Brenna M. McLaud was born in New York where she gained an extensive dance background from some of the best fine arts establishments in the country including The Ailey School, Broadway Dance Center, New York Insitute of Dance and Education, Lou Conte Dance Center, and Giordano Dance Center in Chicago, IL where she trained on scholarship as the youngest recipient in history of the company. McLaud began her professional career with a two year tour with RCL Productions, where she performed and toured Broadway shows such as Tommy, Hair, Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity and the world-renowned, award-winning Grease.

McLaud went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Dance from The School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Here she was chosen to perform works by great Canadian choreographers such as Serge Bennenthan, Paul Andre-Fortier, and the newly appointed Artistic Director of Ballet BC, Emily Molnar. She has worked with companies such as Wen Wei Dance, Move:the company, dancersdancing, and Full Performing Bodies. She has also had the privilege of being featured in recent works created by Chenguin Wei for the EDAM dance series and Henry Daniel for Dancing on the Edge 2009.

McLaud spent the past Summer in New York at The Ailey School along side Anna-Marie Forsyth, co-founder of the Ailey Fordam BFA Program, completing the Horton Pedagogy Program for teachers.

Petter comes to us with extensive experience and history in the ballet world. As a dancer he trained with Vienna States Opera House, Academy of Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, School of American Ballet, American Ballet School, The Banff School of Fine Art's, and was a Canadian Arts Council Awards Grant Recipient. He dancer professionally with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cleveland Ballet, Pennsylvania & Milwaukee Ballet and Ballet Lombardia. He performed lead roles in Flower Festival, Les Sylphides, Troy Games, Les Corsair, Gisele, Swan Lake, Arden Court, Firebird, Nutcracker, Capriccio-Rubies, Concerto Barroco, Four Temperaments, Apollo Mussagete, Love Songs, Lark Ascending and L'Aujourd'hui de demain. As a choreographer he worked on Beauty and the Beast, Nutcracker, Gisele, Swan Lake, Kingdom of the Shades, Paquita, Carmina Buranna and original ballets such as Snow-White and the 7 Dwarfs and A Little Princess. His teaching credits include Ballet Eddy Toussaint, Ballet Lombardia, Harbour City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Les Petits Ballets, University of Wisconsin, Ballet Etudes, Piazza Chiesa Damiano, Alpha Dance School, Broadway Lights, That's Dancing, Dancers Burlington Inc., Studio Arts, Tiffany's Dance Elite and Rising Star.

Kristina began performing at a young age and soon developed a passion for the stage. She was seen as a principle tap dancer in the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Theatre credits include: Singin’ in the Rain with Theatre Under the Stars; Anything Goes with the Metro Theatre and 42nd Street with Royal City Musical Theatre. Kristina was an original member of Vancouver’s Beat Feet Divaz (tap and hip-hop fusion company), and has been a performer at many notable events in Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. including multiple LA Tap Festival All-Star Tap Concerts, the Vancouver Tap Festival’s “Tap Passages,” numerous Vancouver International Tap Day Celebrations, and “For the Luv of It.” In 2005, she represented Canada at the World Tap Dance Championships in Riesa, Germany. Kristina has studied with and been heavily influenced by many tap masters such as: Dr. Jimmy Slyde, Arthur Duncan, Dr. Jeni LeGon, Dr. Harold Cromer, Diane Walker, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Jason Samuels Smith, Chloe Arnold, Ivery Wheeler, Ted Levy, Michelle Dorrance, Heather Cornell, and Chester Whitmore. Kristina is constantly traveling to train and improve herself as both a performer and teacher. She has trained at Broadway Dance Centre and Steps on Broadway in New York; Millennium Dance Complex and the Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles; and Harbour Dance Centre and Drive Centre in Vancouver. Kristina is currently pursuing acting and was thrilled to work on the television set of Smallville numerous times throughout the past few months. She is a passionate dancer and teacher who shares her love for the art form every chance she gets!

Krystin Clarke was born and raised in Red Deer Alberta, where she began her dance training at age three in Ballet in the RAD and Cecchetti syllabus. At age 12 she continued to enhance her dance training in Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Lyrical, and Musical Theatre. She has had the opportunity to train in Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, and New York City. She has had the opportunity to perform with the Alberta Ballet, Edmonton Contemporary Dancers, Orchesis Modern Dance group, and as a guest performer for Feets Festival. University brought Krystin to Edmonton where she received an honors degree in fine arts from the University of Alberta. While pursuing her education she was a member and choreographer at Orchesis Modern Dance group as well as a full time principle dance instructor at L.A. Dance Academy. She had the opportunity to create the student teaching program at L.A. Dance Academy, as well as training and mentoring all of the young aspiring teachers in the studio. During her time in Edmonton, Krystin was also a guest instructor and choreographer for a number of prestigious studios.

During her eleven years teaching dancing, Krystin has had the opportunity to adjudicate a number of competitions across western Canada. She is known best for her choreography, which has won a number of awards, and her passionate teaching style. Many of her students have moved on to dance professionally in numerous cheer groups, television and film, cruise ships, and compete on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. She has had the opportunity to act as stage manager, choreograph a number of bridal fashion shows, choreograph for the Edmonton Fringe Festival and work on numerous short independent films.

Krystin is currently working on her after degree in Industrial Design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She continues to teach and choreograph across Alberta and British Columbia and she is extremely excited to share her intense passion for dance with others and foster creativity in students and aspiring teachers to continue to enhance the dance community.

Born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., Kathryn has been dancing almost all of her life. Kathryn trained at the Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts under John Ottmann, while attending various summer programs on scholarship, including the Goh Ballet Academy, Banff Centre of Fine Arts, and Ballet British Columbia. Upon graduating, Kathryn was a part of the Ballet B.C. Mentor Program for 2 years, where she had the opportunity to perform works by Emily Molnar, John Alleyne, Simone Orlando, and James Gnam among others. As a dancer, Kathryn has worked with Ballet B.C., the plastic orchid factory, Judith Marcuse Projects (national tour), and had the opportunity to work with Louise Bedard and Austin McCormick while participating in the Springboard Professional Project. Kathryn also had a principal role in the short dance film, ‘Time Before the Light’, directed by Ryan Copple. When not dancing, Kathryn spends as much time as possible with family and friends, and escapes whenever she can to the family cabin up the coast.

Desirée has originated various community dance projects including Startdance, training and performance ensemble and annual cultural and contemporary showcases LINK and The Connecting Community Dance Series.  Her choreography has been featured in the Dancing on the Edge Festival and in 2010 she was commissioned to create a new ensemble work for the Simon Fraser University dancers.  She is honored to have received various awards from both the British Columbia Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Desirée recently recieved a MFA in choreography and performance at the School of Dance at the University of Arizona, Tucson.  Her Graduate Concert, The Astro Dance Project at UA Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium in Tucson featured a new score by Elliot Vaughan; performed live by an ensemble orchestra, eight dancers and photography by astronomer Adam Block and photo journalist Allison Mullally.

Alexis' journey in dance started in Edmonton then led to further training in Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles and New York. From there, her career in the performing arts has seen her both on and off the international stage as a dancer, choreographer, instructor and adjudicator. She has had the privilege to work with such companies as Princess Cruise Lines, Legends Alive, Champagne Entertainment, the Miss BC World beauty pageant and David Atkins Enterprises of Australia (2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies with Michael Bublé). Currently, she is the Assistant Choreographer for the CFL's BC Lions dance team, The Felions, and is a regular adjudicator for various dance competitions held annually in Alberta. Alexis resides in Vancouver where she is recognized as an energetic and humorous instructor, sharing her experience and enthusiasm with dancers of all ages.

Heather Laura Gray began her training at L'ecole Superieur de Dancedu Quebec, The Goh Ballet and trained independently in voice, acting and manyother dance disciplines. She has performed on stage and screen as an actor, dancerand singer. Her journey has led her to produce, direct and choreograph stageshows as well as perform and choreograph for contemporary dance companies.  Heather was the founder and co-director of theIndustry Dance Training Program of Vancouver in 2011. She has also developed a twoyear modern/contemporary syllabus for the Vancouver Junior ProfessionalDivision and enjoys adjudicating, teaching master classes and being on facultyat Harbour Dance Centre. Recently, Heather was a choreographer on the set ofthe Fox series The Killing and co-choreographed the new musical Sweet Mystery.  Her work has been shown at the VancouverInternational Dance Festival, The Dance Centre (Vancouver) and SoundbitesFestival in New York City.  Heather is amember of ACTRA, UBCP, The Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, The DancerTransition Resource Centre. www.dacostatalent.com/heather-laura-gray

Born and raised in North Vancouver, Lexi is a Vancouver based contemporary dancer. She trained at the Goh Ballet, Danzmode Productions and Pacific DanceArts and has further pursued her training with Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond’s Modus Operandi contemporary training program. During her training she participated in various workshops including Impulstanz in Vienna, P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, and NWPDP Launch: 2, 3 and 4 projects in Portland, OR. As an independent dance artist, she has had the pleasure of working with OutInnerspace Dance Theatre, The 605 Collective, Amber Funk Barton’s the Response, Mascall Dance, Alison Denham, Karissa Barry, The Contingency Plan and MOVE: the company with whom she had the privilege of touring to Bangkok. Recently, in collaboration with eight of her colleagues, she co-created a work, “Article In”, for the Dance Allsorts series and has also performed her own work at the Interplay Project and Art for Impact.  

Shay has been teaching professionally for the past 8 years for various studios around the lower mainland. She began her training at 3 and hasn't stopped since. At the age of 12 Shay began assisting her instructors, and had her first professional job as a choreographer at just 17.

Recently she has started Xtreme Dance Force: Vancouver's Newest Dance Experience. XDF is a dance convention that caters to competitive students throughout BC. This one-day intensive features top choreographers and unites dancers throughout the lower mainland for a day of learning, and inspiring each other in a non-competitive setting.

Shay's passion for dance transcends into her fun filled, unique classes. She has received numerous choreography awards for her pieces, and has had the honor of choreographing for some of B.C's most talented dancers.

Well versed in jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, acro, tap, burlesque, and stage; her wide range of capability keeps her sought after in the industry.

Shay prides herself on always continuing to learn and grow and trains regularly at top facilities in Canada and the U.S.

She is currently a full time choreographer and is excited to be a faculty member at the Landing Dance Centre!

Jessica Benson was born in Vancouver where she received training from an endless list of local and international instructors. After her early training she was accepted into the Intensive Training Programme at the Harbour Dance Centre, where she also trained alongside the Source Dance Company. Through her time with the programme she trained in a wide variety of disciplines including jazz, tap, modern, ballet, hip hop and swing.

In 2007, Jessica became an associate member of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association in the stage division, tap. She also became a nationally certified gymnastics coach having received the NCCP level 1 certification. Jessica is currently studying at the University of British Columbia on a partial scholarship where she is working towards a Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree in kinesiology and health sciences. Through her studies she has gained extensive knowledge of the workings of the body, with a particular interest in sports related injuries. This has greatly helped her with her own training as well as her teaching.

Jessica is attracted to postive energy that radiates from The Landing Dance Center and is grateful that she spends her days with inspiring people and can further herself as a person, a dancer, a teacher and a choreographer.