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Our
Staff Section
Our
staff are the true backbone behind the Academy.
It is through their dedication and talent that the
Port Perry Dance Academy has developed to be the
benchmark of dance in our region.
Below
you will learn a little about the invaluable people
that make your dance experience so memorable. |
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Lynn Ahmad |
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Lynn
Ahmad is an Examiner for the Royal
Academy of Dance. Her career in
Dance began at the age of three.
Since that time, she has been
fortunate enough to study with some
of Canada's most renowned
professional teachers and
performers. Marcia Caple, ARAD and
Audrey Looker, ARAD & Examiner for
the Royal Academy of Dancing, both
playing instrumental roles in Lynn's
development as a performer and
professional teacher. The late
Gladys Forrester, RAD President
Award Winner, coached Lynn when she
studied for the RAD Advanced Exam.
While pursuing her Diploma in Dance,
Lynn studied under former National
Ballet of Canada's Nadia Potts and
was coached by Canada's foremost
lead male soloist, Frank Augustyn.
Lynn
started her performing career
with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens in
The Nutcracker in Ottawa. She has
continued her professional career
teaching/coaching in Toronto and
surrounding areas. Her
students who take the annual
RAD examinations (from Pre-Primary
to and including Advanced 2) achieve
a 100% pass rate with many attaining
top results. In addition, Lynn has
prepared students for major dance
competitions both locally and
abroad. Her record includes both
choreographic and overall awards. As
an adjudicator, Lynn most recently
sat as Adjudicator (in the
disciplines of Ballet, Pointe and
Demi-Character) at Dance Manitoba's
Annual Provincial Dance Festival.
Many
of Lynn's students have garnered
scholarships and awards moving on to
further education at universities
like York, Ryerson and Ottawa. Other
students have gained acceptance to
the National Ballet School, The
Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Quinte
Ballet School. Still other students
have become professional
entertainers whose careers have
taken them all over the world.
Lynn
is a Registered Teacher and member
of both the Royal Academy of Dancing
and the Canadian Dance Teachers'
Association. She has her Diploma in
Theatre (Dance) from the Ryerson
Polytechnical University; Advanced 1
Ballet (RAD); Advanced National
(ISTD) and Advanced Modern (ISTD).
Lynn is also a member of the
International Adjudicators' Alliance
(IADA). Lynn is very excited about
her tenth year in Port Perry as the
Artistic Director of the Port Perry
Dance Academy. |
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Jennifer Barton |
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Jennifer Barton holds her B.A.
(Dance) from the University of
Waterloo. She is a Full Member of
the Canadian Dance Teacher
Association and holds her Teacher
Training Diploma from Dance Masters
of America. Jennifer has taught
ballet, jazz, tap and musical
theatre for the past 18 years both
in Ontario and in the United States.
Jennifer's students have entered
numerous dance competitions and have
won both choreography and top mark
awards. Her students have also been
successful at all levels of CDTA
jazz and tap exams. Jennifer's
experience in jazz, tap and theatre
is a great addition to the already
exceptionally strong faculty at the
Port Perry Dance Academy. Jennifer
focuses on our tap and jazz students
and anchors our Musical Theatre
program and is a dance competition
adjudicator. |
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Annete Stokes-Harris & Michael
Serres |
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Annete
and Mike are our resident Acting
instructors. Annette has an Honours
Specialist B.A. in Dramatic Arts
from the University of Waterloo and
a Specialist in Drama Education B.
Ed. from the University of Toronto.
She has taught drama for 21 years in
the high school systems in both
Toronto and Durham. She was the
artistic director for Act-One
Theatre in Toronto for 6 years and
is an award winning actress and
director. Annette has acted in and
directed productions in Toronto,
Whitby, Uxbridge and Port Perry.
Michael is an award winning sound
designer who currently teaches
acting in the Digital Animation
Program at Durham College.
Michael has been involved in
numerous local productions
performing with theatre groups in
Port Perry, Uxbridge and Pickering
and has twice been nominated for
Best Supporting Male Actor. |
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Andrew Oxenham |
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Andrew
Oxenham became the first male to
graduate from the world-renowned
National Ballet School, Andrew
turned his attention to the
performance stage. As a soloist with
the National Ballet of Canada for
almost ten years, Andrew danced with
such notables as Rudolph Nureyev,
Veronica Tennant, and Karen Kain.
His achievements at “the National”
caught the attention of the renowned
Stuttgart Ballet who engaged Andrew
as a soloist for several years.
After returning from Germany, Andrew
retired from the performance circuit
and turned his attention to teaching
and photography. Andrew has two
books to his credit, Dance Today in
Canada and Puppetry Today in Canada
and is now a highly sought after
photographer who specializes in
portraiture and dance/theatre
photography. Andrew is the
Academy's Pas de Deux instructor and
Boys' coach. |
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Julia Ridgway |
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Julia is an
accredited teacher through the Durham
District School Board where she delivers the
Dance Curriculum at Uxbridge Secondary
School. A graduate of the University
of Waterloo, Miss Julia has a strong
background in Ballet (RAD) and Jazz and
currently focuses on our Creative Dance
program. Julia has over 27 years of
experience as a dancer with sixteen of those
as a dance instructor. She has worked
with David Earl and Arun Paul and attended
the National Ballet School's Summer School
Program. Julia holds the RAD Advanced
1 and ISTD Intermediate Jazz
cetificates and has studied the Limon
technique (Modern), Jazz, Tap and Hip Hop.
Julia's choreo-graphy credits include the
Uxbridge Youth Theatre teen productions of
Fame and High School Musical. |
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Kelly Waterman |
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Kelly
studied under the late Madam Chiriaeff who
was the artistic director and founder of the
Les Grandes Ballet Canadiens in Montreal
Quebec. Kelly trained for seven years in the
professional program, studied Vaganova and
Cecchetti Ballet and performed in several
productions with the company. Presently,
Kelly is a fully registered teacher with the
Royal Academy of Dance and is accredited
with the Association of Dance Arts
Professional Teachers (ADAPT). She is an
accom-plished choreographer and an
adjudicator for the AMAF. Kelly has served
as as Vice President, President and as an
active board member with Dance Manitoba
since her involvement with the organization
in 1994. In 1979 Kelly started the Kelly
Waterman School of Dance which she operated
for the past thirty years. Her students have
participated in provincial and national
competitions winning dance scholarships as
well as gold, platinum and diamond medals.
The highlight came during the 2008 Vancouver
Dance World Cup when Kelly’s students won
the Bronze medal in competition with schools
from China, Guam, Italy, Portugal, Germany,
Japan and the US. Kelly's students have gone
on to study in the professional divisions at
Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Winnipeg Contemporary
Dancers, University of Arizona Dance Program
and in Europe. Past students have gone on to
dance in Disneyworld, Cruise lines with many
becoming dance educators and professional
dancers. Kelly's students have even been
featured in a CBC documentary and have a
100% pass rate while participating in ADAPT
and Royal Academy of Dance exams. |
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Sharol Cordner |
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Sharol holds
her bachelor's degree in Physical Education
from the University of Alberta and is a
certified NIA instructor. Her career
includes extensive work with the disabled.
After hours, Sharol indulges her passion for
dance and dance-related exercise forms.
Sharol has been a ballroom instructor at the
Academy for over seven years where she
focuses on ballroom dance as a recreational
activity where fun and exercise come
together while her students learn the Salsa,
Merengue, Swing, Jive, Foxtrot and
Waltz. |
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Courtney Ogle |
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Courtney, who
is well-known to all the families who
participated in the recreational programs at
the YMCA here in Port Perry over the last
several years has been a dancer for over 20
years. A graduate of the Randolph Academy
for the Performing Arts’ Triple Threat
program, Courtney has had the incredible
opportunity to perform in many larger-scale
productions like Thoroughly Modern Millie:
Toronto, ON; Miss Canada Globe
Pageant: Toronto, ON; The Heidi
Chronicles: Toronto, ON; Grease Ball
50’s Concert: Niagara Falls, ON;
Steve Nash Charity Basketball Game:
Toronto, ON and many more. Courtney has
studied dance under both the R.A.D. and
C.D.T.A. Her extremely successful
competitive career culminated in her winning
5,6,7,8 Showtime’s Dancer of the Year title
at fifteen years of age! Her dance titles
and scholarships have taken her all over
Canada and the United States. Courtney is
thoroughly enjoying our new facilities and
is looking forward to passing along her
personal knowledge of, and passion for, the
dance world to the students at the Port
Perry Dance Academy! |
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Ian Marnoch |
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Ian is the
Academy's Music Instructor. Ian has
extensive experience as a music teacher and
performer in our community. He is
Director of Music at St. Andrew’s United
Church in Sunderland, is a relief pianist
for Pontypool United Church, Bethany United
Church, Ballyduff Presbyterian Church, and
the Kawartha Park Chapel. Ian is also
an avid violin player who specializes in
traditional Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton
fiddle styles. As a teacher, Ian is
renowned for his patience and good humour.
A graduate in Physics from Dalhousie
University, Ian is now completing his ARCT
(Associate of the Royal Conservatory)
certificate in piano pedagogy. Ian is also
a keen Trombone, Baritone Horn and Organ
player. |
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Tiffany Ratz |
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Tiffany is a Level Two gymnastics
coach and dance instructor
who focuses on the Academy's Acro
program. Her career includes
over fifteen years of dance training
in Tap, Jazz and Acro. As a
teacher, Tiffany has been the
mainstay of the Acro program of a
major gymnastics academy and dance
academy in the Durham region. |
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Alexandra Liebich |
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Alexandra (Sasha)
Liebich-Tait is a lyric-coloratura
soprano who holds an Artist Diploma
in Voice Performance from the
University of Toronto, and a Master
of Music Degree (Opera Performance)
from the University of British
Columbia as well as additional vocal
studies in Austria at the Mozarteum
(Salzburg), the American Institute
of Musical Studies (Graz) and in
Vienna. As a professional
performer, Sasha has performed both
in Canada and Europe in opera,
musical theatre, oratorio and as a
concert recitalist. In 2009, Sasha
was awarded the Best Female Voice
award for her performance of Mabel
from The Pirates of Penzance
at the International Gilbert &
Sullivan Festival in Buxton,
England, and the Austrian press has
called her a singing actress of
“great sensitivity (and)…upmost
artistic perfection” (Die
Kronnenzeitung, Wien). She is
the recipient of awards from both
the Canada Council for the Arts and
the British Columbia Arts council,
and she has been recorded and
broadcast as part of the Debut
Recital Series for CBC Radio. Sasha
has considerable knowledge and study
of vocal pedagogy and teaching
techniques for beginners to
pre-professional and she has taught
children to university-level singers
and beyond. She is married to a
great baritone, and together they
have three wonderful young children. |
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Alisha Cartwright |
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Alisha's career at the Academy has
spanned eight years both as a
competitive dancer and
teacher. During her dance career of
over 15 years, Alisha has won
numerous awards at competition. has
earned a distinction at the
Intermediate Ballet (RAD) level and
honours at the Elementary Acro (CDTA)
level. Alisha's primary focus
is on the Academy's Acro and ballet
programs. |
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