Faculty

Samantha A. MacNaughton-Vachon, Artistic Director and Owner

Samantha MacNaughton-Vachon's one request when she was little was to take dance classes. She was 3-½ when she began her training with Suzanne Taylor (formerly of the New Hampshire School of Ballet). Fortunately dancing was as wonderful for her as she had imagined it would be. Her talent was discovered at an early age and at six years of age she was selected as the youngest member of the NH Ballet Ensemble. This gave her the opportunity to perform with the company throughout the state and participate in the Miss New Hampshire pageant as a dancer.

Sam spent her summers honing her skills with some of the greats. After being accepted at several international dance camps, Samantha choose to split her summers between Burklyn Ballet Theatre and Gus Giordano's annual World Congress. It was at Burklyn that she trained with greats like David Howard, Cherie Noble, Arthur Leeth, and Angela Whitehill. Samantha MacNaughton-Vachon was chosen as a soloist in several of the performances there and was invited to perform in the annual Edinburgh Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the World Congress Sam trained with Gus and Nan Giordano, Suzanne Quinn, Joe Tremaine, Frank Hatchett, Patsy Swaze, and numerous members of Gus Giordano's Company. Sam also participated in Gus Giordano's Choreography competition.

Samantha studied tap under the direction of Aaron Tolson (Soloist with Riverdance) and Michelle Tolson (Radio City Music Hall Rockettes). She was fortunate to meet and study with Savion Glover and was selected as a soloist in his first big show, "Getting Hip To The Tap Hop."

Samantha was awarded scholarships to Point Park College, Mercyhurst, the University of Oklahoma, Goucher, and the Rock School. Her numerous awards include Dance Masters of America scholarship winner in Ballet, Jazz and Pointe, Miss Headliner (regional winner), Miss Dance Ovations, American Dance Awards Miss Dance (regional winner), American Dance Awards High Score Solo, Nominated to the National Dance Council of America and a former Miss Capital Area (prelim to the Miss New Hampshire pageant.)

Samantha taught at numerous studios in and around the NH area for nine years. Sam now shares her expertise and love of dance to a new generation of dancers as the Artistic Director and Owner of Step Above Most.

Kirstin Vanbuskirk

Kirstin Vanbuskirk started dancing at age six at the Deborah MacKay School of Dance in Webster, NY. By the age twelve she had been awarded First Place recognition at the  Showstopper National Talent Competition in Toronto, Canada and a "Beautiful Feet" award at the American Dance Spectrum for her solo ballet piece, as well as a First Place finish at Showstopper National Talent Competition for group tap. At age twelve she spent her first summer away from home to take part in The Pennsylvania Ballet's summer program in Philadelphia. At fourteen, she received a scholarship to attend a summer session at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA. At fifteen she became a student demonstrator at her home studio and was also able to begin student teaching there as well.

In 1996 Kirstin and her family moved to Exeter, New Hampshire and she enrolled in classes at Ballet New England in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was here that she was able to study under the direction of Mihailo (Misha) Djuric and future Director Angela Sears. After high school Kirstin was accepted to the University of New Hampshire where she studied ballet with C. Larry Robertson (Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet) as well as tap and jazz with Gay Nardone (Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall). During her college years she also studied with Barbara Mullen and performed with the New England Dance Ensemble. She performed in UNH Dance Showcases and with the UNH Ballet Company from 2001 to 2003. She graduated from UNH in 2003 with an B.S. in Business Administration (Whittemore School of Business and Economics) and a Minor in Dance.

After a few years in Southern Massachusetts, Kirstin has returned to New Hampshire permanently and is excited to begin the new year of dance at Step Above Most!