MISS MAKENNA
Studio Owner/Instructor
BBA, ADAPT, AAC, PBT, NCCP
Dancing for almost all of her life, Makenna has trained in many, many styles of dance including ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, open, musical theatre, hip hop, and more! Makenna danced competitively for years, travelling across the country, receiving multiple group and individual awards/scholarships. During her competitive dance years with her childhood dance studio, she also studied at The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.
Makenna began teaching her own dance classes independently at the age of 14, and soon after her career as a competitive dancer ended, she knew that teaching was her passion and threw herself into the world of teaching by completing multiple teaching certifications. Makenna is Acrobatic Arts Certified and a graduate from the three year, ADAPT Teacher's Training Program. She also has certifications with Alixa Flexibility, Progressing Ballet Technique, and the National Coaching Certification Program. Makenna also has a business degree, concentrating in Business of Sport and Recreation. Makenna absolutely loves teaching dance, has won many choreography awards, and is always so proud of her dancers.
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In 2019 Dexterity was awarded the Chestermere Rising Star Business award and in 2023 Makenna was awarded the very first Abstract Movement Studio Owner award.
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In recent years, Makenna has began to dip into the world of dance adjudication, judging the Calgary Stampede Talent Search and becoming a TDLI certified adjudicator.
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Chestermere is and has been Makenna's home since she was a young girl, attending Prairie Waters Elementary School, CLMS, and Chestermere High School. The community of Chestermere is extremely important to her, therefore important to Dexterity Dance Studio!
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You will hopefully see Makenna out and about in the community! But you can definitely find her working with our dancers in their ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, acro, and Barre None classes!
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MISS JADE
Instructor
ISTD
Jade is a versatile dancer with a diverse experience in various styles of dance including ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, and lyrical. She has completed ISTD ballet exams up to Advanced 2 as a student and has now completed her ISTD associate diploma as a teacher.
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She has trained competitively in dance for her whole life and has recently started to venture into the world of ballet and teaching. She looks forward to growing and learning more as a dancer and a teacher and bringing her love of dance into the dancers that she will begin to teach.
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Aside from dance, Jade is pursuing a degree in Manual Osteopathy where she will eventually be practicing as a manual osteopathic practitioner. She aspires to bring this intensive knowledge of the body and healing into the dance world, enhancing dancers' wellbeing and performance. Jade also owns a small clothing business with her sister where they make custom, comfy apparel.
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Miss Jade is very excited to start the season!​​​
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MISS KYLA
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​Kyla grew up dancing all over the province of Alberta! ​She has experience with both recreational and competitive levels of ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, open, and musical theatre. Contemporary is one of Kyla's favourites. She has over 10 years of experience on stage and on TV & film. Kyla was signed to Talent Inc. and got the opportunity to attend their National Conference in 2015. Along with dance and film, Kyla is also vocally trained, singing with many groups and bands. Kyla's teaching experience includes many years as a student teacher, before receiving her own classes.
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Kyla is a graduate from Mount Royal University with a degree in Education and has also completed her International Dance Teaching Standards (IDTS) certification. She is also certified in Children's Mental Health through MRU.
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The dance studio has always been Kyla's second home and she can't wait to help her dancers find the same love and passion for dance as she has found! ​​
Instructor
BEd, IDTS
MISS MACKENZIE
Instructor
BBA, ADAPT, AAC, ISTD, ADTA
Mackenzie is a passionate, experienced, and diverse dance teacher from Calgary, Alberta. She is certified in ADAPT (Tap & Jazz) and Acrobatic Arts (Modules 1 & 2), Alixa Flexibility (M1), and has her Associate in Ballet with the ISTD. She is also a former faculty member of the Acro Dance Teachers Association (ADTA) where she gained a great deal of knowledge in Acro Dance.
She spent two years training with illFX Education for hip hop and previously danced with Esira, a Calgary-based contemporary performance group. In 2023, she began her dance adjudicating journey. Mackenzie has over 25 years of dance experience and has loved every moment of it.
Mackenzie is also part of the acting community and has a Theatre Performance Diploma from Mount Royal University (MRU). She has been involved with multiple theatre and musical theatre productions over the years and has enjoyed working with so many wonderful individuals in this field. Most recently, Mackenzie spent a session teaching Musical Theatre For Young People at Storybook Theatre.
On top of her Theatre Performance Diploma, Mackenzie has a Bachelor of Business Administration in General Management from MRU and has experience in management and marketing. With her background in business, she currently co-owns and operates an Alberta-based dance competition.
Mackenzie is passionate about instilling strong foundational technique in her dancers as well as cultivating solid relationships with her colleagues and students. She is passionate about building up each dancer and finding every thing that makes them special, both as a dancer and as a person.​​​​
MISS REMY
Instructor
AAC
Remy was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and began dancing there at the age of 2. She fell in love with it, and has been pursuing dance ever since. Remy was extensively trained in all areas, including jazz, lyrical, contemporary, acro, tap, ballet, hiphop, musical theatre, and pointe. Remy grew up alongside her mom, who was the acro teacher at the studio she attended. At a young age, she assisted her mom in classes, and started to realize she had a deep passion for dance, specifically acrobatics.
Remy was the Vice President and head choreographer of the MRU Cubs Competition Team for 3 years. She has also assisted in the cleaning of dances for Team Canada Acro, and ran private lessons throughout the summer. Remy has finished Advanced 2 RAD ballet, trained intensely alongside Acrobatic Arts, and completed multiple ADAPT jazz exams.
More recently, Remy joined Bare Dance YYC, an adult contemporary company in Calgary, AB. She danced in their debut show, and is continuing her journey with Bare Dance as not only a dancer, but a choreographer and videographer.
Additionally, Remy just graduated from Mount Royal University with a Bachelor of Communications in Broadcast Media Studies with a minor in Marketing.
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Remy has her Module One Acrobatic Arts Certification, and cannot wait to start her Module Two to keep learning about Acrobatics!
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Remy is so passionate about dance, and cannot wait to continue teaching and sharing her passion. She is so excited to connect and inspire young minds. Nothing makes her happier than dancing!
Remy is excited to be part of the Dex teaching staff and can’t wait for this season!​​​
MISS KATIE
Instructor
Katie began dancing when she was just two and a half years old. She has training in Jazz, Ballet,
Tap, Contemporary, Open, Pointe, Lyrical, and Hip-hop. Katie also has experience in swing flag. Most
recently, Katie has developed a passion for Pom and Cheer dance that she hopes to share with her
students.
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Katie is a member of the world-renowned 7x world champion Calgary Stampede Marching
band, where she is cast as one of six dancers. She performs daily at the Calgary Stampede as well as in
the Calgary Stampede Parade. Katie has performed in works at the BMO Grand Staircase by Josh Malate. As well as in Field shows by John Meehan. Katie has also had the opportunity to perform in the Rotary as well as the Opening of the Stampede Bowl and Surge Halftime Show. Katie is
well-versed in the world of marching band, and her experience allows her to educate her dancers in the
world of dance outside of the studio!
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Along with her showband experience, Katie has travelled on tour to Orlando where she danced in the Magic Kingdom parade, Universal Studios parade, standstill performance at Disney’s Hollywood Kingdom, and a performance with Florida’s Timber Creek High School.
This year, Katie travelled to Indianapolis to compete in the prestigious Drum Corps International competition as well as performances such as Soundsport, which showcases a standstill performance.
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When Katie is not dancing, she is studying at Mount Royal University. She loves spending time with family, relaxing at home, and reading. Katie aims to inspire her students in a variety of ways while demonstrating sound dance education.
MISS PAITYN
Instructor
IDTS, AAC
Paityn, raised in Chestermere, has had the opportunity to train her passion locally in multiple genres including acro, ballet, contemporary, hiphop, jazz, lyrical, and tap. While completing her years of dance, she has had the opportunity to train weekly under the RAD, ADAPT, and AAC syllabi.
Paityn student taught directly under Miss Makenna and has now taken on her own classes. She has gratefully been a part of the Dex community since it opened. She has cherished her most memorable experiences growing up at the studio, made lifelong relationships within the dance world, and achieved multiple team awards and scholarships.
Paityn is International Dance Teaching Standards (IDTS) certified and is currently working towards receiving her Acrobatics Arts M1 certification. She is also studying at Mount Royal University to complete her Criminal Justice degree.
She is excited to share her passion and love for dance with her own students so that they can find their own drive for dance as they grow up and develop as dancers in the studio. She is especially excited for next season and helping her students grow as individuals!!
MISS PAIGE
Instructor
AAC, NCCP
Paige started dancing at the age of 5, studying ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, acro, and highland.
Paige has travelled to Hawaii, Ireland, Scotland, England, Florida, California, and New York City to perform and take classes.
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Paige fell in love with Acrobatics at a young age, and has completed exams up to level 8 in the Acrobatics Art Program.
Paige is a certified in Acrobatics Arts Module 1, Pre School AcroDance, Alixia Strength and Flexibility Module 1, and NNCP Level 1 Artistic Gymnastics.
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Paige also has a strong ballet background. She trained RAD growing up and has completed her RAD exams up until Intermediate Foundation.
Paige is currently working as a Recreational Therapist Assistant and studying online through the University of Montana Speech Language Pathologist Assistant and Bachelor’s in Communication Science Disorder Degree.
Paige is very excited to become a part of Dex faculty this season!
MISS MELANIE
Instructor
The Movement
Mel is the creator and founder of The Movement. The Movement was created out of a burning desire to make a shift in how we view movement. A shift from movement being only of the body to that of our entire being - body, mind + soul. The mission is to offer a brave space for one to move the entire being for vitality, for life, and most importantly for themselves.
Mel was welcomed into the Dexterity Family many seasons ago, and it was a true honour to have her move with the competitive dancers through The Movement’s dance fitness class, Release. A brave space was cultivated to allow the team to condition their cardio, while doing what they love, dancing….with some burpees and mountain climbers thrown in ;).
Mel works exclusively with the competitive dancers in their Barre None class, building/maintaining their cardio, strength, and stamina throughout the season.
Mel is looking forward to the upcoming season with the Dex Team, and is thankful to our Dex parents for trusting her to be apart of it with your amazing kids.
MISS SAMARA
Front Desk/Admin
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MISS EMILY
Emily began dancing when she was just three years old. She has training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and acrobatics. She has been dancing and competing in the Calgary community for 15+ years, and is ready for another season on the Dexterity Dance Studio faculty. Emily has performed in shows within the Calgary community such as Dance@noon, Calgary Stampede Parade, Ballet Bodies In Motion IV, and the Nutcracker.
Emily is also a Dance Instructor for the Calgary Stampede Showband, where she has created original choreography to be performed at the Calgary Stampede as well as prestigious international competitions, ultimately receiving its seventh world championship title. Emily is currently Acrobatic Arts certified as well as receiving her Pre-Junior to Pre-Intermediate Adapt (Tap & Jazz) certification.
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When Emily is not teaching, she is studying at the University of Calgary to complete her Bachelors of Arts degree in Dance. She has completed her Safe Dance Practice course that facilitates the safety of the dancer and studio. To advance her choreography, instructing, experience, and knowledge, she enjoys going to classes, auditions, workshops, and observing other teachers classes!
She is dedicated to sharing sound dance instruction and developing her own teaching skills. She aims to provide her students with a solid technical basis as well as the virtues of accountability, self-assurance, perseverance, and teamwork.
Instructor
AAC, ADAPT
MISS SAHIRA
Instructor
IDTS, NCCP
Sahira has been dancing since the age of three, quickly fell in love with it, and began competing at the age of six, dancing for studios all over Alberta. She has been with DEX since season one, and has enjoyed every moment. Sahira is trained in many genres including, ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, tap, contemporary, acrobatics, hiphop, open, and more!
Growing up she completed multiple exams within the Cechetti syllabus, later on moving into RAD syllabus completing up to her Intermediate exam. She received training within her weekly classes consisting of RAD, AAC and ADAPT based syllabus. She is very dedicated to her practice, excelling at competitions and receiving many awards and scholarships. Sahira danced with the Lightning elite performance team in Disney World Florida, performing in front of many Disney guests for their winter spectacular 2023! She has also taken workshops at many studios to diversify her training. This includes spending a week in Vancouver in 2024, using her time to take a wide range of classes at Harbour Dance Centre on scholarship.
Sahira is Certified through the International Dance Teaching Standards (IDTS) and has a certification in Multi Sport Coaching with the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP).
When Sahira is not dancing, she spends her time studying to complete a degree in Physical Literacy through Mount Royal University. Within this education she is able to apply her knowledge directly to her students, understanding how to provide dancers with the confidence and competence to move creatively through dance. She wants to encourage her dancers to continue physical activity for life!
Sahira is very passionate about dance and physical activity, and wishes to share that passion with her students. She is very eager to see her students develop their own skills throughout the year!
Office Manager
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