See our Dance Syllabus for entry classes and requirements.
Our Ballet & Modern adjudicator for 2023 is Sarah Brewer Clowes!
Sarah Brewer Clowes is a master teacher with a career spanning the continent as well as a time period of over 38 years. She is also a dancer, choreographer, adjudicator and personal movement expert. Sarah is a proud mother, a podcaster and workshop creator/leader on the importance of Injury Prevention through Health Maintenance and Anatomical Basics. Sarah’s performing career began at the Munich Ballet in Germany over 30 years ago and included dancing with the Northwest Florida Ballet, Banff Festival Ballet and the Vancouver Opera. Her independent performing career encompasses most of her professional life and allowed her to work with luminaries like Crystal Pite, David Earle, Wen Wei Wang, Cori Caulfield, Amber Funk Barton, Sylvain Senez and Gioconda Barbuto to name a few. She choreographs for both amateur and professional dancers and loves the explorative process of creating with artists. Sarah has also had the pleasure of adjudicating dance festivals all over Western Canada, including 3 Provincial festivals in B.C.
As a teacher, Sarah’s passion lies in creating space and potential for every dancer to discover their path to movement clarity, both in physical health and in technical individuality. Her methods emphasize anatomical knowledge, personal expression and a love of self-discovery.
Sarah is highly respected for her extensive anatomical knowledge and the creation of workshops that assist in maintaining dancers’ physical and mental health. She is also the creator of “Sarah’s Space”, a podcast that addresses many subjects from the arts world to social unrest and everything in between. Sarah’s deepest motivation is to help everyone that she works with find the best way they can dance forward in life.
Our Street Dance adjudicator for 2023 is Hannah Henney!
Hannah Henney is a very sought-after and engaging dancer, actor, choreographer, teacher and adjudicator. At age three, she first entered the dance scene in a Port Coquitlam studio called Chiasson. She trained in Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Musical Theatre and Ballet until graduating at age seventeen. She then furthered her training with the Scholarship dance program at Drive Dance Centre, the Source Dance Company and Souldiers Dance Company. During her training, Hannah fell in love with Hip Hop and began training in many street styles like Locking, House, Popping and Waacking. After spending many summers in New York training, performing and battling, she has gained a deeper understanding of Hip Hop culture and history. Her latest style she’s added to her repertoire is Litefeet. She was selected to represent Litefeet Nation and perform with Chrybaby Cozie at the 2018 Brooklyn Hip Hop festival. She has also been building a thriving and vibrant Litefeet community in Vancouver by throwing a weekly session at Robson Square for the last three years.
Hannah’s screen dance credits include NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, CBS’s The Twilight Zone, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Syfy’s The Magicians, Nat Geo’s Valley of the Boom, and Disney’s Freaky Friday. She’s also performed as an opening act for artists Mya, Meek Mill, Fabolous, B.O.B., Pusha T and Raekwon. She is a member of the powerhouse female crew Diamonds in the Rough and travels as a crew member throughout the U.S. and Canada, performing, teaching and battling.
She has also adjudicated many festivals and dance competitions throughout the Lower Mainland, where she loves connecting with the youth and sharing her knowledge and experience with the upcoming generation. Her fire, passion and positivity always shine through whether she is working on set, performing on stage, choreographing a show, or in a studio with her students.
Most recently, Hannah was seen in Raincity Theatre’s production of Cabaret as Kit Kat boy Victor. She’s found a deep passion for acting and has trained with renowned instructors Chad Rook, Jeb Beach and Shea Hampton in Vancouver. She made her acting debut in a Telus Storyhive web series and official BIFF finalist called Auditions, then as the lead role in a short film with director Heather Perluzzo that had much success in the festival circuit.
Ariel Fuoco was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and started dancing at the age of three. Over the years, she trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, Ballroom, and Acrobatic Partnering. She received all graded medals from pre-primary to advanced levels in the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D) and Cecchetti ballet syllabi, as well as the ADAPT tap and jazz syllabi.
At a young age, Ariel began auditioning and performing professionally. This led to her appearing in music videos, fashion runways, and prestigious artistic events, such as Breakfast TV, the Calgary Hair Show, and performances with music artists such as Bobby Wills, Canadian Idol Jenn Beaupre, and Rick Ross.
When she was 17, Ariel pursued her passion for choreography and began teaching, choreographing, and coordinating dance operations for six major dance studios in various disciplines. She moved to Vancouver to continue working with competitive and recreational youth dancers, professional singers, and choreographing for movies, TV shows, and dance festivals. Ariel has also become an adjudicator at elite dance competitions and uses her passion to help build the talent and recognition of future artists. She has also contributed to several dance workshops, speaking to dancers and audiences on various aspects of dance, including its history, areas of improvement, and techniques.
Ariel is well-known for her innovative and captivating choreography and has won numerous awards, including multiple Top Choreography Awards, the Canadian Dance Choreographic Achievement Award, Adjudicator’s Choice Awards, and an invitation to the NYC Young Choreographers Festival. She and her students won the Grand Championship dance-off for three consecutive years, a record-holding achievement.
In addition to her accomplishments in dance, Ariel has also worked with charities and given public speeches on building confidence and inspiring children to pursue the arts. She has partnered with the Guinness World Record to build the world’s longest lemonade stand to raise awareness against bullying, performed at “WE Day”, one of the largest anti-bullying foundations in the world, and worked with The Children’s Wish Foundation to provide entertainment for pre-teens suffering from cancer.
Ariel is now travelling across Canada to inspire dancers and share her love for the arts with students and audiences.
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