At Pointe of Grace we take great pride in providing our students with some of the finest teachers that the Ottawa area has to offer.

Nancy Pidgeon, BA (Carleton), TTP - Dip. (NBS), LISTD (Cecchetti)
Registered Teacher Royal Academy of Dance - Ballet Instructor

Nancy Pidgion's early training was in the method of the Royal Academy of Dance. She completed her Intermediate Executant Examination and later went on to achieve her RAD Teaching Diploma. She graduated from the Teacher Training Program of the National Ballet School in 1983 after completing the National Dance Branch Elementary and Intermediate Examinations with Honours (ISTD), the Intermediate Cecchetti Ballet Exam, and the Associate Level Teaching Exam with Distinction, (ISTD). Ms. Pidgeon spent another year at the National Ballet School working as an Assistant Teacher and completed her Licentiate Level Teaching Exam, (ISTD). At the conclusion of that year Nancy received a Canada Council for the Arts grant to study at the Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Workshop which was held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Since her return to Ottawa, Ms. Pidgeon's teaching experience has been diverse and extensive. In 1986 she and three partners established National Capital Dance Educators and she worked there for fifteen years as well as at a variety of other schools in the Ottawa area. In addition, Nancy has examined students at Canterbury High School and at Ecole Secondaire de la Salle in their ballet programs, as well as spending one year teaching the senior class at de la Salle and another year as Arts Consultation. Ms. Pidgeon now enjoys being a free lance dance instructor in and around the Ottawa area, where she has entered students in both the RAD and Cecchetti examinations with great success.

She is a frequent guest teacher at the Cecchetti Seminars offered in Toronto on a bi-annual basis, and she regularly attends the National Ballet School Teaching Seminars featuring the work of renowned Neuromuscular Specialist Irene Dowd. Ms. Pidgeon was recently elected Ontario Representative for the Cecchetti Society of Canada.

Ping Feng- Ballet Instructor

Formerly Soloist, Ottawa Ballet. Mr. Feng is a graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy, and holds a B.A. in Dance Ed., from Beijing U. His professional performing experience includes the Beijing Dance Academy Ballet Company (Central Ballet of China), Les Ballet Jazz of Montreal, 1990-92 and Theater Ballet, Ottawa Ballet. He has extensive teaching experience in both classical ballet and character.

 

 

Tanya Johnston - Jazz, Ballet, Tap & Hip-Hop Instructor

Tanya has been training since 1993 in various styles of dance such as jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, hip hop, modern, acro, and highland. She has completed her Grade 5 examination in Checetti as well as level 6 in the B-DAT tap syllabus.

She joined the Pointe of Grace competitive team in 2000 and has won prestige awards in groups as well as with solos. In 2005, Tanya received a full scholarship to attend the fall 2005 Dance Fusion workshop tour. Furthermore, she received free solo entrance to the 2006 season of Terpsichore Dance celebration. Tanya placed in the top ten soloists of the 2005-2006 Footloose regional competition in Gatineau. Also, she performed in a routine in which won first high score overall.

More recently, Tanya attended the July 2007 "Pulse Tour" workshop in New York City, New York. She worked with well known choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Shane Sparks, Tyce Diorio, Wade Robson, Chris Judd, and Dave Scott.

Tanya became a teaching assistant in 2002 and an instructor in 2004. She is passionate, enthusiastic, and committed to her work, her staff, and her students at Pointe of Grace Dance Company. Amongst Tanya's dance endeavors, she has completed a four year program in dramatics arts at Canterbury Arts High School and she is current pursuing a degree in forensic science at Carleton University.

Katie Woudstra- Hip-Hop & Jazz Instructor

Originally from Burlington, Ontario, Katie grew up dancing and training in jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop and modern. Before moving to Ottawa in 1998, she completed her Canadian Dance Teacher's Association (CDTA) examinations in jazz, tap and ballet. Once settled in the region she continued her dance training, allowing her to gain the valuable experience she needed to be both a teacher and choreographer. At the same time she became a member of Future Shock Professional Hip-Hop dance troupe and performed with them at different venues across the city. Currently Katie is teaching in jazz and hip-hop and is working towards her teaching certification in the "Beat" tap syllabus.

Holly O'Neill-Veit- Step Dance Instructor

Holly began her stepdancing education at age 5. By 8 she was competing at traditional stepdancing competitions across Ontario and Quebec. At 11 her interest grew from simply performing to choreography. She developed her own "studio" in her basement and prepared routines for competition. That same year she was presented with the "Best Choreography" award from a local competition, (Footloose) for a routine she prepared for her sister.

This was the beginning of her numerous successes in teaching, performing and choreography. At age 12 she was commissioned by the NCC to prepare and present a 20 minute show for Canada Day which went off with great success. As a performer Holly often is on the stage being presented with prestigious awards and last year was presented with the "Innovation in Dance Award" at Dance, Dance Canada. She has also been awarded many scholarships including a week in Toronto to learn from international choreographers.

Holly's dance education and successes also include many years of jazz, tap, lyrical and ballet.

Amber Fishman- Ballet & Jazz Instructor

Amber started dancing in Calgary at the age of three and continued until the age of nine. Moving to Ontario, she started to learn different styles of dance including tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop. Her preference would quickly grow to be ballet.

She has studied the RAD syllabus in ballet, and completed many ballet exams using this syllabus. Recently, she has been introduced to the Cecchetti syllabus and completed her grade 5 examination in 2005 using this style. She has choreographed dances for her high school fashion show and competed with Pointe of Grace's winning competitive team for the past 2 years.

Amber is pleased to join Pointe of Grace teaching staff as a ballet and jazz instructor, after assistant teaching for the past few years, and teaching with the studio's summer dance camps for a number of years.

Cassie Honey - Instructor

Cassie's passion for dance began at the age of 4 when she took her first pre-dance class. Cassie soon began classes in ballet and jazz where she completed exams in the CDTA syllabus. Over the years Cassie's technical dance training has extended beyond ballet and jazz to lyrical, tap, modern and hip hop. She has completed her Grade 6 ballet examination in Checetti as well as level 6 in the B-DAT tap syllabus.

She joined Pointe of Grace in 2004 and has won awards as a soloist as well as for performances in group numbers. Among these awards, in 2006, Cassie placed in the top 10 soloists at the Footloose Nationals in Orlando, Florida. In 2007, she won Top Overall Soloist in the Flashdance Regional Competition. She also received the 2007 award at Pointe of Grace for Most Outstanding Senior Dancer.

Cassie has participated in many dance workshops and in July of 2007 she had the opportunity to attend the "Pulse Tour" workshop in New York City, New York. She gained dance knowledge as she worked with well known choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Shane Sparks, Tyce Diorio, Wade Robson, Chris Judd, and Dave Scott.

Cassie attends Sacred Heart High School where she takes part in the dance program and has had occasion to build choreography knowledge and perform for special events. She continues to be a part of the Pointe of Grace competitive team. Cassie has been assisting with dance classes for several years and is thrilled to be part of the Pointe of Grace staff, sharing her knowledge and love of dance, as she teaches Pre-Dance, Ballet and Jazz.

Stacey O'Neill-Veit - Instructor

Stacey began stepdancing at age 4. Her first solo competitive experience was a year later and she's been competing on traditional stepdancing stages as well as for multi-discipline competitions ever since, more often than not taking home a trophy for her efforts.

To complement her dance skills Stacey has also taken ballet and competed in jazz, acro and tap. Stacey decided early on that dance was a passion. She is excited to be able to share that with the aspiring stepdancers at Pointe of Grace.