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.
DeNeige Dojack
Bio Coming Soon.
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.
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.
Fiona Clifford
Fiona is originally from Mississauga, Ontario. She moved out here to Ottawa about 6 years ago to attend the University of Ottawa for Nursing. She currently works full time as a Registered Nurse. Unlike a lot of her fellow dancers, she actually doesn’t have much of a dance background. She grew up watching Dance Moms and wanted so bad to be a talented dancer like the girls on the show. So, she started to copy their movements in her basement. This turned into watching Ballet videos from YouTube to strengthen her flexibility and technique. Moreover, in high school she decided to immerse herself in a SHSM in Dance to pursue her new found obsession. This in turn allowed Fiona to gain confidence in her performing. She ended up starting her own Dance Club in her high school for dancers of ALL levels to join. She shared her story of starting her dance journey “late in the game” and helped inspire others to find a passion for dance. While helping others and saving lives is her regular norm, making others smile through performing also fills her heart with joy.
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.
Madison Blais
Bio Coming Soon.
Mckenna Mellon
McKenna was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario and has had a very strong passion for performing ever since the age of 8. Since then she has worked with the NAC English Theatre, Orpheus, Greely Players, Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Kanata Theatre, Confidential Musical Theatre, and Lost Baggage Musical Theatre. McKenna just completed a Bachelor in Music with honours in Voice Performance at Western University and is now currently studying with Jennifer Fontaine as her vocal coach. McKenna also has an extensive background in dance in many styles such as tap, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, and ballet from Pique Dance Studio and is currently dancing with Top Rock Adult Performance Troupe. She has choreographed for The Greely Players for shows such as The Little Mermaid and Shrek: The Musical. She would like to thank everyone who has helped her throughout the years to get to where she is today!
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!
Neal Peacock
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.
Sabrina Gibbons
Bio Coming Soon...
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.