Alessia
Dancing from the age of 4, Alessia found her true passion for dance with the help of the staff at AB Dance. She is a 2012 graduate from St.Elizabeth CHS where she was enrolled in the Regional Arts Performance Dance program. She will continue her education at York University where she will be attending the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program specializing in dance. She has danced at AB Dance for nine years training in various types of dance styles such as acro, jazz, ballet, hip hop and lyrical/ contemporary by many well-known choreographers. Alessia has also been teaching at our facility for three years educating children of all ages in all different styles of dance.
Alessia looks forward to learning and expanding her knowledge to share with her fellow dancers and students.
Joanna
Joanna Gregory: Joanna has been part of the AB Dance Inc. faculty for the past 7 years, teaching many disciplines at both the recreational and competitive level. She has studied and teaches the disciplines of tap, acro, jazz, musical theatre, song & dance, lyrical, and hip hop. Throughout her dance career she competed at various dance competitions worldwide, winning numerous awards and attending a range of workshops. She was also a former Toronto Argonaut Cheerleader where she performed at all games and other important events within the community. Joanna is an ARTS York Dance graduate, where she studied modern and ballet dance. She has also completed her Honours Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education and Dance and most recently her Masters of Science and Education! Joanna continues to pursue education and is actively involved teaching both at the studio and in schools, and is constantly participating in dance workshops and taking additional qualifications which add to her teaching expertise. Joanna is a very passionate teacher and is recognized for her energetic and enthusiastic teaching styles and most importantly her dedication to her students!
Ms. Thomas
Ms.Thomas studied and danced professionally in South Africa, Israel and the UK.
Trained in Contemporary Dance, Spanish, Classical Ballet, African Dance and Jazz, she has been teaching classical ballet for more than 20yrs. She is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) and administers the Ballet Exam programme at AB Dance.
Ms. Thomas teaches Mini-Dance, all the grade levels, Senior Ballet and Pointe class. This will be her 15th year teaching at AB Dance.
Kristy
Kristy’s love of dancing began at the early age of 3years old. After studying at local studios in Stouffville, she attended Unionville High School for the Performing Arts and continued her dance training in post-secondary education. Kristy earned her diploma from George Brown College in Dance Performance Studies, training in various styles of dance and within company classes with Ballet Jorgen.
While following her passion of performing and dancing within small companies in the GTA, Kristy also found her passion of teaching and choreographing. Over the last 8 years, Kristy’s choreography has been recognized for competitive dance teams, skating clubs as well as entertainment events.
Currently, Kristy is focusing her energy on sharing her passion of dance to children of all ages. She is also presently a member and captain of the Argos Cheerleaders for the Toronto Argonauts. Kristy hopes to continue within the dance community and reminds all dancers that “life’s a dance, you learn as you go”.
Kevin
Kevin Howe has been dancing since the young age of 5. After 14 years of training in various styles of dance including Jazz, Tap, Hip hop, arco and contemporary in his hometown Ottawa, ON he decided to make the move to Toronto to begin his professional career.
Since then he has taken the dance world by storm from all angles, working with big names like Girlicious, Blake McGrath, Ke$ha, Russel Peters and Lady Gaga to name a few. On top of his stage performances, he has also ventured into film. His film and TV credits include Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure with Disney’s Ashley Tisdale, HBO’s Hellcats, and Disney’s Frenemies.
Most recently, Kevin was chosen to be apart of Canada’s top 22 on season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Recognized for both his dance abilities and choreography skills, Howe has began to make a name for himself in the industry amongst other well established professionals.
Having won the national title of “Americas Young Choreographer of the year” in both 2007 and 2010, his creative and innovative style has brought Kevin a lot of positive attention and he has since been given the opportunity to teach workshops and masterclasses to students and teachers across Canada.
Lyza
Karli
Angelica
Angelica began dancing at the age of three, and has been dancing ever since! She was an A.B. dancer for ten years and is now a part of our A.B. Dance Inc. faculty. She is trained in multiple genres including acro, jazz, hip hop, tap, and ballet. As a member of the competitive team, she has travelled to competitions across Ontario and has won numerous awards. Angelica has also participated in many events including the Toronto Argonauts half time show and the Shania Sunflower of Hope day. She is continuing her education at the University of Toronto to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Sociology. Angelica is a fun, enthusiastic teacher, who strives to push her students to be the best dancers they can be.
Christianna
Christianna Stanley has danced from the age of 2 and has been teaching since 2003. She is certified with Canadian Dance Masters of America under the disciplines of Jazz, Ballet and Acrobatics. She has travelled to New York, LA, and Las Vegas to train and dance. Recently Christianna has choreographed a flash mob that was preformed at the Eaton Centre for an organization called "I believe she's amazing". She has also choreographed a group routine for the D.I.F.D gala fundraiser in Ottawa. Christianna currently is a dance instructor/choreographer full time.
Shannel
Shannel’s passion for dance began at the age of three. She studied various genres, including tap, jazz, ballet, acro, lyrical & contemporary. For 14 years, Shannel danced competitively, attended workshops and auditions within Canada and the US. She has won countless awards as a dancer and was featured on national television winning runner-up at one of the most prestigious dance competitions.
Shannel has over a decade of experience teaching at the competitive and recreational levels. Her students have won numerous overalls, special awards & scholarships. She has also been recognized by well-known and respected adjudicators for her choreography and creative concepts.
Shannel is excited to join the AB Dance family and is looking forward to a successful year.
Sarah
Sarah is originally from Saskatoon and began her dance career at a local competitive studio at the age of five. Since then Sarah has had the opportunity to train in many styles of dance and gain extensive experience in Cecchetti, RAD and Vaganova ballet techniques. Throughout her high school years Sarah trained intensively across Canada at schools including; Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Quinte Ballet School of Canada and The School of Alberta Ballet. Following high school Sarah chose to enter the 3-year Teacher Training Program at Canada’s National Ballet School to expand her knowledge and skills as a dance educator. Currently Sarah is thrilled to be teaching, choreographing and sharing her passion throughout the GTA.
Jordan
Sandra
Sandra Yip began her gymnastic journey at the age of 5 where she quickly rose in ranks within the national high performance stream until the age of 17. Sandra finished her competitive years as a Junior high performance athlete representing Ontario at several national championships.
Sandra continues her passion for the sport and has been coaching for 18 yrs. Sandra has worked at all levels of experience from the grass roots, parent and tot classes through to the intense national stream programs, however her enthusiasm lies in the preparatory pre-competitive programs where she prepares young athletes for provincial and national competitive gymnastic careers.
Along with her NCCP level 3 gymnastics coaching certification, Sandra also has a personal training degree, F.L.M.P., from George Brown College. This allows Sandra to be at the top of her league in physical preparation and motivation by creating an environment that encourages a healthy long-term lifestyle in gymnastics and sport.
Nikki
Nicollette Evans has been dancing since she was 7 years old, competing and training in all different styles from tap, jazz, contemporary, ballet, point, modern, acro and hip hop. She has competed all over Canada and the United States winning titles. She has competted at many competitions winning numerous awards at a regional and national level. She has also won several choreography awards in past and present years for her work. Nicollette has focused herself now on hip-hop and has really been studying the culture of the style. For the past four years, her hip hop routines have won various diamond choreography awards at A.D.A and numerous overall high scores. She is also very involved in choreographing for the Toronto hip hop industry.
Nicollette has been apart of performances and competitions with her hip hop crews (Fo’Real and UHHU) such as Beatdown, World of Dance, Festival of Dance, O.U.C.H, and many more. I am known for my energetic, hard hitting choreography and my individualized teaching style. She is currently involved with a hip-hop crew that competes all over Canada. She has been trained in street hip-hop for several years and continues to train and learn from this style. Nicollette is extremely excited and enthusiastic to be part of AB Dance and looks forward to spreading her knowledge and skill to the children. Nicollette is excited to share her passion of dance with her AB Dance students!