Our Award Winning Staff

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Ashley Magaddino

Ashley holds a bachelors degree in business management from Farmingdale State College. 

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Dancer, choreographer and studio owner, Ashley has had a strong passion for dance since the age of 8. Since the age of 10, she has competed in numerous cheerleading and dance competitions across the United States. Aside from being an amazing performer, Ashley has a strong connection to children. 

Lydia Magaddino

Lydia studied dance for nearly 20 years in a large Brooklyn studio. Her area of study concentrated in Ballet, Jazz and Tap. With strong community ties in Massapequa she has worked directly and indirectly for the good of her communities children. She was a cheer mom, and has served in both regular and Special Education PTA’s. As a catalyst, she used all of her resources to make Cheerleading a sport in the Massaqeua School district, ensuring that as a sport, it would to be properly funded.

After many years of observing her daughter’s dance studio and obtaining information about other studio’s she was convinced there was a need for a studio with a new model, one where students learned the art of dance while having fun.  In 2009 Lydia made the dream happen and opened, A Step Above Performing Arts. Her charge was: to ensure the studio had a fun family atmosphere, while presenting a strong commitment to her students and parents, hiring only qualified professional instructors, and bringing students’ skills to new heights.  As a dance mom she witnessed the stress caused by a lack of studio organization and vowed to change this with her studio. As such, A Step Above, is a well maintained and organized studio that values sharing clear and concise information in a transparent way.  Lydia’s, A Step Above Performing Arts, is a proud studio who’s competition/company teams have distinguished themselves with many national and local awards, garnering recognition for sportsmanship and excellence.

Mr. Joe

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Joe Duffy is one of NY’s most versatile and innovative young educators and choreographers. With over 18 years experience, he has trained at numerous studios on Long Island and NYC’s Broadway Dance Center. Joe has studied Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz-Funk and Musical Theatre. He has been recognized at competitions with numerous awards and is known for his fresh style and clean routines. Joe has also danced and choreographed in many music video’s and concerts for upcoming pop artists. He now tours the U.S. as director and choreographer for The STAR Dance Workshop. His inspiring and fun style are a perfect mix for dancers of all ages and abilities.

Miss. Taylor

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Taylor Is currently a professional dancer in NYC who graduated from the Broadway Dance Center professional semester. She is full of knowledge and passion for the industry, dance, acting, singing, storytelling, creativity etc. Taylor previously owned her own dance studio, and has taught countless styles of dance at many studios around long island and NYCTaylor has choreographed the musicals at West Islip High School the past 5 years and her goal is to explore creativity in a safe space, focus on storytelling and share everything she can with the students!

Taylor​ Miss Kristina has been dancing since the age of 2 and began competing at the age of 5 with the David Sanders Dance Dynamics Company. She has competed at both the regional and national level in all styles of dance for 14 years. Throughout her dance career, her most memorable experience was having the opportunity to perform David Sander’s most famous tap routine “Stomp to my Beat” at the 29th annual Fred and Adele Astaire awards in New York City. In high school, she was a member of the dance team and Hip Hop captain for two years for Blue & Gold in the West Babylon School District. Miss Kristina also choreographed the musicals for her high school, where her work was nominated for a Babylon Citizens Council of the Arts (BACCA) award for best choreography. After high school she went to SUNY Cortland, where she was a member of the hip hop dance team, Cortland Danceworks. She competed for four years with Danceworks and performed at many school sporting events. She also volunteered to teach an individual with disabilities private 1:1 dance classes to further the student’s passion with dance as well as designed a Halloween dance party for local residents of Cortland with physical disabilities to attend.