Sometimes, you just have to shake things up!
As we headed back to our Virtual Training Program in May, we reached out to some of our favourite guest instructors to join our Intensive Team blocks. Though we miss being in the studio together, there is always a silver lining– and having teachers from L.A, New York, Las Vegas and Vancouver in your living room, is pretty fantastic!
We started off in early May with the incomparable Sarah Dolan and our Snap Fest adjudicator, Fiona Duley.
Sarah is the Founder and Artistic Director of O2 the Dance Company in Calgary. She has had the privilege of working on numerous live performances and Films/TV Shows/Commercials. Sarah has particularly enjoyed being a part of “Art On Ice”as a Dancer and Assistant Choreographer/Creative Director. She has had the opportunity to work with musical artists such as Jessie J, The Jacksons, James Morrison, Chaka Khan, Nelly Furtado, Tom Odell, HURTS, Helene Fischer and skating champions such as Tessa & Scott, Meryl & Charlie and Aliona & Bruno.
She has also had the pleasure of choreographing for artists Alessia Cara and Shawn Hook. Sarah has assisted on “So You Think You Can Dance”(Fox (America), CTV (Canada) and BBC (UK)) and CBC’s “Over The Rainbow”.
Fiona was born and raised in Red Deer. After high school she moved to Vancouver to further her dance education. Fiona trained under Moe Brody in Harbours Intensive Training Program and then performed with Source Dance Company for two season. During her time in Vancouver she trained with top industry professionals and worked at PUR movement with Stephanie Sy to perfect her dance-based fitness classes. During her time in Vancouver, Fiona realized that her true passion was for teaching and mentoring the next generation. She completed her professional exams and is a Licentiate with the Canadian Dance Teachers Association. She is also Acrobatic Arts Certified.
Week 2 had us dancing with Billy Mustaphaand Jenn Stafford.
Billy was born and raised in Calgary. He has worked closely with some of the industries top choreographers including Megan Lawson, Jillian Meyers, Tina Landon, Nick Lanzisera, Tyce Diorio, Luther Brown, and Kelly Konno.
Immediately after graduating high school, Billy moved to Vancouver and joined The Intensive Training Program at Harbour Dance and TwoFourSeven Hip Hop Company. Shortly after the move, Paul Becker hired Billy as a dancer for ABC’s “Once Upon A Time”. Billy has also performed at “WE Day” and has recently booked a dancer role on “Disney’s Descendants 3”, “Disney’s Freaky Friday” and can be seen on NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”
Jenn is also a Calgary native, currently based in Los Angeles. She has been grateful to work with Cirque du Soleil in “The Beatles’ LOVE”and more recently while filming AVATAR 2 and 3 under the direction of James Cameron.
Jenn has also performed with:45degrees by Cirque du Soleil, The Beatles (Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr), One Night for One Drop, Life is Beautiful Festival, Honda, Supernatural (Oculus),Katy Perry, WINNER, Jessica Jung, Tiffany Young, PEARL the show (Danny Ezralow), A Week Away (2021 Netflix)
We rounded out our amazing line up of teachers last week, bringing in two New York based instructors; Jamie Jand Alison Jantzie. We were fortunate enough to take class with both of these incredible dancers when we visited the Big Apple in 2016 and were thrilled to have them back.
After finding Broadway Dance Center at age 19, Jamie began teaching his own classes at the world-renowned studio at age 23. His weekly classes are consistently full and he is an in-demand part of BDC’s celebrated hip-hop faculty. Since his start in the business, he has had the pleasure of choreographing the “Let’s Dance” video and mini tour for Hezekiah Walker, a BET Janet Jackson Tribute, company pieces for Carnival Choreographers’ Ball and a group number for the Broadway Dance Center 25th Anniversary Gala and Showcase.
He has been featured in videos including: “All Things” (Fab 5), “Chabine” (Matt) and “99 Problems” (Jay-Z). He has worked on many other projects including Showtime series Boardwalk Empire seasons 1 & 2 and Verizon phone commercials to name a few.
Originally from Lacombe, AB, Alison Jantzie is a New York City based performer who has appeared in television, commercials, Broadway houses and regional theaters throughout North America. Some favourite credits include the North American tour of Wicked, the Broadway revival of Gigi, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Rockette), Goodspeed Opera House’s Anything Goes, On The Town, and Morris Panych’s Moby Dick at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. You can also catch her on the The L.A Complex-pilot, and Murdoch Mysteries.
Alison holds a B.A. in Dance Performance from St. Mary’s College of California and a diploma in Musical Theatre Performance from the Randolph Academy in Toronto. Additionally, she has trained at The Banff Centre for the Arts, the National Ballet School of Canada, The Michael Howard Acting Conservatory, Max Theatrics, and with Marianne Wells vocal studio.
We are grateful to have these connections and to be able to offer these opportunities to our dancers, especially during this time. This line up of talent, lots of which is local to Alberta, not only has a lot to offer technically, but is so incredibly inspirational – proving that anything is possible when you work hard and go after a dream.
We are thrilled to be able to be back together in person this week, and hopeful to be back in studio mid-June. It is going to be a wonderful month of dance, competitions and recital to wrap up our 2020/21 dance season!
