Yoga

Tianne Allan

Tianne’s passion for health and well-being began in competitive sport. As a high performance athlete and master coach for over 20 years, she learned first-hand the rewards of training the body and mind. Following a series of traumatic injuries, Tianne turned to yoga and meditation. The experience of profound healing was so powerfully transformative, she now devotes her time to sharing all she has been blessed to learn and come to understand through her journey. She is grateful and honoured to have been teaching for almost three decades, and thrilled to meet and teach so many incredible people around the world.

Christie Baumgartner

Christie has been teaching yoga in Vancouver and abroad since 2008, when she completed her initial 200hr training, following her dance degree at Ryerson University. Her passion for movement has evolved over the years through continued education from the teachings of Schuyler Grant, Shiva Rae and Jill Miller, to name a few. On top of her passion to teach vinyasa, she also believes in yoga therapeutics and loves working with athletes. She has worked with the Vancouver Canucks, the Whitecaps, the UBC varsity teams, and has travelled to Europe and across BC with the BMC team and for BCBR. 

Bless Leone

Bless has been teaching yoga for over a decade and practicing longer. She fell in love with the way yoga made her feel: calm, connected and spacious in her body and mind. Her personal practice consists of conscious breathing, release work with massage balls, simple strengthening and relaxing postures steeped with meditation and mindfulness. Bless’s classes focus on creative sequencing, postural alignment, good tunes and the breath. She includes the use of props, modifications and demonstrations to create an accessible class where new students feel empowered and returning students feel challenged. Off the mat, Bless is inspired by her son and his wonder at the world! She loves dancing to live music and listening to records, spending time in the garden, adventuring in the woods and relaxing with a good book. Bless invites you to step into the present, to connect deeply, to explore and to play!

Clara Roberts-Oss

Clara has been a student of yoga for almost 23 years and a teacher for 20. Her roots are in vinyasa (Jivamukti, Prana Flow and Laughing Lotus). However, her curiosity for all things yoga has taken her to study many other lineages – iyengar, kundalini, restorative and Forrest yoga to name a few. She is also a lover of philosophy and have had the privilege to study with tantric scholars – Daniel Odier, Douglas Brooks and Paul Ortega. Clara’s classes are vinyasa based with a mixture of other styles to create a holistic practice that leaves you feeling grounded and strong. Her intention with each class is to nourish body, mind and spirit so that we can show up as better beings for the people and places in our lives.

Laura Soohen

Laura Soohen (she/her) has been guiding yoga classes for nearly 10 years. She took her first training in LA in 2014 and so loved the experience she has continued learning and growing in her practice and teaching since. Yoga is, for her, a practice of discovering new ways to move in the body and through mental and emotional discomforts, in the practice of asana and also in meditation and mantra. The asana practice, the shapes and movements allow for building strength, flexibility, mobility, and stability in all aspects of life. Laura currently teaches in and around the Greater Vancouver area and is very excited to join up with Ballet BC and offer asana practice to the public in this beautiful new space on the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) lands on Granville Island.

Ballet

Kiera Hill

Kiera completed her professional training at Arts Umbrella and started her professional career as an apprentice with Ballet BC in 2012. She then joined Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal where she toured extensively for four years, performing internationally across Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Kiera returned home to join Ballet BC in 2017 where she had the privilege of performing the works of William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Johan Inger, Aszure Barton, Emily Molnar and Medhi Walerski among others. Kiera now works as an independent artist and has recently performed in works by local creators Inverso Productions, Rachel Meyer and Dance//Novella. She is also pursuing a degree in Kinesiology and teaches at Arts Umbrella, Ballet BC and Coastal City Ballet.

Contemporary

Sarah Pippin | Beginner

Sarah Pippin (she/her) is from Raleigh, North Carolina. She completed her early dance training at CC & Company Dance Complex where she received a diverse dance education. In May 2020, Sarah graduated from The Juilliard School with a BFA in Dance. During her time there, Sarah performed repertoire works by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and José Limón, as well as new creations by Peter Chu, Gentian Doda, Stephen Petronio, and John Heginbotham. Additional performance opportunities include works by Sharon Eyal, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, and Jiri Pokorny, among many others. She is a National YoungArts winner as well as the recipient of the Irving B. and Joan W. Harris Endowed Scholarship and the 2020 Martha Hill Award from The Juilliard School. This is Sarah’s third season as company artist with Ballet BC.

Michael Garcia | Intermediate

Michael Garcia (he/they) was born in McAllen, Texas. His early passion and ambition for dance led him to Dallas, Texas where he trained at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He received his BFA from The Juilliard School, under the direction of Alicia Graf Mack. After graduating, Michael was deeply grateful to have performed with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for their 44th season. He has been recognized as National YoungArts Winner, Alumni of the School at Jacob’s Pillow, and performed at iconic dance spaces such as The Joyce Theater. Beyond performing, Michael has many pursuits in teaching, choreography and modeling. He has received an Outstanding Choreography award from YAGP, travelled across the United States teaching, and appeared in campaigns for Bogner, FortyFiveTen, & photographer Mark Mann. This is Michael’s second season as a company artist with Ballet BC.

Pilates Mat

Kaylin Sturtevant

Kaylin Sturtevant (she/her) is originally from Plano, Texas, and grew up training at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center and Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She achieved her BFA in Dance in 2020 from the USC Kaufman School of Dance in Los Angeles under the leadership of Jodie Gates. At USC, Kaylin had the opportunity to work closely with and perform works by artists such as William Forsythe, Barak Marshall, Aszure Barton, and Jodie Gates. She has also trained at summer intensives including Nederlands Dans Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, Arts Umbrella, and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. In 2016, Kaylin was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar of the Arts and National YoungArts Winner in Modern Dance, where she performed at the Kennedy Center in a multi-faceted arts show directed by Debbie Allen. Kaylin is entering her third season as a full company member at Ballet BC, and she previously worked professionally with The DASH Ensemble directed by Gregory Dolbashian. Additionally, Kaylin is a certified Pilates instructor through the BASI Comprehensive Program (Mat & Equipment), and teaches Pilates classes and private lessons during her time off. Kaylin is looking forward to teaching Pilates Mat as a faculty member of Ballet BC MOVE.

Tango

Nadia Tavakoli

One of Vancouver’s most trusted dance teachers, Nadia is well known for her warmth, passion, and ability to ground dancers in tango’s core principles. By nurturing students in the basics of technique, form, and musicality, Nadia sets dancers up for success on the dance floor. For the last decade, Nadia has offered her best to the local tango community through her work at Strictly Tango.

Creative Immersion

Heather Myers

Heather (she/her) is a parent, expressive arts facilitator and dance artist with 20+ years of experience performing, creating and teaching internationally. Her work engages embodied, intermodal arts approaches to empower creativity in individuals and connect communities. Heather danced with Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theater, and has worked with Simon Fraser University, All Bodies Dance Project, Inverso Productions, Rachel Meyer, Korzo Theater, The Vancouver Park Board Board, HCMA Architecture and Design and The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Heather is a graduate of the Tamalpa Institute’s Teacher Training Program and an ISMETA registered Somatic Movement Educator. She is grateful to live and work on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.