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ANDREA ALLEN
COMPANY DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER MS. ALLEN RECEIVED HER BALLET TRAINING AT THE VANCOUVER ACADEMY OF MUSIC UNDER THE DIRECTION OF SOONEE LEE. SHE WAS ALSO TRAINED AT THE BANFF CENTRE OF FINE ARTS AND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET SCHOOL. DURING THAT TIME, MS. ALLEN HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF RENOWNED DANCE ARTISTS SUCH AS DAVID EARLE, LAURA ALONSO, MARQUITA LESTER AND LAMBROS LAMBROU. AS A PROFESSIONAL DANCER, MS. ALLEN HAS DANCED WITH THE THEATRE BALLET OF CANADA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF LAWRENCE GRADUS AND THE OTTAWA BALLET UNDER THE DIRECTION OF FRANK AUGUSTYN. MS. ALLEN HAS PERFORMED IN ASIA AND THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA AND HAS WORKED WITH MANY INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS, AMONG THEM LYNN SEYMOUR, KAREN KAIN, AND CHRISTOPHER HOUSE. MS. ALLEN'S REPERTOIRE RANGES FROM CLASSICAL BALLET TO ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHY. SHE HAS PERFORMED IN MANY CLASSICAL BALLETS SUCH AS SWAN LAKE, PAQUITA AND LA FILLE MAL GARDEE, AS WELL AS NUMEROUS PIECES FROM RENOWNED CHOREOGRAPHERS. THESE PIECES INCLUDE BELLA BY DANNY GROSSMAN, CECILIA BY LAWRENCE GRADUS, GLASS HOUSE BY CHRISTOPHER HOUSE, TIN SOLDIER BY TIMOTHY SPAIN, INCHING BY DANNY GOSSMAN, AND SLEEP STUDY BY DAVID PARSONS. MS. ALLEN BEGAN TEACHING BALLET IN 1990 IN OTTAWA, AND HAS SINCE BEEN TEACHING IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. IN JULY OF 1999, MS. ALLEN CO-FOUNDED PACIFIC DANCEARTS IN VANCOUVER, CANADA ALONGSIDE LI YAMING. MS. ALLEN TAKES PRIDE IN CREATING A STRONG AND WELL ROUNDED BASE FOR STUDENTS. SHE BELIEVES THAT TECHNIQUE AND CREATIVITY AS WELL AS THE ENJOYMENT OF DANCE ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT FOR A STUDENT'S SUCCESS. |
LI YAMING
COMPANY CO-FOUNDER LI BEGAN HIS BALLET TRAINING AT THE BEIJING DANCE ACADEMY AT THE AGE OF 11 UNDER MR. CAO JINGRONG. UPON GRADUATION IN 1979, LI WAS INVITED TO JOIN THE RESIDENT BALLET COMPANY (THE COMPANY MERGED WITH CENTRAL BALLET OF CHINA IN 1984). DURING THAT TIME LI PERFORMED NUMEROUS LEADING ROLES IN CLASSICAL BALLETS AS WELL AS NEO-CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS, TOURED ACROSS CHINA AND TO TAILAND. IN 1988, LI IMMIGRATED TO CANADA AND WAS INVITED BY LAWRENCE GRADUS TO JOIN THE THEATRE BALLET OF CANADA. LI HAS SINCE PERFORMED EXTENSIVELY ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, CANADA AND PARTS OF EUROPE. AS A DANCER, LI HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM AN EXTENSIVE REPERTOIRE OF ROLES AND WORLD PREMIERE CHOREOGRAPHIES. SOME OF HIS MOST NOTABLE ROLES INCLUDE: FRANZ IN COPPELIA, COLAS IN LA FILLE MAL GARDEE, THE JESTER IN SWAN LAKE, THE BRONZE IDOL IN LA BAYADERE, BLUEBIRD IN SLEEPING BEAUTY, LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE AND PAQUITA PAS DE DEUX. LI ALSO HAD THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM IN PIECES CHOREOGRAPHED BY: ANTON DOLIN, BEN STEVENSON, DAVID EARLE, ANTHONY TUDOR, CHOO SAN GOH, LAWRENCE GRADUS, AND ANNE WOLLIAMS. LI HAS ALSO STUDIED AND WORKED WITH INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS SUCH AS BEN STEVENSON, LYNN SEYMOUR, RUDOLF NUREYEV, MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV, CELIA FRANCA, ANNE WOLLIAMS, SULAMITH MESSERER, KAREN KAIN AND OLGA EVREINOFF. LI BEGIN HIS TEACHING AT THE BEIJING DANCE ACADEMY WHILE HE WAS ENROLLED IN THE DANCE EDUCATION MAJOR UNDER THE ACADEMY'S BALLET DEPARTMENT. HE HAS SINCE TAUGHT IN CANADA, JAPAN, MEXICO, BRAZIL AND THE USA. HE WAS THE COMPANY TEACHER FOR THE OTTAWA BALLET AND WAS INVITED TO TEACH FOR THE QUINTE BALLET SCHOOL, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY AND THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA, AMONG OTHERS. |
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IGOR GOMES
COmPANY MANAGER/Lead Instructor Brazilian, born in Salvador - Bahia, Igor began his ballet studies at the age of 15 with Martha Villas-Boas. In 2009 he joined the Bolshoi Theatre School with a full scholarship, where he graduated in 2013. During his studies Igor had the opportunity to work with big names of the dance industry such as: Vladimir Vassiliev, Victor Barykin, Ludimila Sinelnikova, Larissa de Araujo, Galina Kravchenko, Maria Antonieta Spadari, and Sérgio Lobato. After graduating from the school of Bolshoi, Igor continued to dance, work, and learn from being connected with a number of dance institutes such as working at Ballet russe BC, AMA Dance Company and 2000 Dance Company where Igor developed his range of Grand Pas de Deux’s repertoire including: The Corsair, Slave and Merchant, Les Sylphide, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadere, Esmeralda and Raymonda. In 2017 Igor joined Coastal City Ballet where he danced in main roles in ballets such as Swan Lake (Italian), Midnight Summer Dreams(Nick Bottom), Raymonda(Grand pas deux six), Hansel and Gretal, Sleeping Beauty(Jews Grand Pas), Cinderella, Nutcracker (Spanish dance & Waltz of Flowers Soloist) and others. Throughout these experiences, Igor has also had the opportunity to work with well known choreographers and mentors like: Katie Bois, Beverley Bagg, Davi Rodrigues, Erica Trivete, Yaming Li, Joshua Beamish, Lara Barclay, David Norsworthy, Shannon Moreno, Dario Dinuzzi, Shauna Elton, Vanessa Goodman, Wen Wei, Justine Fraser & Renee Sigouin. In 2021 Mr. Gomes moved into the role of Teacher & Company Administrator for Coastal City Ballet where he got the chance to share more of his knowledge with the company dancers while administrating the company under the wing of Artistic Director and mentor Katie Bois. After a much successful season Mr. Gomes was invited to step into a new position at Coastal City Ballet as a Company Manager and lead instructor, where he is ready to continue to scale the contributing developments that CCB is advancing towards. |
Erin Mcneill
Artistic Associate Erin began training at the young age of four, under the watchful eye of Dolores Kirkwood at Kirkwood Academy in New Westminster. She joined Royal City Youth Ballet Company where she performed and toured many ballets including The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Coppelia. She also had the pleasure of performing in Royal City Musical Theatre Company's productions of Hello, Dolly! and Gypsy as a chorus girl and dancer. In 2003, Erin joined Pacific DanceArts in Vancouver and was soon after accepted into the pre-professional division under the direction of Li Yaming. There she had the opportunity to perform both neo-classical and classical work including Swan Lake; Grand Pas de Deuxs from Le Corsaire, The Nutcracker, Raymonda and La Bayadere; as well as original choreography. In 2009, she competed in the Youth America Grand Prix Finals in NYC. Upon graduating, Erin moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to dance professionally with Atlanta Ballet, directed by John McFall and Sharon Story. While at Atlanta Ballet, she performed and gained exposure to many different styes and repertoire including Michael Pink's Dracula, David Bintley's Carmina Burana, James Kudelka's Four Seasons and Christopher Wheeldon's RUSH, as well as practicing Gaga technique for Ohad Naharin's Minus 16. She also worked with NYCB's Troy Schumacher on original work, George Balanchine's Who Cares?, and Christopher Hampson as the lead in his piece Silhouette. Erin also performed leading roles in Atlanta Ballet's productions of Cinderella and Snow White. In May 2014, Erin appeared as a guest artist in Irene Schnider's production of Coppelia performed by Coastal City Ballet. And in June of that same year, she was one of twenty-two dancers invited from around the world to attend the Ballet Program at The School of Jacob's Pillow. There she performed in the season opening Gala in a new work choreographed by the award winning Choreographer Jessica Lang. Under program Director Anna-Marie Holmes, Erin worked with a faculty of choreographers, artists, and directors, including Dinna Bjorn, Adam Sklute, Madeleine Onne, and Maxim Beloserkovky. During her season with Coastal City Ballet, Erin performed the lead role in the season opener of Don Quixote as Dulcinea in “Dream Scene”, lead soloist in a new work by Wen Wei Wang and was honoured to be cast as Cinderella in Ms. Schnider’s production of Cinderella, one of her favourite roles. In October 2015, Erin travelled to Ireland to join Cork City Ballet as a Soloist. There she performed Yury Demakov's Swan Lake under the direction of Alan Foley in the Cork Opera House. And in June of 2016, Erin joined the prestigious English National Ballet under the direction of Tamara Rojo CBE to perform Derek Dean’s Swan Lake in the Round, in the world famous Royal Albert Hall in London. Also with ENB she performed in George Williamson's My First Sleeping Beauty. In 2016 Erin joined Ballet Theatre UK as a Principal dancer and has performed and toured several lead roles such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet which was a new creation and successfully reviewed in Dancing Times, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, The Sugarplum Fairy in the Nutcracker, Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the Little Mermaid in Christopher Moore’s The Little Mermaid. As well as performing a selection of feature roles in the 10 year Anniversary Gala of the company where she was again highly praised for her work in the August 2018 edition of Dancing Times UK. |
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Angela Mousseau
artistic staff Born and raised in Victoria, BC, Canada, Angela Mousseau is an independent contemporary dance artist, living and working on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees) peoples. Ms. Mousseau has been teaching Contemporary and Modern dance for over 20 years. She is a 2002 graduate of The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA where she majored in modern dance focusing on Horton, Limon and Taylor techniques. At the University of the Arts, she studied with directors, choreographers and dancers from The Paul Taylor Company, The Limon Company, PHILADANCO, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Koresh Dance Company, Momix and many others. Angela has performed in Philadelphia and New York Fringe Festivals, at the National Dance Day in Philadelphia, and with The Next Stage Project (directed by Jana Hicks) and AKRNYM Dance Company in New York City. Following graduation, Angela travelled between Canada and the US to continue training and performing in New York. After settling back in Victoria, BC in 2007 she began to shift her focus to teaching and choreography. Many of her students have gone on to join the company or study at The National Ballet, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Toronto Dance Theatre, Ryerson University, Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Program, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Alvin Ailey, Lines Ballet in San Francisco, SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance), Kibbutz Dance Company (Israel), Trinity Laban in London, Oklahoma City Ballet, Ballet Edmonton, Ballet Opéra Théâtre Eurometrope de Metz, Orlando Ballet, Ballet Barcelona and The University of the Arts. Angela is currently on faculty at Westcoast Academy of Performing Arts (Victoria), The Victoria Academy of Ballet and The Landing Dance (Vancouver). She is a guest teacher at Ballet Victoria and the Modus Link Program (Vancouver). In 2017 and 2019 at Dance Victoria, Angela was one of 3 choreographers selected to participate in a 2 week choreographic lab directed by Wen Wei Wang (2017) and Justine Chambers and Susan Elliott (2019). In January 2018 and February 2020, Angela was invited to do a Choreographic Residency at Dance Victoria where her original work was presented as a part of Rough Cuts at the Metro Theatre. In February 2024 she was selected to do a residency at Dance Victoria where she presented her work in progress “Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear” as part of Intrepid Theatre’s OUTstages festival at the Metro Theatre. She continues to train in Counter-technique with Charles Slender White, Artistic Director of FACT/SF in San Francisco. In June of last year she went to study with the internationally acclaimed Trisha Brown dance company in New York where she learned one of Trisha’s most iconic works “Solos Olos.” Angela is extremely passionate about mentoring and supporting contemporary dance artists. She focuses on making dancers feel capable and helping them to find their own artistic voice. Angela is excited to spend this year working with the artists at Coastal City Ballet. |
Stephana arnold
Artistic staff BORN IN HAMILTON ONTARIO, STEPHANA ARNOLD ATTENDED THE NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL OF CANADA FOR 7 YEARS, WHERE SHE RECEIVED THE PRESTIGIOUS PETER DWYER AWARD AND HONOURS STANDING ON HER INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED CECCHETTI BALLET EXAMINATIONS. UPON GRADUATION, SHE DANCED AND WORKED CLOSELY WITH CHOREOGRAPHER XING BANG FU AND SEVERAL SMALL COMPANIES BEFORE BEING ASKED TO JOIN THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA IN 1992-95. IN 1996, STEPHANA JOINED LES GRANDS BALLETS CANADIENS DE MONTREAL AND QUICKLY ROSE THROUGH THE RANKS TO FIRST SOLOIST. WITH HER DYNAMISM AND DRAMATIC STAGE PRESENCE, SHE DANCED A WIDE AND ECLECTIC VARIETY OF PRINCIPAL AND SOLOIST ROLES IN CONCERTO BAROCCO, NUTCRACKER, QUEEN OF SPADES, GISELLE, PILLAR OF FIRE, WITHOUT WORDS AND SYMPHONY OF SONGS TO NAME A FEW. SHE HAS WORKED WITH SUCH NAMES AS JAMES KUDELKA, EDUOARD LOCK, JIRI KYLIAN, OHAD NAHARIN, SHAWN HOUNSELL, SEPTIME WEBBER, GIOCONDA BARBUTO AND KEVIN O’DAY AND MANY OTHERS. STEPHANA WAS INVITED TO DANCE AT MANY GALA EVENINGS SUCH AS TRIBUTES TO CELIA FRANCA AND EVELYN HART AND HAS TOURED EXTENSIVELY, PERFORMING IN PLACES SUCH AS KENNEDY CENTER, CITY CENTER, SPOLETO FESTIVAL, THROUGHOUT CANADA, THE U.S. & EUROPE, BRAZIL, ISRAEL, MEXICO AND ASIA. 2003 BROUGHT HER TO BALLET BRITISH COLUMBIA WHERE SHE DANCED A DIVERSE ARRAY OF PRINCIPAL ROLES, FROM THE WOMAN IN MARK GODDEN’S CONVERSATION PIECE, JOHN ALLEYNE’S FAERIE QUEEN/ ORPHEUS & STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, KYLIAN’S PETIT MORT AND LASTLY, JEAN GRAND-MAITRE’S CARMEN TO RAVE REVIEWS IN 2007. WHILE STILL DANCING SHE BECAME A BALLET B.C. COMPANY TEACHER FROM 2004-09. AND CAME OUT OF RETIREMENT TO DANCE IN THE OPENING CEREMONIES OF THE 2010 VANCOUVER WINTER OLYMPICS. WITH A DANCE CAREER SPANNING TWENTY-TWO YEARS, STEPHANA LOVES TO BRING HER WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE TO HER COACHING AND TEACHING. HER STUDENTS HAVE BEEN FINALISTS AT PRESTIGIOUS COMPETITIONS SUCH AS YAGP, NYCDA AND THE MARGOT FONTEYN AWARDS (FORMERLY THE GENEES). AND HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO WORLD RENOWNED SCHOOLS, POST-GRAD PROGRAMS AND GONE ONTO THEIR OWN DANCE CAREERS. SHE IS FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE DANCE CONSERVATORY, CO-DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE DANCE CONSERVATORY WEST VANCOUVER, RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER FOR CATCHINGART CONTEMPORARY BALLET THEATRE AND WAS SENIOR TEACHER AT PRO ARTE CENTRE. CURRENTLY, STEPHANA IS AN AWARD WINNING BALLET AND CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHER, AND A HIGHLY RESPECTED GUEST MASTER TEACHER, GUEST FACULTY FOR ARTS UMBRELLA AND RESIDENT TEACHER AT BALLET BC. SHE IS ALSO AS AN ADJUDICATOR FOR MANY NATIONAL FESTIVALS, INCLUDING THE 2022 YAGP SEMI-FINALS IN TORONTO. |
Sarah Hutton
artistic staff Sarah was raised in Hanna, Alberta where she began dancing at the age of five. She moved to Vancouver in 2013 to continue studying dance and has since trained with the Source Dance Company, EDAM, and Modus Operandi. She has had the pleasure to collaborate with; Paras Terezakis, Khoudia Toure, Jennifer Mascall, Isak Enquist, Constance Cooke and David Raymond & Tiffany Tregarthen. Sarah was chosen for Peggy Baker’s Emerging Artists Program in 2021. Touring with Shay Kuebler’s Radical System Art has brought her to perform across Canada, as well as France and Austria. Sarah is Co-Director of the contemporary dance company, generous mess (@generous_mess). generous mess’s work has been presented at Dancing On The Edge Festival, the EDAM Choreographic Series, and Left of Push. Sarah is privileged to live and dance as a guest on the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. |
Yana Dragieva
ARTISTIC STAFF orn in Shumen, Bulgaria, Yana Dragieva has studied classical ballet in the Vagganova system since the age of six. She graduated from Sofia National Music and Dance University Choreographic department in 1996 in the class of prima ballerina Kalina Bogoeva. She continued her professional development with famous Masters such as Tadeusz Matacz and Alexander Ursuljiak from John Cranko School, Loippa Aroijo from Cuba National Ballet School, Seriozna Petrosjan in Erevan and Master Daniel Sallier in Montreal. Her mentor in her teaching career was Alexander Ursuljak, former director of Stuttgart Ballet School.Yana's professional dancing career started in Varna's State Opera house and continued later at State Music Theatre, Sofia. During this period she toured and later lived and performed in Wiesbaden, Germany, Finland, Norway and France. Yana has a Bachelor Degree from Bulgarian National Music University in Dance. She specialized in Classical Ballet Pedagogy Vaganova system, Choreographing and Rehearsing. |
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