Rachel Bar

Rachel Bar is a graduate of the National Ballet School's full-time professional program. After graduating she danced professionally with English National Ballet and later with the Israel Ballet. She performed in many of the great classics as well as several contemporary works. Upon retiring from dance, she fell in love with teaching almost immediately and has been passionately doing it for the last four years both as part of the National Ballet School's Associate program and throughout the city.

Jennifer Bolt

For more than a decade, Jennifer Bolt has been a performer, educator, writer and researcher in Ontario. She works and performs in both ballet and modern/ contemporary dance, with a particular interest in the overlap of those two genres. Jennifer has been dancing with Blue Ceiling dance, led by Lucy Rupert, since 2002. Over the past 15 years Jennifer has guest-taught and conducted workshops for several dance schools throughout Ontario, including George Brown College, Ballet Jorgen, Randolph Academy for the Arts, the National Ballet of Canada and the Teacher Training Program at NBS. Jennifer is currently a faculty member at York University, where she teaches dance history, ballet and modern dance.

Jennifer is also pursuing a PhD at the Faculty of Education at York. She holds an MA in dance from York University, an honours BA in dance from the University of Waterloo and a Teacher Training diploma from NBS, as well as Associate levels from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) in the Cecchetti method and in national folk dance. She received honours standing on her advanced Cecchetti examination in June 2005, which was made possible by a teaching grant from York University. This is Jennifer's sixth year teaching in the Adult Ballet Program at NBS.

Aimee Geldard

Johanna Hilchie

Johanna Hilchie is a graduate with distinction of the National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program. She holds teaching qualifications from the Royal Academy of Dances and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (National Branch). Her formal dance training began at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts in Halifax, and continued to include Arts Umbrella, Ballet Magnificat and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. Johanna is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts, and is the winner of the 1999 CDTA National Ballet Competition.

Elisabeth Leyds-Holmes

Elisabeth Leyds-Holmes is a graduate of both our Professional Ballet Program and our Teacher Training Program at Canada's National Ballet School. She has taught dance throughout Ontario with a focus on preparing students for Cecchetti examinations, and has also spent several summers teaching at The School of Dance in Ottawa. In 1978, Elisabeth was invited to join the staff at George Brown College by Lois Smith, former principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada. She went on to become coordinator of the junior school and helped to create a syllabus for both the junior and adult division programs. Ms. Leyds assisted in the creation of the George Brown College Youth Ensemble, a group that performed at several venues in Toronto including the Art Gallery of Ontario. On Lois Smith's retirement, Elisabeth became principal of the school until 1992. After a brief retirement, Elisabeth returned to teaching. She joined our Adult Ballet Program staff at NBS in 2006. She is also on the faculty of the Dance department at York University.

Jillian Peever

Ashleigh Powell

Ashleigh Powell has worked for the past three years as resident choreographer for the Toronto Youth Theatre. In this capacity, she has choreographed eight full-scale musical productions. Her work has also been featured at Hart House Theatre (Hamlet, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), the Classical Theatre Project (Macbeth), and Canopy Theatre (As You Like It). In 2008, Ashleigh received The Carol Chadwick Award for teaching and completed associate qualifications with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

She currently teaches ballet at the Randolph Academy for Performing Arts and in the Associates Program at the National Ballet School. Ashleigh holds an Honours degree in history and sociology from the University of Toronto and will graduate from the National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program at the end of this year. She is honoured to have been asked by Bob McCollum to join the staff of the Adult Ballet Program.

Kelly Summers

Kelly is currently in her final year of Canada's National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program. She currently holds her Advanced I certificates with the I.S.T.D. National and Cecchetti branch as well as with the Royal Academy of Dance. Kelly has trained and performed across Canada and the United States including New York and Miami. This summer, Kelly was thrilled to work at the American Academy of Ballet in New York as Special Assistant to the director, Mignon Furman. Kelly is honored to join the staff of the Adult Ballet Program.

Jennifer Templeton

Jennifer Templeton is a graduate of the National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program. She holds Registered Teaching Status with the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD). Jennifer has also completed her Associate status with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (National branch) and the British Association of Teachers of Dance (Stage branch). While at NBS, Jennifer achieved Advanced levels in RAD and Cecchetti ballet techniques, as well as National Dance.

Prior to attending NBS, Jennifer attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from York University. While there, Jennifer performed with the York Dance Ensemble and was able to work with acclaimed contemporary choreographers including Sashar Zariff, Keiko Kitano and David Earle.

Emma Wilkinson

A three-time recipient of an Alberta Arts Scholarship, Emma started her dance training in Edmonton and continued at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, with Gabriela Komleva at the Leningrad Ballet Academy in St.
Petersburg, Russia, and on full scholarship at l'École Supérieure de Danse du Québec, where she went on exchange to The Juilliard School and School of American Ballet in New York and graduated with a Diplôme d'Études Collégiales.

With Le Jeune Ballet de Québec, Emma performed in New York, Switzerland and throughout France, and she went on to dance with Festival Ballet in Banff. She also enjoyed two consecutive contracts for Casse-Noisette with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, touring to Ottawa, Quebec City and St. Louis. Emma spent nine years working for the luxury six-star Crystal Cruises in Los Angeles: as a dancer, dance captain and a member of the Artistic management staff, involved in the creation and teaching of their award-winning musical theatre style production shows.

Emma has taught at the National Ballet School in the Associates Program, the Adult Ballet Program and the Professional Ballet Program's summer school.
She is the proud recipient of the distinguished Carole Chadwick award for teaching.

Jane Wooding, F.I.S.T.D., Examiner (Cecchetti)

Jane Wooding was born in Ottawa, ON. After graduating from Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto, Jane studied in England, Holland and Germany. Entering the National Ballet of Canada in 1972, Ms. Wooding performed Romantic, Classical and Contemporary repertoire, working with exceptional mentors including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Erik Bruhn, Celia Franca, Karen Kain, Rudolf Nureyev, and Veronica Tennant. In 1978 Jane joined NBS staff teaching ballet, repertoire, pointework and pedagogy for 8 years.

Presently teaching for NBS' Teacher Training Program, George Brown Dance, and Hart House, Jane has also taught ballet on the faculties of York University and the Quinte Ballet School of Canada. Guest work includes summer courses, classes and workshops across Canada and the United States.