Jason Marquette was born in Lebanon, PA in 1976. From the age of 4, he was raised in Central Pennsylvania and was blessed with the opportunities to explore a wide variety of activities including multiple sports, music, dance, theater and many other activities. He began his dance training at the age of five with Miss Linda Fox and continued his training at Marie Shaw School of Dance under the direction and instruction of John Kalina. (The studio has been renamed Dance Fusion Studios and is now under the direction of his daughter, Megan Kalina-Delp.) Jason finished high school and continued to pursue the arts in college. He spent one year at Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales in Center Valley, PA as a dance and theater major. Wanting a program more focused specifically on his craft, he tranferred to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and graduated with a BFA in Musical Theater.
Throughout his college career, he was blessed with many opportunities to perform professionally both in Philadelphia and in other parts of PA. After graduation, he moved to Florida for 10 months to work at Disney, got his union card and then returned north to pursue his career. After several years performing around the country while chasing his dream of performing in a broadway show, he decided to follow another passion and began his teaching career. Since then, he has had the opportunity to work with dancers all over the world and even start his own company encompassing all aspects of the performing arts industry.
He has been teaching for over 25 years in cities all across the country and internationally in Helsinki, Finland; Guayaquil, Ecuador, Guatemala City as well as multiple cities in Alberta, Canada. He has taught at the DanceTeacherWeb Live Conference and Expo in Las Vegas for 7 years and appears on their website offering tutorials in Tap. He has been on faculty at various studios in New York City including New Dance Group, The Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center teaching Tap and Theater Dance and has taught at the Alvin Ailey School.
He is currently on faculty teaching tap at the New York Film Academy, New York City campus; Jazz and Tap at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts as well as several other studios in the metro area. Mr. Marquette has also been blessed to influence the training of dancers all across America while teaching and adjudicating for several national dance competitions over the years including NYLA, Dancers Inc., All American Talent Competition, Spotlight Dance Cup, Guidance Dance Experience, Resonance Tap Experience, SoFlo Tap Festival and more!
Performance credits include the original cast of the 1st National Tour of the revival of 42nd Street, The Musical, theme parks and regional theaters all across the country. In 2008 he mounted his self-produced NYC production The Next Step. His direction and choreography has also been seen in the SUNY New Paltz Production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Wittenberg University’s Fall Dance Concert, Working Mother Media’s annual NYC Worklife Congress Gala as well as music videos, corporate events and various showcases in New York and around the world.
He is the owner of Marquette Productions – The Dancer’s Music Source (www.marquetteproductions.com) and MPower Dance Workshops – Master Classes and Workshops that Mpassion, Mpower and Motivate (www.mpowerdance.com) He has also started his own line of dance and rehearsal wear, Power In Motion Dancewear, available on ETSY (Link from logo on home page) for dancers of all ages looking to express their personality and pride of self. He uses his work to give the next generation of dancers the tools to succeed in world by taking the lessons learned in the dance studio and connecting them to the real world. In 2015, fate brought Jason together with his beautiful wife, Pamela Alviar and they are the proud parents of a beautiful curly headed little girl. They live together in Queens, NY where they both continue to build their teaching careers and raise their daughter with love and laughter.
“Make your own destiny. Fate is determined by determination.” – Jason Marquette
