and a Masters degree in Social Work. She brings positivity and encouragement to each of her students in the classroom and creativity and drama to the stage!
Lauren Ward
Lauren began dancing at the age of 5, studying at the Ballet Guild of Lehigh Valley and Kathleen Magyar School of Dance in Bethlehem, PA. At Ithaca College, Lauren studied dance education including ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and was on the college dance team. She is a certified Acrobatic Arts instructor and a member of the Acro Dance Teachers Association. While living and performing in NYC and Los Angeles, she continued her studies at Edge Performing Arts Center. She has completed an intensive teacher training program at DanceLife under the direction of a well respected dance innovator, Rhee Gold. Lauren’s magical way with her students has made her a cherished member of the Millis Dance staff as well as at our sister school, Needham Dance Theatre. Along with her teaching responsibilities, Lauren and her husband are raising three active children.
Minami Kikuchi
Minami Kikuchi, from Tokyo, Japan, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance. Her dance journey began at the age of three at Lufairy Ballet, but she later shifted her focus to modern/contemporary dance under the guidance of Izumi Miyamura and Kyoko Makino. Minami then began choreographing at 15, showcasing her first original work at Jissen Girls School of Tokyo. She continued choreographing until she left Japan at age 19. In the United States, she premiered her first choreographed piece, "Invisible Things," at the 2023 Adjudication Concert of the American College Dance Association Conference. Her most recent choreographic achievement, "BODY," earned recognition at the Modern American Dance Company's Dare to Dance Festival 2024. Notably, Minami delivered a solo performance at the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Memorial in Boston. Most recently, she trained at Urbanity Dance in Boston as a part of their 2023 contemporary summer intensive. She has been selected for a choreographer residency in 2024 by the Rhode Island Women Choreography Project. She's excited to join the teaching team at Millis Dance
Sarah Fuller
In her 20+ years of dancing, Sarah has trained and danced competitively in many styles of dance, earning her first national title in 2009. She now holds a BA in dance from Dean College, where she was honored to showcase her performance and choreography skills, while also learning from world-renowned dance instructors and choreographers. Sarah has danced internationally, attending the DanceAbroad Intensive in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the winters of 2015 & 2016. In addition to working at MDT, Sarah has also taught Ballet and Contemporary classes at United Styles Dance Academy and the International Ballet Academy of Norwell. Millis Dance Theatre welcomes Sarah as our Hip-hop and Musical Theater teacher
Marissa Chura
Marissa Chura is a Massachusetts-based dancer, choreographer and educator. She graduated from Connecticut College in 2018 with a BA in Dance and Hispanic Studies, and received the 2018 Dance Department Award “for demonstrating with excellence the scope of dance as a poetic and communicative art form”. Marissa has performed with Urbanity 2, Allo Movement Project, GUSTO Dance and Metamorphosis Dance Company. She has also choreographed and performed solo work for various events around the region, including the Salem Arts Festival and NACHMO Boston. Marissa has been working with children for over 10 years and loves helping kids discover their love of dance!
Melissa Campbell
Miss Melissa has been dancing since the age of 2 at both Denise’s Dance Academy (7 years) and Patti Eisenhauer Dance Center (8 years). Miss Melissa graduated from Dean College in May of 2023 with a Bachelors degree in Dance where she focused her studies on Dance Composition, Pedagogy, and Choreography/Performance, while also presenting her choreography in several Dean dance showcases. Miss Melissa also enjoyed performing at Dean. Her performance credits include a variety of different styles in both faculty and student choreographed works, including Dean College Tap Company with Thelma Goldberg. At Dean, she also served as the President of Dean College Step Team, Vice President of Student Government, she worked on the Student Ambassador Leadership Team, and interned both as a Peer Advisor and RA for the Dean Summer Arts Institute. Miss Melissa’s goal as a teacher is to create a happy and healthy classroom environment where her students feel safe, comfortable and loved! She hopes to inspire her students and spread her love and passion for dance to generations to come. Her teaching credits include Patti Eisenhauer Dance Center, Exhale A School of Dance, Showcase Dance Productions, and now Millis Dance Theatre!
Brianna Antaya
Brianna is working with our Competition Dance Team this season as our talented choreographer. Brianna is a graduate of Roger Williams University with a double major of dance and psychology. She has taught and choreographed for children at Mendon Dance Center and Elite Academy of Dance in Shrewsbury. She has performed for Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and in the Modern Movement Dance Festival. She choreographed for and performed in the film “Bloom”, released in 2018. Brianna brings her love of children to her dance instruction. After many years of working at her grandmother’s daycare, she connects on a meaningful level with and enriches the lives of her dance students. Brianna feels being around kids is her happy place!
Rose Gilio
We are thrilled to have Rose on the MDT team. She is a student at Endicott College studying Primary Education and is currently a student intern at the Chickering School in Dover. Rose is a skilled dancer who started dancing at age 3 at Erin’s School of Dance and grew to become an award wining competition dancers with Broadway Bound Dance Center. Her areas of expertise are ballet, jazz, contemporary, acro, hip hop and tap. Our well rounded, Rose is a stand out with her warm demeanor and her true love of teaching. She consistently brings out the best in her students.