Jennifer Thorogood
Jennifer is the director of Alive Danceworks. She has been dancing for 24 years and continues to dance professionally. Jennifer has had extensive training in Ballet with the Banff Centre for Performing Arts with numerous internationally acclaimed teachers as well as with Alberta Ballet. She has also studied everywhere from Calgary to New York City in many other dance disciplines such as modern, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop and was a competitive gymnast at a young age. Jennifer has performed in many professional shows including six years in Alberta Ballet's production of the "Nutcracker", Northwest Ballet's "Cinderella", numerous Banff Centre productions, television, and various half time shows. As co-founder of the group "Dance Attack", she traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Greece with country singer Lisa Brokop and other professional artists in 2002. Jennifer's teaching experience includes classes at Alberta Ballet as well as the children's roles in their production of the "Nutcracker" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream". She taught for Integrated Dance Arts and has enjoyed teaching dance options in high school programs and in various workshops. Jennifer started Alive Danceworks in an after school program that quickly outgrew the space. She enjoys teaching She is thrilled to be in year 8 at our present location sharing her love of dance with children of every age.

Rocky Mejia
Rocky is an exciting energetic performer, teacher and choreographer. He has trained and performed with the modern dance company POWER dance in Manila, Philippines. He has appeared in numerous films and TV shows including "Honey I Shrunk The Kids", commercials for FORD, and the motion picture "I've Seen You Before". He has traveled the world performing on international stages with companies such as Princess Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and Murray Hatfield. His unique style of blending Tap, Jazz, and Hip-Hop with a soulful urban feel has won him affection with students of all ages at home and abroad.

Jody Sikora
Jody has toured across Canada with the Murray Hatfield Company and has numerous performances in the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show to her credit as a member of the Young Canadians.Ê In addition to dancing, Jody has been in many musicals and plays including the role of Rizzo in the popular regional production of "Grease". Whether singing, dancing or acting, Jody is still a triple threat performer who brings excitement and energy to both the stages she performs on and the classrooms she teaches in. Jody believes in a strong work ethic and explores the emotions and feelings in her works.Ê This develops a unique expression of the individual in their dance.

Nishga Hotz-Felder
Nishga began dancing at a young age in Vancouver, B.C. At the age of four she began Artistic Gymnastics, and moved over to Rhythmic Gymnastics at age five. She continued to train as a Rhythmic gymnast for the next ten years, earning a spot on the Junior Canadian National Team in 2001. She traveled extensively competing around the continent, as well as training in Europe. Nishga moved to Calgary to in 2004 and obtained a Minor in Contemporary Dance from the University of Calgary, while finishing her B.a. Since moving here, Nishga has been involved in many major films, 'The Core', and 'She's The Man', and commercials, 'Shaw-People Powered', as well as having participated in local dance productions such as 'Dance Montage', and 'Calgary Cares'. Nishga most recently began training with the House of Dangerkat, and had the chance to travel to Paris last February and perform with the House at Juste Debout - Europes most prestigious Urban Dance Competition.

Corinne Vessey
Corinne began training at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at the age of seven, and her dance training has taken her from Winnipeg to Vancouver and now to Calgary. She has trained extensively in Hip Hop, Locking, Popping, House, Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, and the list goes on. Corinne has had the opportunity to perform in various productions including live, television, and film performance across Canada and the USA, most recently as a member of The Source Dance Company based out of Vancouver. She loves to share her passion for dance through teaching and choreographing, and is excited to be a part of the team at Alive.

Suzanne Demers
Suzanne Demers was born and raised in Calgary and has been dancing since the age of five. She has been teaching dance in Calgary for 11 years in a variety of styles including, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Tap and Hip Hop. She is an energetic dancer and teacher with a great passion for teaching and seeing her students succeed. She attributes her passion for dance to all of her training and teaching experiences with dancers of ages and abilities. Throughout her years of training, Suzanne has participated in many dance competitions and traveled throughout Canada and the USA for performances. When not teaching dance, Suzanne works as a professional fundraiser and event planner, raising money for a variety of charities in Calgary.

Elissa Carter-Wells
Elissa is an energetic dancer and teacher who is very excited in sharing her knowledge of dance in all types and forms; From Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre, Tap and even Ballroom! Some of her recent credits include; a local production of "The Wizard Of Oz" and productions of "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Music Man" in Nelson, B.C. Elissa started dancing at the age of 4 and discovered her joy of teaching through numerous projects with elementary schools. She is very excited to continue her teaching career with Alive Danceworks and looks forward to sharing her passion and knowledge with her students training them to become dancers of the future.

Nicole Hopkins
has explored many styles of movement including Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Tap, Lyrical and Musical Theater. Her training of Ballet (RAD Syllabus), Tap (Al Gilbert Syllabus), Jazz & Modern began in Fort McMurray before relocating to Winnipeg to join the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's School Professional Division. After leaving the school due to an injury she continued her training & competitive dancing in Calgary. Nicole spent the 2008 - 2009 year training in Vancouver as a member of Modus Operandi a contemporary dance training program. She also completed her Yoga Teachers Training Certificate with the Yoga Alliance in White Rock. Nicole hopes to spread her love for the arts and a healthy lifestyle to each of her students.

Kristine Stefansson
Kristine began her dancing career at the tender age of four in Calgary Alberta. She trained at the Alberta Ballet School of Dance in their professional division, as well as summers training with the RWB and Banff Dance Centre, training under many international instructors. Kristine has also trained with the Young Canadians, performing in the Grandstand show. She moved to Victoria BC where she graduated from the Canadian College of Performing arts Year 2 Enriched Studies program. From there she has worked for The Spirit of a Nation Company, under the Direction of Jacques Lemay, Jesters Corner, Gotta Getta Gimmick, Abracadabra Productions, and many more. She has also had the opportunity to work with the Story Theatre Company, where she toured all over North America and was invited to Singapore to perform at the Act One international Children's Festival. Kristine has been a guest teacher all over Canada, and is now very excited to be teaching here at Alive!

Ian (IRock) Nicholas
Ian (IRock) Nicholas started dancing at age 10, taking Funk at DJD moving onto Jazz and Tap. At 14 Ian joined EKO Youth Dancers and continued to train and perform adding Contemporary and African to his repertoire. Ian was accepted into the Fine Arts Dance Program at Central Memorial High School where he continued dancing and started training in Ballet.

Ian's true passion for the last 6 years is B-boying and Funk Styles and he continues to train and compete in Canada and the US. Studying under The Electric Boogaloos, Brian (Footwork) Green, Zen One, Ken Swift and Storm, Ian believes it is important to pass on his knowledge to the young dancer interested in the culture and history of B-boying and Funk Styles.