Our Instructors
Heather Beauvais
Co-Director, Certified ADAPT/Acrobatique Teacher
"Miss Heather's" dance career began 22 years ago when she attended her first ballet class. From there she trained intensely in other styles of dance: jazz, modern, lyrical, gymnastics and musical theatre, receiving many awards during her teen years for her absolutely captivating solo performances. Not only was Heather born to dance, but born to teach. That dream of combining the two became a reality when she started teaching at Excalibre (now dansko studios). Through teaching, and creating dynamic, award winning choreography, Miss Heather is fortunate, as are the students she inspires, to keep her spirit of dance alive!
Allison Charlton
Co-Director, Certified ADAPT Teacher
Allison trained since the age of 3 at Dancentral Studio in Red Deer. For many years she successfully competed throughout Alberta in tap, jazz, musical theatre, highland & ballet as well as completing with honors, all levels of tap & jazz exams through the A.D.A.P.T. syllabus, and every level of highland dance exams. Playing the role of "Peter" in Peter Pan got her hooked on live theatre. At 14, Allison added teaching to her professional career and has never looked back. As a young adult Allison moved to Victoria where she performed in local theatre productions of '42nd St.,' 'A Chorus Line', 'South Pacific', 'West Side Story' and 'Evita'. Allison also choreographed 'Brigadoon' for VOS. Allison is well known in Victoria for her truly unique, highly entertaining, award-winning choreography. That, combined with her amazing ability to motivate and inspire her students of all ages makes her a 'teacher extraordinaire
Leigh Neuman
Co-Director, Certified ADAPT Teacher
Leigh grew up dancing here in beautiful Victoria, BC, studying various disciplines including ballet, jazz, tap and musical theatre. From age 12, Leigh’s success as a soloist brought her many top marks, awards, and the privilege each year to represent Victoria at the BC Festival of the Arts in Stage Dance. At age 17, Leigh’s tap performance of “In Threes”, choreographed by Allison Charlton, received the “Dance Olympus Summer Dance National Champion (USA)” title. Leigh’s love and passion for dance led her to teach here in Victoria.
In 2004 Leigh began her career as professional dancer with Princess Cruises. Traveling and performing abroad on many Princess ships, Leigh was promoted to Asst. Dance Captain in 2005. After working abroad for four years, Leigh is excited and proud to return to the awesome dansko faculty to once again share her passion, love and experience of dancing with all of her students.
Hocine Layada
Certified ADAPT Teacher, Ballet
Born in Marseille, France, Hocine Layada started dancing at age 9, in Toulon France and began his professional training at the "Academie de Dance Princesse Grace" (Monaco, Monte-Carlo) 1980 - 1984. In 1984 he was a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, earning the distinction of Encouragement. In 1984 he traveled to Hamburg, Germany on a scholarship with the Hambourg Ballet School and became a full company member in 1985-1990, performing as a Soloist. In 1990-1991 Mr. Layada joined the The Royal Ballet of Flanders, performing as a Soloist in Antwerpen, Belgium. After one year in Belgium Mr. Layada returned to Germany, to dance with the Komisch Oper Ballet, then went on appearing as a Principal Dancer with Gera Ballet Company and Erfurt Ballet Company. In 1993-1994 he came to Canada, joining the Alberta Ballet Company, performing in a soloist role. He later danced with the Ontario Ballet Theatre, with Raymond Smith as Artistic Director a Former Principal Dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, and returned to Calgary in 1996 to again join The Alberta Ballet and to teach at various dance schools. Mr. Layada first taught ballet for the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts in 1999-2001 while still dancing. In 2003-2004 Mr. Layada traveled to Victoria, BC to performed with Ballet Victoria in Peter Pan as the lead Principal Dancer/Ballet Master. The production was choreographed by Mr. David Roland, former Principal Dancer with the StaatsBallett Berlin, in Berlin Germany. In 2004, Mr. Layada move back to Calgary to teach at various dance schools. In 2005-2010 Mr. Layada was the head of the Ballet program at The Young Canadian School of Performing arts, under the Artistic direction of Mr. Brian Foley. From 2010-2016, Mr. Layada taught Ballet at Decidedly Jazz school of dance, as well as private Ballet classes. Mr. Layada also taught Ballet for the Calalta Figure Skating club in Calgary. From 2010-2016 Mr. Layada was also an Education Assistant for The Calgary Catholic School Board District, also In the Summer of 2015, Mr. Layada taught Ballet for Dansko Dance School for their Summer Workshop.
Kylie Stanton
Contemporary
Kylie Stanton began dancing at a very early age in Edmonton, Alberta. Since then, she's trained in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Upon settling on the west coast, Kylie performed with "The Source" and "Ruckus Dance Company". Her credits include contracts with Walt Disney Canada, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and the Canadian Military - travelling to Egypt and Israel, performing for the troops. Kylie now focuses on her passion for teaching and choreography. She's grateful to all of the students she has the opportunity to work with across the county each year.
Carly Heemskerk
Jazz, Ballet and Tap
Carly began ballet at age three and trained exclusively in ballet for the first few years. During this time, she worked her way through the RAD vocational graded syllabus. Carly began taking jazz at Dansko Studios, and eventually began taking tap, modern, contemporary and hip-hop. She was a Danskore company for many years and also got the chance to complete a handful of ADAPT jazz and tap exams before she began teaching. Throughout her time dancing, Carly competed in various local and out-of-town competitions, festivals and shows. Notably, Carly has performed in Ballet Etoile’s shows and as a background dancer in Disney’s “Descendants 2.” . In 2016, Carly travelled to Toronto to complete the ADAPT Assistant Teacher Training program and she quickly discovered her passion for teaching. Currently, Carly is attending the University of Victoria in the Elementary Education Program. Carly is so excited to share her love for dance and she hopes to instil a similar passion into all of her students!
Andrea LaPointe
Certified ADAPT Teacher, Jazz and Tap
Andrea began taking dance classes at the age of 3. Up until the age of 15 she trained in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre and pointe at Danette's School of Dance in Campbell River. She participated in a variety of festivals on Vancouver Island as well as dance conventions in Vancouver and Seattle. After graduating from high school and moving to Victoria she got distracted with post secondary school, work, and life with children.
Fortunately about 8 years ago Andrea rediscovered her love of dance while taking adult tap and jazz classes at Dansko. Over the last couple of years she has been experiencing dance classes from a teaching perspective. Andrea is currently working on her ADAPT certification and is really enjoying sharing her passion for dance with her students.
Madison Bains
Jazz and Contemporary, Certified ADAPT Teacher
Madison found her passion for dance at the age of three while taking her first tap class. Madison has been training in a variety of styles at dansko Studios including jazz, hip hop, ballet, contemporary, tap and modern for the past 16 years. She has been competing in various competitions throughout British Columbia in small & large groups, winning multiple awards. Madison currently dances with the UVIC Dance Company. She is currently enrolled in the Education Program at UVIC in hopes to become a dance teacher in public schools. Madison loves to share her passion for dance with her students.
Meaghan Wilkins
Jazz and Hip Hop, Certified ADAPT Teacher
Meaghan started her first ballet class at the age of three. Year after year she began to take more classes at Dansko Studios including tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, modern, and pointe. Meaghan has also been a part of Danskore for eight years. She has competed in several different competitions such as Peak, Phoenix, Core, and View Dance Competition. For years she has also completed several levels in the jazz and tap ADAPT exams before becoming a dance teacher. In 2018 Meaghan went to Toronto and completed the ADAPT Assistant Teacher Training program. Since then it has been her joy to assist and train her students in jazz and hip-hop. She loves meeting her new students each year and watching them grow and develop in their classes. Meaghan is so proud to have the opportunity to teach at the studio she loves so much and she hopes that her students will find a similar love and passion.
Gabrielle Gladych
Ballet and Jazz
Gabrielle began her dance training on the Saanich Peninsula at age 3. Over the past 15 years, she has been schooled in the disciplines of ballet, jazz, tap, modern, contemporary, hip hop and musical theatre.
At age 10, Gabrielle performed with the Peninsula Young Performers in Disneyland, where she also had the privilege of attending a workshop with a former European So You Think You Can Dance judge. In 2016, she competed with Team Canada West Showdance, under the direction of Danieller Gardiner, as part of their Junior Large Group at the IDO World Championships in Riesa, Germany.
Gabrielle has expanded her dance training in recent years through workshops and conventions including iDance and Paul Becker Master Classes, as well as completing a summer intensive at Harbour Dance Centre in Vancouver, in 2017.
In 2018, Gabrielle competed at Synergy Dance Competition and received a recognition award for her choreography. She then attended the Synergy Dance Provincials, both as a Young Choreographer and with her tap group. That year, she also received The Wendy Vernon Recognition Award at Victoria Danceworks, and was awarded Most Outstanding Junior Dancer 2018, at Stelly’s Secondary School. In 2019, Gabrielle received a Stelly’s dance award again, this time as Most Outstanding Senior Dancer.
Kathy Alexander
Musical Theatre, Voice
is a singer, vocal coach and choir director. She is also a co-founder of a local singing education company called Singdaptive. Kathy’s stage appearances include Mamma Mia! (Donna) Shrek (Mamma Ogre) and the Wizard of Oz (Glinda). She has performed in Europe with Quannah Parker jazz fusion band, Gl. Egå Jazzklub and back on the West Coast with Vision TV’s Let’s Sing Again, The Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra and the Victoria International Jazz Festival. Kathy performs locally in a cover duo, “Kath and Dave.”
Kathy has directed numerous choirs, musical theater projects and choral performances including the Victoria Children’s Choir and the Grace Men’s Choir. Kathy taught K-12 music for 6 years in local schools and has a passion for both great pedagogy as well as for maintaining a motivating atmosphere. She received her Bachelor of Music and Education from the University of Victoria (voice) and studied jazz piano and voice in Capilano University’s Jazz Studies program
Most of all, Kathy believes in the musical potential of every individual who wants to sing.
Jenna Spall
Pre School, Jazz and Ballet
Jenna began her dance journey with dansko studios at the age of three, in Baby Boogies. Throughout her training she has danced in various styles including tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary, modern, hip hop and pointe. She has been a part of danskore for nine years, and has participated in numerous performances, competitions and conventions as such. Jenna has completed ADAPT syllabus exams in tap and jazz from Pre-Junior 3 to Intermediate 3. She completed her Teacher Assistant training in Toronto in 2018. Outside of her training at Dansko, Jenna dances with Ballet Étoile, and enjoys performing in their seasonal pieces. Jenna is passionate about dance, loves working with children and always looks forward to sharing this passion with young students.
Grace Wright
Ballet, Jazz and Tap, Certified ADAPT Teacher
Grace started dancing at the age of 3, discovered dansko at age 5 and, since then, has never looked back. She began with tap, jazz and ballet and subsequently added many different styles to her repertoire. Grace has trained, and still does train, in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, modern, musical theatre/variety stage, and pointe.
Competing is also a passion of Grace’s and she has been enrolled in the competitive program (danskore company) since she was 8, and she has also been involved in the danskore hip hop crew since she was 14. Grace also enjoys travelling to take part in workshops, conventions and masterclasses. She attended Triple Threat Dance Convention a few years in a row where she got to learn from many experienced choreographers in a variety of styles. Core Dance has also provided week long intensives and workshops that Grace has attended. She has also been to several of Paul Becker’s Master Classes, one of which she was given a scholarship to from Peak Invitational Dance Competition.
Her competitive training at dansko has included learning technique and completing dance exams in the ADAPT syllabus. Grace has completed tap and jazz dance exams from junior 3 to the intermediate 3 level. In July of 2017, Grace flew out to Toronto where she completed a 3 day workshop to become a certified ADAPT assistant teacher. She has been assisting classes at Dansko studios since the fall of 2017 and is thrilled to be teaching.
Charlotte Aitken
Jazz and ContemporaryCertified ADAPT Teacher
Charlotte was born and raised in Victoria and began dancing at the age of nine. She knew she loved to dance after taking her first jazz class at dansko. Having been a danskore company member for 5 years, Charlotte has trained and competed in jazz, tap, ballet, modern, contemporary, and modern stage. She has won multiple awards for her dances during her competitive years, as well as being chosen for an “Adjudicators Choice” award. Not only has Charlotte danced on stage, but she also had the opportunity to work as a background actor in Disney’s “The Descendants 2” and “The Descendants 3”. Charlotte hopes to share her love of dancing and performing with her students.