Meet The Dancers
Brie Martin
Brie studied tap, jazz and ballet as a child and teen growing up near Toronto, Ontario. She
completed the British Association of Teachers of Dance (B.A.T.D.) Premier Award level in tap. As a young adult Brie continued to study various forms of dance including tap, jazz, hip hop and ballroom. She taught dance while working as an English teacher in Japan, and taught tap for the School of Performing Arts in Ottawa, the Northern Lights School of Dance in the Yukon and for the City of Ottawa. Brie performed extensively with a Yukon-based Cancan dance troupe. Today as a “dance mom" of four, Brie finds it hard to stay backstage, occasionally stepping into the spotlight again.
Chelsea Tronsgard
Chelsea began dancing at the age of three at the Cumbrae School of Dance and continued on to Canterbury High School to participate in their wonderful arts program. She performed in the Canada Dance Festival in 2004 and is very excited to come back to the stage with TRAPT so many years later. Chelsea has been teaching dance for over fifteen years, at the (then) Orleans Recreation Centre, Dovercourt Recreation Association, KV Dance Studio, and currently at MOVATI Athletic, and Carleton University. During her days Chelsea is a teacher with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, and in the evenings when she isn’t dancing she is on the couch snuggling her greyhound, Wyatt, and her husband, Jeff.
Danielle Lepage
Danielle grew up in the community of Barrhaven, Ottawa. She has always had a love for dance and has always known that it would be a part of her life. She started taking lessons at the age of 9 at Canadian School of Dance, she then took private Hip Hop dance lessons from a Selena Holvey before dancing at Step by Step School of Dance. She was an assistant teacher at Step by Step Dance School for 3 years and that is where she completed her training in Hip Hop and Musical Theatre. She continued to train with My Dance Productions and then TRAPT. She began teaching with the City of Ottawa and other studios around the city and has been a respected dance teacher for 16 years. In 2015 she opened Impulse Company of Dance where she ran a junior and teen hip hop troupe but due to covid she retired the troupe and has been unable to reopen. She is always looking to expand her knowledge and passion of dance by taking classes and teaching. She is an enthusiastic dancer that has a love for teaching.
Danika King
Danika was born in Sault Ste Marie where she started dancing at the age of 3. She spent most of her dance years at Sherry Walsh Academy of Dance Arts performing in ballet, jazz, lyrical and pointe. Since moving away from the Soo, she has lived in several cities and countries, taking drop in dance classes of all styles wherever she went. She is excited to be dancing onstage with a team again. She is a middle school teacher by day and a pub trivia enthusiast by night.
Elise Antoniak
Elise was born and raised in Ottawa and started dancing at the age of four. She has trained in jazz, ballet, contemporary, musical theatre, hip hop, and other street dance styles. While studying at McGill University she was the co-director and co-choreographer of the Urban Groove Dance Project Performance Troupe, performing and competing across Montreal, including opening for Girlicious. After returning to Ottawa, she was excited to join Driven Dance Company to continue training and performing. Now she looks forward to dancing with Ottawa’s newest adult dance troupe – TRAPT. When she is not dancing, Elise enjoys spending time with her daughter and husband, snowboarding, and playing soccer.
Emily Bennett
Emily was born and raised in Ottawa and is currently attending Carleton University for a Bachelor of Social Work. Emily first started dancing with the Nepean Creative Arts Centre at the age of four. Similar to most little girls, she started her training in ballet before branching out to other styles. After taking a few years off to explore other sports, she realized dance was where she was meant to be and started taking classes at the Canadian Dance Factory. While at CDF, Emily focused on hip hop training and discovered her love for the style. After spending a number of years with CDF, she joined Impulse Company of Dance for their formative years, where she began competing with her team. She is now looking to expand her capabilities in a number of styles and has joined TRAPT to help get back into the swing of things and grow as a dancer.
Ethan Blais
Bio Coming Soon
Emily Moore
Emily got her introduction to dance with Almonte Academy of Dance when she was three years old. At age of 5, Emily continued dancing with Linda Jamieson’s School of Dance. Here she danced for 8 years, dancing competitively from age 9. She then moved to Capital City Dance where she danced competitively, regionally and nationally in many genres, winning many awards for both group routines and solos. She was accepted to the dance program at Canterbury High School and became a graduate in 2017. She studied the Royal Academy of Dance ballet for her entire dance career, she also trained in jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and acro. During Emily's time with Capital City Dance, she had the opportunity to dance at different fundraising concerts including Bust A Move for breast cancer and Dancers Give Back.
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Dance is her passion and saviour! She hope to keep dancing and sharing my love of dance with others.
Evelyn West
Evelyn has been dancing for over 15 years. She started dancing hip hop at the age of 10 years, and took classes in jazz and ballet. She joined the dance crew Driven in 2005, where she learned about freestyle, breakdancing, house, and multiple other techniques that allowed Evelyn to craft her own style within the genre. Evelyn was exposed to many classical forms of dance during her high school years, including modern, lyrical, jazz and a little tap. She also began teaching during those years, creating her own choreography and building her own teaching techniques. Once Driven disband, Evelyn joined My Dance Productions which focused mostly on country-style dance, but also did performances in hip hop and go-go dancing opportunities. She continued to take adult drop in classes during her adult years. Becoming a guest choreographer for Momentum Moves, Hump Day Dance which lead to a subsequent performance for Studio X end of year showcase.
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In 2017, Evelyn was lead dance instructor and practice coordinator for Impulse Company of Dance, with classes ranging from young children to late teens. Trained the Impulse competitive troupe and won placement medals for large group hip-hop and modern influenced hip hop quartet.
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Now, she is working towards creating choreography using music that normally would not go with the more well-known hip hop style. It’s a challenge that I am looking forward to completing and hopefully continue to do in my next upcoming dance adventure.
Hailey Lamont
ADAPT Certified (Jazz & Tap)
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Hailey started dancing at the age of three. By six years old she was training and dancing competitively in all disciplines of dance. She later became an assistant teacher at twelve, in various disciplines including hip hop, jazz, lyrical, ballet, and theatre. Hailey has won numerous awards and scholarships including a NYC Hollywood Bound scholarship, countless overalls for highest scoring soloist and group dances, and a featured dancer in both the Fifa Women’s World Cup Draw and the Odyssey Showcase, Gift of Jazz. Currently, Hailey is completing her ADAPT Teacher Training. Hailey is now a dance instructor at Allegro DanceWorks in Stittsville, and she is very excited to be a part of the TRAPT family.
Jenna Harris
Jenna was born and raised in Ottawa, and started dancing Ballet at four years old. In elementary school she fell in love with hip hop, taking classes at the Canadian School of Dance for a year. She then chose the recreational hip hop classes at the Walter Baker Sports Center, where she was taught by Danielle Lepage and Emily Bennett . After many years at WBSC, she joined Impulse Company of Dance for a few months in 2020. She’s done many dance classes and school related performances in highschool. In 2022 she performed at the annual Chinese Festival, and the Canada-China Diplomatic Relations & Mid-Autumn Festival in Ottawa. She took some time off dance during the pandemic but regained love for dance again after auditioning for TRAPT.
Julie Joinette
Julie Joinette was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. Following in her sister’s footsteps, she started dancing at the age of 4 years. Studying everything from tap, jazz, ballet, musical theatre and hip hop. She continued her studies in theatre, graduating with a B.A. in Drama from the University of Windsor. She began teaching in studios around Ottawa in 2004 and continues to pass along her knowledge to performers of all ages as director of Top Rock Dance and Fitness.
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She also trained, choreographed and prepared show pieces to the performers from My Dance Productions, including the former Crazy Horse Coyotes. She continued to expand her knowledge by achieving her personal training certification and fitness instructor certification through Can Fit Pro. Every year, Julie continues to search for more opportunities to expand her knowledge and skills so she can then pass the information along to those she teaches.
Kylanne Sauve
Kylanne began dancing at the age of 2 and fell in love with it. She started competing when she was 7 until she turned 20. Then moved forward to teaching dance fresh out of the competition scene and has been teaching for 5 years now.
She loves jazz, lyrical and contemporary. Had several completed BATD Jazz and ballet exams, which Kylanne received highly commended.
Leah Boertjes
Bio Coming Soon
Michelle Zakrison
Michelle has been dancing since she was 3 and she is classically trained in ballet, tap, jazz & modern and has completed many competitions and dance exams. She currently trains with the Dance with Emilie Studio and TRAPT and specializes in hip hop, dance hall, and burlesque! She has performed in various locations in Ontario, BC, Nunavut, and internationally in San Diego! By day, Michelle is a former lawyer turned Pleasure and Prosperity life coach and private dance teacher, teaching women how to feel confident, sexy, and to manifest their dreams through doing what they love! By night, Michelle performs as a dancer and drag king - Zak Zinya! Zak has successfully competed in multiple drag competitions, including performing in front of 1,300 people at the National Arts Centre and placing 3rd in the 2022 Ottawa Pride Pageant. Michelle/Zak are excited to join TRAPT to perform and co-create numbers with its talented advanced level adult dancers!
Nyasha Shameer
Bio Coming Soon
Rachel West
Rachel was born and raised in Ottawa. From the influence of her two sisters, she started dancing ballet at the young age of 4 years. She also spent time learning hip hop under the direction of Julie Joinette at the Canadian Dance Factory. Rachel took a few years off from dance, but as a young adult started dancing again, taking any dancing opportunities she could. One of her favourites included participating in Hump Day Dance, an adult program run by Momentum Moves at Studio X.
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Despite having a ballet background, her style is now very focused around hip hop. She is very excited to be a part of TRAPT and hopes to continue to learn new skills and become a more well rounded dancer in all styles. Although she wants to continue her path to becoming a teacher, she hopes to gain a bigger name in dance along with the troupe.
Pirashanth Satkunabalasingsam
Bio Coming Soon.
Sarah Hamilton
Sarah began dancing in Ajax, ON. when she was just three years old. As she grew, so did her love of dance, and Sarah knew from a young age that she would become a dance teacher; following in the footsteps of both her mom, and her older sister. Sarah teaches tap and ballet at various studios in Ottawa, and in particular, loves working with young dancers as they discover their love of dance, and grow into inspiring young performers! She has studied tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip hop, and is an Associate Member of the B.A.T.D. She studied at various studios across Canada, before settling into Ottawa and sharpening her skills at Canterbury High School in the Dance Program. She went on to help found and create Carleton University’s Ravens Dance Pak (originally Carleton University Dance Team) in 2011.
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Sarah is excited to have been a member of TRAPT since its inception in 2019. She loves performing for audiences, and is proud to be part of a team that cares about giving back to the community!
Sarah Squizzato
Sarah has a dance background of Contemporary/Modern, Hip-Hop, Street Jazz, Heels, and more, as well as has a special interest in floorwork and partnering. She is pursuing her career in dance by attaining her diploma in dance education and Contemporary. She has taken online courses in choreography and dance film as well as is traveling for Dance Intensives across Canada and the US. She has choreographed and performed for large events such as Ottawa Capital Pride and Bluesfest. She regularly creates music videos and tours with folk artist Kristine St-Pierre around Ottawa and Gatineau.
She has performed in dance films such as "The Wilds" and "North of Mind" which appeared on stages like the Lisbon Dance Platform Film Festival and The Hull Underground Film Festival.
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Sarah has a wide range of qualifications and talents in dance and is looking forward to branching into TRAPT to resume her journey and continuously build her skill as a dancer.
Vanessa Isabela Denny
Vanessa was born and raised in Brazil, where she developed her dancing in jazz, ballet, and urban dance. Her dance journey began at the age of 6 in Jazz Dance, at the dance program offered by the city hall in the countryside of Sao Paulo. Her correspondence for art progressed and after 4 years she was invited to join the competitions and presentations group, where she participated in many workshops and presentations, also developing her learning in Classical Ballet, Vaganova method, and had her first opportunity to teach Ballet and Jazz classes in 2011. In 2012, Vanessa was invited to join the dance company Galpao 1 Erika Novachi, directed by Erika Novachi, teacher and choreographer of Lyrical Jazz nationally recognized and awarded in Brazil, where Vanessa’s passion for Lyrical Jazz began, in addition to having the opportunity to learn Urban Dances and the Royal Ballet. During 10 years at the company, she had the opportunity to be a course assistant, rehearser, teacher and substitute teacher. As a Ballet Baby Class teacher, she obtained her certification in the Course for Pre-Primary and Primary in Dance Sillabus teachers of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2018. In urban dance, she participated in workshops and meetings of house dance, hip hop, popping and locking. Still in the company, she achieved great opportunities to travel through dance, and to participate as a scholarship holder annually in the International Congress of Jazz Dance, through classes with world-renowned teachers of Jazz Dance, in modern, lyrical, contemporary jazz and musical technique. Vanessa is currently following her dreams by coming to Canada in 2022 to continue her studies in the technology and design field and is looking to pursue her passion for being a dancer by attending classes and performances.