Welcome To Maria Benson Centre For Dance
A positive attitude is what you can feel at MBC Dance in a competitive or non-competitive atmosphere. Our goals are to inspire children with confidence, coordination, and most of all, enjoyment.
All About Our Dance Studio
Maria Benson Centre for Dance offers classes in Hip Hop, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Acro. We have age groups 2-adult. Our studio focuses on confidence, coordination, and most of all enjoyment. We offer classes for the non-competitive dancer and also have a competition team for those looking to dance competitively.
We aim to instill teamwork in a family atmosphere. We have a very creative team of instructors who put a lot of care and energy into their classes.
Whether you dance on the competition team or just for fun, the love of dance is equally mutual and MBC Dance is the studio for your child, teen, or even yourself!
Mon: 4:30pm - 9:00pm
Tue: 4:30pm - 9:00pm
Wed: 4:30pm - 9:00pm
Thu: 4:30pm - 9:00pm
Sat: 9:30am - 4:30pm
Opening Hours
Classes We Offer
Join Our Dance Community
Meet the Team
Maria Benson
Director
This year marks Maria's 30th year of teaching. She is certified to teach through the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston. She trained under the direction of Kathy St. Jean and she keeps current by traveling to many workshops. Maria has had the privilege to train with master teachers such as Frank Hatchett, Debbie Dee, Sam Fiorello, Sarah Jo Fazio, Kirby Reed and GEO from The Iconic Crew, to name a few. She has won many top scores and special awards for her dances. Her piece “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” earned her Best choreography. She has an active competition team that travels every year to regional competitions and one Nationals every year. Maria also stays active in the Cranston School system. She runs the after school dance programs at Woodridge Elementary, Garden City, and Waterman. Her greatest joy and achievements is opening the studio 11 years ago. In addition to the studio Maria owns Hair Trends Salon in Cranston.
Brittany Balletto
Dance Instructor
Brittany is a graduate of Rhode Island College where she earned her Bachelors in Science for Community Health and Wellness with a concentration in Public Health. On top of teaching dance she works for the Miriam Hospital in the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine as a Research Assistant under Dr. Lori Scott-Sheldon. She was a member of the RIC Dance Company her freshman year of college under the direction of Angelica Vessel. Brittany has been dancing for 21 years and teaching for 10 years. Besides her mom, her training was intensively at the Festival Ballet where she was in the Jr. Company and had the opportunity to train with the director Mihailo Misha” Djuric, Ballet Mistress Milicia Bijelic, FBP company Principal Leticia Guerrero, Karla Kovatch, Ann Morselli, to name a few. She has trained under our wonderful previous and current instructors Casey Harkness Andrade , Jen Kapadia, and Kyle Weaver. Brittany has competed in many regionals and 10 National competitions. Brittany has finished as a top 10 dancer in nationals with 4th overall as her best placement. In May 2012, Brittany competed for the Pink Heels foundation “So you Think you Can Dance New England” event. She won the solo category judged by Benji Schwimmer, winner of the TV show, So you Think You Can Dance. In 2011 Brittany won a trip to LA to be in a photo shoot for the Urban Dancewear catalog. On June 7, 2009, she competed in the Miss Rhode Island Outstanding Teen Pageant and she placed 2nd runner up. In 2005, Brittany was Miss Global Dance International 1st runner up. She also enjoyed every year dancing for the Festival Ballet in their presentation of the Nutcracker. She danced the roles of Clara’s friends, Attendants, Trepak, Mice, Soldiers, Flower attendants, and Snow attendants. She also performed with Stephanie Harris accompanied by Paul Zunno at The Perishable Theatre. Her works at the studio have earned her three best choreography awards for “Adventures of Alice,” “ Starstruck,” “To Build a Home,” and Best Production Award for “The Adventures of Alice”. Her students have won many high score and first place/platinum awards. Brittany continues her education attending workshops learning from Sam Fiorello, Angie Sellers, Ellie Barrett, Deb Blume-Byers and GEO from Iconic crew to name a few. In years past she was traveling frequently to The Broadway Dance Center in New York to continue her education. Brittany currently got married to her wonderful husband Gary Balletto this summer! She loves to share her extensive background in ballet knowledge to her students in her contemporary style classes!
Alyssa Benson
Dance Instructor
Alyssa is a graduate of Cranston East High School and she has been dancing for 17 years. She graduated from the Aveda Institute for cosmetology. She has been competing since the age of 6 years old where she received the award for “The Most Promising Performer”. She has been a Dancer of The Year Semi-Finalist in the Petite and Junior levels. She traveled every year to Regionals and one Nationals per year and she has danced on the Beauty and the Beast stage with her production group for the DOTY, and also her group “Birds “ was chosen to dance as well. Alyssa has received many 1st place and special awards such as “Most Energetic”. She has attended many workshops where she has taken classes to name a few with Sarah Jo Fazio, Gregg Russell, Angie Sellers, and GEO from The Iconic Crew in which she was one of the two picked out of a group of 100 or more students to do his combination in his convention class. Last DanZa convention she was picked to assist the wonderful and talented Sarah Jo Fazio in Hip Hop! Alyssa has been involved with two classes in the after-school dance program at Woodridge Elementary school and dance camps at the studio. She continues her education with our wonderful instructors as well as traveling to New York to the Broadway Dance Center. She assisted well know Choreographers such as Jon Rua, Randi and Hef, Lauren Froderman, and many more in New York for Liberate Artists. Her choreography has won many first place/platinum and high score awards. Her teaching style is fun and challenging and she brings a great energy to the studio and competition team!
Jen Kapadia
Dance Instructor
Jen is a graduate of Sacred Heart University with a B.S. degree in Human Movement –Exercise Physiology. A former personal trainer, Jen likes to incorporate strength, conditioning and core training into her dance classes. Jen has been dancing for over 20 years. She has 15 years teaching experience and is certified to teach through the Dance Teacher’s Club of Boston in both Tap and Jazz. Jen has coached many competition groups and soloists. Her students continually receive top scores in their categories and numerous special awards. In 2005, Jen qualified for the DOTY recipient. In 2006, Jen won the young choreography award for the piece “VooDoo” and group Hip Hop “Bring Em Out”. In 2008, she also won Best Choreography for the Hip Hop “Misdemeanor”. Jen continues to attend many workshops and she has taken classes with Sonya Tayeh, from So You Think You Can Dance, Sarah Jo Fazio, Debbie Dee, Kirby Reed and GEO from The Iconic Crew, to name a few. In addition to dance, Jen is employed at Amgen Inc. in West Greenwich. Jen enjoys sharing her dance abilities with her Amgen colleagues. In 2010 , Jen volunteered to teach a Hip Hop class for a co-worker’s church group in order to collect food for the needy. The event was called “Will Dance for Food”. In October 2009, Jen taught 9 of her co-workers her rendition of Thriller and performed with them at a work sponsored Halloween Party. Jen teaches the competition team Hip Hop Lyrical and Tap, as well as soloists. Jen is also famous for teaching her adult jazz and Hip Hop classes. One of her greatest joys in the world is her two daughters Mara who is 6 and Zoey who is 2.
Jessica Fundakowski
Dance Instructor
Jessica from Rhode Island is a graduate from Johnson & Wales University 08′ with a bachelors degree in business management and a double minor in human resources and psychology. She works full time for Stop & Shop and is an Assistant GM Manager. Jessica has been dancing consecutively for the past 13 years and has been teaching for the past 8 years. She has studied many genres of dance which include tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, acro, modern, lyrical, hawaiian (hula), and her specialty, hiphop. In 2007 Jessica won a paid scholarship to nationals in Las Vegas, NV for her hiphop solo “Toma” which received several high score and judges choice awards. In 2008 she received an intensity award for her lyrical solo “Haunted” which received a platinum medal at the Fire & Ice competition. In 2009, Jessica joined MBC Dance where she has choreographed numerous solos, duos, and group numbers for competition. For the past three years both of her soloists have received high score, 1st place awards and Dancer of the Year Semi-finalists. In the 2011-2012 season she choreographed a jazz duet “Alice vs. The Mad Hatter” which received 1st place and high gold awards, as well as Best Costume Award for two different competitions. In 2011, Jessica received 1st place and Dancer of the Year Semi-finalist for her lyrical solo, “Heart-Shaped Box” in which she traveled to Chicago for nationals and received 1st place overall and placed in the top 50. In 2012 she self-choreographed her hiphop solo, “Let Me Think About It” which received Dancer of the Year Semi-finalist and 1st Place in Disney Nationals. Jessica has taken many master classes with different choreographers which include Mia Michaels, Criss Judd, and the Iconic Boyz, as well as she travels to New York City and takes classes at Broadway Dance Centre. She has been a part of two dancer of the year semi-finalist productions under the direction of Sam Fiorello. In March 2013, she auditioned for Can You Dance New England at Studio One RI and was selected in the top 25 to go to the finale. The finale was May 1, 2013 at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, where she danced in front of head judge Benji Schwimmer from So You Think You Can Dance. At the 2013 Dance America regionals, her junior hip hop dance, “Power” received 1st place and best precision and 2nd place overall high score for primary/ junior category. Jessica got married August of 2015 to her long time boyfriend, Jimmy Fundakowski! Jessica continues to dance and teach so that her students can express themselves through their dancing.
Kyle Weaver
Dance Instructor
Kyle is a graduate of Rhode Island College with a degree in Music. He has been teaching hip hop professionally throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 2004. Kyle has coached many groups and hundreds of students that have gone to regional and national competitions. He and his routines have won many top awards, including the Young Choreography award in 2005 at ADA, as well as very numerous 1st and 2nd place highest overall score awards throughout the years, regionally and nationally. Kyle had also lead groups that were specially selected to participate in the Dance-Off/Entertainment challenges at IDC regional competition in 2010, again in 2013 at EDC Nationals, and a third time in 2016 at EDC Nationals. Both times at EDC his groups placed 3rd out of 10 in those challenges. Kyle currently teaches hip hop at several studios and shares his passion, unique perspective, and intricate style with many aspiring dancers, teachers, and choreographers.
Contact
Should you be arriving by car, we offer a parking lot with parking for our customers.