Meet Our 2020 Team
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Ballet, Modern, Body Conditioning(PBT), Classical Variations
Director/Owner since 1994. Micaela trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Banff Centre for the Arts and graduated from École Supérieure de Danse du Québec. She has studied in Germany, Toronto, Pennsylvania & New York. She holds her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 & her Russian Advanced certificate.
Micaela has performed professionally with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Les Jeune Ballets de Quebec and at the Toronto Fringe Festival of Independent Artists (Ffida), Halifax Live Art & the Atlantic Fringe Festival . She has been awarded Nova Scotia Talent Trust Awards, The Banff Centre for the Arts Scholarship, and the Canada Council Emerging Artist award.
She is an elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance(ARAD) and is a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher(RTS). And is certified in the Progressive Ballet Technique.
Her students have attended some of the most prestigious schools and professional companies in the world such as The Juilliard School, Joffery Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, The National Ballet school of Canada, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Toronto Dance Theatre and Netherlands Dance Theatre II, Albert Ballet II, Ballet B.C.
Ballet, Body Conditioning(PBT), Classical Variations
Carol trained in England at the Westbury School of Dance and Drama and the Urdang Academy of Performing Arts in Covent Garden, London. Professionally performing in Tunisia , North Africa. where she settled and ran her own RAD school for many years. After moving to Nova Scotia she taught at several local schools.
She is an Associate of The Society of Russian Ballet as well as an RAD registered teacher and has her Certification in Progressive Ballet Technique. She also acts as Rehearsal Mistress for Coastal Dance Theatre Society.
Jazz
Karla Hodge is a Contemporary Jazz and Musical Theatre Choreographer/Teacher who has worked professionally in both theatre and dance for over twenty years. Karla has choreographed many full length productions including; Grease, Hair, Urine town and most recently Bare. Her contemporary work has been performed by many local pre-professional dance and theatre companies in the city. Karla has donated her time to the arts community by sitting on many Board of Directors. Karla has trained in Royal Academy of Dance for over twenty years under Micaela Archer-Shee & Nora Oakey and had muliti-discipline modern, jazz and hip hop training from Peggy Baker, Jayson Wright, and Lenny de la Pena.
Ballet, Modern, Jazz
Julia has trained at Coastal Dance where she has studied many styles of dance including ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary and lyrical. At age 13 Julia became a full member of Coastal Dance Theatre Society performing many lead roles in productions such as Clara in the “The Nutcracker”, Alice in “Alice in Winterland”, and Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”. Julia holds her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 certificate.
A 2020 Graduate of Dalhousie University, Julia is entering Mount St.Vincent to study education.
Julia is also rehearsal Mistress for Coastal Dance Theatre Society.
Ballet, Body Conditioning
Rachael Dyer has extensive training and experience in dance instruction. She is a graduate of the Teacher Training Program at The Conservatory (Halifax), and holds a degree from Saint Mary’s University. She went on to graduate from the Teacher Training Program at Canada’s National Ballet School, and obtained certification with the Royal Academy of Dance, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (National Branch) and the Canadian Dance Teacher’s Association. Ms. Dyer has taught in professional settings throughout the Maritimes and Toronto.
Modern, Hip Hop
Georgia Skinner trained in classical dance since age three at Coastal Dance and continued to train in contemporary, modern, ballet (RAD) and hip hop through high school. She graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Professional Training Program. She has worked with many esteemed dance artists such as Christopher House, Darryl Tracy, Robert Desrosiers, and Ted Robinson. She has attended ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria.
She is currently working with professional Modern company Mocean Dance as well as attending Paramedic School.
Yoga
Robyn is passionate about sharing her love of yoga with children. She has been teaching children for over 20 years as she is also a Physical Eduycation teacher with the Halifax Regional School Board. Robyn is a Certified 200 hour Adult yoga teacher as well as 95 hour certified Children’s yoga teacher.
Modern
Amanda LaRusic received her training from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts Teacher Training Program. She has performed works by Serge Bennathan, Anna Blewchamp, Sharon B. Moore, Christopher House and Jean-Pierre Perreault. Upon graduation of STDT in 2012, LaRusic performed with Peggy Baker Dance Projects in Night Garden and Christopher House’s Field for Older and Reckless under direction of Claudia Moore.
Independently, she has done performances by Kathleen Doherty. In 2015 she had the privilege of joining Dance Theatre David Earle and performing the iconic Sacra Conversazione.
Most recently, LaRusic dances with Connection Dance Works in St. John NB and Votive Dance in Halifax NS.
As well as exploring her own choreographic endeavours, Amanda has taught at various schools and programs in Toronto, Halifax and across Nova Scotia.
In 2018, Amanda co – founded KickTalkDance Productions.
Nora Oakey trained under Lusia Pavlychenko in Saskatoon and Celia Franca at the National Ballet School. She performed with the Banff Centre Opera. She holds her RAD Advanced Certificate as well as her RAD Teaching Diploma. An Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance, she directed Scotia Ballet Studio from 1982-1992 before becoming Artistic Advisor for Coastal Dance in 1994.
Ballet
Abbie has trained with Coastal Dance her entire dancing career achieving her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 examination. Abbie has performed lead roles in many CDTS productions such as Clara in “The Nutcracker”, Gerda in the “Snow Queen” and Alice in “Alice in Winterland”. Abbie has been on Faculty for three seasons and is also pursuing a Nursing degree at Dalhousie.
Ballet
Jenna has trained with Coastal Dance her entire dancing career achieving her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 examination. Jenna has performed the lead characters in many of CDTS performances such as Arabian Lead and Soldier doll in “The Nutcracker”, The Robber Princess in the “Snow Queen” and the White Rabbit of “Alice in Winterland”. Jenna has been on Faculty for three seasons and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at Dalhousie.
Hip Hop
Emily has been with Coastal Dance for 13 years ! currently working towards her Advanced 1 Ballet examination. Emily has been assisting for several years and joined the Faculty last year. As a senior member of Coastal Dance Theatre she has performed lead roles such as Clara in the Nutcracker, Kaya in The Snow Queen and the contemporary role of the Jabberwock in Alice in Winterland.
A senior in high school, Emily is hoping to pursue Medical Sciences at Dalhousie.
Ballet, Jazz
Paige has trained with Coastal Dance her entire dancing career achieving her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 examination. Paige has performed lead roles in many CDTS such as Spanish Lead in “The Nutcracker”, The Robber Princess in the “Snow Queen” and Alice in “Alice in Winterland”. Paige has been on Faculty for three seasons and is also pursuing a a nursing degree at Dalhousie.
Ballet, Classical Variations
Jade was raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where she trained at Coastal Dance. She was a senior CDTS member performing lead roles such as Sugar Plum in the “Nutcracker” and Alice in “Alice in Winterland”. She attended Ballet Jörgen’s Summer Intensive and continued to study Dance Performance Studies at George Brown College in partnership with Ballet Jörgen. After graduation, she was accepted into the mentorship program with Ballet Jörgen Canada from
2018-2019. She toured BJC for their season of “Coppélia” and “The Nutcracker: A Canadian Tradition”. Over the years of her training, she performed in pieces by Nicola Pantin, Susie Burpee, Cindy Macedo, Bengt Jörgen, Derek Sangster and Alysa Pires.