THE COMPANY
ZETTA COOL (Executive Director) is a graduate of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in which she has a B.A. in Dance with a concentration in Arts Administration. She is trained in Ballet, Modern, Hip Hop and Jazz. She studied under Ronald K. Brown, Lisa Attles of Alvin Ailey, Sharron Miller of Sharron Miller's Academy for the Performing Arts and The Stockton College Dance Department. Zetta is a certified public school dance teacher who has taught Hip Hop, Modern and Jazz at the Montclair YMCA, Bradford Elementary School, Watchung Elementary School and East Orange Campus High School. Ms. Cool is currently the proud owner/artistic director of The Cool School of performing arts and the Dance Department Head at Buzz Aldrin Middle School in Montclair NJ. She has successfully shared her love of dance, discipline, performance, and self-esteem to hundreds of middle school aged boys and girls. Ms. Cool hopes to bring her program to young stars around the world that may never experience the arts, but deserve to.
MALCOLM MILES YOUNG began his dance training at Dance World Academy under the direction of Donna Farinella. He graduated from Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne, NJ in 2018 and is currently a second year BFA dance major at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In 2018, Malcolm stepped into the position of Padierna Dance Project Rehearsal Director. This past summer, he was an artistic intern at Move(NYC) under the direction of Nigel Campbell and Chanel DaSilva. Young has attended the Juilliard and Joffrey Summer Dance Intensives on full scholarship, is a member of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts, was a 2019 Taco Bell Foundation Live Más Scholar, a recipient of the 2018 Governor’s Award in Arts Education, and was most recently selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar. Performance highlights include Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company’s “Freedom of Information” pt. 3 at New York University’s Jack Crystal Theater, Earl Mosley’s Diversity in Dance Repertory Showcase, Dance Against Cancer’s Youth Movement, and New Jersey Moves Emerging Choreographers at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).
KRISTILEE MAIELLA, native of Northwest New Jersey will be receiving her BFA in Dance at Montclair State University this spring. She began her early dance education at the Dance Academy of North Jersey where she trained in ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, and musical theatre. While she has most recently worked in music videos, Kristilee has also performed live in works by many eminent choreographers such as Stacey Tookey, Larry Keigwin, Jaclyn Walsh, Angelica Stiskin, Jason Luks, Earl Mosley, and Talia Favia. She has also had the opportunity to perform in venues such as Symphony Space, Barclays Center, Prudential Center, MMAC and NJPAC. Kristilee also choreographs and sets work on Montclair State University students for the Department of Theatre & Dance’s student choreography productions. She is honored and thrilled to be an official company member of Padierna Dance Project.
SEBASTIAN MARTINEZ is a 19-year-old Colombian-American dancer from Stamford,
Connecticut. Sebastian began dancing recreationally at the age of 10 at The Ballet
School of Stamford under the direction of his teacher and mentor Josue Jasmine. Three years later, he began dancing at Connecticut Dance Center where he began training under the instruction of Tamara Saari. In 2012, Sebastian received the “Stamford Gives Back” Performing Arts Scholarship. In the following year, he received a full scholarship to the Triple Threat Performing Arts Program at the Stamford Palace Theater. In the summer of 2014, Sebastian was selected to participate in the Ellen Werksman National Workshop in Barrington, Illinois. Sebastian then went on to receive acceptance into the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Summer Intensive in 2015 and the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program in 2016 and 2017. Sebastian has performed works by Gierre Godley for the Philadelphia Youth Dance Fest. Sebastian has also worked with Ryan Mason and Emile Camacho as part of the Toscana Dance Hub in Florence, Italy in 2018. He graduated as a senior company member of Connecticut Dance Center’s Contemporary Dance Company in 2018 and is currently a sophomore at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts as a dance major. He is also currently a member of the Padierna Dance Project, a New Jersey based contemporary company under the direction of Daniel Padierna.
EDIE DUNN (London, UK) started her training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. She has been Dance Captain for London’s West End show “Godspell” where she understudied the lead role of Morgan. Alongside West End, Edie has also back up danced for Robbie Williams, performed on Britain’s Got Talent and has done various commercials and professional voice overs. She attended the Ailey Summer Intensive in 2016 and moved to New York that same year. Edie has been part of the Independent Program and is currently in her final year of the Certificate Program. Since her time in New York, she has worked with world renowned choreographers such as Darrell Moultrie, Early Mosley, Clifton Brown, Hollie Wright, Alrick Thomas, Daniel Padierna, Sidra Bell, Shay Bland, Kervin Boyd, Norbert De La Cruiz and many more. Dunn recently performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with The Ailey School as well as performing a section of Mr Ailey’s Revelations at City Center a long side the company. Her performance highlights also include venues such as New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), Manhattan Movement and Arts Center (MMAC), Symphony Space NYC, Baryshnikov Arts Center , the Joan Weill Center for Dance, Marriott Hotel, along with others. Dunn is also a choreographer, as her works have been performed on students at The Ailey School as well as City Center with Students from Earl Mosleys Institute of the Arts. Edie is extremely excited to be joining Padierna Dance Project.