Faculty & Staff

Lisa Shapiro – Studio owner since 1988. Teaches classes (all levels) in jazz, tap, ballet, and pointe. Choreographer for high school musicals including: Cats, Damn Yankees, Back to the 80s, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Guys and Dolls, and Hello Dolly. Co-creator of an in-house Ballet Company for 18 years that performed original choreography in fairy tale themed shows including Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Wiz of Oz, Anastasia, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, Oliver, Read Me A Story, The King and I, Annie, and The Wizard of Oz. Previous teaching experience includes team-teaching the dance program three years at a public high school. Joined her childhood dance teacher to run the after school dance program at Ferndale High School in 1979; took over the program in 1981.

Erin Goldsworthy – Graduate of Eastern Michigan University with degrees in communications, economics and education. Trained for two years in the EMU Dance program in modern and ballet. Performance experience includes dancing with the Peter Sparling Dance Company in Ann Arbor. Co-director of an in-house Ballet Company for 8 years that performed original choreography in fairy tale themed shows including, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Wiz of Oz, Anastasia,  The Lion King, Oliver, Annie, and The Wizard of Oz. Co-Director, Assistant Artistic Director and Director of offsite programming. Dancing at Center Stage since 1994 – and her four children are following in her actual footsteps! Teaches: jazz, ballet, pointe, hip hop, and combo classes for our younger dancers.

Front Office

Office Manager: Renee Siracusa

Systems Manager: Holly Tilton

Bookkeeper: Allie Waisanen

Allie Shapiro-Waisanen – Allie is a Center Stage Alum who works primarily as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) at Michigan Medicine, having completed schooling at Grand Valley State University and Madonna University. Allie provides offsite support to the front office, functioning as the studio’s bookkeeper. Allie has the opportunity, on occasion, to sub in the classroom, and most enjoys tap. Allie’s sons, Brooks and Ezra, are third generation Center Stage dancer!

Dami (a.k.a. Dammy) Ikwe – Dami started dancing at a young age training in contemporary and modern. While studying psychology at the University of Michigan, he danced with a branch of the international dance company Dance 2XS, eventually becoming one of the branches Co-Artistic Directors. He’s the former Creative Director of Next Level Dance Company, a youth and adult hip-hop dance company based in Detroit. Next Level competes across the Mid-West region and has taken 3rd place overall at World of Dance Chicago twice, as well as placing and winning at various other competitions across the Midwest and country. They have earned two invitations to compete at World of Dance International Finals L.A., once in 2015 and again in 2017. Dammy loves working with both adults and children and is always looking to push dancers to think outside of their box and find their personal style. Dami joined our staff in 2017.

Lauren Coussens – Dancing since the age of 4, Lauren is trained in Tap, Ballet/Cecchetti, Jazz, and Lyrical (Contemporary). She is a 2015 graduate of Michigan State University with a B.A. in Media Production and a Minor in Theater. She is a member of the Detroit Tap Repertory; a pre-professional Tap dance company that performs all over Michigan at a variety of events including America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Detroit Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons games, and local community festivals. She has also performed with Tap24.7; a professional Tap dance company based in Arizona. Lauren teaches dancers of all ages; she loves expressing creativity through her choreography and has produced award-winning competitive Tap dance routines. She strives to bring fun and inclusivity to every class and encourages her students to be brave and confident. Lauren loves seeing her students improve as dancers and develop into stronger and more capable humans.

Holly Tilton – Center Stage Alum and Graduate of Alma College with a BA in International Business and French including Diplome de Langue certificate. At Alma, she was an active member of the Alma College Dance Company. She participated in many ballets including Giselle, Swan Lake, Pas de Quatre, the Nutcracker and more. She assisted in choreographing and staging for Giselle including a fun wooden shoe "tap"-style dance. Additionally, Holly choreographed and staged several original tap pieces during the young choreographers and spring concerts. While mainly focused on ballet, pointe and tap in college, she also participated in jazz and some modern pieces thanks to guest choreographers from NY and CA. Also, during college, Holly worked at Center Stage helping run the summer dance program and co-choreographing the company ballet "Read Me A Story." After college, Holly moved to Chicago, IL, and then transferred to Atlanta, GA, working for McMaster-Carr Supply Company in both locations. Shortly after her son was born, Holly's family moved back to Michigan. Holly's daughter now dances at Center Stage. These days, Holly can be found behind the front desk at Center Stage or teaching ballet or tap.

Claire Varvatos – Claire is a 2019 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Retail Management. She has danced at Center Stage since the age of three. She was a member of the competitive TEAM which included attending conventions and workshops where she was able to take class from professional dancers and choreographers from around the country. As a freshman in high school, she worked as an apprentice in the dance classroom and continued teaching through college. You can find Claire in the combo, jazz, ballet and tap classrooms.