MEET OUR TEACHERS and staff

Miss Paula opened the Dance Center in 1964! The school has been educating dancers on the South Shore for 60 years! She has loved dance for as long as she can remember. As a young child her mom enrolled her in dance and it has been a huge part of her life ever since. Paula grew up right here in East Bridgewater. She then went on to graduate from John Robert Powers Finishing School, The Robie School of Business and has continued her dance education with many professional teachers, attended numerous educational workshops, the Boston Conservatory, North East Dancers Workshop and has traveled and studied each summer for many years. Paula and the studio have won many awards over the years but her proudest accomplishment is her family.

Miss Kirsten is the Owner and acting Director of Coffey Dance Center. After dancing at the studio for 15 years she continued her dance education at Providence College where she graduated in 2019 as the sole recipient of the PC dance minor award. While at PC Kirsten danced for the Providence College Dance Company and also professionally for the Lowell Spinners Dance Team. She was involved with the Step Up 2 Dance National Dance Competition where her role varied from stage manager to master class assistant. She is currently a Dancer for the Boston Cannons while also holding the title of Miss Bristol County. Kirsten teaches tap, jazz and contemporary and her love of both dance and her students is what makes her classes enjoyable for all.

 Miss Jamie danced at Coffey Dance Center for 14 years and went on to continue her dance education at Dean College where she obtained her BA in Dance performance and education. Jamie began her professional dance career at Urbanity Dance -a Boston based contemporary company. While at Urbanity she was co-artistic associate director for Urbanity's professional company and also the co-director of the Urbanity Summer Intensive. She is a yoga spirit 200 hour YTT graduate and is the founder and owner of Evolution Wellness where she continues working with her passion of creating, teaching and mentoring. Jamie's work at the Dance Center has been nationally recognized with both choreography and technique awards. Jamie's passion is felt by each and every one of her students. 

 Miss Denise started her dance training at the Paula Coffey Dance Center. She continued to study attending many workshops, traveling to New York to take classes with nationally acclaimed teachers, Frank Hatchet, Mallory Graham, Debbie Dee and Al Gilbert. Miss Denise danced professionally performing in Boston as well as Baltimore. She was also the director of our summer program for many years - her talents are limitless. She realized early on she preferred teaching to performing. Her tap teams have earned top awards, special judges awards and choreography awards consistently at national competitions. Miss Denise focuses on each student and loves to discover the uniqueness in each dancer and call it forth. The quote Miss Denise lives by is “Students may not remember everything I said or tried to teach them ,but they will never forget how I made them feel”.

Miss Kerrie grew up in Bridgewater and started dancing at Coffey Dance Center when she was 3 years old. She went from a student, to assistant, to teacher. Now invaluable to the dance center, she teaches everything from ballet, tap, and jazz and hip hop. Miss Kerrie was a dancer and captain of her college dance team - after college, Kerrie was a dancer with the Boston Celtics Dance Team.  She has been involved in many dance programs throughout New England. In addition to choreographing her signature Hip Hop routines, she is a Special Education teacher at South Coast Educational Collaborative where she has just been promoted to lead teacher. She is the Mom of three boys and she resides with them and her husband, Brian in Lakeville. 

 Miss Jennifer grew up in East Bridgewater and has been involved with the Dance Center since before she even started dancing! Growing up at the studio, allowed Jennifer the opportunity to study Tap and Jazz, become an assistant teacher, camp counselor and a part of the Dance Center's Competition team - where she won numerous awards. She continued her dance education at Dean College where she was a part of the Tap Company. She was awarded the prestigious Gregory Hines Tap Scholarship. "Miss Jen's" tap routines have consistently won top honors at every state wide and national competition. Jennifer furthered her studies at Bridgewater State University where she majored in Psychology and Special Education.  Not only has she been teaching dance for over 20 years now,  she is newly licensed to teach POUND and Generation POUND! Jennifer continues her dance education where ever she can and is so excited for another great season with the competition dancers here at the studio. 

 Miss Kaeleigh graduated from Bridgewater State University with majors in Elementary Education , Dance and Special Education in December of 2019. She was part of the BSU Dance Company, served on the Advisory Board and as Vice President. Kaeleigh was also a member of the National Dance Education Organization Student Chapter where she presented at the NDEO National Conference in Texas on the importance of intergrading dance into academic school curriculums. She is now a teacher for the East Bridgewater Public Schools and is pursuing her Masters of education in Reading from BSU. Having the opportunity to work with so many fantastic dancers and students is Miss Kaeleigh’s good news every week!  

 Miss Paula has been with us since childhood and has been our ballet and pointe teacher for many years. She’s proud to say her first job was as an assistant teacher at the Dance Center while in high school. Now retired from her professional career as Vice President of Hospital Operations at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, she continues to keep dance in her life- from taking lessons with her dance troupe in Braintree to teaching ballet and pointe. Paula's teaching is recognized by the dedication and talents of her students who return year after year /as adults to continue studying with her. 

 Miss Brooklyn is a graduate of Rhode Island College with a B.A. in Musical Theatre and a B.A. in Dance Performance. In 2012, she joined the Boston Tap Company and discovered her passion for tap dancing and working with students. Since then, she has attended numerous tap festivals. She interned at the final “Beantown Tap Fest” in 2019, completed the Teacher Certification Program at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Summer Dance Festival, and has been extremely fortunate to learn from Dianne Walker, “Lady Di” in recent years. At the start of 2021, Brooklyn completed Karida Griffith’s “Roots, Rhythm, Race and Dance,” a professional development program for dance educators. Currently, she is working as a dancer with "The Boston She Party", she is a dancer with "DrumatiX" under the direction of Noa Barankin. She is also an Assistant Professor teaching tap dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Brooklyn cannot wait to share her love of music and dance with Coffey Dance Center Tappers. 

 Kaylie Gagnon is a resident of Hanson, Massachusetts and a graduate of East Bridgewater High School. She began dancing at age 3 and has never stopped! She has her Bachelor’s Degree in Dance with a concentration in Dance Education/ Teaching from Dean College. Kaylie is a graduate and holds a certificate from the Dance Teachers’ Club of Boston’s Dance Education Training Course. She is a dancer, choreographer and teacher. She has studied Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Point, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Irish Step and Acrobatics. At Dean College, she completed a tap teaching internship under William “Bill” Evans that focuses on the different ways of teaching tap technique. After graduation, Kaylie worked as an instructor  where she taught tap, ballet, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, pre-pointe and creative movement! Kaylie joined Coffey Dance Center in 2022 and is excited to continue sharing her love and learned knowledge of dance with the next generation of dancers. 

Miss Laura grew up in North Dighton. Her passion for dance began at age 3. She is a 2012 graduate of Dean College where she obtained her Degree in Fine Arts. Shortly after, Laura trained in New York City with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She was also a finalist in the Patriots Cheerleaders and Celtics Dancer auditions. She is a member of Rainbow Tribe Dance Company in Boston,  a company that spreads the joy of dance and promotes the understanding and acceptance of diversity.

Laura has experience performing on local and national levels in various dance competitions, recitals, pageants, and theme parks including Walt Disney World and Disney Land.  She was the co-director of the Burt Wood Beats show choir and also taught quarterly master dance classes open to students of all ages. Laura has been with Coffey Dance Center for 5 years and really enjoys teaching all of her students. She truly loves the artistic expression and creativity her job demands.

 Miss Meghann grew up in Abington and started dancing at Coffey Dance Center when she was 3 years old (her mother Marie was in our very first class when the studio opened!). She danced on our competition teams, was an assistant teacher in our pointe program, and helped out with dance camp as her first job. Meghann studied Early Education and ASL at the University of New Hampshire and danced on their Step team. Upon graduation, she taught at Busy Bee for several years and then moved to Washington DC for policy work where she joined the Joy of Motion advanced dance company for several seasons. She is now back home with us and loves sharing her passion for dancing, smiling, and having fun with our youngest dancers and pointe students!  

Megan is a senior at Stonehill College double majoring in special education and dance. She fell in love with dance at 3 years old and has not stopped since. She trained at various local dance studios as a child and danced competitively from ages 10 to 18. Megan trains in all styles of dance, but she especially enjoys jazz and tap. 

Currently, Megan is a member of the Stonework's Dance Company at Stonehill College, where she trains, choreographs, and performs each semester. She is also a board member of Stonehill’s Ruckus Step and Hip-Hop Team where she helps lead practices of over 45 members and choreographs pieces for numerous performances throughout the year.

As a future special educator, Megan is a strong advocate for those with disabilities and strives to make the dance studio a safe place for all individuals. Megan hopes to combine her passions for dance and education to make a difference in the lives of her students and provide them with an outlet for self-expression.

Meaghan is 21 years old from Concord, NH. She began training at Concord Dance Academy at the age of two and has competed since she was five. Entering her senior year at Stonehill, where she is double majoring in Psychology and Dance, Meaghan is a second-year captain of the Stonehill College Dance Team and a fourth-year member of Stoneworks Dance Company. This past spring, Meaghan and her team were named D1 National Champions in Hip-Hop at the 2023 DTU College Classic. Meaghan recently completed her first summer as part of the Dance Team Union Crew, traveling across the country teaching both high school and college dance teams. Meaghan is very excited to be working with Coffey Dance Center this season, sharing her passion for performance and love for dance with her students!