Marcia is a dancer, choreographer, collaborator and educator with over 25 years teaching experience. She studied contemporary dance at McMaster University’s Centre for Dance Performance in Hamilton, ON and Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre’s summer intensives for teacher training. Currently a member of Artslink New Brunswick, she shares her passion for creation working collaboratively alongside musicians, visual artists, filmmakers and dancers. Marcia's work has received recognition by the New Brunswick Arts Board and Saint John Community Arts Funding Program and has been performed across Atlantic Canada. ​ Marcia is a founding director of Connection Dance Works, a professional contemporary dance company. She assists in achieving the company's mandate to increase the regional audience for contemporary dance and offer more collaborative opportunities for artists. The company is a recipient of a Saint John Original award for excellence in dance. ​ Marcia is an advocate for arts education and its accessibility to all. She’s developed curriculum for schools, delivering the content to both students and teachers and aids in the growth and support for arts education through her work on boards and juries. Marcia is an American Ballet Theater certified teacher and has a Bachelor of Education and Science. She is a graduate from Dance Education Canada and has certifications in Progressing Ballet Technique, Horton Technique and Boston Ballet School's Adaptive Dance program.

Rebecca began ballet classes at the age of 5 in Kanata, Ontario. A family move brought her to Fredericton, N.B., at the age of 10, where she continued studying ballet at Dance Fredericton under Leslie Dell, Dede Gaston, and Julie Scriver. At the age of 12, Rebecca also discovered a love of jazz under Marcia Dysart, Nicole Blanchet and later Emily Caruso. In 1992 and 1993, Rebecca attended two summer sessions at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, one on full scholarship, and was also accepted into their year-long intensive training program. In 1998, Rebecca began teaching dance classes while continuing to take class for her own training and development. She has taught creative movement, ballet, and jazz to those aged 3 to adult at Dance Fredericton, Artemis Dance, X-treme Dance Studio, Cobequid Dance Academy and the Rothesay Ballet School. She has also attended a variety of workshops and teacher training seminars with various dance companies such as the RWB, NBS and l’Ecole Supérieur de Danse du Québec. Rebecca holds a bachelor of Arts and Education and is currently a full-time French Immersion teacher at Fairvale Elementary School.

Chris Van Green is a Canadian-based dancer who excels in performing, choreographing, and teaching. He collaborates with peers and aims to inspire the next generation of artists. Chris's adaptability and willingness to push himself led him to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Dance Performance from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Throughout his studies, he received recognition for his remarkable growth and passion for dance, which ultimately earned him the prestigious Kenny Pearl Award. During his time at TMU, he dedicated himself to honing his skills in ballet, contemporary/modern, jazz, and urban floor work. He also delved deeper into his creative process, exploring new avenues of artistic expression. Since graduating, Chris has had the privilege of collaborating with a diverse range of dancers, choreographers, and esteemed dance companies. Notable collaborations include Connection Dance Works, David Earle, Hannah Kiel, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, and Fernando Melo. Furthermore, he serves as a founding director of Blurred Bodies Dance Projects., a prominent Contemporary dance company based out of Truro, Nova Scotia. Additionally, he has co-founded EXPRESS Dance, an exciting troupe specializing in captivating performances encompassing cabaret, jazz, and burlesque genres. Driven by his passion for movement, he has established CVG Fitness, a personal training business. Through this venture, he frequently trains dancers to enhance their strength and mobility. Chris leverages his experience in both the dance and fitness realms to guide artists in considering not only their time in the studio but also how to supplement, cross-train, and maintain a nourishing diet to support the longevity of their careers.

Kristina Lemieux (she/her) is a contemporary dance artist, arts manager, and gardener. A relative newbie to Saint John, Kristina has danced and lived in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto before settling near to the Kennebecasis River. Her dance practice is rooted in improvisation and the democratization of dance. One of the things she is most proud of in her dance career is Polymer Dance. She started Polymer Dance in 2012 with Miriam Esquitín in Vancouver. Polymer Dance is a contemporary dance performing group and class for non-professional adult dancers with the goal to provide a space for continuous training and to cultivate an improvisation collective. Often making use of natural space and performing in public venues, this work allowed artists and audiences to meet in unexpected places. She also works for arts organizations and performing artists coast to coast making ideas happen. In all that she does, Kristina works to support artists across performing disciplines in finding ways to make art outside of the currently prescribed modes.

Melissa has been tapping for over 4 decades. Her initial training was with Eileen McGrath School of Dance where she completed the Al Gilbert tap technique exams up to and including grade 6. Melissa taught the Sussex branch of this school for 2 years. Throughout university she continued to take tap lessons and was involved in choreographing high school and university musicals and various dance related events. She also has experience in Jazz, Irish hard and soft shoe, Highland and ballroom dancing. Melissa continues her tap training through workshops and classes from Shawn Byfield in Toronto and Steps on Broadway in New York as well as working through the intermediate advanced Tap syllabus offered by unitedtaps.com. She is currently looking into pursuing a CDTA certification in tap education. Melissa also teaches tap to the competitive groups at D.A.T.A.

Sarah is director of the Intermediate and Senior Ballet School at First City. She has been working as an independent dance artist and teacher since graduating from the Dance Performance Program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2001. She is the artistic director of Connection Dance Works, the company she co-founded in 2010. Her classical teaching accreditations include Associate Teacher with Cecchetti Canada and teacher certification with The American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum. Sarah’s teaching philosophy centres on creative movement, age-appropriate anatomical alignment, and healthy self-image. Her artistic career has included collaborations with musicians, dancers, filmmakers and visual artists from across Canada. She has received grants for Professional Development, Residencies and Creation projects through the Canada Council for the Arts and artsnb. Sarah continues to learn and develop work through her practice of Authentic Movement, a way of discovering movement inherent to the body.

Gina is a contemporary dancer, teacher and choreographer. After completing the professional training program at l'École de danse contemporaine de Montréal in 2017, Gina has worked with local and international choreographers, musicians, visual artists and filmmakers. Notably, Gina performed her first solo work The Same, But Not Like Before at the 12th annual Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival as well as PERSPECTIVE 2022: An Evening of Dance and Discussion. She collaborated with Connection Dance Works's New Music, New Dance residency, choreographed by Sarah Power. Most recently, Gina acted in Gravity Assist, a short film directed by filmmaker Ry O’Toole.

Originally from Indonesia, Jamie started her dance training in 2014 upon moving to Canada for her post-secondary education. She had her start by taking hip-hop classes and workshops around many dance studios in Toronto. In 2015, Jamie joined Foreal Dance Company (@torontoforeal) to train and compete in various post-collegiate dance competitions in Ontario. In time, she became one of Foreal Dance Company’s lead choreographers and proceeded to choreograph for showcases and competitions such as Hit The Floor and Final Stretch Dance Competition. As she continued to train, she also had the opportunity to teach drop-in classes and workshops in several dance studios and universities in Ontario. Upon graduating from the University of Toronto in 2019, Jamie moved to Saint John in 2020. Although Jamie had her start in hip-hop, she eagerly explores many other styles and enjoys incorporating elements from different styles into her works. She is passionate about using dance as a medium for storytelling and introspection.

Jocelyn has been dancing since she was 5 years old. Her initial training was with Eileen McGrath School of Dance where she completed the Al Gilbert tap technique exams and was a part of a competitive troupe that performed in tap, jazz, and lyrical styles. Jocelyn has always had a love of music and percussion and has explored that through music lessons over the years (piano and drums) as well as through her love of tap and more recently hip hop. She continues to develop her own dance repertoire through adult classes with First City School of Dance, her role on a competitive hip hop team with A-Krew Dance, and workshops in various styles, having taken class with the likes of Raoul Wilke, The Rockwell Family, Matt Marr, & Mackenzie Greenwall. She has recently lived a tap dream of performing as a Chimney Sweep in SJTC’s Mary Poppins. Jocelyn has a Masters in Education, with 16 years of experience working with both Elementary students and teachers in Anglophone South as a classroom teacher and Literacy Coach.

Ashley began dancing at two years old at Rothesay Ballet School taking ballet, contemporary, jazz as well as assisting with classes . She completed the RAD ballet exams up to grade 8 as well as her intermediate exam in the vocational program. She participated in the school’s Nutcracker’s and played various roles including Clara and Dew Drop. Ashley also participated in KVHS's musicals during her time at the school and had the opportunity to perform in Saint John Theatre Company’s production of 9-5 in 2023 Aside from dance, Ashley graduated from her final year of the BA/BEd concurrent program at UNBSJ where she is majored and French and minored in psychology. She has worked with children in various areas and is thrilled to be teaching with FCSD for the third year. Ashley dreamt of being a dance teacher growing up and is honoured to be once again working alongside the amazing staff at FSCD!

Norah's love for dance began 15 years ago and has only grown since. She began her training at age three at Port City Ballet and eventually transferred to Rothesay Ballet School. There, she completed up to grade 6 and Intermediate Foundation of the RAD exams and continued to train through to grade 8 and Advanced Foundation. During this time, she gained experience not only in Ballet, but Contemporary and Jazz as well. She was a performer in The Nutcracker for seven years and was a choreographer for her high school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. She's participated in workshops with Ballet Kelowna and EYAS Dance Project as well as a four-day development weekend in Truro hosted by Cobequid Dance Academy. She is a member of FCSD Young Company. Outside of the dance world, she has four years of experience working with children as a counsellor at Camp Glenburn and a year of experience teaching swimming lessons at the YMCA of Greater Saint John. Additionally, she is a third year UNB student taking a Bachelor of Arts. She hopes to be able to continue to grow as a dancer while simultaneously sharing her passion and knowledge as a teacher.

Amanda is a B.Ed graduate (2014) and has been teaching middle school ever since. She began dancing at the young age of two and spent most of her dancing years dancing with DancEast (Moncton NB), and the Academy of Classical Ballet (Moncton NB). Amanda had the privilege of competing at Dance Worlds in Orlando, Florida with her university dance team in 2012 and since then, has continued to immerse herself in the dance community by teaching and attending adult classes. Upon moving to the Saint John area in 2015, Amanda began teaching Musical Theatre and Dance for KidSing Performance School until the arrival of her first child. Amanda is excited to start her new chapter: teaching at FSCD and can’t wait to watch her dancers grow!

Riley is a recent graduate of UNBSJ’s Bachelor of Health program, completing the Biomedical Sciences in Health degree. Riley is an Acrobatic Arts certified teacher. Riley began dancing at 7 years old with KidSing Performance School and has been with them ever since. Riley was a member of their competitive team until she graduated high school, competing at various competitions in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Growing up, she also performed in multiple musicals with the KV players community theatre. Outside of dance, Riley has been involved in all-star cheerleading. After years of being an athlete, Riley began coaching which sparked her interest in choreography and creation. She expanded this interest to dance and started teaching the elementary competitive troupe, along with musical theatre and acrobatics classes at KidSing Performance School. Most recently, Riley has enjoyed getting back into dancing herself through the adult classes at FCSD and now looks forward to continuing classes and joining the amazing faculty and staff this year!

Heidi is a versatile dancer with a strong foundation in classical and contemporary dance. Trained at Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Pre-Professional Program and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Heidi has seamlessly blended her classical skills with a decade of passion for Bachata, Mambo, Salsa and Kizomba. Collaborating with schools in Vancouver and learning from International instructors, Heidi's unique fusion of classical grace and global dance influence makes her a captivating performer in the dance world.

Ian C. Gibson is the Percussion Teaching Artist for the Saint John Centre of Sistema New Brunswick. This internationally acclaimed program is operated by the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, Inc., across the Province. With over twenty years of professional experience, Ian is able to provide students with the essential skills and knowledge to become outstanding percussionists. From 2005-2017, Ian was the Head of Percussion Studies at Cambrian College, Classical Percussion Instructor at Laurentian University and the Principal Percussionist/Timpanist of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra. Since moving to New Brunswick he has quickly established himself performing with Symphony New Brunswick and numerous musical theatre productions. He is a member of the Tutta Musica Orchestra, and Percussion Coach of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. Ian is currently a certified Remo HealthRHYTHMS Facilitator and a member of the Percussive Arts Society. He is also sponsored by Innovative Percussion, Pearl Drums & Adams Percussion. Ian holds both a Bachelor and Master of Music Degree in Music Performance from the University of Toronto