Deborah Mason, Artistic Director takes her passion and commitment to the class and community. She inspires young dancers, setting high standards for creative excellence and physical prowess. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Deborah Mason School of Dance, which has served as a training ground for dancers since 1975. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Cambridge Youth Dance Program, a non-profit dance and performing arts program for serious dancers in the Cambridge area. Her credits include a leading role in the musical Cinderella in SummerStock, touring New York City, Chicago, Kansas City, and Boston. Deborah  has worked with some of the finest dancers in the dance world such as Brenda Buffalino of the American Tap Dance Orchestra, Leon Collins, Sue Ronson, the Nicholas brothers, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, and Luigi. Having served the City of Cambridge for 37 years, she was commissioned by Mayor Reeves to serve on the Board for the Arts in Cambridge. She has been honored with the Key to the City of Cambridge, and has been cited from the city of Boston for her continued success. She has been honored by Mayor Sheila Russell for her dedication to young women’s development, received the Galluccio Award for her commitment to youth sports, was recently cited by the United States Senate in Washington, DC for providing a high quality arts education for decades, and was recently nominated for Coca Cola Company’s Distinguished Teachers in the Arts award program. Deborah’s expertise in training continues to produce accomplished dancers and the studio’s outstanding faculty is the tradition of excellence that is synonymous with the name Deborah Mason School of Dance.

Cyrus Brooks began his career at a young age when his mother, Janice, took him on a concert tour of Japan and the United States. He soon enrolled in African dance lessons, which was followed by an open casting call for the PBS series ZOOM in 1994. Cyrus began his acting career with serious stage roles in The Miracle Worker, The Good Times Are Killing Me, and most recently, Universal Soldiers. Cyrus continues to develop his talents and skills with private and group acting, vocal, tap (hoofing), hip hop, b-boy/beak dancing, street tumbling, ballet, modern, African, and krump dance sessions. Cyrus recently choreographed, and was a featured dancer in Overtures production of On the Twentieth Century, which won the 2006 Elliot Norton Award for best musical performance. Cyrus was a featured dancer in the July 2006 issue of Dance Magazine. He has given lecture demonstrations on tap history at Berkley College of Music, Yale University, and Harvard University. Cyrus recently started his own dance group called The Old Skool DropOuts, who are currently on a steady rise in the dance world. He actively participates in street performances with the New York City Transformers Break Dance Team and throughout Boston. Cyrus is a member of both Actors Equity and Screen Actors Guild.

Gail Fanning-Grove is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds a B.F.A. in dance with a concentration in Choreography, Pedagogy, and Laban Movement Analysis with Ann Dooley. She was a member of The Dance Consortium with Georgiana Holmes and Steven Malkus bringing dance into Boston area schools. Gail has choreographed and performed her own work at Mobious Theater, Cambridge Multicultural Center, Green Street Studios, University of New Hampshire, and Boston Conservatory. She was a semi-finalist at the American College Dance Festival at Bates College in Maine, and a recipient of a Somerville Arts Council award for her choreography. She has been a guest artist at the Copley Square Ballet in Boston under the direction of David Drummond and the Chambers School of Ballet in Randolph under the direction of Russell Chambers. Gail was the choreographer for a number of musicals such as HMS Pinafore, The Music Man, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Pirates of Penzance, The Sound of Music, and The Mikado at the Belmont Unitarian Church under the direction of Alfa Radford. For over 25 years she has been teaching creative dance, classical ballet, modern dance, and choreography. She was director of The Dance Workshop - a creative dance program for children, at the Hill House on Beacon Hill and the Arlington Center in Arlington Mass, and was director of Moonflower Dance, a modern dance company for youth. Gail has taught at the Deborah Mason School of Dance, the Lexington School of Ballet, Citizens Schools in Boston, Med-O Lark Summer Arts Camp in Washington, Maine and continues to teach in both public and private schools.

Jayme Thornell was trained under the direction of Deborah Mason for eighteen years. In 1994, she performed in Scrooge with Copley Square Youth Ballet. Jayme also danced with the American Theatre Dance Summer Intense Workshop at Hofstra University from 2000-2003, where she studied with Broadway sensations such as Bill Hastings, Karen Baker, and Lillie Kaye Stevens. Jayme attended Dean College where she received a scholarship and majored in Dance.

Rachel Vanger began her studies of ballet at the age of 6 at The Cambridge School of Ballet with Carol Jorda, Marie Paquet, and Tatiana Babushkina. She appeared in Noye’s Fludde and The Christmas Revels with the late John Langstaff, as well as in original choreography by Rosalind De Mille. Rachel studied at length in NYC with Melissa Hayden and Patricia Wilde. While at Wellesley College, she studied ballet and dance history with Christine Temin. Rachel continues her studies in the Legat Technique with Nina Pillar and Zabelle Margosian, and is a member of The National Dance Education Organization.

since 1975

Encourage students to use their

imagination, reach their goals, and enrich lives with the performing arts