Our Team

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Our Team *

Amy Xotyeni

Founder and Executive Director

Amy has been teaching, choreographing, and creating dance initiatives and projects in underserved communities for the past 15 years. Her dance career began with intensive training with Boston Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, The HARTT School of Dance, iKapa Dance Theatre, and Bridgewater State University. After teaching extensively in Massachusetts and abroad, Amy opened Izizwe Dance Studio in Lawrence Massachusetts in 2018 which services over 500 people yearly. She founded Irise Dance Project in 2023 to make high quality dance education more accessible to the youth in her community. She has launched international dance exchange programs for underprivileged youth in South Africa and Boston and hosts a yearly summer program where she combines literacy, STEAM, and social emotional health with movement and dance. In addition to her work in Lawrence, Amy is a resident teaching artists for the award winning Zama Dance School in Cape Town South Africa where she trains pre-professional ballet dancers living in the townships of Cape Town. She has collaborated with international leading artists on several projects both nationally and internationally and has been an outreach dance teacher for Boston and Lawrence Public Schools. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Education.

Gina Marte

Resident Artis

Gina Marie is a multifaceted Dominican artist from Lawrence, MA, whose work embodies sensuality and storytelling through movement. Rooted in curiosity and expression, her artistry moves fluidly across genres — from hip-hop and house to ballet, contemporary, African dance styles, jazz and more. Dancing since the age of ten, Gina has trained and performed in Lawrence, Boston, and Los Angeles, shaping a voice that is both grounded and transcendent. Her performance and collaboration credits include Pictures in Concrete (MA), Crewnex (MA), KreativMindz (CA), Art UnEarths (MA), and Afmohip (MA), along with projects alongside artists such as Shaquan Reed, Jaheem Alleyne, Gustavo Polanco, Jeryl Palana, and Ella Wechsler-Matthaei. While in Los Angeles, she expanded her reach through performances and creative work with Kanye West, Stephanie Zelaya, and Refinery29.

In 2023, Gina served as Artist in Residence for the Lawrence Arts Collective and was selected as the 2023–2024 Dance Lab Resident at the Boston Center for the Arts. She holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts Boston — a foundation that deepens her approach to narrative and embodiment.

Currently immersed in creation, training, and performance, Gina continues to evolve her craft with the intention of moving people — not just through dance, but through presence, connection, and transformation.

Mcebisi Xotyeni

Dance and Drumming Educator

Mcebisi (Bisi) Xotyeni, of Cape Town, South Africa, is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He began dancing with the outreach program Dance For All, where he trained extensively in ballet, African, contemporary, and hip hop. He was awarded a full scholarship with Dance For All and eventually began working for the professional dance company iKapa Dance Theatre. He has also worked with leading companies in South Africa such as Cape Town City Ballet, Suede Productions, and Sibonelo Dance Project. He has performed for numerous festivals and has collaborated with international artists for performances and outreach projects. He has been a lead company dancer with Jean Appolon Expressions since 2016. Bisi is also JAE’s Artistic Manager and an Educator in the company’s US based and international programs.

Jill Rucci

Dance Educator

Jill S. Rucci is a visionary choreographer, educator, and the Founder/Director of 8&1 Dance Company (Dallas and East). A graduate of Dean College, Rucci’s career is defined by a
relentless pursuit of excellence, with a training pedigree that spans from NYC’s Alvin Ailey and
Broadway Dance Center to Los Angeles’ Millennium and Edge. Her performance credits are equally distinguished, including appearances at the Joyce Theatre, Lincoln Center, and the AT&T Performing Arts Center. As a creator, Rucci has been hailed by critics as a "profound creative mind." Her work has been presented across the U.S. and internationally in Olbia, Italy. Beyond the stage, she is a dedicated mentor who has served as a guest artist and choreographer for programs at JWU,
Richland, and Collin College. Now crafting her 2026-27 season, Jill remains dedicated to the evolution of the craft, using her platform to mentor and ignite a fire in the next generation of performers to move with purpose and technical excellence.

Deidre Budzyna

Education Advisor and Collaborator

Deirdre Duggan Budzyna has a Master’s Degree in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University and a degree in Theater and Education from Mount Holyoke College. Deirdre has directed children’s theater at The Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport and the Bresnahan School and Immaculate Conception school in Newburyport.  Deirdre is currently an early childhood education professor at Northern Essex Community College where she teaches Expressive Learning and using Multiple Intelligences in the classroom. A theater educator for over 30 years, Deirdre believes in the power of the arts to transform lives.


Frequent Guest Teaching Artists

Jeryl Palana Pilapil-Brown

A Filipino- American choreographer, dancer and educator. director of the Cambridge Youth Dance Program of Deborah Mason Performing Arts Center and founder of Unearths Dance Company.

Christal Astudilloz

Lawrence dancer and educator at Movement City

Joanne Caidor

Founder and Director of Afmohip; a hip hop, Haitian, and African dance company and a professor at Salem State University. 

Board Members

John Budzyna

Joanne Mathurin

Nathlaee Mejia

Cecelia Lunde