(M.A., A.I.S.T.D. (dip.)) Ms. Mendes has obtained her Advanced II certificates in both the Imperial ballet and the National work as well as trained in other various styles of dance.  She was one of two dancers chosen to perform in a piece by Paul Andre Segal from Paris and has trained in company class with the Limon Company in New York. Ms. Mendes was awarded the Mavador scholarship for excellence in ballet instruction from London, England and has trained many dancers that dance professionally around North America.  She has also worked as an examiner for the international progressions and junior grades ballet syllabus. Ms. Mendes graduated from University with a Master of Arts in physical education with a specialization in dance and earned a teaching diploma from the Imperial Society of Teachers Dancing. Ms. Mendes has taught for the University of Alberta, MacEwan University and Vimy Ridge Professional dance program in a variety of dance disciplines. She adjudicated the World Track and Field auditions (2000), was a rehearsal assistant for the FIFA opening ceremonies (2015) and directed the half time performance for the Edmonton Elks Cancer Awareness night (2022). Ms. Mendes has obtained her Acrobatic Arts Judging certificate, her level three Alixa Flexibility certificate, and had has judged across Canada.   Recently, Ms. Mendes has been teaching for dance conventions such as Plie Prep and Terpsichore Dance Convention.

(ARAD RTS + PBT Level 3) Kylee, originally from Grande Prairie, Alberta, started her dance journey at six years old. She received her formal ballet training from Nancy-Marie Rigler & Lynette Kelley. Kylee has completed all of her Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) vocational exams, achieving distinction in her Advanced 2.

She has attended several professional Ballet Summer Intensives, including Ballet Austin, Sundance in Toronto where she received a scholarship for further training, and the Okanagan Summer Dance Intensive. After high school, Kylee moved to Vancouver to join the Goh Ballet Youth Company and later joined Ballet Edmonton as a professional company dancer in 2014.

Kylee has performed works by choreographers: Wen Wei Wang, Alysa Pires, Joshua Beamish & Gioconda Barbuto. She also performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. In April 2017, she choreographed her first professional work titled ‘FIVE’.

In May 2019, Kylee transitioned to a full-time career in teaching and choreography, becoming a Registered Teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance and obtaining a Pilates teacher certification. In 2021, she became a co-owner of SGSDance. Kylee has coached dancers for Youth America Grand Prix, as well as entered dancers in all levels of RAD Ballet Exams, including Advanced 2.

With over 20 years of training in tap, jazz, lyrical and musical theatre, and 15 years of teaching, Sherri has enjoyed much success as a performer, teacher, choreographer, and adjudicator. Sherri, who now resides in Calgary, Alberta, has traveled across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe with her dance career. Sherri has enjoyed watching many of her students grow into outstanding professional dancers who could be found at the National Ballet of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company, working at one of the many cruise lines, in professional dance companies, Las Vegas shows and for Disney. 

Mikki Koehler was born and raised in the Edmonton area and spent most her dance training under the tutelage and mentorship of SGSD Founder, Sandra Gray. Disciplined in jazz, ballet, lyrical, tap, and musical theatre, Mikki travelled extensively as a young dancer, performing in such places as Austria, Italy, Germany, Thailand, and Hong Kong. After graduating in 2003, Mikki has enjoyed many professional dance and choreography opportunities working with the Viva and Amresorts companies across North and South America from 2003-2006. Since returning home and joining the SGSD faculty in 2006, Mikki has taught and inspired hundreds of dancers through her positive and motivational teaching style. She has choreographed numerous award-winning dances, including the routine awarded top mark in Canada for the 2015 competitive season. Now a working professional and proud mom of two, Mikki remains committed to the growth and development of her dancers by encouraging hard work, accountability, perseverance, and authenticity. She is thrilled to be in her 14^th season as a dance educator and choreographer at SGSDance and looks forward to everything this season has to offer. 

Taylor Kiryluik is a dynamic presence, known as a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, choreographer, and adjudicator based in the Greater Edmonton Area. With a diverse dance background spanning contemporary, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, musical theatre and ballet, Taylor’s journey has taken her across Canada, the US, and France, enriching her craft and igniting her passion for dance.

A graduate of Victoria School for the Arts and the University of Alberta, Taylor’s career has been marked by many performances and outstanding choreography. Deepening her love and understanding of dance, she received a scholarship to train at the ‘Centre de Danse du Marais’ in Paris. As an original member of MOD Contemporary Dance Movement and a seasoned competitor with hip hop crews BBM and YEGrBombz, she has left a long lasting mark on the industry.

Her illustrious career has seen her share the stage with acclaimed hip hop artists such as KYLE, Kirko Bangz, Jadakiss, and Jay Sean, yet Taylor’s true passion lies in inspiring the next generation of dancers. As an educator and choreographer, she infuses her classes with fresh, innovative ideas, earning numerous accolades and scholarships for her choreography.

Taylor’s impact extends far beyond the studio walls, with many of her students going on to achieve success in the entertainment industry, landing roles in hit shows on Netflix, Disney +, and Paramount +, including Riverdale, Once Upon a Time, Motherland, and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies as well as on Celebrity and Princess Cruise Ships, showcasing the transformative power of dance on a global scale.

For over 13 years, Taylor has been a beacon of encouragement, infusing her classes with creativity, energy, and passion. As she continues to shape the next generation of dancers, her commitment to excellence remains unwavering, solidifying her legacy in the world of dance.

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ADCSC-CICB, RAD MRT, NBS Grad TTP (Dip.), AISTDMs Kristin is a graduate of The National Ballet School of Canada’s 3 year Teacher Training Program, and brings to SGSDance over 25 years of teaching expertise in Vagaonova, Cecchetti and RAD Ballet. She holds teaching qualifications with the ISTD National Branch, The Cecchetti Society of Canada, The Royal Academy of Dance, and has trained and entered hundreds of students into successful examinations from Primary through Advanced 2 levels. Past students include scholarship recipients to such prestigious schools as The National Ballet School, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School,  School of Alberta Ballet, The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, Goh Ballet School, among others. She was honoured to be recently invited by the Royal Academy of Dance, to work as a mentor to teachers enrolled in the CBTS Teacher Training Program. Ms Kristin is excited to bring her ballet expertise to the SGSDancers this year.

Born and raised in Edmonton, Sam Buhr has been part of the SGSDance family since the age of 3 and has been a faculty member since 2004. Currently specializing in lyrical dance education and choreography, Sam has training in jazz, lyrical, Vaganova Ballet and Al Gilbert Tap.
Upon graduating high school, Sam worked 2 contracts with Carnival Cruise Lines as a chorus and soloist dancer in the Western Caribbean. After coming home to pursue her Post Secondary Education, she danced 3 seasons with the Edmonton Elks Dance Team and remained with the Elks Organization for another 3 seasons as a guest choreographer. Most recently she has worked with the Elks Alumni Dance Team in preparations for the 2023 and 2024 alumni game day performances.
In addition to being a dance educator, Sam is a Registered Nurse with a specialization in the Operating Room.

 

Lauren has been dancing at SGSDance since the age of four. Over her years of competition experience she has won many special awards, scholarships and titles. She won triple threat intermediate soloist at dance power competition, top teen soloist and top teen powerhouse soloist at Fever International Dance Championships as well as top 15 and 16 year old soloist at Peak Invitational. In the summer of 2018 Lauren went to USC for two weeks where she trained at Complexions dance intensive. Lauren has recently been a Pure Dance Convention Ambassador and iDance convention assistant. She has been a member of SGSDance Tour Co since 2017 where she has travelled throughout North America to take class and compete at Jump and Nuvo dance conventions. She received an almost perfect score at Jump dance convention for her self choreographed solo. In addition, she has competed for Best Dancer at the Dance Awards for the past four years. Lauren has performed dances choreographed by Mandy Moore, Teddy Forance, Michelle Dawley, Allen Lupien, Sabrina Phillips, Lukas McFarllen, Danny Lawn and Nick Lazzarini. Her choreography has won awards throughout the open, contemporary and jazz categories.

Miss Sophia has grown up at SGSDance. Locally, she has won titles such as: Senior Powerhouse Soloist Champion, Miss Candace Title Winner and Runner-Up Senior Soloist at Nuvo Dance Convention in Alaska. She has obtained her Advanced 1 RAD ballet examination certificate. Sophia has also assisted Terpsichore Dance Convention in Toronto. She is currently raining with Rhonda Malkin, a Rockette trainer in New York City. Sophia attend Rhonda’s Summer Performance Workshop in 2023 and received a full scholarship. Sophia is an original member of SGSDance Tour Co and has competed for Best Dancer at The Dance Awards in Las Vegas for five seasons as well as qualified for seven. Sophia has been in choreography by Al Blackstone, Mandy Moore, Nick Lazzarini, Michelle Dawley, and Cora Kozaris. She has won numerous dance scholarships and has danced and co-choreographed a televised half time show with the Edmonton Elks. Miss Sophia plans on following her dreams of becoming a professional dancer as well as continuing to inspire and mentor the younger generation at SGSDance

Natalia has been dancing since the age of three and has competitively trained in the styles of tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, and contemporary. She has received multiple outstanding achievement awards in tap, jazz, and contemporary. Natalia has been fortunate to have the opportunity to train with many choreographers including Brock Jellison, Danny Nielsen, Julio Fuentes, Sarah Dolan, Brian Mueca, Joey Matt, and Travis Knights. She has also worked in Jenna Werhun’s professional show For the Arms That Have Held Me as a part of the contemporary ensemble. Natalia has trained with the Al Gilbert tap syllabus since the age of five and has achieved the highest grades in all her Al Gilbert tap exams. Natalia shares her love of dance with her students and strives for them to have the skills to achieve excellence inside and outside of the dance studio.

RAD RTS, ISTD Nat., TTP Dip. (NBS), Acrobatic Arts Certified, Alixa Flexibility

Tianna Stephen started dance at the age of 3 and has studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, musical theater and contemporary.

Tianna graduated from the Teacher Training Program at Canada’s National Ballet School where she won the coveted Carole Chadwick award and scholarship for demonstrating significant potential over her teacher training in June of 2018. During her time at the National, she graduated with her Royal Academy of Dance, Registered Teacher Status as well as her Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in National (Folk) dance. Soon after she received her teaching certificate in the Acrobatic Arts syllabus as well as Alixa Flexibility.

For 16 years, Emily has been training in multiple different art forms under the Hip-Hop umbrella. She has trained and competed in many different places such as Los Angeles (World of Dance), Singapore (Asia Tour with Lia Cole), Hawaii (World of Dance – 1st Place), Dallas (Monsters of Hip-Hop), Vancouver, Montreal (Hip-Hop International – 1st Place) and many more. Wanting to share her knowledge to the Edmonton dance community, she began teaching 8 years ago. Recently, Emily has partnered with West Edmonton Mall and directed three different dance videos/commercials in the World Water Park. Years later in her dance career, Emily’s biggest accomplishment is starting her very own Talent Agency called Essence Talent Management! She has also performed for artists such as Nelly, Jay Sean, Lia Cole, and Halcyon Gray. Emily believes that training is important in order to give her students the best so she continuously travels to LA to learn the best knowledge and skills.

Leanne began dancing when she was 3 years old. While competing in dance she began gymnastics around the age of 8 and began coaching gymnastics in March 1997. In 2007 she took over the head coach position with Fort Gymnastics and assisted in starting the acro program there in 2010 and coached the two advanced teams. Leanne began teaching acro dance in 2016 and carried on with both acro dance teaching and running the gymnastics club until April 2020 when she stopped coaching gymnastics to focus more time on her children and acro. She remains working with level 5 to national level students. Leanne is NCCP level 2 certified for women’s artistic gymnastics and has completed Level 3 technical and theory and is also certified in Acrobatic Arts.

Keanne graduated from Vimy Ridge Academy’s Pre-Professional Dance Program in 2018 where she completed both her RAD and Cecchetti Advanced 2 examinations. Over the summer months, Keanne continued her training at Arts Umbrella, Boston Ballet, and Ballet Austin, amongst many other international programs. After Graduating, she went on the study at the Brussels International Ballet, Alberta Ballet’s Post-Graduate Program, as well as the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Throughout her career, Keanne has taken particular interest in functional movement and cross-training for dancers including Pilates, running, and strength training. Keanne is currently continuing to explore the biomechanics of movement in her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology degree at the University of Alberta. In her classes, Keanne prioritizes the well-being of each dancer, and takes an individualized approach to teaching.

Raegan has been competitively dancing since the age of 7, and has been primarily trained in ballet, contemporary, modern, and jazz. She has had the opportunity to attend high level summer intensives at schools such as The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alberta Ballet, and Boston Ballet. At these intensives, she was exposed to numerous disciplines of study including RAD, Cecchetti, Vaganova, and Balanchine. Raegan spent two years training at the Alberta Ballet School professional division in Calgary, where she completed her Intermediate and Advanced 1 Cecchetti exams. She also attended Vimy Ridge Academy/Edmonton School of Ballet, where she successfully completed her Advanced 2 Cecchetti examination. At Edmonton School of Ballet, Raegan also performed in numerous pieces of repertoire including numbers from Serenade, Don Quixote, and The Sleeping Beauty. 

More recently, Raegan graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science, where she continued her dancing with MOD Contemporary Dance Movement for 5 years. With MOD, Raegan was selected as a choreographer, and was elected by the executive team as Dance Captain for their 2022/23 season. Raegan is thrilled to be joining the SGSDance faculty and hopes to inspire her students to achieve excellence! 

Shaelyn began dancing at the age of three and continued to dance competitively in a variety of styles. Over the years she has had the opportunity to attend many competitions and conventions including Nuvo, Jump, The Dance Awards, and Triple Threat. Through the convention experience, Shaelyn has taken classes with some of the most talented dancers in the industry and will continue to learn from these individuals. She has also been in pieces choreographed by Lukas McFarlane, Tyce Diorio, Michelle Dawley, Sabrina Phillips, Cora Kozaris, and Sarah Dolan. Regionally, at the age of fourteen Shaelyn received the triple threat title at dance power. In addition to many overall placements, she was also awarded the senior champion title at Summit Dance Challenge when she was seventeen. Through her many years of experience as a competitive dancer, Shaelyn is very passionate about dancing in a positive learning environment and cannot wait to share her love for dance.

Caity found a love for dance at the age of 3 and has continued to pursue her passion competitively training in the styles of jazz, tap, ballet, acro, lyrical, and contemporary. She has received many special awards locally, as well as achievement awards in styles such as tap, jazz, and acro. She has trained with choreographers such as Sarah Dolan, Danny Neilsen, Joey Matt, Brian Mueca, Julio Fuentes, and Brock Jellison. Caity has also trained under the Al Gilbert Tap syllabus, completing numerous grades where she has achieved the highest grades of excellence. She was also a member of SGSDance Tour Co throughout 2022 and 2023, where she had the opportunity to attend regional conventions and participate at The Dance Awards in Las Vegas, receiving a scholarship. Caity looks forward to inspiring and encouraging her students throughout the dance season.

Sophie began her dance journey at the age of three, and joined the SGSDance team in 2019. Since then, she has not only competed but also assisted and taught at the studio, and is currently training at the Advanced 2 level. 

Sophie has trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, as well as tap and hip hop. Her dedication has earned her numerous awards and scholarships, including the Miss Teen Candance title and multiple top-five placements for her solos in various competitions.

She has attended prestigious dance conventions such as NUVO and participated in summer intensives with Alberta Ballet, ProArteDanza in Toronto, MSA’s ‘The Camp’ in Los Angeles, and SGSD summer intensives. Additionally, she performed in Alberta Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” for two years.

Jaida had been dancing since the age of two years old. She also pursued rhythmic gymnastics until the age of 8, when she decided to switch to dance full-time. She has been a part of the SGSD team since 2018 and recently joined SGSD’s Tour Company in 2023. Jaida trains in all genres including Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary, hip-hop, Pointe, Acro, and more. She is in the final stages of completing the entire RAD program from pre-primary to Advanced 2. 

Through her years of training, she has won many scholarships to conventions and ballet schools including Canada’s National Ballet School, Royal Winnipeg, GOH Ballet Vancouver, Alberta Ballet, NUVO, and Radix. She attended Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto for two consecutive summers and Alberta Ballet for one summer. 

Neyali has been training with SGSDance since she was three in multiple styles including jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, hip hop and musical theatre. Throughout her years of training she’s had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Danny Nielsen, Brock Jellison, Rebecca Zezik, and Sabrina Phillip.

Over the years she has been fortunate enough to attend NUVO where she received scholarships for tap in 2019, 2021, and 2023 as well as for ballet in 2018 and 2020. She was also able to attend Jump in 2021, online, where she was a VIP teen runner up finalist.

Neyali has trained under the Al Gilbert syllabus and has received high marks on her exams. She is training at an Advanced 2 level in the RAD syllabus and has been a teachers assistant since 2022. Neyali looks forward to sharing her love of dance and passion for tap with all her students.

Amelia began dancing at the age of three and joined the SGSDance team in 2022. She has trained competitively in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and modern. She has been a teacher’s assistant since 2019 and is training at the Advanced 2 level. Amelia received her Acro Dance Teachers Association – Associate Teachers Training Program certificate in April 2021 and she completed her Red Cross Emergency First Aid CPR/AED Level C certificate in 2023. 

Amelia has been fortunate enough to have had opportunities to work with choreographers including Sabrina Phillip and Rebecca Zizek. She has also participated in Alberta Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” in 2018 and 2021. Alongside her SGSDance team, Amelia has performed in an Edmonton Elks CFL halftime show.

Andreanna has been dancing since the age of three and has been a member of the SGSDance Team since 2022. She has trained and competed in various styles including ballet, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, modern, and hip hop and is currently training in the RAD syllabus at the Advanced 2 level.

She holds a Red Cross Emergency First Aid CPR/AED Level C certificate, since 2023, and a babysitting license, which she received in 2018. She has had the privilege of performing in pieces choreographed by Rebecca Zizek and Sabrina Phillip. Andreanna is deeply passionate about dance and continuously seeking opportunities to both inspire and be inspired.

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Mona has been competitively dancing since the age of four years old. She joined the SGSDance team in 2022, where she continues to hone her skills in a wide range of styles, including ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, musical theatre, and pointe. She is currently training at the Advanced 2 level and has had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Sabrina Phillip, Rebecca Zizek, and Danny Nielsen. Since 2021, Mona has been a teacher’s assistant, and she is excited to continue to share her love of dance this season.