A dance teacher helps their students find the song in their heart and the beat in their feet and a passion for life.
Meet the faculty
Lacee Nakonechny
Lacee started dancing at the age of 3 at Kelly Waterman School of dance until the age of 14 where she studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical, and Pointe. She began dancing at Diamond Dance Academy in the same disciplines as well as started student teaching and assisting in classes. At the age of 15 Lacee began teaching her own classes in the styles of ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop and lyrical. Lacee has successfully completed her exams in Jazz in the ADAPT syllabus, and is currently working to finish her Tap and Ballet exams through ADAPT. Lacee has achieved the ADAPT assistant training certificated through the ADAPT teaching program in 2014. Over the years Lacee has won many awards dancing in the competitive program, her most memorable have been winning Triple Threat Dance Conventions Intermediate Ultimate Threat in Winnipeg in 2012 and 2013. Lacee has found a new passion for choreography, and many of her routines have gone on to win special awards at competitions and festivals. In Aug 2015 Lacee had the opportunity traveled to Los Angeles to take part in Triple Threats Next Step for a 2 week dance intensive, she was one of the 40 chosen dancers to attend. Lacee is looking forward to another amazing year of dance at Diamond and working with new and returning dancers. This past summer in Toronto Lacee completed her first year of ADAPT teachers training.
Sydney Vallance
Sydney began dancing with Kelly Waterman School of Dance at the age of three. She later went on to dance at both Aurora Dance Academy and Diamond Dance Academy. She joined the competition team at the age of 9, and has competed in the local Arts Festival as well as numerous competitions across Canada and the United States where she has won various awards and scholarships. Sydney began with ballet however quickly immersed herself in other disciplines including jazz, tap, hiphop, musical theatre, lyrical/contemporary, acro and pointe. Under the ADAPT syllabus Sydney has completed up to her Class 4 ballet exam, Intermediate 3 Jazz Exam and Pre-Intermediate 2 Tap Exam. Her passion for dance continued year round as she often took private lessons and attended summer dance schools including Wade Dance Camp, RWB Summer Intensive and receiving a scholarship and attending Breaking Bounds Summer Intensive in Toronto. Sydney has attended multiple workshops including Triple Threat and Idance and has worked with talented choreographers such as Melissa Mitro, Wayne Santo, Damien Lavergne, and Blake McGrath. Sydney has completed her ADAPT teachers training and continues to love using all her skills to improve dancers training in the classroom.
Kaidie Morris
Kaidie started dancing at the age of 5 at the Kelly Waterman School of Dance where she studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop and musical theatre. She has successfully completed exams with the Royal Academy of Dance Children and Vocational Syllabus, as well as ADAPT jazz and tap. Kaidie has participated in dance conventions and competitions throughout her dancing career. At the age of 11 Kelly Waterman began training Kaidie to assist classes and create choreography. She's been teaching ever since in a variety of styles. Kaidie looks forward to bring her passion of dance to Diamond Dance Academy this upcoming fall.
Abbi St. Pierre
Abbi began dancing at the age of 3 at Kelly Waterman School of Dance. She continued to train in Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz , Tap and Lyrical. At the age of 7 she continued her classes Diamond Dance Academy. Abbi began assisting teachers with their classes at the age of 12 at Diamond Dance Academy and then began teaching her own classes by the age of 15. Over the years Abbi has attended Triple Threat Dance Conventions and Dance competitions locally and out of town/province. Abbi has completed her ADAPT Exams up to Inter 1 for Jazz, Tap and Ballet. She has had the opportunity to dance under or learn choreography by Blake McGrath and Damien Lavergne. Abbi has danced competitively since she was 6 years old and had won many awards competitively and locally. Abbi loves to teach dance classes and introduce new students to the passion of dancing!
Alexandria McKeown
Alexandria started dancing at the age of three years old at Ida Sauve Dance School in Sudbury, Ontario. She competed in Ballet, Acro, Modern, Lyrical, Pointe, Interpretive Modern, Jazz, Tap, and Musical Theatre from the age of 7 to 19 in the categories of Solos, Trios and small and large groups. Alexandria taught recreational and competition dance at Sheryl Graham Studio in Sudbury, Ontario for 4 years in various styles of dance. Over the years she also stage managed Sudbury Dance Competitions. Alexandria studied at York University and received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance and added Middle Eastern, Asian, African and South American Dance styles to her studies. She professionally performed in Toronto, Ontario in Contemporary/Modern Dance and World Dance (Middle Easter, African). She had the opportunity to tour with an Iranian Dance Company “This Dance I Wish” which toured to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Alexandria continued to dance internationally where she began teaching in Malaysia where she taught Grade 12 dance class and school groups. She organized and ran talent shows and dance festivals in Malaysia. Alexandria did a field trip called Breaking Barriers with the students who taught workshops of different dance practices to kids in Sabah who don’t get exposed or have the opportunity to learn other dance styles. In return they taught the students their local dance and art practices. Alexandria is excited to start teaching at Diamond Dance Academy this fall.
Eva Parobec
Reese St. Pierre
Reese began dancing at the age of 6 in jazz at Kelly Waterman School of Dance. She continued her training in Ballet, Hip Hop, Contemporary and Lyrical at Diamond Dance Academy. Reese began student teaching at the age of 13 at Diamond Dance Academy and then began teaching her own classes by the age of 16. Over the years Reese has attended Triple Threat Dance Convention, competing in the Ultimate Threat Competition as well as other Dance conventions out of town and locally. Reese has completed her ADAPT Jazz Exams and has completed her Inter 2 Tap and Class 3 Ballet Exams with ADAPT. Reese has won numerous awards with Diamond Dance Academy competing at various competitions over the years. Reese had the opportunity to work with the following choreographers Blake McGrath, Wayne Santos, Damien Lavergne. Reese has found a new passion for choreography and looks forward to continuing to choreograph routines while she is away studying for her Bachelors in Psychology.
Lynn Nakonechny & Noelle St. Pierre
Lynn Nakonechny and Noelle St.Pierre are the Co Owners and Directors of Diamond Dance Academy and founded the studio in April 2013. Their passion for dance grew from watching their children emerge themselves into the world of dance, giving them the opportunity to open the studio and to work with their amazing faculty. Noelle recently attended her Junior level Acrobatique in 2015 in Toronto. You can find both Lynn and Noelle working extremely hard to ensure that the studio runs smoothly with all the day to day operations. Along with their staff at Diamond Dance they are looking forward to an amazing year at Diamond Dance.
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