The teachers! All of them love to teach dance!
-Ivelina R., dance mom

Ginger Haithcox

Executive Director
Ginger started Modern Motion in 2005 after her ballet instructor in college encouraged her to pursue founding a nonprofit dance company. Initially focused on liturgical dance for local churches and teaching at local dance studios, her vision for Modern Motion soon included a full scale dance school for children. Founded in 2010, Modern Motion Dance School had humble beginnings with Monday night classes all taught by Ginger while she built her career in non-profit ministries and youth serving organizations. 

Her leadership of Modern Motion dance school has focused on the development, training, and implementation of the school's curriculum; building up a youth leadership and mentoring program for older dancers; widespread community outreach performances; as well as extensive staff development. 

She played the part of Sechita, the dancer in "For Colored Girls" directed by Occie McLendon in 2011.  Ginger is the former Vice-Chair of the Franklin Township Cultural Arts Council, a current member of National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and Dance New Jersey, non-profit membership organizations dedicated to the advancement and promotion of high quality education in the art of dance.  She also serves as the Director of Marketing and Children's Ministry at the United Methodist Church at New Brunswick.

Her childhood dance training in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, pointe was completed at Miss Kim's School of Dance and later she continued her dance education at Raritan Valley Community College - after having already earned her BA in Religion and Cultural Anthropology at Douglass College, Rutgers University. Her continuing education in dance and studio management include classes at Dance Teacher Summit, the Dancelife Retreat Center, the Studio Expansion program, MusicWorks Dance Teacher Connection, IDEA Business Summit and the Dancelife Teacher Conference. Ginger is a Leader with the Gold Alliance executive coaching program.

Kate Raymond

Program Director
​Kate has been passionately involved in the performing arts her entire life -  theater, dance, and both vocal and instrumental music. Kate is a long time Stage Manager and Executive Board Member of Playhouse 22 in East Brunswick, NJ. She also appears on stage from time to time. Some of her favorite on-stage productions are Hairspray (Brenda/Ensemble), Gypsy (Electra), Crazy for You (Betsy), and Urinetown (Poor Ensemble) all at Playhouse 22.  Kate is also a theatrical choreographer and has choreographed Guys and Dolls, Once Upon a Mattress, Sweet Charity, and Anything Goes for local community theaters (to name a few). She is currently choreographing Bye Bye Birdie at Playhouse 22, which performs the month of November. 
Kate is most passionate about her son, Thomas, 3, and loves showing her his new dance moves!
Dustin Ciano
Manager of Business Operations
​The performing arts has been a very large part of Dustin's life since he was first introduced to musical theater at the age of three.  When he was about ten years old, Dustin began learning trumpet and quickly transitioned from the stage to the pit band.  Dustin graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2018 with a B.S in music education and is now pursuing a career as a professional trumpet player.  He has performed in pit bands for countless musicals, performed in bands at Dorney Park in Allentown, PA and HersheyPark in Hershey, PA, has been part of four different stage shows at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, and has performed with local bands and orchestras.

Aliceana Lin

Marketing Assistant
Aliceana is currently a first-year undergraduate student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick studying in the business school. While she's never received formal training in dance, dance and music remain one of her greatest hobbies and passions. In her free time, she likes to do yoga and go on runs. Aliceana is excited to be part of the Modern Motion team and continue to spread the joy of dance!

Angela Brackett

Dance Teacher
New Jersey native, Angela’s background is in “Steppin”, Liturgical, Ballet and Contemporary dance. She studied in the Performing Arts program at Raritan Valley Community College and  majored in Dance and minored in Cultural Anthropology at CUNY Hunter College. While attending CUNY Hunter College she was a member of the Hunter College Dance Company where she had the opportunity to perform and tour with pieces choreographed by Ronald K. Brown and Robin Dunn.

After the completion of her studies she auditioned for New York City based Step Company know as Soul Steps, LLC that she has been a member of for the past 8 years. While in Soul Steps, they toured both nationally and internationally, taught workshops and held residences.  Three years ago, Soul Steps along with thirty other women came to form Team Vicious and appeared in Paris Fashion Week, where they “Stomped The Runway” wearing the SS14 line of designer Rick Owens.

Deanna Destito

Deanna began dancing at age 4 at Madelyn’s School of Dance in Bayonne, NJ, studying tap, ballet, and jazz. At age 13, she transferred to The Dance Academy of NJ to train in ballet, pointe, musical theater, and jazz more intensely. After studying Dance, Theater, and English at Montclair State University, Deanna continued her dance training at Broadway Dance Center in NYC and Princeton Ballet (American Repertory Ballet), studying with teachers such as Susan Tenney, Kim Vaccaro, Sheila Barker, Bev Brown, and Joshua Bergasse. She has served as choreographer for several musicals including Little Shop of Horrors, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, and The King and I. Her performance credits include Brigadoon, Oklahoma, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anything Goes, and many others. In addition, Deanna has been featured in a variety of film projects both as a dancer and an actor.

​Deanna specializes in Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, Pointe, and Modern. She also teaches Musical Theater, Creative Dance, Tap, and Acro, with students ranging from 2 ½ years old to Adult. Formerly a preschool teacher, Deanna uses her extensive study of early childhood education to develop a creative curriculum for the young dancer. Deanna is also a trained vocalist and pianist who incorporates her knowledge of music theory into all of her dance classes.

Syasia Everett

Dance Teacher
Syasia has a strong background in HipHop, Tap and Jazz. She studied Arts Administration at Wagner College while keeping up with her dancing through her participation on the Dance Team. In that time, she competed at the UDA College Dance Nationals in addition to choreographing for games and special team performances. 

In the future, she hopes to open her own dance facility to share her love for dance with others. Teaching has always been a goal of Syasia’s and she is eager to grow with the Modern Motion family!

Hallie Rumsey-Lasersohn

Dance Teacher
Hallie began her dance training at the age of 13 in Media Pennsylvania under the direction of Anastasia Babayeva and Denis Gronostayskiy. She danced as an apprentice with International Ballet Classique for 3 years before  joining Ballet Theatre of Maryland. In 2017 she joined American Repertory Ballet. She has competed as a finalist in Youth America Grand Prix and attended Summer Intensives with The Academy of International Ballet, Kirov Ballet school, Joffrey Ballet School, and Ballet X. She has taught for The Academy of International Ballet,  Ballet Theatre of Maryland, and Princeton Ballet school among others.

Emily Tanis

Dance Teacher
Emily began dancing at the age of two and continued dancing all throughout college at Rider University. She was a choreographer for both the Rider Dance Team and the Rider Dance Ensemble. Her dancing and choreography have won various national awards throughout her career. She encourages creativity in the classroom and inspires her students to perform their best both on and off the stage.