Leeming Danceworks Alumni
we strive to instill the love of dance in our students
Dance Industry Success Stories
Brianna Clarke
Bri is a performer, choreographer, and teacher, based in Toronto. Her creative practice centers around storytelling and how musical, physical and textual narratives shape characters onstage. Before moving to Toronto to gain a BFA in Performance Dance, her early training included 9 years of competitive dance at Leeming DanceWorks, where she worked closely with established choreographers such as Linda Garneau, Hani Abaza, David Norsworthy, and Kristen Carcone. She has performed in full works by Hanna Kiel, Hassan El-Amin, Alysa Pires, and Dylan Crossman of the Merce Cunningham Trust.
Bri has worked with NEAR&FAR Projects as a company artist, and she enjoys choreographing for multiple dance studios across Ontario. She has furthered her performance training in Greece, New York City, North Carolina, and Los Angeles. Also, Bri passed her ADAPT Jazz and RAD Advanced 2 Ballet examinations. Her passion project is producing a podcast called “(Art)versations” where she speaks with artists of all kinds about their creative endeavours.
photo credit: Alvin Collantes
Nicholas Dromard
Nicolas Dromard trained at both Greta Leeming Studio and Leeming DanceWorks. He is best known for his performances on Broadway as Bert in Mary Poppins and as Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, also on Broadway. He was Fiyero in the First National Tour and San Francisco productions of the musical Wicked. He also played Bert in Mary Poppins in the National Tour and Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys in the National Tour. He was most proud of this accomplishment as he got to perform in his home town of Ottawa for the first time as a professional dancer/singer/actor on the NAC stage after being in the business for 15 years. Nick’s other credits include West Side Story at the Stratford Festival of Canada, the North American Premiere cast of Mamma Mia, first in Toronto then pre-Broadway tour, Oklahoma! and The Boy From Oz on Broadway, and Hairspray in Toronto. You can also see Nico in the latest Walt Disney World Resorts Commercial where he commands the screen for 3 1/2 minutes!
Melissa Flerangile
From Contemporary to Street dance, Mélissa “Melly Mel” Flérangile has been devotedly mastering her craft over the years. Her passion and dedication as a dancer has led her to appear in several Hollywood motion pictures including “Sex In The City 2”, “Honey”, and the Academy Award winner and big screen success “Chicago”.
Melissa trained at LDW in ballet, jazz, tap, hiphop, and lyrical winning American Dance Awards “Dancer of the Year” title for a number of years.
From 2005-2008, Melly Mel had the chance to participate in the creation of and perform in “The Beatles LOVE” by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, a celebratory production honoring the legacy of the Beatles. This led her to perform on various events such as the 50th Annual Grammy Awards and the Jay Leno Show.
As a strong believer in giving back, Melly Mel took part in the Mosaic Gala for Guy Laliberté’s “One Drop Foundation”; a charitable organization that develops integrated and innovative projects in which water plays a role to fight poverty.
From 2010-2012, Melly Mel was a part of Cirque Eloize’s new creation “iD”. She’s been touring the world performing in prestigious theaters such as “Wang Theater” in Boston, Marina Bay Sands Theater in Singapore, Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris. Furthermore, with iD, she earned the opportunity to perform for one of the most renowned TV show in France, “Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde”; A delight for any performer!
Since 2012, Melly Mel has been a strong asset and a key member of the Canadian Dance Company “Bboyizm”, touring nationally with its recent creation “Music Creates Opportunity”, all while doing outreach work in various communities in Canada. In addition she recently started training and dancing for Tentacle Tribe a Swedish-Canadian based Dance Company.
While touring, Melly Mel started a movement, mellymelinspires.com, to work with youth in different communities around the world. She uses her passion for dance to motivate & empower the youth to assist them in becoming creators of their lives that transcend the ordinary.
As she aspires to inspire people from different walks of life, she shares her purpose to “Live. Laugh. Love” through dance!
Kevin Howe
Kevin Howe has been dancing since the young age of 5. After 14 years of training in various styles of dance including Jazz, Tap, Hip-hop, acro and contemporary at Leeming DanceWorks he decided to make the move to Toronto to begin his professional career.
Since then he has taken the dance world by storm from all angles, working with big names like Girlicious, Blake McGrath, Ke$ha, and Lady Gaga to name a few. On top of his stage performances, he has also ventured into film. His film and TV credits include Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure with Disney’s Ashley Tisdale, CW’s Hellcats, and Disney’s Frenemies. Kevin was one of the top 12 dancers on SYTYCD Canada in it’s last season.
Recognized for both his dance abilities and choreography skills, Howe has made a huge name for himself in the industry amongst other well established professionals. Having won the national title of “America’s Young Choreographer of the Year” in both 2007 and 2010, his creative and innovative style has brought Kevin a lot of positive attention and he has taught workshops and Master Classes to students and teachers across Canada. This fall, Kevin will move to London, England to expand his horizons in the dance world!
Brelene Laskoski
Brelene Laskoski was born in Calgary, AB but grew up in Ottawa, ON. She began dancing at the age of 14 at Canterbury Arts High School. Then, joined the competitive team at Leeming DanceWorks. After graduating high school, she moved to Toronto to pursue dance as an independent artist. She also attended The School of Toronto Dance Theatre where she had the chance to work with artists such as Ryan Lee, Jasmyn Fyffe, Danni Grossman, Jen Dallas, Darryl Tracy and more. Laskoski has trained in ballet, jazz, Graham, Horton, Limon, hip hop, contemporary, and improvisation. Laskoski has taught throughout the Ottawa and Toronto area and was an assistant for Fresh Ottawa 2018. She has performed in Rooted Contemporary Dance Showcase, Dancer’s Give Back, Young Creators Challenge, video projects, as well as an upcoming show in November 2018. Laskoski has choreographed solos, duets/trios, and groups for personal projects, school projects, competition, Choreographer’s Ball Toronto, Fever After Dark, and Young Creators Challenge. Most recently she choreographed a 15 minute piece entitled “Canary in a Coalmine” for the Toronto event “Escapade” produced by Signature Dance Inc.
Dedra McDermott
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Dedra McDermott is a Toronto-based performer and honours graduate from York University’s Choreography and Performance Program. She trained at Leeming DanceWorks in an array of styles including ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, improvisation and more. Dancing for over 15 years in various disciplines, she has developed her craft at The Ailey School, Broadway Dance Centre and ProArte Danza’s reputable Apprentice Program. Dedra has worked with esteemed educators and choreographers such as Stacey Tookey, Robert Glumbek, Linda Garneau, Roberto Campanella, Anisa Tejpar, Vlad Novitski and Jasmyn Fyffe. In recent years she has diversified her performance scope to explore theatre, film and television; which include credits such as Disney’s “Zombies”, “Murdoch Mysteries”, Royal Caribbean Productions, fu-GEN Theatre, Gadfly, Jasmyn Fyffe Dance, Bridge to Artists, and “American Gods”.
Adrian Maxwell
Born in Ottawa, Adrian Maxwell-Campagna began training in karate at the age of nine and in 2009 competed internationally in Dublin with the World Karate & Kickboxing Council. He also attended Canterbury High School where, after two years of studying tuba, he switched into the dance program, in which he won an award in modern dance, and started training at Leeming DanceWorks where he received the Camille Boulay memorial award for overall most improved dancer.
He recently graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre where he has performed in works by choreographers Kate Alton, Robert Desrosiers, Danny Grossman, Sasha Ivanochko, James Kudelka, Louis Laberge-Côté, Sharon Moore, Ofilio Sinbadhino, Julia Sasso, and Darryl Tracy. He has also attended the Joffrey Ballet School 2014 NYC summer intensive as well as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2015, and ProArteDanza 2015 summer intensive. In Toronto he has performed with emiMOTION, Kalos Collectives, Nostos Collectives and Toronto Heritage Dance, dancing in Peter Randazzo’s A Simple Melody. He recently moved to Vancouver to attend the Arts Umbrella interational dance intensive and to begin the Arts Umbrella training program.
Jeremy Morganty
Jeremy was born and raised in Ottawa. After graduating from Leeming DanceWorks in 2012, he chose to pursue a career in musical theatre. In his time at St Lawrence College, he was a featured performer in 42nd Street, Anything Goes, Les Miserables, Crazy For You, and Legally Blonde The Musical. After graduating from college in 2015, he moved to Golden, BC, where he began his teaching career. He traveled around Canada for the next 2 years teaching, choreographing, and working closely with Mr. and Mrs. Foley – heads of the ADAPT jazz and tap syllabus.
In 2017, Jeremy moved to Hong Kong to teach at Red Shoe Dance, becoming the first ADAPT-certified male teacher in Asia. In his time there, he created both a tap and musical theatre program and has expanded the jazz program that already existed. In 2020, he sent in the first student in all of Asia to complete her Advanced Jazz Exam – the highest level in the ADAPT syllabus. Jeremy’s past and present students have been accepted to elite performing arts schools such as New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and London Studio Centre, and in professional and West End shows including Matilda and Annie. Jeremy moved to London in July 2021, where he taught for 2 years at a variety of schools in and around the city, including the Royal Academy of Dance. He was instrumental in Adapt’s UK launch in 2023.
Jeremy has recently moved back to Canada. He hopes to continue growing as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, and share what he has learned on his journey with the community where his roots are.
Dominic Prud’homme
Dominic was born in Quebec, QB (CAN) and received his formal dance training, in Ottawa, ON (CAN), from Leeming DanceWorks. Here he trained in contemporary, tap, jazz, ballet and hip hop. He graduated from Canterbury Arts High School, where he trained in Ballet and Modern, with a minor focus on composition. Dom has taken intensive workshops such as Dancefuzion, Alvin Ailey, FRESH, Paula Morgan, and Movement Invention Project (MIP). In October 2013, Prud’homme performed in the Arts Under 20 Show: Fill up and Get out, a contemporary dance show with an interactive gallery directed and choreographed by Emma Portner and Jade Whitney, in Toronto, ON. In July 2014, Dominic organized an event called Sh(a)ring Pe(r)spec(t)ive(s) at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Ottawa, ON. The event was an art sale with a series of performances of different art forms, to raise and maintain awareness of the arts in the community, and to raise money for the MASC charity. Dominic studied at Point Park University, majoring in dance with a concentration in modern and jazz. There he had the opportunity to perform works by Nicholas Petrov, Keisha Lalama, Garfield Lemonius, Ruben Graciani, David Parsons, Lar Lubovitch, Jessica Hendricks and Madboots Dance. He was also part of the faculty of Fresh Dance Intensive, directed and founded by David Norsworthy. Dominic started Beyond Movement Dance Intensive, alongside Madeline Wright, the dance-based laboratory for growing and curious artists.
Meghan Pugh
Meghan Pugh trained at Leeming DanceWorks for 7 years in ballet, jazz and tap before joining Canada’s National Ballet School at the age of 11. Then she joined The National Ballet of Canada as a RBC Apprentice in 2012 and became a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2014.
Recently, she debuted as Fourth Fairy and Pussycat in The Sleeping Beauty and danced in the world premiere of Being and Nothingness by Guillaume Côté. Ms. Pugh’s repertoire also includes Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Nijinsky, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Manon, Allegro Brillante, Carousel (A Dance) and Symphony #9.
La Sylphide
“Meghan Pugh as Effie was the embodiment of innocence… Her poise and posture were perfect, and her characterization, full with eager anticipation that her dreams of domestic bliss were about to be fulfilled nearly broke my heart.”
— MusicalToronto.com
Keira Sweeney
Keira Sweeney began her dance training at the age of 4, studying ballet, jazz and Irish dance and training at Leeming DanceWorks for several years. She went on the complete a BFA at Marymount Manhattan College with a concentration in modern dance and a post graduate in Arts Administration. Keira has worked with Les Grandes Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Tokyo Disneyland, Norwegian Cruise Lines, the NBA Raptors 905 team, and Canada’s Wonderland. When she is not dancing Keira enjoys teaching Pilates and Barre at Equinox.
Chrystal Tam
In between studying dance at Ryerson University, Chrystal has earned an amazing opportunity as a backup dancer for Andy Lau’s World Tour Hong Kong 2018. Andy Lau is a very popular Hong Kong artist and this gig will last till January. She’ll be performing in over 20 shows on Hong Kong’s largest stage, before returning to Ryerson in January.
Keanu Uchida
Keanu Uchida has performed with the innovative dance company “Shaping Sound”, which is touring the U.S. He now lives in Toronto, Ontario where he has worked in the commercial and artistic spheres, attending the University of Toronto as an undergraduate student. Keanu hails from Ottawa, Ontario, and is a Leeming DanceWorks alumni trained under Sharon Leeming Mann and Jessica Shaw. Keanu has toured with the international JUMP Dance Convention, working under some of the most reputable commercial choreographers in the industry. He’s worked extensively with Cora Kozaris, Mia Michaels, Teddy Forance and many others across his experiences in film and stage performance. He was given the opportunity to attend the Juilliard Summer Intensive in 2013. In 2016, Keanu performed on the Academy Awards in the Moana production and in 2017, he danced alongside Pink at the MVA awards in her performance of “What About Us”.
Keanu most recently performed in LDW alum Emma Portner’s performance at the Guggenheim’s Works & Process in NYC in September, 2018. Keanu is also featured in Emma’s new film “Femme Debout”.
Christian Lavigne
Christian Lavigne is a Franco-Ontarian dance artist from Ottawa, now based in Toronto. Christian’s early dance years were enriched by training at Leeming DanceWorks from 2014 to 2016. At Leeming DanceWorks, Christian found an environment that not only pushed him technically and artistically but also provided the freedom and agency to explore artistic expression. The studio exposed him to a diverse range of choreographers and connections that continue to influence Christian’s work today. He studied dance at l’École Secondaire Publique De La Salle as a part of the Centre d’Excellence Artistique de l’Ontario and graduated from the School of Performance at TMU, earning a BFA in Performance Dance in 2020.
Christian has performed the repertoire of Peggy Baker (Peggy Baker Dance Projects), Alejandro Cerrudo (Netherlands Dans Theatre). He has performed at Meridian Hall (Fiddle Embrace, Anne Plamondon, 2023 recipient of the Governor General‘s Performing Arts Award) and the AGO (Changing Steps, Merce Cunningham staged by Dylan Crossman) as part of a Fall For Dance North commission.
Christian has worked on both stage and film productions with Pro Arte Danza and Zata Omm Dance Projects, he went on a western Canadian tour with Echo Chamber, and just performed an original work by Rumi Jeraj at Night/Shift presented by Fall For Dance North and Citadel.
More recently, Christian performed a sold-out run of Dinner is Served directed by Kristen Carcone and TOES for Dance, and toured to Italy to perform a work by Maxine Heppner, as well as performed the world premiere of a new work by Robert Glumbek and Roberto Campanella, “Night Shadows”.