Diamond Dance Center in Harford County Maryland, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Pointe

About Us

Our People

The faculty is headed by Ms. Diane Pippen and Ms. Barbara Peterson, the founders and directors of the Diamond Dance Center. After teaching dance together for a combined forty years, the opening of the Diamond Dance Center fulfills a lifelong dream for these "dancing" sisters.


	Diane Pippen. Ms. Pippen has been in the field of dance education for over twenty-six years. Ms. Pippen graduated with honors with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing and soon thereafter completed her second Bachelors degree in dance at Towson University. Ms. Pippen continues to study dance, take classes and attend dance conferences to keep her teaching and choreography knowledge base current. Ms. Pippen has studied with professional dance educators and dancers from across the country. Ms. Pippen’s extensive pediatric nursing background enables her to offer added value to her dancers and their families.
She is often called upon to use her nursing and assessment skills to help dancers with injury prevention & diagnosis, functional anatomy, strength and flexibility, and nutrition issues. Ms. Pippen plans to pursue further education in the field of athletic training and dance medicine. She is currently a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine & Science. She is also a member of the Maryland Council For Dance. Her choreography and performance credits include concert pieces for Vital Sign, the Maryland Arts Festival, The Towson University Dance Company and the Towson Alumni Reunion concert with the Baltimore Symphony. She is also the Co-Director of the Gems In Motion Performing Company, for which she choreographs performances and competition pieces. Ms. Pippen has been instrumental in promoting dance in the local community and surrounding area. Her dancers have performed for Orioles Fanfest, Aberdeen Ironbirds, Six Flags Dancefest, Hershey Park Talent Quest, Harford Memorial Hospital, Lorian Assisted Living, and Stella Maris Hospital, as well as, ,many local and regional dance competitions.

Barbara Peterson. Ms. Peterson has also been a dance educator for the past twenty-six years. Her choreography and performance credits include concert pieces for the Towson University Dance Company, Maryland Arts Festival, Busch Gardens Theme Park and Harford Dance Theater. Ms. Peterson received a Bachelor’s degree from Towson University with a double major in dance and psychology. Ms. Peterson continues to study dance, take classes and attend dance conferences to keep her teaching and choreography knowledge base current.

Ms. Peterson has studied with professional dance educators and dancers from across the country. She is a member of the Cecchetti Council of America and continues her studies of the Cecchetti ballet syllabus. She is a certified Cecchetti instructor and has passed the teacher exams through Level IV. As the ballet director at the Diamond Dance Center, Ms. Peterson strives to maintain a safe, well balanced and age-appropriate ballet curriculum. As co-Director of the Gems In Motion, Ms. Peterson plays an instrumental role in the choreography of performance and competition pieces for the company. In addition to her dance expertise, Ms. Peterson has an extensive background in gymnastics. After completing her career as a nationally competitive collegiate gymnast with Towson University, she continued to choreograph and coach for many local gymnastics teams.

Sarah Cincotta. Sarah Cincotta is an honors graduate from the Baltimore School for The Arts, with a major in Ballet and Modern. She trained with the San Francisco Ballet School at the age of 16 on partial scholarship. There she performed with the San Francisco Ballet Company, including roles in “The Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker”. Ms. Cincotta also attended summer sessions with the American Ballet Theater NYC, School of Hartford Ballet on full merit scholarship, and the North Carolina School for the Arts.

Most recently Sarah danced as a soloist with Ballet Theater of Maryland for two years. Her stage experience with BTM includes: Principal dancer in “Masquerade Suite”, soloist in “The Nutcracker” performing roles of the Toy Soldier and Arabian, as well as a soloist in “Carmina Berana” performed with the U.S. Navel Academy. Ms. Cincotta has also performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra several times. Sarah’s choreography credits include “Tease the Turtle”, BTM 2002

Lindsey Burton. Ms. Burton has studied ballet for fifteen years and assisted in teaching ballet for seven years. She has studied under Mrs. Barbara Peterson, Mrs. Clare Comfor, and faculty at the Harford Dance Theater. Her performance experience includes the pieces of “Snow”, “Chinese”, “Trepak”, and “Arabian”, in Harford Dance Theater’s “The Nutcracker” and “The Sugar Plum Fairy” in a local production of “Scenes from the Nutcracker”.

Ms. Burton attended summer programs at the Goucher Arts Institute and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She completed her Cecchetti Grade One and Two exams with a “Pass Commended”. Ms. Burton graduated with honors from Kennard-Dale High School in 2002 and is currently attending York College of Pennsylvania in pursuit of a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education. Her future aspirations include pursuing a Masters Degree in Education and a Bachelors Degree in Dance Education while teaching elementary school and ballet.

Esperonto Bean. Mr. Bean was mentored by Fluky Luke and the late Re-Run (Fred Berry) of the 70’s dance group The Lockers. Along with his dance group Groov Mekanex he has performed with the hip-hop dance company Pure Movement, under the international direction of Rennie Harris. Mr. Bean has taught workshops at The Maryland Dance Festival, American College Dance Festival and Dance Baltimore. In addition, he teaches at the Community College of Baltimore County and is a resident instructor at several studios through out Baltimore County. Currently he is the choreographer for the new Pop/R&B artist Devaughn Howard.

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