2019 NSTF Faculty
Alicia Monaco
Bill Coates
Kelly Kaleta
Keith Leonhardt
Kate Cavenagh
Kaitlyn Way
Clare O'Donnell
KATE CAVENAGH is a tap dancer/musician and has been teaching since 1996. Kate began her studies at the Jackie Lynn School of Dance and has continued on with various teachers in NYC, with Barbara Duffy as her main mentor. She holds a BA in Dance/Theater Ed from Emerson College, has completed 2 Levels of the Copasetic Cannon Curriculum and respectively holds 2 Teacher Training Certificates from the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) in NYC. Throughout the years she has performed with The Boston Tap Company, Tap City/ Tap it Out (NYC), the #Taplife Company, has choreographed musicals for local schools in CT, spent several seasons as a choreographer with the Freelance Players in Boston, and was the coach of the UConn Tap Team from 2011-2017.
Kate is the Artistic Director and founder of the Connecticut Tap Collaborative (CTC), a tap dance company that focuses on preserving the history and traditions of tap and music. In addition to their own shows, the CTC's new work has been featured at the Big Apple Tap Festival (2017 & '18) in NYC and in the ATDF new choreographer's showcase Something's Afoot (2019).
BILL COATES has taught tap dance up and down the east coast for almost 13 years. He has given master classes, taught teachers, and worked with children at countless studios as well as conventions. As an adjunct professor, he has taught tap dance at University of Maryland and Catholic University. Currently, he is on the faculty of Steps on Broadway, where he teaches students from young to old and beginner to professional. His classes emphasize rhythm, phrasing, speed and dexterity. They always include technique, mostly derived from tap greats such as Henry LeTang and Steve Condos.
KELLY KALETA - Growing up in Easthampton, MA, Kelly Kaleta began her training at the Hackworth’s School of Performing Arts and started teaching while she was attending Boston University. Focusing in tap, she has taught up and down the east coast and Canada for almost 20 years, choreographing, judging, and performing in many different venues. She is a founding member of “Off Beat,” a company created and directed by her former student Ryan P. Casey, as well as starting her own company “CounterpoinT,” an all female group based out of Norwalk, CT. You can also see her and her choreography in the award-winning movie “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench” directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land). In 2006, she was a cast member of “Imagine Tap,” created and choreographed by Derick Grant and Aaron Tolson. She has been a faculty member and judge for Tap 2 You, Dance Masters of America, American Dance Awards, Tapademics and Kids for Kids. She has taught at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and Peridance in NYC. Other past performances include the Cape Dance Fest, Inside Out at Jacob’s Pillow, NYC Tap Festival, Break the Floor, Clara’s Dream: A Jazz Tap Nutcracker - performing with Drika Overton, Josh Hilberman, and Brenda Buffalino, Tapestry - produced by Dance Inn Productions, and others. Her own annual event, Tap it Up, is a one day workshop held every October in Stratford, CT. Believing that you never stop being a student, she continues to take classes and workshops to improve both her dancing and her teaching.
KEITH LEONHARDT, a native of Connecticut, is a professional tap dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor. He is a graduate of The Greater Hartford Academy of The Arts and The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Keith is also an alum of the 2017 Tap Program at The School at Jacob’s Pillow under the direction of Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S. He has performed with a variety of tap dancers and companies including Corey Hutchin’s CT Tap, OD N Tap (Clare O Donnell), and as a featured tap dancer with dfx Entertainment. Other past performance credits include Six Flags New England Entertainment, Foxwoods Resort Casino, & RAW Artists of NY and Boston.
Keith is a teaching instructor with Jason Warley’s Man In Motion NYC and an in demand competition judge for IDA (Impact Dance Adjudicators). He has taught and judged with majors competitions & conventions including Turn It Up Dance Challenge, Showbiz Dance, and NEXSTAR National Talent Competition. Keith also served for 3 years as an adjunct instructor and choreographer for Sacred Heart University’s Dance Programs. Other notable teaching credits include Double Up Dance Studio under Paul and Brian Herman, Kelly Kaleta's TAP IT UP! Connecticut and at The National Association for Dance and Affiliated Arts 4 times. His choreography has been presented at such events including Dancers Responding to Aids (DRA SUNY Purchase), Dancefest (The Palace Theater in Stamford, CT), The Bijou Theater of Bridgeport, CT and commissioned to open the 2019 Nationals of Fusion Dance Competition.
Currently, Keith continues to teach and conduct workshops along the northeast honoring his teachers and mentors while perfecting his own craft. He believes in the principles of pushing his own practices, honoring the dance, and passing it on. He is commited deeply while his passion for tap dance truly thrives in his teachings, improvisation, and musical expression.
ALICIA MONACO -Teacher - Choreographer - Adjudicator Alicia’s early training began in CT with Sharon DiCrosta, and she has continued studying with artists such as Ayodele Casel, Derick Grant, Andrew J. Nemr and Gregory
Hines. Alicia has performed with Cats Paying Dues, a NYC based tap company, was the director of Tap Into the Soul, where her choreography was featured in NYC's Dumbo Dance Festival, Symphony Space on Broadway and was a featured tap dancer and choreographer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) along side artists Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino of 'A Great Big World.’ In addition to performing, Alicia has been on the faculty for American Dance Awards, Dance Masters of America, Dance Educators of America, Syn.co.pate, Generation IV Dance and continues to travel throughout the country as a teacher, choreographer and adjudicator.
CLARE O'DONNELL
KAITLYN WAY has been tap dancing for over twenty years. She began studying the art when she was ten years old at David Rider's World of Tap in Hyde Park, New York, performing in his youth company at the Brooklyn Children's Museum and at Tap City in 2003. At thirteen, she studied regularly with Kendrick Jones II and joined the American Tap Dance Foundation's newly formed Tap City Youth Ensemble. With the Tap City Youth Ensemble, she performed at the Apollo Theater, for Bette Midler and the New York Restoration Project, at the ATDF annual Gala, as well as many shows as part of the Tap City festival. Additionally, Kaitlyn has studied and performed with Michelle Dorrance, Claudia Rahardjanoto, Jared Grimes, and the late Harold Cromer. Since her years dancing with the Youth Ensemble, Kaitlyn has performed choreography by Susan Hebach in ATDF's 2014 "Rhythm in Motion" series. She currently choreographs and performs with the Connecticut Tap Collaborative while working full-time at the New Britain Museum of American Art. With the Tap Collaborative, her choreography has been featured at the Big Apple Tap Festival and more recently at ATDF's new choreography showcase, "Something's Afoot.