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 TEACHER ASSISTANT PROGRAM

At Coastal Dance  we want our students to experience every aspect of dance.  Students aged 11+ and in the Upper School may be selected to work  as an assistant teacher. Through our student teacher program, senior students are guided through the process of teaching. Senior instructors help them to structure their lesson plans and give them guidance and advice when working with our younger dancers. As they progress in the program they are given the chance to lead the class and begin to substitute and some go on to becoming part of the faculty.

PDA (Personal Dance Assistant ) Dancers in our assistant teacher program  may also selected to be a PDA and assigned to specific young members of our school who may be neurodivergent and need a one on one guidance within the dance class environment. These young dancers are there to help guide, redirect and nurture the dancer during class.  If you have a dancer who you feel may benefit from this PDA program please reach out to our Director Micaela  Archer-Shee (director@coastaldance.ca ) and we will create a plan that works for you and your family !

Nora Oakey: Senior Artistic Advisor

Nora Oakey trained under Lusia Pavlychenko in Saskatoon and Celia Franca at the National Ballet School. She performed with the Banff Centre Opera.  She holds her RAD Advanced Certificate as well as her RAD Teaching Diploma. An Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance, she directed Scotia Ballet Studio from 1982-1992 before becoming Artistic Advisor for Coastal Dance in 1994. 

Robyn Zwicker BPE, BEd, MEd, CYT

Yoga

Robyn is passionate about sharing her love of yoga with children. She has been teaching children for over 20 years as she is also a Physical Education teacher with the Halifax Regional School Board. Robyn is a Certified 200 hour Adult yoga teacher as well as 95 hour certified Children’s yoga teacher.

Modern, Hip Hop

Georgia Skinner trained in classical dance since age three at Coastal Dance and continued to train in contemporary, modern, ballet (RAD) and hip hop through high school. She graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Professional Training Program.  She has worked with many esteemed dance artists such as Christopher House, Darryl Tracy, Robert Desrosiers, and Ted Robinson.  She has attended ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. 

She is currently working as a  Paramedic .

 Ballet / Jazz

Julia has trained at Coastal Dance where she has studied many styles of dance including ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary and lyrical. For over a decade She was a leading member of  Coastal Dance Theatre Society. Performing lead roles in productions such as Clara in the “The Nutcracker”, Alice in “Alice in Winterland”, and Scrooge in  “A Christmas Carol”. Julia  holds her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 certificate.

She has danced professionally with local choreographers throughout the city and  is a member of the Thunderbirds dance team.

A 2020 Graduate of  Dalhousie University and  2022 a graduate of Mount St.Vincent in education. Now a teacher in the HRCE.

 

Ballet, Body Conditioning(PBT)

Carol trained in England at the Westbury School of Dance and Drama and the  Urdang Academy of Performing Arts in Covent Garden, London.  Professionally performing  in Tunisia , North Africa. where she settled and ran her own RAD school for many years. After moving to Nova Scotia she taught at several local schools. 

She is  an Associate of The Society of Russian Ballet as well as an RAD registered teacher and has her Certification in Progressive Ballet Technique.  She also acts as Rehearsal Mistress for Coastal Dance Theatre Society.

OWNER

Certified and Registered Teacher in Royal Academy Dance , PBT body conditioning

Director/Owner  since 1994.   Micaela   trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Banff Centre for the Arts and graduated from École Supérieure de Danse du Québec. She has  studied in Germany, Toronto, Pennsylvania & New York. She holds her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 & her Russian Advanced certificate.

Micaela has performed professionally with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Les Jeune Ballets de Quebec and at the Toronto Fringe Festival of Independent Artists (Ffida), Halifax Live Art & the Atlantic Fringe Festival . She has been awarded  Nova Scotia Talent Trust Awards, The Banff Centre for the Arts Scholarship, and the Canada Council Emerging Artist award.

She is an elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance(ARAD) and is a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher(RTS).  And is certified  in the Progressive Ballet Technique.

Her students have attended  some of the most prestigious schools and professional companies in the world such as The Juilliard School, Joffery Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, The National Ballet School of Canada, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Toronto Dance Theatre and Netherlands Dance Theatre II, Albert Ballet II, Ballet B.C.