Tiffany Whitaker Seda was drawn to dance at age four, and at age five attended a performance by the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. With her chin resting on the brass rail in front of her balcony seat, engrossed in the dancing, she told her mother that someday she was going to be a member of the company and dance on that iconic stage. When engaged by the Radio City Rockettes fourteen years later, she was the youngest dancer in the famed company.
Her love of dance began at the Dance Arts Center in Sidney with Pat Burki, Tammy Johnson and Andrea Kozak Wakeman as her instructors and mentors, and continued her studies at the Yelverton Dance Studio in Conklin, NY. It seems fitting that Tiffany, its first dancer, enters the SCSAA Wall of Fame on the heels of Andrea Kozak Wakeman' s 2010 induction as a dance teacher and mentor of many young dancers.
After graduating from Sidney High School in 1996, Tiffany Whitaker went immediately to Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to further her dance studies. She then auditioned for the Rockettes as one among thousands of young dancers, and immediately was accepted.
Dance careers, like those of many athletes, are quite short, but Tiffany extended hers for thirteen years, appearing hundreds of times on the Radio City Music Hall stage, as well with the company on tours. In addition to her dance work on stage in New York City, she appeared around the globe with dancing legend Gregory Hines, comedian Yakov Smirnoff, and designers Tara Subkoff and Tim Gunn. Ms. Whitaker worked in televisions commercials, appeared in print ads, and was seen on television on Saturday Night Live, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the Kentucky Derby. She appeared in commercials for Chase Bank, Verizon, Papa John's Pizza, Heineken Beer, and Grey Goose Vodka, and in several musicals including Brigadoon, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Meet Me in St. Louis and Kismet.
Tiffany has returned often to Sidney to mentor young dancers in the Dance Arts Studio and the ABC Center for the Performing Arts and is an iconic figure for many young local dance students. Both during her dance career and after she has used her time and talents in support of fund-raising for the AIDS Foundation, American Cancer Society, and the American Red Cross. She has performed for our country's troops as well as for the infirm and aged in numerous hospitals. She has made several post-9/11 appearances in support of both the New York City Police and Fire Departments.
Tiffany Whitaker is married to Chris Seda and lives in West Islip, New York with their daughter Gabrielle and rescue dog, Dug, found at the local animal shelter where Tiffany volunteers.