Ms. Taylor began her dance training at The Canadian School of Ballet in Kelowna before she moved away from home at the age of 13 to attend the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Professional Division for five years. She then moved to Vancouver where she completed the Arts Umbrella Graduate Program with a Dance Diploma. Ms. Taylor was then hired as an apprentice with the professional ballet company Ballet BC before becoming a full company member and directors assistant for Vancouver based dance company Project20. Ms. Taylor and her husband Connor (Mr. Connor also teaches at CSB, they met while dancing for Ballet BC) moved to Kelowna in 2015 and has taught at CSB ever since. She has won many awards for her choreography including people’s choice awards, top choreography in individual age groups and top choreography overall. Many of these awards were given to dances she choreographed for our Company and Junior B groups. Ms. Taylor is a certified Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) Teacher as well as a certified Barre Instructor. Ms. Taylor teaches Kinder to Grade 1 Ballet and Grade IV to Advanced Contemporary.

Mackenzie began dancing at the age of 3, training in RAD Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Contemporary. Since joining The Canadian School of Ballet in 2015, she has completed her Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 examination with Distinction and had numerous roles in The Nutcracker including the Rat King and Clara. Furthermore, Mackenzie was invited to dance alongside professional dancers in Ballet Kelowna’s Canadiana Suite and even had the opportunity to be a part of Disneyland’s Dance the Magic Parade. She was fortunate enough to compete in many local and out-of-province competitions while in CSB’s Company B, placing very well. In 2018, Mackenzie travelled to San Diego, California, participating in DancerPalooza’s very own Travis Wall Experience where she took classes from Travis Wall, Mark Meismer, Teddy Forance, and various others. During that same year, she became a faculty member of CSB, where she found her love for teaching Ballet, Tap and Jazz specifically. Mackenzie is a Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) certified teacher, Acrobatic Arts Certified Teacher and a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher.

Ms. Kait is a Pennsylvania native and has called Kelowna home for the last 5 years.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance from Oklahoma City University with a focus in ballet, rhythm tap, jazz, and musical theatre.  While at university, she participated in several of the dance companies across campus including Rhythms Hip Hop and Stomp team and the renowned American Spirit Dance Company.  Through participation in these companies, Kait had the opportunity to perform on campus and off at various events throughout Oklahoma City as well as the city’s televised Centennial Celebration in honour of 100 years of statehood.  After her time in Oklahoma, she moved to New York City to audition and train as a dance professional.  Following a few years chasing dreams and a move to Buffalo, NY, Kait discovered her passion for teaching.  She took a job instructing adults in all genres of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, barre, burlesque, and body percussion.

Since landing in the Okanagan in 2016, Kait has been part of the Tap Faculty at The Canadian School of Ballet.  She is excited for the opportunity to dust off her jazz shoes and teach at the Summer Intensive!

In addition to teaching dance, she enjoys travelling, hiking, swimming in the lake, riding her motorcycle, skiing, and spending time with her husband and beloved pup

Chris is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada. Dancing with Ballett-Art François Klaus in Switzerland, the Hong Kong Ballet and the prestigious Birmingham Royal Ballet where he danced for 10 years and retired in the position of Soloist. He danced in a large range of roles from corps de ballet through to principle parts in many of the great classics as well numerous new works, and also had the opportunity to have roles created on him. Throughout his career he had the opportunity to be on many international tours and dance in international Galas. Since retiring from professional dance, Chris received The Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance and returned home to British Columbia.

Chris has adjudicated for Danceworks Festival in Victoria, and the Kootenay Festival of the Arts in Trail, B.C. Often called upon by the RAD to guest-coach workshops and seminars, Chris has also guest taught for intensives in Vancouver, Toronto, LA, and Prince George and most recently was invited to guest teach at the Victoria Academy of Ballet.

Chris started teaching at The Canadian School of Ballet in 2014 and is part of the artistic staff for CSB’s Nutcracker and along with Emma Donley, created CSB’s Pre-Professional Program and Dance Training Okanagan.

Ms. Jen was born in Kelowna and grew up doing gymnastics as well as dancing at CSB under Lori Larsen and Mel Brown. While she worked towards becoming a Registered Massage Therapist, Ms. Jen trained at Harbour Dance in Vancouver for 4 years taking Hip Hop. She began teaching at CSB in 2013 and holds an ADAPT certification in Acro, Tap, & Jazz. Ms. Jen has also performed in The Nutcracker for several years as Clara’s mother.