Long Island Dance Team Association

Tara Foglia, President
 

As a former competitive studio dancer, a Commack HS Varsity Cougarette, member of the Hofstra University Dance Team and former NDA Head Instructor for 8 years, Tara has taken all of that knowledge/experience and gone on to win 6 national championships as the former coach at Commack HS. Currently, going into her 18th year as the head coach of the Smithtown HS West Varsity Whisperettes, she has brought them to victory in 11 national championships. Tara has also added 3 national kicks titles to her resume by going back to where it all started as the kick choreographer of the Commack Varsity Cougarettes.  After losing one of her beloved alumni in 2015 Tara began the Stephanie Belli Memorial Dance Team Festival and scholarship fund. The event has quickly become one of the biggest on Long Island and, to date, has raised over $60,000 for the scholarships. Tara was voted the National Dance Coaches Associations High School Coach of the Year in 2023 and in 2024 NDCA awarded her Volunteer of the Year. In 2021 Tara became a founding member and first president of the Long Island Dance Team Association.

Kerry Dennis, Secretary
 

Kerry grew up as a dancer and a three-sport varsity athlete on Long Island. She attended Siena College majoring in History and minored in English. She then attended Adelphi University where she earned a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. For the past 20 years, she has been a social studies teacher at Mepham High School and has been the coach of the Mepham Varsity Kickline team since 2008. During her time as coach, Mepham has earned both regional and national recognition, including their first NDA National Championship in 2020. Kerry is the Secretary of LIDTA and a founding member.   

Allison Peiliker-Lisagar, Co-treasurer

Allison grew up as a competitive dancer on Long Island. She is the coach of the Elwood-John Glenn Knightline for the last 17 seasons. She went to Stony Brook University where she majored in English and minored in Dance. As a Seawolf, she specialized in modern dance. She worked as a dance teacher at Port Jefferson Dance Academy for twelve years taught in tap, ballet, lyrical and jazz to students from the age of 2 to 18 years old. Currently, she works as an English teacher at John Glenn High School. She is the co-treasurer of the Long Island Dance Team Association and a founding member.

Ashleen Macedonio, Co-treasurer

Ashleen grew up as a competitive figure skater for sixteen years. She attended undergrad at Keuka College where she studied American Sign Language and Education. She joined the dance team and was a co-Coach her senior year. Once she graduated undergrad she worked as an Ice Girl for the NY Islanders for eight years. During that time she began coaching cheerleading at John Glenn High School. In 2018 she became the head coach of the Kings Park Varsity Royalettes Kickline Team where she also teaches American Sign Language. She has coached the team to their first competitions at NDA Long Island Regionals and was a founding board member of LIDTA in 2021.

Nina Pennacchi, Event Coordinator
 

Nina Pennacchio grew up on Long Island as a dancer since the age of two at the June Claire Dance Center. Her love for dance grew stronger as she entered high school and was a member of the award-winning Commack Varsity Cougarette Kickline team for her high school career. She was captain of her team her senior year in 2004-2005. She was also an NDA instructor that taught dancers technique and leadership skills at Hofstra University. She went on to college majoring in Deaf Studies. During her college career she was captain and advisor of the Towson Pom Squad from 2005-2009. While in her master’s program, she coached for the Commack Varisty Cougarettes. Nina coached CVC from 2011-2017. Nina and her fellow coach made history for this team, winning both NDA national titles in the Jazz and Kick categories simultaneously in the same year multiple times. Nina is a founding member of LIDTA, a local high school and collegiate dance competition for dancers across Long Island. Nina obtains the position of event coordinator for LIDTA. She has worked with multiple teams across Long Island helping teams with cleaning competition routines, reinforcing technique, and choreography. Nina also has experience with judging dance competitions on Long Island. Recently, Nina was one of the coaches for the Stony Brook University Dance team for the 2023-2024 year. She currently works at Eastern Suffolk BOCES as a teacher of the Deaf.

Jackie Verre, Judges Coordinator

Jackie's love for dance began at the age of 3 when she began studio dance.  While she continued her dance training throughout high school, she was also a four year member of the Smithtown Whisperettes.  From there she attended Binghamton University, majoring in Human Development, and was a member of both the dance team and a student-run choreography program called Children's Dance Theater.  While she was attending graduate school at Long Island University, Jackie was thrilled to be asked to return to the Smithtown Kickline program as a coach in 2006.  She began her coaching career at Accompsett Middle School Kickline and then one year later moved up to proudly coach the Smithtown West Junior Varsity Kickline for the next 16 years.  She retired from coaching in 2023 and joined the LIDTA Board the following season as the Judges Coordinator.  Jackie has also been a School Counselor for the past 18 years and is entering into her 15th year at Farmingdale High School. 

Katie Desmond, Board Member Emeritus
 

Katie Desmond grew up dancing competitively at TJE Dance Force in Holbrook, NY. She was a member of the Sachem Varsity Arrowettes dance team while in high school. Upon graduation in 2004, Katie began coaching for her Alma Mater as well as teaching and choreographing for local dance studios, High Schools, and College dance teams. Since 2012, Katie has earned Sixteen (16) NDA National Dance Titles and One Grand NDA National Championship in 2020 as the Head Coach of the Sachem North Varsity Arrowettes. In 2021, Katie obtained the position as Board Member Emeritus for LIDTA and she is a founding member of the organization. Katie graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Social Work. As a NYS licensed social worker, Katie currently works as the social worker for Hiawatha elementary school. Katie also received a nomination from the National Dance Coaches Association this past year for being a 2024 High School Coach of the year.