Wendy Lee Riley | Artistic Director; Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Polynesian, Lyrical, Ballroom, Broadway Jazz, Jazz Company Classes
Wendy is proud to be the director of Urban Dance Co. Wendy began dancing at the age of 4, and has not stopped since. Her professional career to date includes appearing in many stage shows, TV Appearances, Films, and Music Videos, Wendy has worked with Mitsou, MC J and Cool G, "The History of Rock & Roll", "Hooray For Hollywood" Frank Hatchette, Debbie Dee, Hoctors Dance Caravan"Caravan Kids" to name but a few Wendy has also done freelance Choreography and production work for Motion pictures & Televison such as "Saving Silverman","Reindeer Games", "The Sixth Day", "Get Carter", "Supernatural", "Mysterious Ways" Mattel, Hasbro, Ocean Spray, Maxim Magazine, Coast Capital Savings, & W.N.S.O. Fitness, Wendy also Toured Eastern Canada as lead dancer and Choreographer for the professional dance company - "Fast Forward" - She has trained with some of the best in the dance world throughout, Montreal, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, and Las Vegas and continues to study every summer in New York at the Broadway Dance Centre. Wendy has won numerous awards for her unique Choreography and performances. And has written a syllabus specializing in instruction for Pre-Primary dancers, Wendy has been featured in Dance Teacher Magazine, and was awarded the "BEST DANCE INSTRUCTOR" 2009 by the readers of the Richmond Review. Wendy has taught with joy and enthusiasm for the past 20 years across Canada and looks forward to bringing her love of dance and performance to the students of Urban Dance Co.Wendy will be Directing and teaching this year at U.D.C. training our Jazz, Tap, Urban Tap, Pre Primary and Primary classes, along with Polynesian, and Company classes.
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Mary Gavilan | Hip Hop, Street Jazz, Lyrical,Urban Tap, And Pussy Cat Doll Jazz
Mary's an upbeat energetic dancer who's classes promise to be a huge hit with all the students of U.D.C.- Mary's formal training started at the Royal Dance Centre in Winnipeg and Harbour Dance In Vancouver her major disciplines include Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop , Street Jazz, Lyrical, Heels & Hips as well as Baton Twirling, Voice and Phillipino Cultural Dance. Mary has appeared in many stage shows through out her career including FOLKORAMA festival, Much Music's ELECTRIC CIRCUS, and BREAKFAST T.V. Mary Founded the after school dance program at R.J. Tait Elementry School, and Choreographes for David Branklin Fine Arts School and the Surrey School Board District. Mary also speacializes in Wedding Choreography. Mary promises to teach her students at U.D.C. the fun and passion performance can bring to a dancer. Mary is proud to join the faculty of U.D.C. and looks forward to teaching her students how to strutt thier stuff!!
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Cameron McKinlay- | FACULTY ALUMNI - GUEST TEACHER
Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, 3rd Street Beat, Shawn Desman, Boys II Men, Massari Chris Brown. ADIDAS, Judith Marcuse Dance Company, Luisa Marshall’s Internationally Touring Tina Turner Tribute Show, and Julienna Chen’s World Championship Magic Show in Athens, Greece. "Centre Stage 2", The Royal City Youth Ballet’s Nutcracker “MOVE: the company” - Cameron is presently dancing with CIRQUE DU SOLIEL in "LOVE" playing at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Caitlin Griffin - Guest Teacher | Balllet Technique, Pointe
Toronto native, Caitlin Griffin is a professional dancer and teacher based in Vancouver BC. Having received her classical training at The Goh Ballet Academy, Boston Ballet School, Kaatsbaan and Ballet British Columbia Summer Programs she has trained and worked with internationally acclaimed dancers and choreographers and has performed across Canada and China. Caitlin has worked with OMO Modern Dance Company, Ontario Ballet Theatre and is a returning Company Artist with Ballet de Printemps. Caitlin is involved in all aspects of dance, and teaches at several schools in the Lower Mainland. She pulls from her classical, contemporary, flamenco and conditioning training as well as her performance experience to conduct classes which are physically challenging while offering dancers the opportunity to develop their passion and individual style. Caitlin is excited to join U.D.C. and foster the development of U.D.C. students.
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Dickson Lee | Break Dance , Ballroom & Latin
Dickson often describes dance as the “missing link” in his existence. Not only does Dickson have over 10 years of bboying experience, but he studies from some of the original forefathers of the dance. Dickson also performs with Project SOUL Productions, in association with ArtStart; touring throughout the B.C. school districts to showcase the true meaning of the Hip Hop culture through different styles of dance. Although Dickson dedicates most of his time to bboying, he is also a Ballroom and Latin dancer. As a professional Ballroom instructor, Dickson has obtained a mixture of experience in a variety of dances. Dickson is a graduate of Acadia University with a Political Science and Philosophy degree.Dickson is the founder & creator of the “Acadia Hip Hop Hedz! (Ahhh!); uniting all the East Coast dancers and followers of Hip Hop. Dickson has done countless performances with both bboying and ballroom dancing across North America. And is eager to bring his style, and love of dance to the students at Urban Dance Co.
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Alfonso Caldera - Guest Teacher | Salsa
Alfonso Caldera who is a W.S.F. World Salsa Champion & International Mayan Salsa Champion dancer. He is the director and choreographer of Bravo Dance Company and founder of Bravodancecompany.com. Alfonso was born in Nicaragua and was surrounded by salsa music at a very young age. He started dancing Salsa 15 years ago in Vancouver and then went on to train with the world famous dance team, Rumba Brava. Through the years Alfonso competed in some of the top salsa competitions where he consistently placed in the top three, including the Miami World Salsa Federation competition, winning the championship trophy. Alfonso has developed a unique style of dancing, LA-style Salsa which is prevalent in his teaching technique both in his classes and instructional videos.Alfonso has been teaching Salsa for ten years and his motivation, energy, and love for the dance have made him successful, recognized and respected in the salsa scene.
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Jason Franco | FACULTY ALUMNI
Choreographer, director, and performer JASON FRANCO ("Sunday in the Park with George" for Applause; "Casper the Musical" and "The Mask" at Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts in England; "Beach Blanket Bedrock" and "Jetsons Space Blast" at Paramount Canada's Wonderland; "Can Can" for TUTS; upcoming "Grease" for Magee Mainstage)Gotta sing,Gotta Dance!
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Martina Crowe-Hewett | Belly Dance, Tribal Fusion
Martina Hewett Will be teaching Belly Dance at Urban, Martina has been dancing her whole life, with a background in Ballet,Jazz,Tap, and Contemporary. Matina discovered Belly Dance and found her true passion, Martina has trained for numerous years in Belly Dance and travels throughout Canada and the U.S.A. to continue her training with master Belly Dance Instructors. Martina's Belly Dance for Kidz class is one of the first of its kind, Martina also heads the performance company "Turqouise", choreographing unique award winning routines, that have taken the company to amazing venue's spreading the love of belly dance and tribal fusion. Martina is thrilled to bring her passion for Belly Dancing to the students of Urban, Adults and Children alike will love Martina's classes!
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Dana Madder | Lyrical Co.,Lyrical, Street Jazz, Sr. Jazz Co.
Dana has travelled the world as a dancer, teacher and Ambassador for Canada. She grew up training in Calgary with the Young Canadians then moved to Vancouver where she continued her intensive training with Visions Dance Company. Having trained with some of the most recognized teachers and choreographers, in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Vancouver has given her a vast background in jazz, contemporary, lyrical, street jazz, hip hop and musical theatre. Some of her credits include, So You Think You Can Dance Canada Finalist, The Tina Journey Musical, “Center Stage 2”, Sony Screen Gems “Impulse”, CMT Music Video with Sara Lynn, NBA Vancouver Grizzlies Dance Team, Gemini Awards, 2010 Olympic Bid Celebration. Dana also donates her time to charity as a choreographer for the Shooting Star Foundation. Dana has been teaching and choreographing for 10 years and recently produced her own show called Debonair. Dana has also been featured on "So You think You Can Dance Canada" participating in the Vancouver auditions both in 2008 and 2009 and moving forward to compete in Toronto with Canada's top 100 dancers. She lives to share her love for dance with others and hopes to inspire all people to live their creative dreams.
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Stephanie Sy - Guest Teacher | Hip Hop, Street Jazz, Pussy Cat Dollz, Lyrical, Jazz, Ballet
Stephanie’s extensive credits span all genres of the entertainment industry to include working in film, television, commercials, music videos, and live
shows. A force not to be reckoned with, she has appeared as a principal and
featured performer on work such as the movie “Another Cinderella Story”, 20th
Century Fox feature film “John Tucker Must Die”, Warner Bros. hit series
“Smallville”, music videos for SLANK “Too Sweet To Forget”, Lisette
Bustamante “I, Bittersweet”, and Reddnation “Wiggle Dem Toes”; Commercials
for Coca-Cola, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications & Burger King.
Stephanie obtained a bachelors degree from the prestigious University of
British Columbia, graduating with a Bachelor of Human Kinetics and had
practiced as a kinesiologist for a short period of time. She realized quickly that
her true passion for dance was far greater, and this propelled her to utilize both
her degree and dance education to continue full force as a master instructor,
choreographer, adjudicator, and guest speaker throughout the world.
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Kyle Toy | Ballet Technique,Pointe, Plyometrics
Kyle Toy has loved dance since the age of seven. Kyle has attended the National Ballet School, holds a diploma in dance from Grant MacEwan College and has studied with Ballet British Columbia.His training includes ballet, and ballet partnering in R.A.D. Checetti and Vagnova methods. Kyle also has vast experience in modern, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, flamenco, classical Indian and Chinese National Dance, and body conditioning. Kyle has received numerous scholarships and awards, and has appeared in numerous performances throughout his career including The National Ballet of Canada’s “Nutcracker” for 5 seasons in a row, And landed the job of Choreographer for the major motion movie "Centre Stage 2" Kyle has worked with some of Canada’s top choreographers including James Kudelka, former Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Christopher House and contemporary dance legend Peggy Baker.
Kyle is proud to join the faculty of Urban Dance Company and looks forward to teaching his passion for dance to all his students at U.D.C.
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J.P. Tarlit | Hip Hop
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A dance star in the making, J.P. is quickly rising to the top as a dancer & choreographer in the Vancouver dance scene, J.P.’s amazing choreography work has been used by some of the top crews in Vancouver including Xtreme Soul Style, Flow Ethics Dance Crew, Fresh Groove Dance Crew, Sick Stylz Symphony, St. Patrick’s boys & K.T.L. (Kill the lights). J.P.’s credits include award winning dance &Choreography for the Canadian Hip hop Champions, as well as 1st place in the International Dance Competition. J.P. has appeared and choreographed for “Set It Off”, “For the Love of It”, & International Dance Day, - Some of J.P’s teaching credits include Drive Dance Centre & Harbour Dance, and now J.P. is proud to add URBAN DANCE CO. to the list- J.P. looks forward to teaching his U.D.C. students some of the freshest moves yet! You Don’t wanna miss this class!
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Jayme Armstrong | FACULTY ALUMNI
Jayme Armstrong is a TOP 10 finalist on CBC's reality show "How do you Solve a Problem like Maria?" the search for the next Maria Von Trapp!!!
Jayme’s extensive career has taken her across North America, Austria, and the beautiful London Palladium stage, singing for Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 2002, Jayme was the youngest company member on the US tour of “Forever Swing”. She also had the opportunity to star in the critically acclaimed Hollywood production of “Ruthless! The Musical”, for which she received rave reviews and the LA Weekly Award for Outstanding Comedy Performance. In 2006, she had the good fortune to spend the season at the esteemed Stratford Festival, appearing in their productions of “Oliver!” and “South Pacific”. After an inspiring year, Jayme was thrilled to be recognized among her peers as the recipient of a Tyrone Guthrie Award for her work.
Favourite credits include Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" (Viva Musica), Sally in "Cabaret" (Uncle Randy Productions), Laurey in "Oklahoma!" and Lois in "Kiss Me, Kate!" (Theatre Under the Stars), Ellen in "Miss Saigon" (Arts Club), Dot in “Sunday in the Park with George” (Applause! Musicals), Val in "A Chorus Line" (Ophidian Entertainment), Carrie in "Carousel" (Royal City Musical Theatre), Mabel in "Pirates of Penzance" and Grace in "Annie" (Chemainus Theatre Festival), Nancy in "Oliver!" and Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz" (Gateway Theatre). This winter, Jayme was honoured to work with Tony Award winning director, Walter Bobbie, on his celebrated production of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (Sony Centre).
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Mary Lou Rust | Ballroom
Mary Lou is excited to be joining U.D.C. as our new Ballroom Instructor, having recently attained a Professional Certification Degree, meriting high honors, as an Associate in American Rhythm. Her dance training includes Arthur Murray, Spiral Dance, Harbour Dance Center, and workshops with Latin Dance Champion, Ron Montez (Choreographer for “So You Think You Can Dance”). A Dale Carnegie Graduate and Business Coach, she was awarded the prestigious “Highest Award for Achievement” by her classmates.
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Brittany Tiplady | Ballet
Brittany began dancing at the age of 5 at the Cameron Academy of Dance in Langley, British Columbia. She joined Dolores Kirkwood’s Royal City Youth Ballet Company at the age of 9, and so began a 1o year journey with the company that led to her performance of the lead role “Snow Queen” in the 2007 season. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet accepted Brittany at age 12 on full scholarship to their summer intensive, where she was later offered a position as a full time student in the school’s professional division. After continuing her training with Deborah Cameron, the RCYB Company, and participating in numerous competitions and festivals, Brittany attended the American Ballet Theater’s four week intensive in Detroit in the summer of 2007, as well as the Rock School for Dance Education summer intensive in Philadelphia in 2008. Brittany has completed the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus with high grades, and more recently completed her Advance One examination in 2007. In addition to her other achievements, Brittany has also received training from Nicholas Ade of the Pacific North West Ballet School, Daniel Ulbricht of the New York City Ballet, Evelyn Hart, Amber Funk-Barton, Josh Beamish, Scott Augustine, and many others. Ms. Tiplady fell in love with the rewards of teaching after spending many years as an assistant teacher at Cameron Academy, and eventually as a resident dance educator at the studio. As a graduate student of Deborah Cameron, and a well- seasoned dancer, Brittany is very enthusiastic about her first year at Urban and hopes to make it a great season.
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Sherry Duggal | Bollywood/Indian Classical Dance
Sherry will be teaching Bollywood classes at Urban Dance Company. Withher background in Indian Classical Dance (Bharathanatyam ) her classes are
a holistic experience.
Mind, body and spirit come together as Sherry presents and teaches her award winning choreography. Sherry has been performing
her whole life, and has done numerous performances in Toronto and
Vancouver.
Sherry is excited about introducing this dance form to such a wonderful
studio and is looking forward to spreading her passion for movement to
others.
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Sara Park - Guest Teacher | Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Boot Camp, Musical Theatre
Sara originally from Edmonton, Alberta moved to Vancouver to dance with the Source Dance Company. Along with stage work Sara has also worked on several feature films, television shows and commercials including “Marriage,” “Eureka” and “Kyle XY.” Along with dancing professionally she has been teaching for the past 5 years and loves watching her students grow as dancers. Her training includes jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, bootcamp, and musical theatre. Sara feels privileged to teach at such a fantastic studio and can’t wait to take part in another year with all of these wonderful students.
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OVER THE INFLUENCE -Guest Teachers | Hip Hop, Lockin, Poppin, Whackin, Break dance, Dance Hall, Street Jazz, House, Commercial R&B Hip hop
Over The Influence is an all male dance company based in Vancouver, BC and is constantly raising the bar for innovation and execution in Canada’s urban dance movement. Their repertoire of dance styles is vast from video dance, break dancing and krumping to the foundational styles of hip hop in popping, locking and new jack swing. Going beyond the standards of urban dance, OTI brings an array of themes, theatrics & storylines on top of their already unique and eye-catching choreography, leaving audiences amazed with the quality and substance of their shows.OTI consists of founding members Jojo Zolina, Yo,Stewart Iguidez,
Marc Generoso & Yoshi Hisanaga . They have performed for various artists such as ‘Nelly Furtado’, ‘Black Eyed Peas’, ‘The Roots’, ‘K-Os’, the ‘Beastie Boys’, ‘Grandmaster Flash’, and ‘Swollen Members’. Movie Credits include: ‘See Spot Run’, ‘Catwoman’, ‘Reefer Madness’, and ‘Life or Something Like It’. Individually and collectively, their talents have taken them beyond Vancouver, sharing their knowledge and skills in China, Germany, Brazil, Bosnia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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