Our Faculty

Jane holds a Master degree in Vocal Performance and a Master degree in Music Education and has spent her career teaching in both public and private schools, as well at universities, and was identified as a Highly Qualified Teacher through the Ohio Department of Education. Specializing in Vocal Instruction and Coaching, Jane provides an individual and holistic approach for all ages and levels, customized to inspire and engage with an emphasis on music reading skills, diction, interpretation, technique, and vocal health. She has dedicated her life to singing, and currently maintains an independent vocal studio, Atwood Music Studio, in the Sylvania area and works with students virtually. Her students have been accepted into young artists programs and institutions such as Interlochen, New England Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Miami University of Ohio, among others. Notably, my former students have gone onto perform professionally in varying genres of music including opera, song literature, jazz, and musical theater throughout the country.

Jeffrey is a familiar face on the local stage, most recently playing roles from Shakespeare to Squidward. Some of his favorite roles include portraying (and being murdered as) the entire D’Ysquith family in Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, the Baker in Into the Woods, and Nick Bottom in Something Rotten.  He has had the opportunity to work with the Toledo Rep, the Croswell Opera House, Waterville Playshop, Cutting Edge & Actor’s Collaborative. His latest adventure is narrating audiobooks and voice acting. He studied Business and Musical Theatre at the University of Toledo and is currently the co-director of Capable Kids, a therapy center for children with developmental disabilities. This is a role he shares with his lovely wife Heather, along with homeschool teacher/parent of their only son, Elliot. When not at Capable Kids or onstage, Jeffrey can likely be found in a bookstore, on a bike or playing board games. 

Jeffrey is the director of Toledo Met's Fall Drama Club; Spring Junior Musical Program; and the Summer Junior Musical Camp. 

Tess began her dancing career in 1987 at the early age of 3. She received her initial 13 years of training from the Barn Studio of Dance in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, supplemented by summer intensives at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. In the summer of 2000, Ms. Caputo attended the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts on scholarship for ballet. At age 16, Ms. Caputo continued with intense training at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. She was accepted to attend the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music at age 17 and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ballet on scholarship. During her ballet career, Ms. Caputo has trained and performed with various companies, including the Pennsylvania Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Toledo Classical Ballet and Ballet Theatre of Scranton. She has performed variations from La Bayadére, Don Quixote, Dracula, La Esmaralda, Giselle, Napoli, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, and many others, including original works.

Tess is the mother of three young performers and lives with family here Toledo.  We are so excited to welcome Tess to our faculty.  Her gift of high quality instruction balanced with a genuine concern for her students is why Tess is a wonderful fit for Toledo Met! 

Tyrone Cobham, was born and raised in the city of Toledo, Ohio. Surrounded by music of all styles, thanks to his family, it was only a matter of time before he was introduced to dance of all styles, as well. Tyrone went on to join the High Voltage Dance Company at Daryl Jervis Dance Studios. He trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop.

Tyrone went on to assist and demonstrate for brilliant master teachers on the Dance Makers Inc. Tour for three years. While assisting for Dance Makers, Tyrone was featured on So You Think You Can Dance, Season 10 presenting his own choreography. He was hailed as “the best tap performer in all of 10 seasons.”, and received a ticket straight to Vegas. This led him straight to a movie role as a principal dancer, working with Emmy Award winning choreographers Tabitha & Napoleon (Nappy Tabs). He also worked with Kyle Hanagami, Mark Goodman, Kathryn McCormick, Zack Everhart and Audrey Case.Tyrone has also worked with celebrity fitness trainers such as Autumn Calabrese  and on music videos/live stage performances for Chris Brown, Casanova, Fabolous, Beach Body and as a choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance, Season 13 and an assistant choreographer for the BET Awards. .

With well over a decade of teaching experience, his teaching credits include very prestigious studios such as Playground LA, Movement Lifestyle, Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio (now known as Debbie Reynolds Legacy Studios), Edge Performing Arts Center, and Millennium Dance Complex Franchises.

Jessica Espinosa was born and raised in the Toledo area and began her dance training at age 5 where she performed and trained at a local dance studio with a focus on classical jazz and modern dance styles. From there Jessica set her sites on bigger adventures when attending the performing arts school in Toledo and began elite training in musical theatre and ballet. She sang and danced in various musicals. Her favorite roles in musical theatre were, Sally Brown, in Your a Good Man Charlie Brown: lead dancer in Footloose and an acting role in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as Balthazar.

Jessica began extensive one on one ballet training with Elena Bartley, former principle dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem. This training later expanded to Louis Dominguez and Nancy Cole of Dance Theatre of Harlem.  Her favorite ballets under their direction included lead roles in Peter and the Wolf, Balanchine's Serenade and Concerto in F. Jessica continued training at Toledo Ballet under the instruction of Nigel Burgouine and several other master teachers including Ms. Laura Alonzo from the National Ballet of Cuba. Arthur Mitchell from Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Whilhelm Burmann.  Jessica went on to  professionally train and perform with the Dance Theatre of Harlem; the second company, Ballet Hispanico;  and the Richmond Ballet. Favorite ballets include the Nutcracker as Arabian, dance soloist for master works chorale, Coppelia's Friends in the ballet Coppelia, and the role of Diamond in Diamond Silver and Gold from Sleeping Beauty.

Jessica has three children and over 12 years experience in teaching dance. She is proud to say that she has many training experiences in early childhood education as a prekindergarten coordinator. These experiences have helped her expand other dance school's ballet programs. At Dance FX Academy Jessica ran and organized a ballet competition team, taught all levels of ballet at Toledo Ballet and Ballet Theatre of Toledo. She is most proud of her pointe program she worked on at Company C Dance Club. She has taken several dancers to prestigious ballet competitions over the years setting timeless choreography and providing private coaching . She is honored and excited to be spreading the love for ballet in the Toledo area!

Toledo Met is thrilled to be welcoming Alison Kuhr to the 2024-25 teaching faculty. Alison has nearly two decades of dance education experience both locally and nationally, with experience teaching both brand new students as well as the seasoned dancer. Kuhr strives to create and environment where each student is encouraged and supported to develop their skills on their own trajectory while also building their self-confidence and joy of movement. Alison has a bachelors degree in dance education (2009) and a Masters degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (2013). Outside the studio, Alison is a mom to three children and owns her own mental health private practice, Through Counseling Services. Welcome, Alison!

Molly is a lifelong early childhood educator with a BS in Early Childhood Education and holds Montessori certification in the early childhood age levels.  Her educational experience with young children combined with her decades of experience as a tap, ballet, jazz and Irish Dance teacher makes Miss Molly the perfect teacher to work with our very youngest students at Toledo Met. 

Molly has been working with Toledo Met as our parent child Creative Movement teacher on Saturday mornings.  When not teaching dance, Molly enjoys time with her two daughters and works at the University of Toledo in their early childhood center.   

A 2023 graduate of Toledo School for The Arts, Chianna joined Toledo Met as a PBT and dance instructor in 2023.  This past spring Chianna earned her Level 2 PBT (Progressive Ballet Technique) certification, rendering her one of Toledo Met's highest credentialed conditioning instructors.  Chianna is a sophomore at the University of Toledo working towards a bachelors in early childhood educatoin and has also been dancing her entire life.  With decades of experience in ballet, jazz and contemporary and tap, Chianna loves teaching our younger students and our Musical Theater Dance Lab on Saturdays. 

Maria Jacoby is a dance performer, maker, and teacher from Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from Toledo School For The Arts in 2018, she was chosen to travel with DanceMakers Competition for a year to work backstage and assist classes with choreographers such as Dejan Tubic, Kathryn McCormick, and Brooke Paulsen. More recently, Maria has tap danced with The Hot Sardines at their “Holiday Stomp” show at the Kimmel Cultural Campus, worked with Klassic Contemporary Ballet Company and Uniting Colleges Through Tap Company, as well as performed works by Symone Holliday, Annie Rigney, and Wayne David. She has taught classes at the Swingin’ Into Summer Tap Festival and at dance studios around Philadelphia and Toledo. She will graduate with a BFA in Dance in the Spring of 2022 from University of the Arts.

Madeline's  training began at the age of 10 with Toledo Ballet under the direction of Lisa Mayer and Michael Lang. There she trained in classical ballet, contemporary, jazz, and voice. Her passion for dance led her to perform many featuredroles such as Clara, Dew Drop, Dorothy, and Little Red Riding Hood. In 2017, she placed Top12 for Contemporary in the YAGP competition. Madeline spent her summers attending Summer Programs for Joffrey and ABT where she was granted the opportunity to perform featured roles such as “Medora” in Le Corsaire and “Cupid” in Don Quixote. Throughout high school,Madeline enjoyed working as a teacher and Rehearsal Director for the Toledo Ballet.

In 2018, Madeline left Ohio to continue her training at The University of North Carolina School

of the Arts under the direction of Deans Susan Jaffe, Jared Redick, and Endalyn Taylor. At

UNCSA, Madeline has studied ballet, Limon, Cunningham, Graham, counter-technique, and

other styles of dance. Her favorite performances with UNCSA include Ethan Stiefel’s, The

Nutcracker and Martha Graham’s, The Maple Leaf Rag. Throughout the course of her training,

Madeline has had the privilege to study under renowned artists such as Susan Jones, Julie Kent,

Samantha Shelton, Duncan Lyle, Renato Pentiado, Tricia Albertson, Jennet Zerbe, Eva Draw,

Maurizio Nardi, Angelina Sansone, and Laura Martin. In 2022, Madeline graduation from UNCSA

with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and joined Toledo Met as a teacher and most recently, as an administrator.

Cheryl grew up dancing in Toledo.  She is both a Cecchetti trained dance teacher, Exam Levels I-III and an ABT Certified teacher, having completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum.  Ms. Walter graduated from the University of Toledo with a Bachelor's degree in Spanish and is currently working as a microbiologist at Mercy St. Vincent and Mercy St. Anne's hospitals. 

In her spare time, Cheryl is an avid runner.  An enthusiastic member of Dave's Running Club, Ms. Cheryl can often be spotted running or biking through the community and in road races all over the region!  She is also a new grandmother!