Founder & Creative Director
Joyce DiLauro

Joyce DiLauro has been a dance educator for over 35 years. Joyce began her dance training in her mother’s studio and continued in New York City at The American Ballet Theatre School, The American Ballet Center and Luigi’s Broadway Jazz Center. She later studied modern dance, African dance and belly dancing as well as being a certified Yoga teacher. She continues her dance education in New York with her mentor, Finis Jhung. Joyce is founder (1988) and Artistic Director of Starship Dance Theater (SDT), a nonprofit, community-based performing arts organization dedicated to bringing dance to the shoreline community. She is a founding board member of the Connecticut Dance Alliance (CDA) dedicated to increasing public awareness of dance in all its forms and to serving the needs of the statewide dance community. She is the owner of Guilford’s Starship Dance Studio, which overlooks the picturesque West River. Her student population is diverse both in age and ability ranging from two year old through adult, those new to dance and those preparing for a professional career. She fosters a life long love and appreciation of dance. Alumni have gone on to professional careers in dance with New York City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Minnesota Ballet Theater, San Diego Ballet, The Rockettes, and Broadway as well as smaller dance companies. She has worked with many shoreline theater groups both as a performer and choreographer, such as, Project2k. She continues to offer her artistic talents to our shoreline youth and is happy to again be working with Guilford High School Theatre Arts (voted GHSTA 2016 Honorary Thespian).