The Premiere Team

A dancer her entire life, Lisa began teaching at Premiere Dance Academy in September of 1984. In September of 1999, she became the Owner and Artistic Director of the studio.

Lisa keeps very busy with teaching, choreographing, and her two daughters, who are both Competitive dancers. She also spends time adjudicating for various professional dance competitions all across Canada.

Lisa has had a very successful career in the performing arts. She choreographed the opening ceremonies of the World Police and Fire Games in 1997 and the Calgary Hitmen Anniversary Home Opener Opening Ceremonies in 2014. Additionally, she holds the position of co-director for the Hats Off Management Group.

She has been on set for various large-scale productions and has been acknowledged with many prestigious awards for her exceptional talents.

Lisa wrote the Calgary Board of Education Accredited Student Dance Teacher Training Program to create well-trained assistant and student dance teachers. She is thrilled to do what she does best; work with the dancers, create new pieces, and watch Premiere Dance Academy students grow into talented and inspired performers.

Todd Svecla found an early love for drama in high school and enjoyed working backstage for various productions. He was happy to step into the role of managing behind-the-scenes activities for Premiere Dance Academy after his marriage to Lisa.

Todd is a natural fit for the role as he has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Calgary and extensive experience running a business. He is available to answer any financial questions you may have regarding your account and handles general business details of the studio.

Jenna began dancing in Calgary at the age of two and quickly developed a deep passion for the art. She trained extensively in jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre, and spent many years performing and competing at various competitions, conventions, and showcases. Throughout her training, Jenna earned multiple awards recognizing her strong technique, performance quality, and dedication.

Having spent her childhood and teen years immersed in the dance world, Jenna understands the importance of fostering a positive, supportive environment where young dancers can thrive. Now entering her third season as a valued member of the front desk team at Premiere Dance Academy, Jenna is proud to bring her energy, experience, and love of dance to the studio community—supporting both students and families with warmth and enthusiasm.

Bri Zubick began her performance career at a small competitive studio in British Columbia. Her love of dance took her to Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and most recently London, UK. Bri has worked with Mackenzie Martin (Geometry Dance Company), Samm Price, and Cheese Collins performing in pieces at various events in Los Angeles. While in Toronto Bri performed in pieces and shows choreographed by Ashley Schoffield (Opus Dance Collective), Hayley Paone (Prerogative Dance Collective), Kahvontay Slaughter (Unapologetic Dance Collective), as well as Kathryn Miles. Some highlight performance for Bri have been performing at the Rotary International Opening Ceremonies, being a part of the inaugural cast of Candy Cane Kids the Holiday Musical and performing in the short film Her/Self. Bri has trained at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, IDA Hollywood, and House of Jazz. These spaces inspired Bri to always continue dancing and discovering new parts of the dance industry.

Choreographically Bris work has won awards at various events across Alberta and British Columbia. Bri has won choreography awards for her Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary and Acro routines. Her work as a choreographer wins high placements and stand out overalls. Her work has been showcased at various shows including “The Letters We Do Not Want to Send”, hosted through the TD Arts Incubator, “WISE International Women’s Day”, University of Toronto and “NextGen Film Festival”, Dance YYC. As an Educator Bri is incredibly passionate about providing encouraging spaces to grow and develop as an Artist and Human. Bri believes that dance should be a space to make mistakes and discover what truly moves us. Bri continues to further her dance education through various educational spaces. Bri continues to educate performers through adjudicating at various events across Canada.

Emerson is a passionate and versatile dancer with over 15 years of training in ballet, acro, tap, jazz, contemporary, and lyrical. She has trained at Balance Dance Centre under the mentorship of Miss Proust and Miss Katie, where she has refined both her technique and artistic expression.

Throughout her competitive career, Emerson has earned numerous awards and scholarships at competitions, showcasing her dedication and commitment to excellence. Emerson has also participated in the Disneyland parade three times and at the holiday showcase in Disneyworld. A defining moment in her dance journey was being selected to represent Team Canada at the Dance World Cup in Spain this summer and placed 13th in Lyrical and 7th in Contemporary.

Emerson currently works as a receptionist at Premiere Dance Academy, where she remains actively involved in the dance community. She is committed to inspiring the next generation of dancers and hopes to contribute to a supportive, inclusive environment where young artists can grow with confidence and creativity.

Advaitha has been dancing for almost 17 years starting when she was just 3 years old. She completely fell in love with it and started competing when she was just 4 years old. After she graduated, she decided she still wanted dance to be a part of her life so she started teaching it! She absolutely loves teaching dance and choreographing with her entire heart so she started to branch out more to create dance related projects. Back in the fall of 2024, she created her first ever dance film concept piece that was selected to be screened for the Calgary hip hop and street dance festival! She is currently attending the University of Calgary for a double major in sociology and music and will attend an after-degree program to get an education degree to become a high school teacher.

Ariana has dedicated 14 years to mastering a variety of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and acro. Her extensive training has taken her around the world, with notable experiences in Paris and a prestigious invitation to London for advanced dance training.

For the past two years, Ariana has channeled her passion for dance into teaching, specializing in acro and ballet. Her enthusiasm for acro, in particular, shines through in both her teaching and choreography, making it her favorite genre to both perform and instruct.

As Ariana eagerly anticipates the upcoming season, she looks forward to embracing new challenges and opportunities, continuing to inspire and share her love of dance with her students.

Born and raised in Airdrie, AB, Beth started dancing at the age of 4, and hasn’t stopped since. She immersed herself and trained in almost every style of dance. She holds many skills in styles such as contemporary, jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical, hiphop, and acro, and many more. Beth had a very successful competitive career, and was awarded Summit Dance Challenge’s Overall Senior Soloist twice in her graduation season, and was awarded many scholarships and awards for her self choreography solos. After her graduation in 2022, Beth was lucky enough to audition and be accepted into Harbour Dance Centres Intensive Training Program in Vancouver, BC.

Under the direction of Moe Brody, she was able to learn from Canada’s top choreographers, be casted in music videos and short films, and perform as a professional dancer. Beth then was accepted into Quill Collective, a choreographic-process based program run by Carlo Atienza. Here she learned what makes a choreographer great, and performed throughout the Vancouver area. She continued to set award winning competitive choreography on students while dancing in Vancouver, which helped her discover her truest passion, teaching and choreographing. This year Beth is ecstatic to be back in her hometown, in the midst of getting her ADAPT certification, and very eager to take all she has learned in Vancouver and throughout all the years of her dance career, and share it with the community!

She is extremely passionate about growing the next generation of young dancers, and can’t wait for this upcoming season!

Jenna Leach began dancing at the age of two and trained for 18 years at the Durham School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Throughout her extensive dance journey, she has studied a wide range of styles including Jazz, Contemporary, Acro, Hip-Hop, Ballet, and Lyrical.

As a young dancer, Jenna participated in the Cirque du Soleil youth program and later traveled to New York to receive advanced training at prestigious institutions such as Alvin Ailey and the Martha Graham School. Classically trained, she has successfully completed her R.A.D. (Royal Academy of Dance) exams up to Advanced 2, earning distinction. Jenna holds an Arts Diploma and was proudly recognized as the face of KARV from 2017 to 2019. Her teaching experience spans across the Greater Toronto Area and Calgary, where she has also volunteered her time in local schools to provide accessible dance programs. Additionally, she has performed in various charity fundraisers, including events supporting the Mohammed Home for Girls. Driven by passion, Jenna’s ultimate goal is to inspire others to discover and nurture their love for dance—just as she has throughout her life.

Kadence Dhaene is a professionally trained dancer and experienced instructor specializing in ballet, jazz, contemporary, baton twirling and acrobatics. From the ages of 6-15 she was involved in the sport of Baton Twirling where she won many regional and national titles. She has completed training in the professional division at Alberta Ballet alongside YYC Dance project where she had the opportunity to work with many different choreographers including Josh Beamish, Lucy Vallely, Michelle Dawley, Sarah Brinson, and more.  While training she went on to attend many competitions and conventions including Nuvo, Jump, WBAC Grand Prix, YAGP and The Dance Awards. Her professional performance background includes solo repertoire such as Giselle, Flames of Paris, and Paquita, as well as performances with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

After completing her training at Alberta Ballet she went on to train at the School of Cadence Ballet in Toronto. While training here she completed summer training at American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet School. During Kadence’s graduating year she found herself back in the sport of Baton twirling, as she began coaching baton and dance with a local club. During this time she qualified to represent Team Canada at the 2022 World Baton Twirling Championships in Turin, Italy. After graduating in 2022, Kadence continued training and teaching at The School of Cadence Ballet and most recently graduated from the post graduate program at Pittsburgh Ballet School. Kadence’s blend of professional experience, dynamic teaching style, and deep love for dance makes her a valuable mentor and role model for aspiring dancers of all levels.

From Calgary Alberta, Kailey Started her dance journey at age 7, training in Ballet, Jazz, Acro, Contemporary, Lyrical, and hip hop. With many workshops and experiences including summer intensives at Alberta ballet, and an ambassadorship at the post dance experience, Kailey continues working towards all of her certifications as a ADTA kinder Acro instructor.  She strives to grow as a dance instructor and is excited to continue working at Premiere Dance Academy. Her kindness shines through her teaching and working with the youth of today. Kailey has a passion for the community that dance builds and is excited to share that with her students.

Ms Linda began Irish dancing at a young age and compet­ed throughout Western Canada as well as internationally. She completed her teacher’s exam in 1991 and subsequently received accreditation as an adjudicator, licensed by the Irish Dancing Commission in Ireland. As an instructor, Linda has developed countless championship students and teams who have competed and performed at the highest levels. One of those championship students, Miss Anna, is the assistant teacher in this class, and both instructors are looking forward to another year of lively classes with amazing students!  Linda is delighted to be teaching Irish dancing at Premiere Dance Academy and looks forward to lively classes with amazing new students!

Megan Daniels hails from Saskatoon where she started her dance journey at age 4 with Yvonne Jaspar at Jaspar Academy of Dance. She arrived in Calgary 11 years ago to continue her career as a professional contemporary and ballet dancer. After dancing with several companies throughout Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, she decided to venture into teaching and fell in love with it right away. As a teen she trained professionally at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and went on to dance with the company in the years following. It was during those years that she realized that movement and dance are her life and she now feels so lucky that she is able to make her living teaching these things. Megan is a professionally trained dance artist and is fully certified in teaching ballet, yoga, Pilates, Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT), and Barre group fitness classes. She also holds a Bachelor Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Economics. She is delighted to be a part of the Faculty again and can’t wait to continue to share the love of ballet with the talented dancers of PDA!

Growing up in Calgary, Miss Mya‘s love for dance began at the age of 6, and has continued to grow ever since. She has trained in Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Hip-Hop, and Ballet, developing both technical strength and artistic expression.

One of her standout experiences includes performing in the Disneyland parade, a highlight that reflects her dedication and passion for the art of dance.

Miss Mya is excited to share her knowledge and love for dance with students. Her classes are known for being encouraging, supportive, and full of energy, helping dancers build confidence and develop a lifelong appreciation for dance!

Miss Nora began dancing at Premiere Dance Academy at the age of 11. She has trained in numerous styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and pointe, dedicating years to develop her technique, performance skills, and love for the art. She also joined Premiere’s competitive team to expand her training and love of dance. She is now excited to take the next step by sharing her passion with young dancers.Though this is her first year teaching Nora brings with her not only a strong foundation in dance but also a deep understanding of what it feels like to be a young student finding confidence through movement.

She is thrilled to begin this new chapter and hopes to inspire her students the way her teachers inspired her.

Rae-Lee is a dance instructor who is devoted to aspiring young dance artists. Her goal is to create healthy and enthusiastic dancers who love art and will positively influence the world of dance. Rae-Lee began her ballet and contemporary training in Alberta. She danced for six years in Corps Bara Dance Youth Company, travelling around Alberta, Toronto, and New York City. In 2012, she began her training in contemporary dance at Simon Fraser University, where she furthered her skills in modern dance and choreographic composition. Rae-Lee moved to Toronto in 2014 to learn from renowned faculty at Canada’s National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program. During her training at NBS, she obtained her teaching qualifications with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing and the Royal Academy of Dance. In 2017, Rae-Lee graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Contemporary dance from Simon Fraser and her Teacher Training Diploma.

Rae-Lee is excited to work and learn with the dancers and faculty at Premiere Dance this year!

Sonia is a dancer, a dance instructor and Bollywood fitness instructor. She has been dancing since she was 5 years old in France: ballet, modern, hip-hop and jazz. Since 2013, she has been performing Bollywood with a fantastic company in Calgary. She has performed on big stages such as the Jubilee Auditorium, the Grey Eagle, The Bella Concert Hall, the Jack Singer Hall and the Stampede Corral. She’s been sharing her joy of dancing with adults and children for more than 15 years (in France, Gabon, the Netherlands and Canada). There is not one day when she doesn’t dance! Whether while driving, cooking, teaching classes or with both her children, she dances daily! When she is not dancing, she’s coaching parents to help them eliminate the parenting overwhelm, burn-out, the guilt and anger, so they can parent stress-free with more joy & confidence.

Ms. Stephanie has been dancing since the age of 5 with extensive training in jazz, ballet, acro, tap, lyrical, musical theatre and modern.  She also made time and was fortunate enough to pursue her other passions of gymnastics and swimming throughout a generous portion of her childhood. During her dance education, she was the recipient of countless overall awards and special recognition opportunities, completed her Advanced II RAD ballet examination, and was the recipient of many scholarships enabling her to travel North America to train under highly sought-after choreographers and dance educators. Entering her third decade of teaching dance split between her birth province of Ontario and her home province of Alberta, she continues to teach most styles of dance and looks forward to her evenings and weekends where she gets to stop and disconnect from ‘real’ work and share her passion for dance with her students. Having watched many of her students graduate and move on from studio life, many have had and continue to have successful careers in the dance industry performing on Broadway, back-up dancing for top artists, finding their spot on TV or film, dancing for professional sports teams, on cruise ships, employed by professional companies or, like her, in the studio. Ms. Stephanie is incredibly excited to continue her dance journey with Premiere Dance Academy and is incredibly excited for the season to come.

Stephanie began her dance journey at Premiere Dance Academy at the age of 3. She has received extensive training in various genres, including ballet, jazz, street jazz, open, tap, acro, and lyrical. Stephanie joined the competitive team at 5 years old, earning numerous awards and scholarships. Her dedication to expanding her expertise is evident through her participation in various dance intensives and camps. With over 6 years of experience teaching and coaching children, Stephanie is passionate about fostering their growth and nurturing their enthusiasm for dance. She looks forward to contributing to the development of the next generation of successful, passionate, and compassionate dancers at Premiere Dance Academy!

Miss Tracy has been dancing at Premiere Dance Academy since the age of five, where her passion for dance has flourished over the years. She has been training in a variety of styles including ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, and street jazz, while also being a part of the competitive team since she was seven years old. Having grown up with Premiere Dance Academy, Tracy is excited to begin teaching and to share her knowledge, love for dance, passion, and dedication with her students.

Veronica is a born and raised Calgary dancer and choreographer. Veronica started dancing at the age of three and has been dancing ever since. She has an endless passion for dance and has trained in various styles. She has studied and trained in both the RAD and ADAPT syllabus. Veronica received her Acrobatic Arts Module One Certification in August 2018.

Veronica received a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Dance at the University of Calgary in 2021. In those 4 years of training she has performed in both student works as well as work by Tara Wilson, Amanda Bonnell, Kelly Brownlee, Melissa Monteros, Melanie Kloetzel and Marie France Forcier. Veronica then moved to Manchester, England to complete her MA in Dance Choreography and Professional Practices. She lived abroad for three years teaching dance in primary schools and working for Z-arts, a youth arts charity, delivering free dance classes to the local community. She trained and collaborated with various professional dance companies such as Coalesce Dance Theatre, Joss Arnot Dance and Kapow Dance Circus Theatre.

Veronica is excited to be back in Calgary connecting with her home community and combining her local training with her work abroad to pass on her passion and knowledge for dance to children. Veronica is looking forward to another year with the PDA team.