Elan Dance Arts

SHAWNA KWAN, Hons. BA Kinesiology, ADAPT Certified
Director & Owner

Shawna has built an impressive reputation as a dance instructor and choreographer over the past 16 years. She trained for nine years in tap, jazz and ballet at The Greta Leeming Studio of Dance in Ottawa. She’s also a trained classical singer and has a strong background in musical theatre.  She now specializes in hip hop an is excited to build that program in London. She has successfully taught across Ontario, Quebec and the Bahamas and is now based in London and pleased to be opening Élan Dance Arts.

Shawna is an ADAPT certified teacher and has her honors degree in Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario (UWO) where she studied common athletic injuries using her knowledge of anatomy to more accurately train her dancers. For five years she instructed many forms of dance at UWO and was the coordinator for all dance and wellness programs.

She has enjoyed working with Original Kids, a local children's theatre company, on several shows, some of which were nominated for awards. Shawna was sought after in London to choreograph the opera of Ariadne’s Thread for The London Waldorf School. For those shows she was able to use her extensive experience from her earlier years as a triple threat performer in musical theatre.

Shawna helped bring breakdancing back to UWO and also started a breakdancing program at The Athletic Club where she also taught hip hop as well. Shawna also really enjoyed performing as a member of Thrive Entertainment in Toronto. For over 10 years, she has successfully built and ran hip hop programs at other dance studios as well as fitness facilities around the city. She has had the pleasure of working wiht artists such as Andre 3000, Mark Whalberg, 50 Cent and Omarion.

Shawna is also actively invovled in the community. Currently, she is the Creative Director and Head Choreographer for INFUSION Canada, a federally registered charity, and has been volunteering her time to help raise funds for young cancer survivors over the past four years through various special fundraising events. www.infusioncanada.org

MELISA BOOSE

Coming from a small town outside of Windsor, ON, Melisa began tap class when she was five at Nancy Pattison’s Dance World. Starting up again at age 10, Melisa trained in the Al Gilbert jazz & tap syllabus; Cechetti ballet and studied hip hop, pointe, and lyrical. Melisa began assisting in class, which gave her the opportunity to teach hip hop, ballet, tap, and jazz classes at age 16.

Melisa also started to train with a competitive team, and studied dance while attending Walkerville Collegiate High School. Focusing on choreography and the art of stage performance, while learning a more contemporary/modern style, Mel found her true passion: living in moments of movement.

Performing on stage felt natural for her and wasn’t something she was going to let go of. At a young age, she understood that expression through dance allowed her spirit to stay in balance. Helping others find this release in movement, while respecting technique, is what Melisa now cherishes most as a teacher.

Becoming a member of UWO Dance Force upon moving to London, ON, in 2004 Melisa enjoyed teaching and being on the executive council for five years. She felt blessed to have a variety of students learn her unique style of contemporary movement, as well as creatively contribute to the annual performance. Melisa was also a dancer and choreographer for OHM Fashion Show from 2006-2010, in support of The Canadian Cancer Society; and dancer in Infusion Canada Fashion show 2011, in support of CanadaHelps.org/London Health Sciences Centre.

Melisa is currently enrolled in the ADAPT Teacher Training Program. She will be attending several teacher conferences this coming season and is hoping to begin her Hybrid Flow Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2012.

KEITH CHAN

Keith’s dance life and love ignited after aimlessly enrolling in his first drop-in hip hop class. He soon expanded his repertoire and explored various dance styles, like jazz, contemporary and numerous urban dance forms, such as break dance, popping, locking, reggae, krump and street jazz. Despite his young age as a current university student, he has not let it limit his talents, accomplishments and goals. Under his belt is an array of achievements, like winning gold in the Strive Dance Challenge of 2004, first place titles to Toronto’s STOMP Dance Competition for 3 consecutive years starting in 2005, and a honourable 3rd place standing in the North American FAME Dance Championships in 2008.

Today, Keith is a professional dancer, choreographer and instructor. He has worked with a handful of local, national and international artists, and his unique choreography has even been commissioned overseas. He is also currently serving as the Artistic and Creative Director for a renowned, annual fashion show at the University of Western Ontario. With the completion of advanced music theory and practical piano with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and playing the tenor saxophone recreationally, he incorporates his vast musical background into his regular instruction of dance classes, workshops and group fitness activities. Keith continues to exude energy, dedication and the drive in teaching to witness improvement in his students. He is very thrilled to share his passion and love for dance as he joins the faculty at Elan Dance Arts.

MEGAN COLL

Megan Coll has been teaching at EDA for the past 3 seasons and is so excited to enjoy another year with the EDA family. As a student at UWO, Megan loves teaching! The studio has become a wonderful outlet to dance and be around the kids she loves.

Megan has been dancing for over 13 years and has training in jazz, tap, ballet, acrobatics and musical theatre. With numerous years of competition experience and further dance education in the arts program at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Megan was the President of her Dance Council and was encouraged to audition for LMCProductions and Gary Musick Production Company. From November 2007- June 2008, Megan worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines as a dancer for Gary Musick Production Company; she performed on a ship which traveled the Caribbean. She is now a fourth year student at Western.

JEAN LUC DEJARDINS

VANESSA DOLISHNY

Vanessa is a passionate dancer and teacher bringing 17 years of dance experience to Elan Dance Arts. Vanessa trained at Hoofers Performing Arts dance studio in Oshawa Ontario where she studied the ADAPT syllabus for tap and jazz and the RAD syllabus for ballet. Vanessa danced competitively with Hoofers for nine years in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical and pointe, receiving many high scores and special awards. While completing her undergraduate degree, Vanessa was actively involved in the Western dance scene dancing for various teams such as Hip Hop Western and the Mustang Dance Pack. Vanessa loves working with the EDA team and has now been with the studio for two years! She loves inspiring and motivating her students to grow as dancers and looks forward to another year at EDA!

JIM HAN

Jim has been teaching the art of b-boying across London for the past 4 years at various locations. He is an original & active member of a street dance crew, Ill At Will; they educate, compete and perform across Canada & U.S. Jim has been helping youth all around London area by offering regular breaking workshops/sessions at 'UWO Breakers Club', local libraries and community centres with the crew. They encourage the youth to find and develop their own unique characters/styles by empowering them and teaching them self confidence, along with mutual respect, peace, love, unity & having fun. He is hoping to share his talent and passion in dancing with everyone to provide the most versatile styles of street dance offered in London including breaking, popping, hip hop and house dancing.

JEANNIE HOWE

Jeannie began doing gymnastics at the age of 9 years. She began partaking in classes at her hometown gym club at age 11 when she began competing. The first year was slow, but she developed a keen eye for what the judges liked and gained the gold medal overall in her second year. Jeannie's highschool competetive year began with an overall gold medal in the Ontario provincals and was made even more successful with a perfect mark in the vault-which had never been done in highschool competition. Right after the competition, Jeannie fell down the stairs at her family home and broke her sarcum in half, leaving her temporarily paralized and unable to compete until the following school year. Jeannie's gymnastic career continued, but not to the same level as before her accident. Jeannie started teaching gymnastics by assistance teaching at the age of 12 years old. She took her coaching accreditation certificates at age 15 years. At the age of 16 she was the head coach for her hometown gymnastics club. She went off to Humber College to complete her education as a Child and Youth Counsellor in 1985-1988. She taught gymnastics in Rodney and Glencoe for 10 years. At the same time, Jeannie worked in the human services field for 20 years with very hard to serve adolescents. Jeannie decided to retire from that career 6 years ago and become a full time foster parent to four children. Jeannie has a biological daughter to her and her husband that you may have seen around the studio-Bailey. She has also taught gymnastics/acro/tumbling in Strathroy for 6 years. Jeannie is looking forward to teaching acro and tumbling now in Lambeth at Elan Dance Arts.

DEBRA JONES

Debra has been dancing, singing and acting since the age of three.

Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ms. Jones trained at, among others, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and successfully completed many exams in RAD, Al Gilbert Syllabus, CDTA, and ADAPT. She is a registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dancing system, and has studied both Cecchetti and Vaganova syllabi as well.

As a student she has won numerous awards at competitions. Debra went on to study as a ballet major at York University, finally obtaining a BA from University of Manitoba.

After moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, Ms. Jones taught workshops and classes throughout southern Saskatchewan and became the Artistic Director of Danceworks Regina, a modern and ballet dance school and semi-professional company. Also, working as a choreographer of many semi-professional and professional theatres, Ms. Jones has helped direct shows for Winnipeg Light Opera Society, Regina Lyric Light Opera, Theatre Regina, and Brantford Theatre Company.

Many of Ms. Jones’ former students have won national and international recognition in ballet and other dance forms, and many have gone on to professional careers, both in dance and dance-related fields.

She now lives and teaches in southern Ontario, which has been her home for the last 18 years, and free-lances as a competition and theatrical choreographer and workshop leader.

Debra hopes to pass on her knowledge and experience to many more young, talented people for years to come!

ROSEMARIE KAES

Rosemarie has been studying a variety of dance disciplines including ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop for most of her life. She has successfully passed the graded and Intermediate level ballet examinations offered through the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) and continues to train at the vocational level. She has completed the Pre-Primary and Primary in Dance examination syllabus course offered through R.A.D. and is currently pursuing additional teacher's training for certification through R.A.D. for ballet and A.D.A.P.T for tap and jazz. Rosemarie compliments her dance training with her instructor's certification in pilates. She is fully qualified to teach mat and reformer pilates classes at all levels including prenatal and postnatal clients. She enjoys staying current in her fields and using new information and her experience to encourage students of all ages to have fun and achieve their personal best.

SHAUNA MCCONNELL

MICHELLE MOSES

RACHEL ROBERTSON

In 2009, Rachel completed a degree in Kinesiology with a Minor in Food and Nutrition from the University of Western Ontario. She is certified in Fusion Pilates which includes beginner through advanced mat and reformer, as well as pre/post natal pilates. From 2003-2009, Rachel acquired her Level 1 and 2 – Theory and Community Basketball through the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), followed by a personal training (PTS) certification through Can-Fit-Pro in 2008. She has had previous experience coaching figure skating and basketball; and has been teaching pilates for 4 years.

ROBIN TEEUWEN

Tap Dancing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My initial inspiration to learn tap dancing started by watching tap dancing on the Mickey Mouse Club and at the age of six, I began tap dancing with Florence Abel in Chatham. A few years later I began studying ballet but tap dancing remained my passion. While attending Wilfrid Laurier University for Physical Education I continued to study tap dancing at the Davenport School of Dance. I obtained my membership level of teachers in BATD for tap dancing and for the last seven years I have enjoyed teaching tap dancing in Chatham, Sarnia, Windsor, and Wallaceburg. During that time I had the pleasure of working on choreography for several plays including, Crazy for You, Stepping Out, and Thorougly Modern Millie. In recent years, I have begun learning swing dancing and have taken interest in learning other dance forms while continuing to upgrade my Tap Dancing skills at the Eastern Canadian Tap Conference. Tap Dancing will always be a part of my life, and my goal is to continue to grow as a tap dancer so that I may pass on this beautiful marriage of percussive rhythm and dance.