Our Faculty

Elsa Posey, R.D.E.

Elsa Posey, R.D.E., is Founder and Director of Posey School and teaches ballet classes for children and adult beginners as well as professional dancers. She is respected as an international scholar of dance, dance history, and dance pedagogy, specializing in dance for young children and classical ballet.

Ms. Posey attended schools of the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater. In addition to meeting with her classes at Posey School, she is President of the National Registry of Dance Educators, Past President of the National Dance Education Organization, and a national advocate for arts education.

She has served on the Board of the New York State Dance Education Association, recognized by the NYS Department of Education; Board of the Dance Notation Bureau; Board of the Congress on Research in Dance and National Dance Association. She is past Co-chair of the Education Committee for the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science.

Ms. Posey has received recognition for her work by the Northport Historical Society as an “Icon of Northport”. In 2015 she received a Proclamation from the Village of Northport. She will receive a Proclamation from the Town of Huntington in 2024.

Kimberly M. Wager, M.A., M.S.

Kimberly M. Wager, M.A., M.S. is Administrative Manager of Posey School. She teaches ballet, composition, and children’s dance, and is a choreographer for Posey Dance Company of Northport.

Ms. Wager earned a Masters degree in Dance Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education.  She has her certification in Early Childhood and Childhood Education, as well as Special Education. She is also an Affiliated Member of the Cecchetti Council of America, qualified to prepare students for the Cecchetti exams at the Advanced level. She wrote her thesis on Cecchetti ballet technique. 

Kimberly studied and performed with Rebbecca Kelly Ballet Company, Kaleidoscope of Kultures Dance Company, North Country Ballet Ensemble, National Ballet, and Phoenix Dance Company. Kimberly has studied with Pamela Moore, Betty Seibert, Kathy Koesner and Debbie Guibord to refine her work in the Cecchetti method of Ballet. She was ballet mistress for Christopher Fleming (former NYCB dancer.)

Kimberly travelled to Kampala, Uganda in Africa where she taught creative movement to orphaned children and studied traditional Ugandan dance forms. Her choreography, “A Brush in Time” represented SUNY Potsdam at the American College Dance Festival. She studied choreography with Jacqueline Smith-Autard at NYU.

Isabella Eredita Johnson, Pianist

Ms. Johnson directs and produces OPERA NIGHT on the first Friday of every month at the Northport Methodist Church on Main Street. She is former Chairman of the Northport Arts Coalition and cultivates diverse interests in the arts. She holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music and is both a concert pianist and piano teacher.

Whenever her busy schedule permits, Isabella accompanies ballet classes at Posey School and assists with choreography.

Lena Massari Sawyer

Lena Massari Sawyer has been a museum educator for over twenty years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Art History from the State University of New York at Buffalo and did her graduate work in Art Education at The Steinhardt School at New York University. She has been involved with museum based parent-child workshops as well custom designed art programs for the School of America Ballet, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and ”The Family Circle” for a major NYC museum. For over six years she taught a museum based class ”Book Then Look”, a membership class for young preschool children in which visual arts were explored in conjunction with Caldecott awarded children’s literature.

Lena’s career focus has been on introducing young children (ages 2 to 6) to art through both gallery tours and projects designed to engage them in art making in a way that encourages their own creativity and visual style.

Christina Vanophemert

Christina started dancing at Posey School at the age of 5. This is where her passion and love for dance began. With the excellent training she received from Posey School she received a scholarship to Adelphi University and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. Christina also attended many prestigious dance intensives such as American Ballet Theater, The Rock School of Dance and NYSSSA. Christina has been assistant teaching since she was 14, and she began teaching her own classes her first year of college. Christina has also performed in many ballets, her favorite being “Play Ball”, Christopher Fleming from New York City Ballet hand picked the dancers out of the Adelphi dance majors to be in his 45 minute ballet. Christina was speechless when she was chosen. Christina is thrilled to be back at Posey teaching.

Morgan McNulty

Morgan grew up dancing at numerous studios across Long Island and NYC. She started dancing when she was 2 years old, then began dancing professionally at age 16. Morgan has backup danced for multiple music artists which gave her the opportunity to open up for Fat Joe at 1 Oak in Southampton. Every summer Morgan trains with the world-renowned Radio City Rockettes in their Rockettes Summer Intensive. She has been teaching since age 17 starting at local dance studios here on the island, and has ever taught in other states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Morgan has been dancing all over the country such as performing at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas! She can also be seen acting on some of your favorite TV shows such as Law and Order: SVU, Orange is the New Black, Blue Bloods and more! Morgan has been in numerous music videos for people such as Justina Valentine, Fat Boy and more.

Lexi Rosenberg

Miss Lexi Rosenberg graduated from The University of Tampa with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology & Applied Dance in 2019. At University Lexi studied Brain Compatible Dance Education & dance anatomy and physiology, and had the pleasure of learning from artists like Bill Evans, discovering a true passion for dance education, and the way it touches & fundamentally changes the course of childrens’ lives. In the summer of 2019, Lexi studied in Seattle, WA. with Anne Green Gilbert, the founder of Brain Compatible Dance Education, earning her certificate as a BCD educator.

Based on brain/body developmental research, this teaching protocol uses conceptual learning to develop holistically trained dancers who are skilled technicians, inventive creators, critical thinkers, and successful collaborators, in the words of A.G.G. This curriculum focuses on an adapted vocabulary of Rudolph von Laban’s space, time, force, and body elements of movement.

Lexi’s classes include solo and group activities that foster self confidence, as well as social skills; students end each class with a reflection of the concepts explored, strengthening self-awareness and critical thinking. Miss Lexi’s warm and enthusiastic nature provides students with a safe space to learn, express, and grow.

Shannon Booth

Shannon Booth has been dancing since she was very little.  She spent the majority of her youth and teenage years dancing almost every day and traveling with her dance teams. In college, she continued her path as a dancer on her school’s dance team while beginning to student teach and assist in dance classes. Shortly after that she began teaching her very own classes and has been ever since. During this time she also performed with “Jamming with the Jets” and performed at the Jets halftime show. She also danced in many Easter Day parades during college. Shannon later joined a small off-Broadway tap company and performed in a few venues with them for about 2 years.  After college, she continued to teach dance and share her love for dance with many children of all ages in all styles and genres of dance and worked in many studios across Long Island. Shannon helped choreograph many award-winning numbers that she is very proud of. She continues to take classes and study dance to continue to broaden her craft.  She truly loves what she does and loves being in the studio. Shannon loves watching her students grow and thrive. 

When Shannon is not at the studio, she is home raising three beautiful children who she believes share in my love for the arts too and I hope they always will as they continue to grow. She looks forward to continuing to teach for many years to come and I’m so thrilled to be a part of such a special environment and to be a member of the Posey dance family! It’s definitely a great feeling when you love your job and are surrounded by wonderful students and staff. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your children’s journey 5678…dance!  

Lauren DeMarco 

Lauren DeMarco was originally the Assistant Teacher at the Posey Preschool and has been part of the Posey family for the last 6 years. Some of Lauren’s many current roles at Posey School include the Office Manger, Assistant to the Director, and Manger of the “Shop at Posey”.

Lauren was born and raised in Queens, NY and has studied dance since the age of 4.While attending Cardozo High School on a dance scholarship, she assisted in dance instruction at a private dance school. Lauren received her MA in Mental Health Counseling from Notre Dame College and earned a certificate in Human Services from the University of New Hampshire. She continued various dance classes after graduating and taught classes for young children. After working in the Mental Health field for 6 years, Lauren decided to become a stay at home mom when she moved to East Northport
in 2009. She is a mother of 2 children and is the PTA President of her son’s elementary school. She is thrilled to be working in the dance education environment once again.

Danielle Bould