Jennifer Thorogood
Jennifer is the director of Alive Danceworks. She has been dancing for 22 years and continues to dance professionally. Jennifer has had extensive training in Ballet with the Banff Centre for Performing Arts with numerous internationally acclaimed teachers as well as with Alberta Ballet. She has also studied everywhere from Calgary to New York City in many other dance disciplines such as modern, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop and was a competitive gymnast at a young age. Jennifer has performed in many professional shows including six years in Alberta Ballet's production of the "Nutcracker", Northwest Ballet's "Cinderella", numerous Banff Centre productions, television, and various half time shows. As co-founder of the group "Dance Attack", she traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Greece with country singer Lisa Brokop and other professional artists in 2002. Jennifer's teaching experience includes classes at Alberta Ballet as well as the children's roles in their production of the "Nutcracker" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream". She taught for Integrated Dance Arts and has enjoyed teaching dance options in high school programs and in various workshops. Jennifer started Alive Danceworks in an after school program that quickly outgrew the space. She enjoys teaching She is thrilled to be in year five at our present location sharing her love of dance with children of every age.

Rocky Mejia
Rocky is an exciting energetic performer, teacher and choreographer. He has trained and performed with the modern dance company POWER dance in Manila, Philippines. He has appeared in numerous films and TV shows including "Honey I Shrunk The Kids", commercials for FORD, and the motion picture "I've Seen You Before". He has traveled the world performing on international stages with companies such as Princess Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and Murray Hatfield. His unique style of blending Tap, Jazz, and Hip-Hop with a soulful urban feel has won him affection with students of all ages at home and abroad.

Jody Szott
Jody has toured across Canada with the Murray Hatfield Company and has numerous performances in the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show to her credit as a member of the Young Canadians.Ê In addition to dancing, Jody has been in many musicals and plays including the role of Rizzo in the popular regional production of "Grease". Whether singing, dancing or acting, Jody is still a triple threat performer who brings excitement and energy to both the stages she performs on and the classrooms she teaches in. Jody believes in a strong work ethic and explores the emotions and feelings in her works.Ê This develops a unique expression of the individual in their dance.

Tarra Wiegel
Tarra was a shy child so didn't start dancing until the age of 11. She started out training in Hip Hop in Victoria, BC at Stages Dance Company but that soon grew to a love of dance that would take her into many different styles including jazz, ballet and lyrical. Tarra soon joined Stages Dance Performing Company and performed locally in Victoria with a team that she both trained with and taught. At the age of 19, Tarra moved to Vancouver to train at Harbour Dance Studios but was only there 3 months before signing onto Carnival Cruise Lines where she spent 14 months performing and traveling around the Caribbean. Since then Tarra has traveled, trained and performed in Singapore, Indonesia, Bali, LA and now Calgary. She is very happy to be a teacher at Alive Danceworks and to be a part of "Vivo" The Alive Dance Company!

Nishga Hotz-Felder
Nishga began dancing at a young age in Vancouver, B.C. At the age of four she began Artistic Gymnastics, and moved over to Rhythmic Gymnastics at age five. She continued to train as a Rhythmic gymnast for the next ten years, earning a spot on the Junior Canadian National Team in 2001. She traveled extensively competing around the continent, as well as training in Europe. Nishga moved to Calgary to in 2004 and obtained a Minor in Contemporary Dance from the University of Calgary, while finishing her B.a. Since moving here, Nishga has been involved in many major films, 'The Core', and 'She's The Man', and commercials, 'Shaw-People Powered', as well as having participated in local dance productions such as 'Dance Montage', and 'Calgary Cares'. Nishga most recently began training with the House of Dangerkat, and had the chance to travel to Paris last February and perform with the House at Juste Debout - Europes most prestigious Urban Dance Competition.

Jeremy Fokkens
Jeremy Fokkens started dancing at the age of 13 in Calgary Alberta, training under teacher and mentor Susan Mensinger. Dance has given Jeremy the opportunity to perform all over the world. These performances include, Norwegian Cruise Lines & Princess Cruise Lines, International Films for India (Hollywood Bollywood), numerous performances with choreographers and teachers from the Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, as well as attending master classes at the International Tap Festival in New York City. Jeremy now resides back to where his love for dancing first started where he teaches, choreographs, and performs with a local Hip-hop company working along side the individuals who first showed Jeremy the art of dance. His studies include Hip-Hip, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, & Musical Theatre.

• 16 Years of dance training.
• Styles include Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-hop, and Lyrical.
• Principal Dancer for Princess and Norwegian Cruise Lines 2001-2006.
• Excited to be teaching and being a part of the Alive Danceworks team for the second year running.

Kathleen Collier
Miss Kathy has extensive experience teaching preschoolers, both as a dance teacher and as a preschool teacher in a traditional setting. She recently gave an interactive presentation at the Calgary Preschool Teacher's Convention on Creative Movement in the Classroom. Her dance teaching experience has been with children from age 1 to 16 in preschools, elementary schools, recreation centres and various dance establishments in the Calgary area.ÊShe has choreographed routines for school productions and has taught PhysEd dance curriculum in elementary schools. ÊShe belongs to a professional dance group that performs throughout the city andÊhas her advanced ballet teaching credentialsÊthrough the Canadian Dance Teacher's Association.

Suzanne Demers
Suzanne Demers was born and raised in Calgary and has been dancing since the age of five. She has been teaching dance in Calgary for 11 years in a variety of styles including, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Tap and Hip Hop. She is an energetic dancer and teacher with a great passion for teaching and seeing her students succeed. She attributes her passion for dance to all of her training and teaching experiences with dancers of ages and abilities. Throughout her years of training, Suzanne has participated in many dance competitions and traveled throughout Canada and the USA for performances. When not teaching dance, Suzanne works as a professional fundraiser and event planner, raising money for a variety of charities in Calgary.

Mandy Thorogood
Miss Mandy has trained extensively in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary and Pointe and has taken exams in Brian Foley and RAD syllabus'. She has travelled around the world attending classes and workshops from well-known choreographers. She has been to New York, Mexico, San Diego, LA and Vancouver. Miss Mandy has been a member of Vivo the Alive Dance Company since it started in 2006. Miss Mandy is currently attending Mount Royal College in the Child and Youth Care Counsellor Diploma program as well as SAIT for photography. ! She has been teaching full time as a contemporary and lyrical teacher and is looking forward to the upcoming year and can't wait to get to know all the students at Alive!

Joan-Marie Jamieson
Joan-Marie started dancing at an early age in Newfoundland. From there, she trained at schools such as The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The National Ballet School and most recently completed the Pre-Professional Program at The School of Alberta. This gave her opportunities to perform with various professional dance companies across Canada including The Ontario Ballet Theatre, The Banff Centre as well as The Alberta Ballet. Joan-Marie has also been teaching ballet, pointe and contemporary for several years, and is a very dedicated and energetic teacher. She is also very interested in Pilates, and has just recently completed her Intensive Mat Plus course in Stott Pilates. She hopes to fully certify in the entire method in the near future. Joan-Marie is very excited to be back at Alive for this upcoming season.

Janis Litorco
Born and raised in Calgary, Janis began dancing at Artistique Dance Academy under the instruction of Susan Mensinger for 13 years competitively studying the disciplines of Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical and Musical Theater. She was also a member of "Artistique Performing Arts Company" which performed all over Alberta including the Calgary Stampede. In High School, Janis enjoyed dancing and performing in Musical Theater productions such as "The Wiz," "West Side Story," "Working," and "Macbeth." Janis became a dance teacher in Edmonton, Alberta for two years in which she helped to implement the studio's tap program in recreational and competitive classes. Her work earned her a 'Tap Choreography Award' in the City Competition. In Edmonton, she also acted on stage in many University One-Act Drama festivals.

Beyond the dance studio, Janis has been training in Muay Thai Kickboxing for four years and is currently entering her seventh year as a Junior High Language Arts teacher. She is very excited to join the teaching staff of Alive Danceworks for her second year!

Elissa Carter-Wells
Elissa is an energetic dancer and teacher who is very excited in sharing her knowledge of dance in all types and forms; From Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre, Tap and even Ballroom! Some of her recent credits include; a local production of "The Wizard Of Oz" and productions of "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Music Man" in Nelson, B.C. Elissa started dancing at the age of 4 and discovered her joy of teaching through numerous projects with elementary schools. She is very excited to continue her teaching career with Alive Danceworks and looks forward to sharing her passion and knowledge with her students training them to become dancers of the future.

Shianne Kotkas
Shianne is a dynamic dancer whose love for Ballet at an early age has helped build her passion for dance. Her repertoire of dance ability and education includes; Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, House, Tap, Swing, Latin and African as well as her training in the Classical and Modern Ballet styles. She has been part of the production "The Wizard of Oz", where she played a poppy and a scarecrow, as well as "The Nutcracker", where she played a Russian dancer. Further credits include scholarship training with Alive Danceworks in 2007 and the completion of the Central Memorial High School Performing and Visual Arts Program in which she performed, taught, and choreographed. She has participated in numerous workshops and conventions locally and internationally; The Edge and Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles, and in Rome at IALS, to name a few. Shianne is very excited to share her passion of dance with the students of Alive Danceworks!

Nicole Hopkins
has explored many styles of movement including Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Tap, Lyrical and Musical Theater. Her training of Ballet (RAD Syllabus), Tap (Al Gilbert Syllabus), Jazz & Modern began in Fort McMurray before relocating to Winnipeg to join the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's School Professional Division. After leaving the school due to an injury she continued her training & competitive dancing in Calgary. Nicole spent the 2008 - 2009 year training in Vancouver as a member of Modus Operandi a contemporary dance training program. She also completed her Yoga Teachers Training Certificate with the Yoga Alliance in White Rock. Nicole hopes to spread her love for the arts and a healthy lifestyle to each of her students.