RPDP Staff

Veronica Nugent

Founder, Instructor

Veronica has been teaching ballroom dance since 1992 and opened Simply Ballroom Dance Studio in Chesterfield, VA with her husband, Lee, in 2007. After attending the Dance for PD training program at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY in 2010, she started the Richmond Parkinson's Dance Project in memory of her late father, Gustav Milan Braun, who passed away from complications with Parkinson's.

Diane Bates

Instructor

Diane is a retired middle school teacher from Chesterfield County who started taking dance lessons for fun. In 2012, she completed her ballroom instructor training at Simply Ballroom and began volunteering with Richmond Parkinson's Dance Project. Later that same year, she attended the Dance for PD training at the Mark Morris Dance Center to begin teaching classes for the program.

Patty Mochary

Instructor

Patty worked and performed with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater for 8 years. Over the years, she had the pleasure of working with ballet luminaries such as Frederic Franklin, Ruth Page, Leonide Massine, Edward Villella, and Natalia Makarova. Patty has been teaching ballet throughout the Richmond Area for 20+ years. She completed the Dance for PD training through the Mark Morris Dance Center, under the sponsorship of Simply Ballroom.