Jessica began her dance training at the age of 4. At the age of 10 she began 8 years of training with Dawn Laviola-Schaub, George Lon, and Chris Lee. Jessica has been trained in advanced levels of ballet, pointe, acrobatic, modern, lyrical and tap. She was a member of the original Performing Arts Academy Dance Company. She competed in dance competitions since the age of 6 and won many high score awards and titles for her solo performances. Jessica has also studied with Frank Hatchett, Michele Assaf and AC Ciulla at Broadway Dance Center in NYC as well as Joe Lanteri at Steps on Broadway in NYC. She has also assisted Frank Hatchett at various dance conventions and competitions.
Jessica performed at the NJ Talent Expo as both a group dance member as well as a solo performer. Jessica has also held the titles of; Miss Shining Star, International Queen Of Dance, Teen Miss Dance of New York and Junior Miss Shining Star. Jessica was also an accomplished gymnast. She was a Class III competitive gymnast at Eastern National Academy and captain of Pequannock High School Gymnastics team where she was named to the All County and All Conference team.
During her sophomore year of high school, Jessica was accepted and attended the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City. Later, she continued on to Montclair State University and majored in Dance. Jessica started her teaching career at PAA in 1991. First as a student teacher, then as a substitute teacher, and for the past 10 years she has been a full staff member at PAA.
Jessica is Married to Mario Longo and has three children. Julia age 6, Jack age 4 and Mason age 2. Julia is currently following in her mother's footsteps and is currently a member of PAA's Dance Company.
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