Jennifer HillSimply Ballet - Artistic DirectorPrinciple/Artistic Director- Cecchetti Ballet
Jennifer is a sought-after teacher in the Lower Mainland. In the last 20 years Jennifer has been producing high level dancers to represent the province as well as Internationally. She is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada and their prestigious Teacher Training Program. She holds teaching qualifications of Cecchetti Ballet, with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, as well as the National Dance Branch. Jennifer spent many years perfecting her own technique at a professional level under the guidance of many well-known ballet masters in Canada and England. With a strong foundation in Classical Ballet, she carried on performing professionally in many classical ballets from Swan Lake to Sleeping Beauty to Neo-Classical independent choreography. As a professional teacher, Jennifer has developed many young dancers, encouraging them to meet the challenges of ballet, from progressing through the exam levels to performing her challenging choreography. Her students have performed in numerous local, national and international dance festivals and competitions with great rewards, including Youth America Grand Prix New York City Finals. Jennifer’s choreography has also been awarded in many high-level events. In addition, Jennifer’s students have been accepted to many of the post prestigious professional summer ballet programs across North America, including American Ballet Theatre, Haird Conservatory, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The National Ballet School of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Boston Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, The Rock School for Dance Education and the Joffrey Ballet School. Over her years of teaching, Jennifer herself has taught in many prestigious schools across North America, including the National Ballet School as well as in the United States. Jennifer has provided comprehensive, high quality dance education for children aged 2-19 for over 20 years. Her students have gone on with great achievements with professional dance careers, on international stages and even becoming high level teachers themselves. Jennifer is committed to delivering the highest quality in performing arts training to young dancers in a place where creativity is nurtured, and children are valued and encouraged to reach their full potential. |
Pam WilliamsAt the age of 8, Pam started dancing and she knew instantly this would be her passion. Growing up, Pam trained and competed in the Fraser Valley, studying jazz, ballet, modern, lyrical, stage and hip hop. One of the highlights of her dancing years was when she was chosen to be a representative at the BC Provincial Festival of the Arts. In later years, Pam frequently travelled to Seattle and L.A. to further her dance training.
Locally she has performed in and choreographed for many shows and fundraisers throughout BC including the Merritt Mountain Music Festival, Jail House Rock, a fundraiser for Haiti and many more performances. Pam’s passion for teaching emerged around age 18 and since that time she has dedicated her time and energy to her students and her craft. Her students have won many awards and scholarships and some have gone on to have successful careers in the dance industry. Saki OkuyamaSaki Okuyama was born and raised in Sapporo, Japan. She began her classical ballet training at the age of 7 at Hokkaido International Ballet Dance Company. At the age of 18 she travelled to Novosibirsk, Russia to train at the prestigious Russian National Novosibirsk State Choreographic Academy where she won first place in their annual competition in 2010. She also won fifth place in the Namu Ballet Competition Japan in 2012. Upon graduation and wanting to further her training in ballet she joined the Goh Ballet in Vancouver, Canada performing with their Youth Company for 3 years, under Chan Hon Goh. During this time, she was involved in the Goh’s production of The Nutcracker dancing in the role of Arabian and others. Currently, Saki is a part of Coastal City Ballet under Li Yaming. During her dance career, she has danced in many productions including Giselle, Le Corsaire and Monasterio by Renata Pacheco. Wanting to pass on her love of dance, she has taught at Pro Arte for the last 2 years and regularly teaches level 3 ballet at Harbour Dance. Saki is excited to teach at the Simply Ballet and to share her passion for Ballet with her students.
Tosh Sutherland |
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Tosh Sutherland is a Vancouver based dancer and actor specializing in Tap Dance. He began his tap dance training at a local studio at 12 years old. By 16, he won a Bronze medal at I.D.O.’s World Tap Dance Championships in Germany. Since graduation he has actively pursued higher education in Tap Dance and has had the opportunity to train with some of North America’s most talented Tap dance artists. Most notably attending the prestigious School at Jacob’s Pillow under the direction of Dianne Walker. After several years at sea with Princess cruises, he dove into the musical theatre scene in Vancouver and has been a part of some high-profile theatre companies including Gateway Theatre. He has been teaching for many years to students of all ages with an emphasis on technique as well as performance quality. Due to his extensive experience in theatre, he is able to impart a theatrical sense of movement and story to each piece he creates. His most recent theatre credits include; Featured soloist for West Coast Tap Collective’sTap On Screen, Danny Nielsen’s all tap dance production of Love.Be.Best.Free, Gateway Theatres production of The Music Man, and Cry-Baby: The Musical with Awkward Stage Productions.
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HoursM-S:2pm-8pm
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Telephone (604) 464-5458
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