Our Dance Teachers

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Studio Director & Owner

Shani began dancing at the age of 3 in High River, Alberta, and she absolutely hated it. She was furious with her parents for signing her up for dance classes when she could be home watching Saturday morning cartoons!! Thankfully, despite the kicking and screaming, her parents made her stick with it, and after her first time on the stage, she knew dance would be in her life forever.

Shani began teaching dance in the Okanagan in 1993 and she opened Lake Country School of Dance in 2000 at the age of 19. She is an award-winning instructor and choreographer; adjudicator; member of The Canadian Dance Teacher’s Association; certified Pilates instructor and yoga enthusiast. 

Shani was awarded the ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ twice from the Lake Country Chamber of Commerce and the YM/YWCA’s ‘Young Woman of Distinction Award’ in 2004. In 2015, she was honored to receive the Okanagan Arts Awards for Excellence in Dance. Shani was also an ambassador and model for the clothing store, Lululemon. She is active in the community and enjoys sharing her love of dance at local schools.

When Shani is not at the dance studio, she can be found chasing after her three kids, walking her dogs or practicing yoga. 

Tap

Vicki View is a multi-faceted teacher and choreographer who originally hails from Saskatchewan. She grew up studying a multitude of genres of dance including Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Lyrical, Modern, and Musical Theatre.   Vicki has toured and worked with many international convention circuits. During this time, she was awarded an achievement scholarship to the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto where she studied dance, theatre, and acting. Vicki later moved to Vancouver where she danced professionally and trained with companies such as the Source Dance Company, Lamondance, Rukus Dance Productions, and the Goh Ballet.   In 2005, Vicki had the privilege of joining the Canadian Forces Show Tour as a co-choreographer and dancer for their Afghanistan tour. Vicki later embarked upon a career with Norwegian Cruise Lines on a world wide tour where she performed in the production casts onboard. Upon returning, Vicki choreographed and adjudicated for Brazil’s acclaimed International Dance Seminar.  Vicki has been teaching for 20 years and has been recognized for her versatility in many styles. Her choreography has garnered her provincial recognition and many choreography awards across North America. Since moving to Kelowna, Vicki has had the honour of receiving the Okanagan Arts Council Award for her achievements and accomplishments in dance.   In 2020, Vicki became co-owner of Lake Country School of Dance and continues to share her passion for dance with her students. 

Ballet 

Justine Fraser is a professional performer, choreographer and dance educator, originally from Penticton BC. She began her formative dance training at Okanagan Dance Studios and at 14, she relocated to Vancouver BC to begin her professional training at Pacific Dance Arts. Here, she trained with a professional focus on both classical ballet and contemporary dance styles.   Justine spent her summers training at a variety of ballet schools, on scholarships, including Boston Ballet School, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alonzo King Lines, and the Banff Centre for Performing Arts.  Upon graduation, Justine received a scholarship to begin her B.F.A. at the Alonzo King Lines Dance Centre, in San Francisco, CA where her training broadened to include Modern Dance Technique (HORTON), Commercial Jazz, Percussion, Gyrokinesis work, Choreographic Process, and Neo-classical Ballet.    Justine has gone on to perform with multiple contemporary and classical ballet companies throughout North America and became a soloist dancer with Ballet Jörgen Canada in 2012. Justine is an accredited ballet teacher with the American Academy of Ballet and in addition to teaching, she is also a reputable dance adjudicator and a member of the Professional Adjudicator’s Alliance.   Most recently, Justine had the pleasure of setting original choreography on the company dancers of Coastal City Ballet (BC), Lunarfest Taiwan, and Ballet Concierto Cancún (MX), to name a few. In 2021, Justine begin her first season with Ballet Kelowna, as artistic staff.  Justine is passionate about mentoring the next generation of dancers and is very excited to be introducing American Academy of Ballet’s Performance Award Examination Program to the wonderful students at Lake Country School of Dance.

Jazz & Lyrical

Harmony was practically born in the studio, starting dance at the age of 2 and a half. For the past 22 years she has thoroughly enjoyed her time in the studio and on stage and has had much success. 

Harmony has auditioned for and successfully been accepted into numerous dance programs over the years including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet school’s summer intensive program and 3-year post secondary Teacher Training Program, the National Ballet of Canada, as well as the Moscow Ballet Company’s productions of Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. 

Harmony has trained in many styles including jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, acro, hip hop, musical theatre and ballroom. She has taken classes with many well-known dancers and choreographers such as Shannon Mather, Blake McGrath, Travis Wall, Willdabeast, Jenn Parsley, Rustin Matthews, Ade Obayomi, David Cox, Talia Favia, Jaci Royal, Mark Kanemura and many, many more. 

Harmony is looking forward to sharing her love and passion for dance while inspiring and encouraging her students to be the best that they can be.

Hip-hop & Contemporary

Abi started dancing at the age of 3, and the last 10 years of her studio dance education was spent training competitively in ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and hip-hop. She began teaching and choreographing at age 15, and has had the opportunity to teach her choreography in both recreational and competitive classes, summer camps, and adult drop-in classes. Growing up, Abi competed in many local competitions, achieving several placements and choreography awards for her own choreography and others’, and she also competed twice in World of Dance. Abi looks forward to continuing her growth as an instructor, choreographer, and dancer at LCSD her alumni studio.

Jazz, Tap, Ballet & Tots 

Bio coming soon!

Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary & Tots

Kennedy began dancing at the age of 3 at LCSD and continued until she graduated in 2019. Throughout her dance experience, she trained and competed in the styles of jazz, ballet, tap, hip-hop, lyrical and contemporary. Kennedy attended many competitions and conventions all over British Columbia that furthered her dance training. She also had the opportunity twice to travel to LA to train and perform in Disneyland. Kennedy started teaching at LCSD at the age of 14 and has experience teaching both recreational and competitive students aged 3-17. In addition to teaching dance, Kennedy is attending UBCO working towards a Psychology degree and planning to attend law school. Kennedy loves being a part of the faculty and teaching the dancers of LCSD!

Jazz, Tap, Hiphop, Acro Jazz & Tots 

Bio coming soon!

Tots & Acro Jazz

Bio coming soon!

Assistant Dance & Tumbling Instructor 

Bio coming soon!