Every dancer has that one college team they follow. The one whose gameday videos they replay, whose routines they teach themselves in the kitchen, whose season they actually keep up with. This summer, some of those dancers are coming to Hauppauge. And your dancer can take class with them.
It is called the X Factor Series, the flagship summer program of the DXNY Placement Collective. Over the coming weeks, current dancers from the University of Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Delaware, and more are teaching master sessions right here at the studio. It is open to dancers in grades 5 through 12, from any studio, whether the dream is making a college dance team someday or simply learning from the best in the room.
A Mother, a Daughter, and One Idea
The Collective started close to home. Michelle Carufe, Co-Owner and Director of Dance Xtreme New York, has spent decades guiding dancers as an educator, choreographer, and coach. Her daughter, Jaelynn Gural, dances on the University of Michigan Dance Team and just lived the college recruiting process herself, start to finish.
Together they saw the same thing every year: talented dancers with no map for what comes after high school. Deadlines that hide. Tryout packets that drop without warning. A whole world nobody hands you a guide to. So they built one. The X Factor Series is where it begins, giving young dancers real time with the exact people who have already made it.
Three Names Your Dancer Might Already Know
The lineup is genuinely stacked. Here are three headliners worth circling on the calendar.
Rayna just helped Minnesota capture the 2026 UDA Pom National Championship and was named Big Ten Rookie of the Year in the same season. When she teaches championship pom, your dancer is learning it from someone who won on the sport's biggest floor months ago.
University of Minnesota Dance Team
Rayna Reid
Championship pom and collegiate-level technique from a Big Ten Rookie of the Year and UDA national champion.
Diana spent her college years as an Ohio State captain stacking national and world titles. Now she performs professionally in New York City, sharing stages with artists like RAYE and Shaggy and dancing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She brings the artistry and stage presence that turn a good dancer into one you cannot look away from.
Ohio State Dance Team
Diana Natalicchio
Storytelling-driven artistry and stage-ready confidence from a two-time world champion and NYC professional performer.
Julia danced four years at Michigan, the same program Jae is on now, and left with MVP, Big Ten, and Leadership honors plus a stack of national championships. Her class is technique and mentorship from someone who lived the exact path your dancer is dreaming about.
University of Michigan Dance Team
Julia Lepore
Big Ten technique and mentorship from a 4-year University of Michigan dancer and 5-time national champion.
A Hometown Story, Too
Not every star came from far away. Alina Mirman is a Commack native who began her competitive journey right here at DXNY before going on to the University of Delaware and a UDA Division 1 Hip Hop National Championship. If you want proof of where this path can lead, she is standing in the room.
University of Delaware Dance Team
Alina Mirman
Championship hip hop and contemporary from a Division 1A national finalist and Commack native.
There is serious coaching firepower on the roster too. Franco Paraiso is a name dancers in the hip hop world know. He helps lead the UNLV Rebel Girls, a program with a wall of UDA and world titles, and travels the country as a UDA Master Instructor. When he teaches authentic hip hop and street dance, your dancer is getting the real thing from one of the best in the game.
UNLV Rebel Girls & Company
Franco Paraiso
Authentic hip hop and street dance from a championship UNLV coach and UDA Master Instructor.
And that is only part of the lineup. You can see every instructor and date on the Collective's page.
Who It Is For, and Why It Matters
The X Factor Series meets dancers where they are. There is a grades 5 to 7 track for younger dancers building toward the college level, and a grades 8 to 12 track for those ready to train like it. Many instructors also offer one on one private sessions.
Here is the real value. Your dancer spends a couple of hours learning technique from a national champion, yes. But they also get something harder to find: an honest, current read on what the college path actually asks for, from someone who walked it this year, not a decade ago. For families even thinking about collegiate dance, that perspective is worth the drive.
Spots are limited by class size, and the summer dates fill as they arrive.