Many know Mrs. Fleischman as the dance teacher and musical choreographer at Del Val. A vivacious woman in and out of the classroom, she is a delight to have as a teacher.

Fleischman is a person first, and an educator second.  She prides herself on forming personal connections with her students, built on mutual respect and interests.  One of the reasons she chose to work with high schoolers is that she enjoys the fact they are “people.” She remembers being in high-school herself, saying, “I was not an amorphous blob, I was a human.”

Fleischman strives to make her class a safe space for everyone. She says that without trust, her class would lack fun since students would not feel comfortable creating or exploring the world of dance. She wants to make her class a “comfort bubble of fuzzy warmth.”

Outside of class, Fleischman is a bubbly woman and an animal lover. Beyond her dog, Fergus, which she loves very much, Fleischman’s favorite animal is the otter. She thinks their “slinky” nature, and the way they hold hands, is adorable. She is also interested by the fact that otters have a little pouch in which they store their favorite rock. “I’m almost like my own otter in a way,” she recalls.

For this reason, Fleischman and her husband, Kenny Nitroy, incorporated rocks into their wedding. They had guests hold a rock, and put well-wishes into it, doing a stone oath where the promise made in stone was originally made. To remember this, Mrs. Fleischman keeps all of the rocks from her wedding at her house in a large vase.

In addition to her dancing, Mrs. Fleischman is a very accomplished teacher. She attended Del Val herself and, at the time, had no idea what she wanted to do.  She knew she liked dance, so she decided to go to DeSales University to receive her bachelor’s degree.

After that, Fleischman got into choreographing for musicals at Del Val, which ultimately led her to attend Rutgers University as an alternate route teacher to get her teaching certification.  Now, in addition to teaching at Del Val, Fleischman works at a dance studio where she teaches all ages.