Our Dance Teachers

---

Studio Director/ Co-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. 

Director of Jazz and tap/ Co-owner

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. 

Director of 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

Nicole is originally from Burlington, Ontario, and has been performing for over 30 years. Her training includes many styles; jazz, tap, ballet,

hiphop and Iyrical. She competed across North America, being honored with many overall

awards and scholarships along the way.

As a teacher, she is now sought after for her unique and innovative approach to dance, which she  instills in the classes she instructs. She has been recognized for her excellence in choreography

 and many of her students have been the recipients of awards and scholarships and gone off to pursue dance at a University level.

Nicole has been adjudicating across Canada for over 10 years, providing dancers with positive and

constructive feedback. She prides herself on strong communication and a wealth of knowledge in all

styles, giving dancers a well rounded critique to help them succeed in the studio and in life!

Nicole is an alumni member of What's On? Tap! and has also had the privilege of being a member of Bringing Tap Back and GeoMetriX Dance. 

Most recently, Nicole has been working with The DanceBug Show in which she has a weekly feature

titled, "Dance Q&A with Nicole Dymianiw".

You can find her past segments by visiting

TheDanceBugChannel.com

In addition, Nicole is a member of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association Stage Division (Tap), as

well as a member of the Professional Adjudicators Alliance.  Through her passion and love for dance, Nicole continues to motivate and inspire her students to become the best that they can be. It is her goal to instill positive and healthy attitudes in young, aspire dancers for many years to come.

Ballet

Joanna Lige is a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher, a Certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor, a member of the Council of Ontario Dance and Drama Educators, and a member of the International Association of Dance Science and  

M​edicine.
She is formally trained in ballet, completing her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced II examination. Additionally, she has trained with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and Peggy Baker Dance Projects. She completed a Post-Secondary Diploma in Contemporary Dance from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and has performed work by Sharon Moore, Michael Trent, Danny Grossman, Julia Sasso, Peter Chin, and Sarah Chase. She recently concluded a residency at The Banff Centre with the SITI Theatre Company from New York City. She currently is the rehearsal director for Ballet Kelowna. 

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!

Ballet

Natasha Sarafanova was born in Kiev Ukraine and started learning Classical Ballet at the Kiev Ballet Academy from the age of 10. When she graduated at the age of 18, Natasha started working as a professional dancer and had a very successful career for over 20 years.

Natasha is also the proud mother of world renowned principal dancer Leonid Sarafanov formerly of the Mariinsky Theatre  (Saint  Petersburg, Russia) now with Mikhailovsky Theatre (Saint Petersburg, Russia). Leonid followed his mother and father’s footsteps as well as his grandparents and is now considered to be one of the top classical ballet dancers in the world. Both Leonid and his wife Olesya Novikova are special guests of many major ballet companies all over the world like Tokyo Opera House ( Japan), Teatro Alla Scala ( Italy), Vienna State Opera House (Austria).

Jazz, Tap, Hiphop, Acro Jazz 

Bio coming soon!

Tots & Acro Jazz

Bio coming soon!

Jazz, Ballet, Acro Jazz, Contemporary

Rhyse began dancing at the age of 5 at LCSD, and started the competitive program when she was 13. She trained competitively in the styles of jazz, ballet, contemporary, tap, lyrical, and hiphop competing all over British Columbia. Rhyse has also completed 2 years of elite training with LCSD which included multiple extra conventions, workshops, technique classes, and competitions to further her dance training. In addition to dancing locally, Rhyse has also travelled to LA twice to attend conventions and perform in Disneyland. When away from the studio, Rhyse attends Okanagan College where she is working towards her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, which is her first step on her journey to medical school. Rhyse has loved her experience at LCSD as a dancer and now as a teacher, and hopes to share her love of dance with her students!