Mitzi Vecchio
INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Mitzi Vecchio, born and raised in Thunder Bay has been performing and teaching in the community for 22 years. In 1999-2000 she danced internationally on tour with “Up with People”. Some of the highlights were performing in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 World Irish Dance Championships in Belfast Northern Ireland, Grand Opening of COSI Science Center in Columbus, Ohio, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, and on the opening float of the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade. In 2008 Mitzi completed the three year ADAPT Syllabus Program and is now a Certified ADAPT Syllabus Teacher. Mitzi has been teaching in Thunder Bay for over 10 years and has won numerous achievement awards for her groups and lines choreography in the Lakehead Festival of Music & Arts and at Dance Olympus in Minneapolis Minnesota.
Vanessa Herceg
INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Vanessa has been involved in the performing arts for 12 years. She has studied various areas within vocal, drama, and dance (hip hop, musical theatre, jazz, ballet, and tap). Through these studies she has had the opportunity to perform and compete locally here in Thunder Bay. This is her third year teaching hip hop at International Dance Academy and couldn’t be more excited. She teaches at both a competitive and recreational level and loves to share her passion of dance with all of her students.
Serena McRury
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Serena was born into the world of dance and at the ripe age of 2 ½ years she began her dance training. She has studied ballet, jazz, tap, character and lyrical to hip hop, modern, pointe, national, cabaret and t’ai chi.
In the summer of 2002, she traveled with the Academy’s Dance Troupe to the Danceamerica Nationals in Orlando, Florida, where the group received various top placing awards. In 2003 she traveled to New York City to the Danceramerica Nationals where she competed in the solo ballet pointe category and placed 10th in the Danceamerica National Finals. Serena has won several scholarships honouring her dance achievement in the Lakehead Festival of the Arts. Most recently Serena was awarded the Gold Cup for excellence in choreography while maintaining an excellence in performing ability for young teachers at the Lakehead Music of Festival and Arts for 2010 and also the Michael Peters Choreography Award at the International Dance Challenge for 2010.
Serena has been involved in numerous community events such as Children’s Festival, Canada Day festivities, Relay for Life, Cystic Fibrosis Telethon, Festa Italiana, the Nordic Games, the Regional Multicultural Youth Council and the 2010 Thunder Bay Olympic Celebrations to name a few.
Serena was a shy child at a young age, but dancing taught her to be positive, self-confident, and built drive and determination within her. Her kind and caring nature makes her perfect in her position at the academy, as she is most often the first face that greets you as you enter the door.
She recently completed her Jazz ADAPT Intermediate 1. For the winter session, Serena will be attending her fourth year at Lakehead University to pursue a career in Education with a Major in French and a minor in English. In high school, La Vérendrye, she was on Student Council, the improvisation club, and was involved in the planning of several of her school activities. For her Grade 12 graduation, Serena was the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Community Volunteerism, the Governor General’s Award for Excellence (Highest Graduating Average), Director of Education Scholarship, Principal’s Choice Scholarship, Lakehead University Entrance Scholarship, DaVinci Center Scholarship, Venezia Giulia Scholarship and Old Dutch Potato Chips Scholarship.
Serena has studied with numerous world renowned instructors including Frank Hatchett of the Broadway Dance Centre, Sarah Jo Fazio from U.S.A, Ryan and Andrea Foley (ADAPT), Blake McGrath of SYTYCD (USA), Tim Olsen and Sofia Constantini of Winnipeg.
Josée Malette
INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Josée Malette is entering her final year at l’École secondaire catholique de La Vérendrye. She has been training with Laura Pascolo McRury and International Dance Academy for the past 10 years. Some of her recent achievements include completing her Advanced I Cecchetti ballet Exam and her Intermediate I Adapt Jazz Exam. This past spring she had the honor of winning the Silver Tray for Senior Ballet at the Lakehead Festival of Music and Arts, and the Best Emotional Execution Award at the International Dance Challenge for her modern duet “Torn Apart” performed with Nerissa. Josée has completed Cecchetti intensive training and has also competed in both local and out of town competitions and has won numerous awards and scholarships. She has also successfully auditioned for roles with dance companies such as: Ballet Jorgen (Nutcracker and Anastasia), Moscow Ballet (Sleeping Beauty) and Minnesota Ballet (Coppélia). Josée hopes to transfer her love of dance to all her students. It’s going to be a great year!
Rachel Elgie
INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Rachel started dancing recreationally at a young age and later expanded her dancing to a competitive level. Over the years she has had experience in many disciplines of dance which include ballet demi-pointe & pointe, jazz, lyrical, character, tap, modern, Spanish, repertoire and classical variation. She has been honoured to receive many dance scholarships and awards in Thunder Bay. She was awarded both the Junior and Senior Silver Plate for ballet and the Senior All Around Bowl for overall excellence in all fields of dance. She has successfully completed her Intermediate Cecchetti Method Ballet Exam at International Dance Academy (Laura Pascolo McRury) and her Advanced 1 Level at the School of Alberta Ballet (under the direction of Principals Mr. and Mrs. Kilgour). She also completed her Jazz BATD Level 5 and Tap BATD Level 4. During the summer of 2008, while attending Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Professional Teacher Training Summer School Program she auditioned and was accepted to the full time Professional Division Teacher Training Program 2008/2009 Fall/Winter Session. Rachel is highly motivated, disciplined and her commitment to develop her full potential is evident in the extensive summer programs she has attended: Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Professional Program and Recreational Program, School of Alberta Ballet, Quinte Ballet School, Sun Dance Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre and at the Sherry Walsh Dance Studio. She has attended many dance workshops, lectures, master classes, and dance intensive programs. Rachel not only has a passion for dance and the arts but for the area of teaching. She has assisted many dance classes and played a role in preparing students for dance exams in the disciplines of ballet, pointe, jazz and tap classes for children ages three and up. She assisted and taught classes at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Creative Movement (parents and tots), as well as Primary and Pre Ballet, Jazz, and Mighty Movers for boys. Her work involved assisting children with Down Syndrome and classes in Applied Anatomy and Physiology, Dance History and Music.
Nerissa McRury
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Nerissa started training at the age of 2½. She has studied Ballet, Pointe, Pas de Deux, Repertoire, Classical Variations, Character, Ethnic Dancing, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre. She has been awarded National Finals Champion First Place Winner for the Danceamerica for 2 consecutive years. At the age of 10 she was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC and in 2003 she placed 4th in the Petite Dancer of the Year in the Danceamerica National Finals against 99 competitors. She was awarded numerous scholarships and was also the recipient of the Junior Silver Plate for excellence in ballet at the Lakehead Festival of the Arts in 2004. Most recently she was awarded Best Emotional Execution for her Modern duet “Torn “Apart” performed with Josée at the International Dance Challenge for 2010.
In July of 2004 she was accepted into the Professional Training Division of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. She moved to Winnipeg at the age of 11, lived in residence at the RWB School and successfully completed and passed 5 years of Professional Training Levels and Exams in Ballet/Pointe/Pas de Deux (Vaganova Technique), Modern/Lyrical, and Character/Ethnic Dancing.
She was chosen to work with and present various new works of various choreographers in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s competition entitled “First Steps”. She performed group numbers annually in Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s “In Concert” and was awarded a solo part in “La Fille Mal Gardée”, played the maid in “The Snow Queen”, and performed a duet for “Ballet in the Park”.
Missing home and family, she returned to Thunder Bay in June 2009 and has since successfully passed her Cecchetti Intermediate and Advanced I Ballet Exam, all ADAPT Jazz exams up to Intermediate 1, and is pursuing to complete her Grade 12 at Westgate High School specializing in dance with Tina Vieira and arts.
She has trained with numerous world renowned instructors including Raymond Lukens of the American Ballet Theatre, Frank Hatchett of Broadway Dance Centre, Diane Van Schoor and Kate Simmons of England, Slava Mesropov of Colorado Ballet, Nancy Kilgour, Sheila Kennedy of Canada, Sarah Jo Fazio from U.S.A, Mia Micheals and Wade Robson from SYTYCD, U.S.A, Blake McGrath and Nico Archambault from SYTYCD, Canada, Kameron Bink from SYTYCD, U.S.A. and Sofia Constantini of Winnipeg.
Nerissa is eager to pass on her passion and joy for dance to all her students at International Dance Academy.
Lauren Kopanski
INSTRUCTOR/CHOREOGRAPHY
Lauren first started dancing at the age of four. She has studied ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, cabaret, modern, pointe and hip hop. She has competed in many different competitions including Thunder Bay, Canada and the United States. At competitions and workshops, she has won numerous scholarships in either solo competitions or in auditions. In 2008 Lauren was the winner of the Senior All-Around Bowl for over-all excellence in all fields of dance, and in 2009 she was the runner-up of the Senior All-Around Bowl. Lauren was always an outgoing and energetic child, and loved music from the time she was a baby. As soon as she was able to walk, you could always find her dancing around the house. Her passion in life is dance, but she still finds time to do other things she enjoys such as other sports, reading, art, and hanging out with friends. Lauren recently successfully completed and passed her Advanced I Cecchetti Ballet exam, and is working on completing her Advanced II Cecchetti Ballet exam. This year Lauren will be in her second year at Lakehead University working towards a degree in Education. In the future, Lauren hopes to pursue a career in dance.