LAMONDANCERS SEASON 13 2021/2022
Arianna Elsworth
Arianna began dancing at the age of four and recently graduated from Seymour Dance, where she trained with a highly competitive dance team. This included a wide range of genres: Ballet (completed RAD Advanced 2 Exam), Lyrical, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theatre, and Samba. She’s competed at many local competitions, provincials, and recently in the USA. She has earned numerous awards, scholarships, highest-scoring solo awards, and top ten placements, including her recent work in self-choreography. She enjoys broadening her dance training by attending a wide range of intensives, as well as performing professionally when possible, including work with Enfuse Entertainment, dancing for charity events, Diner én Blanc, etc. She is a passionate dancer, is determined and driven. Arianna is deeply grateful for the support she has received from former dance teachers, friends, and family, and she looks forward to her journey this season with Lamondance.
Linnea Goldstorm
Linnea brings her youthful energy to Lamondance, excited to further develop her ballet and contemporary technique and artistic expression, learning from other members of the company, the faculty and guest instructors. Linnea has been a successful competitive level dancer at RNB Dance for more than five years and participated in community dance programs in North Vancouver even before she could walk. She has been lucky to be selected for and participated in intensive dance programs in Vancouver (Vancouver Ballet Society 2018 and 2019, Arts Umbrella 2020), New York City (Joffrey 2018), Portland, Oregon (Oregon Ballet Theatre 2019), dancing with students and teachers all over the world and absorbing inspiration from living and working in the local artistic communities. Ballet and contemporary might be her passion, but you can also find her sampling other dance styles without fear, be it Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, Grooving, House, or Bhangra. Favourite dance memories include dancing en pointe in the rain, in Central Park, New York, and preparing for and competing for classical and contemporary ballet at YAGP in Las Vegas under the guidance of her amazing teachers. Like all dancers, the recent period of social isolation has been tough on Linnea. Still, she has continued dancing in a makeshift home studio and through the online dance community on Zoom. Growing up with dance has and continues to provide Linnea with a way to express feelings in ways that words cannot, and she looks forward to how she and other dancers and their choreographers, will process their experiences into their art.
Summer Sturm
Summer began her dance studies at the age of 3 in a small town in Alberta and has trained in many genres such as ballet, contemporary, musical theatre and acrobatics. At the age of 8, she began competing at a competitive level and has loved it ever since. Summer has trained in New York City, Paris, France and Bucharest, Romania. In 2017, Summer attended the Bucharest Dance Festival and received an invitation to perform at the Gala event where 25 out of 600 numbers were showcased. She is also a certified Acrobatic Arts instructor and continues to share her passion for acrobatics. In her later years of training, Summer fell in love with contemporary and being in Lamondance season 11 gave her the opportunity to learn from many new choreographers and dancers in the Vancouver area. Summer is thrilled to join Lamondance for a second season.
Claire Viitaniemi
Claire started dancing at the age of three in Ottawa, ON. She has been studying at The School of Dance for the past seven years in the Professional Ballet Studies programme. She has trained in multiple genres of dance, primarily ballet and contemporary, but has also studied in jazz, and tap. Claire has been training in the Cecchetti method, and has completed her Grade 4, Intermediate and Advanced 1 exams, and if COVID restrictions allow, will have taken her Advanced 2 Cecchetti exam in June of 2021. She’s had the opportunity to train at multiple different intensives, including Arts Umbrella’s ISDI, Modus Operandi summer intensive, Canada’s National Ballet School’s professional ballet program summer intensive, and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School professional division summer session. Claire is excited to continue her dance studies, and continue to grow as an artist at Lamondance for season 13.
Payton Kennedy
I began dancing at the age of 3 I trained in ballet, jazz, tap hip hop and contemporary. I started competing when I was 6 years old with a local studio in Ottawa. With competing I was able to travel to many places around the world including Germany, New York City, Santa Fe, Boston and many other places. I also attended numerous different summer programs including Canadas Ntional Ballet, École supérieure de ballet du Québec, Arts Umbrellas ISDI. After 9 years of competing, I decided I wanted to have a more contemporary-focused training so to continue my training I went to Arts Umbrella Dance Company in Vancouver B.C starting in 2018 when I was in grade 10, where I will be graduating this year. I am looking forward to continuing my dance training at Lamondance in the upcoming season.
Grace Willock
Grace was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, and began her early training at Onedance Creative Arts Centre. Grace continued her training at ProArte Centre, from which she graduated in 2017. She furthered her training at programs, such as the School of Alberta Ballet Summer Intensive in Calgary and studied dance at Ryerson University in Toronto. Grace joined Lamondance for Season Eleven. During her first two seasons with Lamondance Grace had the opportunity to perform works by talented choreographers including Davi Rodrigues, Kirsten Wicklund, Rachael Prince, Brandon Alley, Yoshito Sakuraba, Heather Dotto and Amber Barton. Grace is delighted to be continuing her artistic journey with Lamondance for a third season.
Sydney Poulton
Sydney began her dance training at the age of 3, and immediately fell in love with it. She started in ballet, but took her first competitive classes in jazz at age 7. Sydney had the opportunity to train at many studios growing up, including White Rock School of Music and Dance, Pulse Dance Centre, Triple Heat Dance Academy of Performing arts, Kirkwood Academy of performing arts, and Prism dance connections. At these studios she trained in RAD and Cecchetti Ballet, ISTD modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, Acro, and Musical theatre. She always had a special affinity for Jazz, Modern and Contemporary, however. Growing up Sydney had many opportunities to attend many conventions and competitions, as well as summer camps and master classes. She’s had the opportunity to work with Josh Beamish, Danielle Gardner, Kirsten Wicklund, Francisco Gella, Julie Friedrich, Monica Proenca, and many more. Sydney is looking forward to her first year training and growing with Lamondance, and any future artistic endeavours.
Elena Himbeault
Elena grew up dancing and training in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In her earlier years, Elena trained as a musical theatre performer. Elena began training at Ignite Danceworks Inc. in the Intensive Training Program in 2017. There, she trained as a competitive dancer and performer while studying and completing examinations in the Cecchetti Method, the R.A.D. syllabus, and the ADAPT syllabus. Elena trained in Vancouver as a part of Harbour Dance Centre’s Intensive Training Program from 2020-2021, where she furthered her dance education and gained professional experience in styles of dance such as contemporary, jazz and hip hop, studying under a wide variety of instructors and choreographers. Elena is extremely passionate about artistry and choreography and has been the recipient of choreography awards at several dance competitions within Canada. Elena is also a certified instructor of the Progressing Ballet Technique conditioning method. Elena is excited to pursue a professional career in ballet and contemporary and is thrilled to be a part of Lamondance season 13!
Shanna Lilley
After putting me in dance classes at the age of 3, my Mum says that I instantly fell in love with it and she couldn’t get me to stop.
I’ve always found comfort in movement, finding new paths and creating new patterns. It is where I feel I am my most authentic self.
I have had the opportunity to train with many amazing teachers including the faculty of Caulfield School of Dance and Eleve Training Centre, studying both commercial and classical styles until choosing to follow a contemporary path in 2020. There and then, I decided that the Lamondance training program was where I wanted to be and am beyond grateful to have been accepted into the program.
I cannot wait to start the season and look forward to working in a new creative space, developing my artistry and learning from the incredible faculty as well as my peers.
Dania Grant
Dania has danced since she was 4 at Essence of Dance in South Surrey. She started their competitive program at age 7 and fell in love with being onstage and sharing her passion. She has trained in many styles, including ballet, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, tap and hip hop. She has also completed all levels of AIDT Modern Examinations, being awarded distinction. In 2016, Dania began to explore choreography, entering self choreographed solos into various competitions. Since then she has participated in the West Coast Choreo Lab showcase in 2019 and has also been gifted the opportunity to choreograph on other competitive students at her home studio. Dania is so excited to join Lamondance in their 13th season and work with so many talented dancers in the area.
Bryn Bridgen
Bryns training in classical dance styles began at the age of 6 under the direction of Jennifer Soo, owner of Studio North Dance Academy where she trained from 2008-2020. From 2015-2018 Bryn also worked with renowned dance artists and enhanced her training while dancing with “Dancestreams Youth Dance Company.” Artistic directors Patricia MacKenzie and Julia Carr provided Bry with the opportunity to travel and learn from international choreographers. Bryn dove deeper into the art form and took her dance career to the next level by joining Lamondance for their 12th season, a rigorous contemporary dance training program in North Vancouver, BC. Under the directorship of Davi Rodrigues, Bryn now trains with outstanding artists such as Racheal Prince, Beverly Bagg, Brandon Alley and Nicolas Ventura. Bryn has also performed works by Dance//Novella, Kirsten Wicklund, Heather Dotto and Yoshito Sakuraba.
Elina Lucky
Australia, is where Elina started her dance. We moved to Canada in 2009, Elina joined her town's local dance studio, where she was enrolled in every genre of dance. She started training professionally at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School in Winnipeg at 13 years. She studied there for three years and then continued her dance studies at the Alberta Ballet School in Calgary, Alberta, where she graduated. During her time at RWB, Elina got the opportunity to participate in one of the school's student choreographic competition called "First Steps." Elina was fortunate enough to participate as a dancer in her peers' pieces and choreograph her piece for the show. At ABS, Elina got to work with choreographers, such as Rachel Prince, and learn various pieces of repertoire. Elina auditioned at American Ballet Theater and was waitlisted for their pre-company program. Elina was invited to join the ABT's virtual intensive Six weeks program currently. Elina is so unbelievably thankful for the unlimited amounts of love and support she has received from her family and friends throughout her dance journey so far. She is very pleased to be joining the 2020-2021 Lamondance season as her first.
Mackye White
MacKye began dancing at the age of 10 years old in Courtenay, BC, at Pantuso Dance in 2014. He started slowly, but each year added hours and classes. He then joined Eclat Dance in 2015-2017, receiving instruction from Vladimir and Jessa Pereira. A highlight was when they organized a performance tour around Mexico City. He attended the Royal Winnipeg summer intensive (SI) school in 2015, Ballet Victoria SI in 2016, and the Alberta Ballet School (ABS) SI in 2017. He then joined ABS full-time in September 2017, attending with a scholarship and worked closely with Graham McKelvie, Sasha Ivanochko, Wendy Wright, Ashley McNeil, Janet Tait, and Murray Kilgour. MacKye attended the Ignite! Summer program in 2019, working closely with David Nosworthy and Kristen Carcone. He graduated from ABS in 2020 and is excited about coming to work with Lamondance and all that it offers.
Benedict Quedenbaum
Coming from a farm in Alberta, Benedict started dancing at the age of 3 at Footworks Dance Academy. He started with hip-hop before gradually adding classes in different styles such as Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Acro, and Aerial Acrobatics (Trapeze and Hoop). With this studio, he had the opportunity to travel and perform at resorts and community centers in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. In 2017 and 2018 Benedict attended the Alberta Ballet School summer intensives and was offered a scholarship for the professional division program in 2018. He took part in classes taught by Graham McKelvie, Sasha Ivanochko, Wendy Wright, Ashley McNeil, and Edmund Stripe and Masterclasses from Patrick Armand, Jean Grand Maître, Christiana Benett, and Christopher Anderson. He remained at the school for 3 years before graduating in 2021. Benedict is eager to begin his training and improve as a dancer with Lamondance.
Paris Litnosky
Paris grew up in Northern BC, in a city called Prince George, taking her first recreational ballet class at the age of 3. By the age of 7 she was taking regular ballet classes and completed her first RAD exam at a local studio. At 8 Paris started competing and the variety of genres she trained in increased. This included ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, acro and musical theatre. Along with these competitions came opportunities to represent at BC provincials as a soloist. In 2019, when Paris was in grade 11, she moved away from home to live in Vancouver and attended Arts Umbrella, where she spent 2 years training with wishes to pursue a career in dance. Paris is looking forward to the next season training with Lamondance as well as the opportunities that will be available to nurture her artistry.