Faculty
Dance Fusion faculty are a talented group of professionals that offer each student the highest quality training.
Staff
Robin Bleasdale – Artistic Director
Kate Hanson –Competitive & Recreational Jazz, Lyrical & Contemporary Teacher
Juliette Irons – Competitive Teacher & Choreographer
Mitchell Jackson – Recreational & Competitive Hip Hop, Jazz Funk & Contemporary Teacher
Gabrielle Johnson – Recreational Jazz, Contemporary & Hip Hop Teacher
Alison Kelly –Recreational & Competitive Tap Teacher and Yoga Director
Gina Kim – Ballet Director & Competitive Choreographer
Guest Teachers & Choreographers
Joey Arrigo
Jordan Clark
Kaitlyn Conley
Mollee Gray
Juliette Irons
Bree Wasylenko
Tokyo
Staff
Robin Bleasdale – Artistic Director
Originally from the Waterloo area, Robin completed her outstanding competitive dance career at Bojangles Dance Arts before going on to graduate from York University with a BFA Hon. in Dance with a concentration in Pedagogy and Choreography. She now teaches as a working certified member of Britisth Theatre Dance Association, Royal Academy of Dance (Ballet), and the Canadian Artists Scholar Association at Dance Fusion. In the past she has worked as a Program Advisor for the Toronto District School Board and an Artistic Program Director for the City of Toronto Arts Programs.
Originally from the Waterloo area, Robin completed her outstanding competitive dance career at Bojangles Dance Arts before going on to graduate from York University with a BFA Hon. in Dance, with a concentration in Pedagogy and Choreography. She now teaches as a working certified member of B.T.D.A., R.A.D., and the Canadian Artists Scholars Association. In the past she has worked as a Program Advisor for the District School Board and an Artistic Program Director for the City of Toronto Arts Programs.
Robin has danced professionally for the Toronto Blue Jays (MLB), Toronto Molson Rockettes (Toronto Rock, NLL), Darrin Henson's Dance Company, Skills Canada Organization, Hamilton Tiger Cats (CFL), The Red Green Show, Fashion Cares Backstage After Party, Showstoppers, and as a lead dancer in the Mirvish Musical run of Hello Dolly.
She is now the Artistic Director and Owner of Dance Fusion. Her work includes serving as a Choreographer for the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid Committee and having her work featured on several television programs. Her outstanding choreography has won her students countless awards at Regional and International Competitions both in Canada and the United States. Some highlights include the following, as well as countless Regional Choreography Awards.
- Headliners Nationals 2010 - Choreographer of the Year Nomination
- American Dance Awards Nationals 2009 – Top 3 Diamond Choreography Award
- CanDance 2009 - Overall Choreography Award
- American Dance Awards 2009 - Diamond Choreography Winner
- American Dance Awards Nationals 2008 – Top 3 Diamond Choreography Award
- Pick The Stars International Championships 2006 & 2005 – National Choreographer of the Year
More recently Robin has entered into the world of dance writing, and now enthusiastically writes for several publications and websites, sharing her experiences and knowledge as a dance studio owner. Robin now continues to work passionately as an in demand teacher, choreographer and adjudicator throughout North America. She is proud to be able to share her love of dance with all generations of dancers!
Check out Robin’s latest blog entries at www.dancefusiondirector.blogspot.com
Kate Hanson – Competitive & Recreational Jazz, Lyrical & Contemporary Teacher
Born and raised in Calgary Alberta, Kate has trained professionally in all facets of dance. Kate graduated from The School of Performing and Visual Arts while also completing all levels of the ADAPT syllabus in Jazz as well as her Advanced level in the R.A.D. Ballet syllabus. She has competed successfully around Canada and the United States winning high score solo awards at many competitions. Kate moved to Toronto in 2009 to pursue her professional dance career. Since then she has graduated from the Commercial Dance Studies program at George Brown College and has become actively involved in the Toronto Arts community by teaching and performing all over the city. The most recent addition to the Dance Fusion family Kate is thrilled to bring her creative talents to share with the next generation of dancers.
Mitchell Jackson – Recreational & Competitive Hip Hop, Jazz Funk & Contemporary Teacher
Mitchell Jackson comes to us from Sudbury, Ontario where he was a dance graduate from Sudbury Secondary School. Training in jazz, ballet, hip-hop, contemporary and musical theatre, he decided this was his career of choice and has since worked with many major dance companies, including the American Ballet Theatre. Within two years of dancing competitively, Mitchell has won many awards including; Mr. DEA, Mr.Candance and the overall highest score for Starpower, American Dance Awards and Dance Educators of America. Training in Los Angeles and New York he made the move to Toronto to pursue his dance career. After weeks of living in Toronto, Mitchell was signed with the top dance agency in Canada. Recently, Mitchell has worked for many companies and continues to show his love of teaching and choreography working with studios and schools all over Ontario. His credits include, Breakfast Television, CTV, Much Music and Rogers TV. Mitchell hopes that one day he will be a role model for dancers all over the world and wants everyone to know that it is never too late to start dancing.
Gabrielle Johnson – Recreational Jazz, Contemporary & Hip Hop Teacher
Gabrielle has trained for almost fifteen years in all styles of dance including jazz, modern, hip hop and ballet. During high school Gabrielle was part of several performing arts programs at Wexford C.I School for the Arts including the highly competitive performance dance program. It was at Wexford that she was given the opportunity to train with a variety of professionals within the theatre and dance industry while expanding on her knowledge of different dance styles and genres. Gabrielle’s unique dance style and passion for choreographing fully emerged in her final year at Wexford when she choreographed the well-received “Ramalama” number in the school’s 2006 Seasonal Variety Show. In 2007 Gabrielle was asked to choreograph a hip hop number to “Thriller” for musical theatre company Beggars Bag as well as perform in the company’s ensemble. That same year Gabrielle founded her own dance group named “Company X” and performed original works choreographed by Gabrielle and her company. Over the past several years Gabrielle has had the opportunity to develop skills as a choreographer through her experience as a dance instructor; she has taught children of a broad age range (3-18+) in a variety of dance styles. Starting first as a dance assistant and later becoming employed as an instructor with the City of Toronto and a part-time instructor with Dance Fusion, Gabrielle has gained a great deal of coaching experience through her work as a dance instructor. As a Dance Fusion alumni Gabrielle is happy to be back with her DF family and looks forward to maintaining her work as a dance instructor throughout the city for years to come.
Alison Kelly – Recreational & Competitive Tap Teacher and Yoga Director
Alison began her dance training in Toronto ON and continued on to complete her A.B.A.T.D exams. At the young age of 13, Alison performed and made it to the semi finals on the talent show "Homegrown Café". It was that same year that Alison made her choreographic debut for the High School Musical "Anything Goes" and continued to contribute to a number of community musicals throughout her high school years. Alison began teaching as an assistant in Belleville ON 14 years ago, and has been teaching at Dance Fusion since 2003. Trained in many disciplines of dance (including Jazz, Modern and Ballet) it is Tap that remains Alison's true passion.
As a lifetime student of movement, naturally the practice of yoga followed. Completing both her RYT200 and pre-natal / post natal certification training as part of the The Yoga Sanctuary’s teacher training, Alison has had the honor of learning from such instructors as Cynthia Funk, Karusia Wroblewski, and Cora Wen. Alison is the proud new Studio Director of Guildwood Yoga.
Gina Kim – Ballet Director & Competitive Choreographer
Born in Edmonton Alberta, Gina Kim moved to Ontario and started her dancing career at the age of six. Ms. Kim has diverse training in tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, hip-hop, National dance and Korean traditional folk dance. Ms. Kim received Honors in numerous C.D.T.A tap and jazz exams, Advanced Cecchetti ballet exams, Advanced RAD ballet exams and Advanced I.S.T.D National dance exams.
Ms. Kim was a competitive dancer since the age of six, receiving several awards and scholarships at local, national and various competitions across North America. After twelve years of competing, Ms. Kim is now a certified adjudicator in association with I.A.D.A. Greater accomplished credentials include: Teaching Diploma and certificate from Canada's National Ballet School, Associates in The Cecchetti Society of Canada, Royal Academy of Dance, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Dance Masters of America and Canadian Dance Teachers Association.
Ms. Kim attends master classes and workshops in Toronto, Buffalo, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Japan, Korea and Winnipeg. Her performance experience includes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Quinte Ballet School, The Nutcracker and Les Syphides with The National Ballet School, The Beach Boys, Guys N' Dolls, Bye-Bye Birdie, Grease, Chicago and Westside Story. After graduating with her BFA Honors in Dance from York University, Ms. Kim furthered her education at Canada’s National Ballet School, and joined the teaching staff in the Associates Program in 2006.
Guest Teachers & Choreographers
Joey Arrigo
Jordan Clark
Kaitlyn Conley
Mollee Gray
Juliette Irons
Juliette is a Contemporary dancer/choreographer in LA, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario. Juliette is currently on faculty in Tokyo's travelling convention called MOVE. She has performed in many events and shows in Los Angeles including Dance for Change, Medium, and Choreographers Carnival. Her works have been showcased in many venues including Gina Starbuck's Art for Life Benefit Show and she is currently on staff at Millenium Dance Complex. Juliette continues to travel to many studios around Canada and the U.S. to teach and choreograph, hoping to share her unique view on music and dance with as many people as possible.
Bree Wasylenko
Bree started dancing at the young age of 4 in her hometown of Calgary, Alberta. She trained extensively in jazz, ballet, tap, theatre, lyrical and contemporary.
After high school, she made the move to Toronto to pursue a professional dance career and has never looked back! Enjoying many successes both on stage and in front of the camera, she has done numerous industrials for: Bell Mobility, Sears, RBC, Shoppers Drug Mart, LG, and has appeared in music videos for artists such as Shawn Desman, Danny Fernandez, Blake McGrath, Aleesia Massari, Addictiv, Eva Avila, Carly Rae-Jepson, Kreesha Turner, and many more. Her first feature film was “Turn the Beat Around”, choreographed by Tre Armstrong. She was also a featured dancer in the Family Channel TV show ‘Baxter”, along with dancing in an ABC Family Channel Christmas movie titled "Desperately Seeking Santa". Bree has had the privilege of rehearsing as Ashley Tisdale’s body double for the CW show “Hellcats”, and performed in an episode of the CW Network’s “Nikita”. The latest movie Bree worked on was “COBU 3D”, a dance movie choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon, and her most recent commercial job was her role as Assistant Choreographer on the Disney movie “Frenemies”. After that, she made the jump to choreographer on the pilot episode of CTV's "Stay With Me". Bree stepped outside of her comfort zone in fall of 2011 to be a part of the world renowned Canadian Opera Company, dancing in a performance of Gluck's "Iphigenie en Tauride". The highlight of Bree’s career thus far has been making Top 20 on CTV’s “So You Think You Can Dance Canada” (season 3). You can learn more about Bree at www.dancewithbree.com
Tokyo
