Our Directors

Amanda Belyea - Director/Instructor/Choreographer

Taking her first dance class at the age of five, Amanda always knew her life would be surrounded by the art of dance. In 1999 after years of training Amanda co-founded Pointe of Grace Dance Company with her long-time friend and dance mate Carly Hallett.

Her passion for dance and choreography is shown in both the classroom and her routines. Her favourite styles to teach are lyrical, contemporary, jazz and hip hop. Amanda works very closely with the competitive team and does a lot of the choreography. She has won ‘Top Overall Choreographer’ at a number of competitions and her dancer’s have had great success in winning overall awards as her creativity and originality continue to set her choreography apart.

Amanda has been certified in BATD and some of her highlights include:

• winning a scholarship to further her training in New York city, where she was scouted by a talent agency.
• dancing with the Loggerythms at the Corel Centre
• winning Beginner Miss Majorette of Canada and going on to represent her country at Notre dame University in Southbend Indiana where she won the title “Beginner Miss Majorette of America”

Amanda prides herself on staying ‘in the know’ by attending many dance workshops all over the globe and having guest choreographers attend the studio.

Carly Sherwin - Director/Instructor/Choreographer

An Ottawa native, Carly has thrived on performing since the age of four. Though specialized in ballet, she also has extensive training in jazz, tap and lyrical. During her almost 20 years of dance, Carly competed throughout North America, winning numerous top awards. Her most notable honour was winning the lead role the Ottawa ballet production, “A Cry for the Damned”. With that experience under her belt she furthered her dance training by attending workshops and seminars with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and later won a scholarship to New York City where she honed her skills as both a dancer and instructor.

In 1998 Carly turned her focus to her teaching career, free lance teaching at a number of Ottawa area schools before becoming co-director of Pointe of Grace Dance Company. She now enjoys focussing her efforts on training as she directs the company’s ballet program. Her choreography has won her high regard in the competition circuit with her students winning many prestigious awards.

Carly is a certified B.A.T.D. instructor and is currently working on her Associate for the Cecchetti syllabus (ballet).