TAUNTON - An 18-year-old Norton woman told a jury Tuesday she had sex four times with her dance instructor when she was just 15, including once after playing drinking games at the Taunton Holiday Inn with the instructor and her friend.

The girl, who is now a freshman in college, testified in Taunton Superior Court that she had sex over a four-month period with Keith Sampson, now 29, beginning in November 2004 during a dance trip to Germany.

Sampson, of South Easton, who at the time owned his own dance company called Attitudes in Motion, denies having had any sexual relations with the girl, and has pleaded innocent to statutory rape.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to have sex with a person younger than 16.

The young woman testified she first met Sampson at Art in Motion Academy of Dance in Norton, where he was an instructor, until the owner found out about the alleged sexual relationship in 2005. The Sun Chronicle does not publish the names of alleged victims in sexual assault cases.

The woman testified that after having sex with Sampson in his hotel room in Germany, she had sex with him again at her home the following month before going Christmas shopping with her classmates at New Testament Christian School in Norton.

By the time of the trip to Germany, which she went on with 20 other dance students and parents, the girl testified she had one previous sexual partner, and told Sampson.

The woman testified that at the end of January 2005, she and a friend at the Art in Motion Academy of Dance made plans with Sampson to drink at a room he had rented at the Taunton Holiday Inn.

She testified they all played "Ring of Fire," a drinking game with cards, and that she drank three rum and cokes. During cross-examination, she acknowledged telling police she had five drinks.

After her friend went to sleep in a bed nearby, the woman testified she and Sampson had sex in the other bed. The friend, who is now 20 and goes to college in Florida, testified she faked that she was asleep.

"I looked over and saw them having sex," the friend testified.

When the 15-year-old got up to go to the bathroom, the friend testified Sampson came over to her bed and tried to talk to her, but she faked being asleep.

In another incident, the young woman testified she had sex a fourth time with Sampson at her home in February 2005 before going to dance class.

The alleged sexual relationship ended when the owner of Art in Motion Academy of Dance confronted her about suspicions of sexual activity, and met with her, her mother and Sampson, according to court testimony. The alleged victim admitted she initially lied about the relationship because she liked dancing with Sampson and thought he was a good instructor.

"I didn't want people to know I was having sex with Keith," she testified.

The trial started Tuesday after a jury of eight men and six women was chosen. It is expected to resume today.

During her opening statement, Prosecutor Cynthia Brackett told the jury that Sampson was an adult who took advantage of a 15-year-old girl who considered him a friend and a mentor.

"He violated the trust her parents had in him. He was an adult. He made the decision to have sex with her. He was her teacher," Brackett said.

But Sampson's lawyer, Robert Mann of Providence, told the jury his client would take the stand and deny any sexual relationship. He asked the jury to keep an open mind until the defense has a chance to present its case.

"He's going to tell you he never had sexual relations" with the girl," Mann said.

Mann said his client did rent the room at the Holiday Inn, but never saw the girls that evening, and had never been inside his accuser's home.

About a week before the trial started, Sampson was arrested again for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old student he met at a studio he owns in Johnston, R.I.

The jury will not be told of the allegations in the later case because, under the rules of evidence, the new arrest would be considered prejudicial to Sampson.

He was free on bail when he was arrested by Easton police, but is now being held in jail, pending the end of his trial.

DAVID LINTON can be reached at 508-236-0338 or at dlinton@thesunchronicle.com.