Directors, Faculty and Choreographers

Kassidy Rochon

Contemporary / Jazz / Acro Instructor / Competitive Choreographer

Kassidy Rochon began dancing at the age of two at Rising Stars Dance Academy, and continued to train there for 15 years. During her time there she won many titles, scholarships and became a National Grand Champion. Since then she has been teaching for the past five years at several studios throughout the east coast. She specializes in acrobatics, contemporary and jazz dance. Her choreography has received numerous awards and overall high scores.  Miss Kassidy will be teaching our Acro program at THRIVE.

Jordan Raleigh

7 & up Ballet Instructor

  Jordan Raleigh is a senior at Roger Williams University who received a bachelor's degree in dance and is receiving a bachelor's degree in legal studies in December.  Jordan has been dancing since the age of three and has training in styles of dance including, but not limited to: ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary, and modern.  She was also a member of the Danceology Competition Team training under Miss Tanya Silvio throughout high school.  She has gained amazing opportunities as a member of the RWU Dance Theatre including working with guest artists Gisela Creus, Tiffany Mills, Ashley Rich, and Aretha Aoki.  She has trained under Cathy Nicoli, Stephanie Turner, and Michael Bolger during her college years.  She will be attending Roger Williams School of Law next fall.

Rachel Morton Mello

Contemporary / Jazz  / Competitive Choreographer

Rachel has been dancing for 23 years and has trained in ballet, jazz, modern, tap and hip hop. She was a competitive dancer through high school and won many high score awards, scholarships and performance recognition. She attended many conventions and learned from professional and master teachers in the field. She also attended summer camps at The Gold School Dance Art in Brockton MA to further her technical and performance training. 

To further her dance education, she attended Bridgewater State University where she graduated with a BA in Dance Education and BS in Psychology. She studied ballet pedagogy, anatomy for the dancer, dance methodology, dance composition, creative dance and studied modern, ballet, tap and jazz. Her Junior year of college, she applied her two majors of dance and psychology to her own research and authored a research paper entitled “Assessment of Physical and Mental Development in Private Dance Studios”.  In 2016, she was invited to present an oral poster presentation of her research at the Bridgewater State University Mid-Year Research Symposium. She also attended national conferences and is a member of the National Dance Education Organization.  During college she was also a member of the BSU Dance team where she competed nationally at UDA National Collegiate Competition. Her and her team placed 10th overall in the nation out of 22 collegiate teams.  Rachel has now been teaching, holding master classes and choreographing competitive routines for the last 8 years. Her routines have won many high awards and special awards including judges choice awards. Rachel continues to grow her knowledge by taking class and attending conventions to ensure the best education for her students.

Jalyn Wellington

Early Age learning Teacher / Bundle classes

​Jalyn is an aspiring choreographer and dance instructor. She has been dancing for 17 years. She is a former student of Thrive for 2 years and previous danced at Dance Unlimited for 15 years. She was a classroom assistant for 2 year at Thrive, where she trained under owner learning bundle structure and teaching techniques. She is currently in her sophomore year at CCRI for Entrepreneurship. After CCRI her plan is to transfer to Johnson and Wales University for Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Her future goals include becoming a dance studio owner of her own.