County School of Dance
About Us
Brenda Cunningham
L.I.S.T.D., Cecchetti
Teacher/Choreographer/Adjudicator
An Honours Graduate of The National Ballet School in Toronto, Miss Brenda has performed with the National Ballet of Canada and the Australian Ballet. A fully certified member of the Canadian branch of the Cecchetti Society, L.I.S.T.D., she has taught dance in Huntsville for the past twenty nine years and in 2000 performed in the National Ballet School 40th anniversary celebration in Glenn Gilmour's "The Gathering".
Miss Brenda is also Founder/Director of the Muskoka Ballet Scholarship Fund, Former VP Artistic of The Huntsville Festival of the Arts and former Ontario Representative of the Cecchetti Society of Canada. Brenda was honoured to teach at the Cecchetti Society's annual spring seminar at the National Ballet School in Toronto and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and choreograph the first nine seasons of The Huntsville Festival of the Arts children's symphony/dance productions.
Miss Brenda's students have been accepted into the full time professional dance/academic programs of the National and Quinte Ballet Schools, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and The Dany Grossman Dance Company. Her goal is to provide every student the individual attention and ecnouragement to attain self-confidence, excellent technique and an enduring love of music, dance and the arts.
She is thrilled with the continuing successes at County School of Dance.
Hollie
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Hollie began dancing at the age of 3 in ballet and soon after further persuade her love of dance in tap and jazz. Throughout her years of training and competing she has also studied other forms of dance including lyrical, modern, contemporary and musical theatre. Over the years she has been lucky enough to have trained with many exceptional teachers in many Canadian cities. While attending University, she was able to train under Ellen Andrews, master teacher and Dual Examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance, for 4 years. Within those years Hollie was able to develop her understanding of the art of ballet and through her extensive training, she received her Advanced 2 Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance. She has also completed her Grade 7 with the R.A.D., her Elementary with the Society of Russian Ballet, her Elementary in both jazz and tap through the Canadian Dance Teachers Association as well as her Gold Medallion in ballet, tap and jazz in the British Association of Teachers of Dancing. Hollie began competing at the age of 6 and travelled North America receiving many awards and scholarships throughout her 16 year competitive career.
Hollie has been teaching for the past 17 years and has taught all forms of dance and fitness to all levels. She has prepared students for dance exams as well as for competitions and recitals. in 2011 Hollie opened her own dance studio in the Ottawa region and with her students, they performed two full productions a year, attended competitions, performed examinations and did many other shows and performances throughout the community.
Among other accomplishments Hollie has her Active Isolated Stretching certificate through Stretching Canada, is a certified fitness instructor, and has a degree in Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa. Most recently, Hollie has received her masters certificate in Reiki, and many courses through The Way of the Heart. Hollie performed for 5 years with Ballet Ouest de Montreal, and was a member of other small companies in Toronto and Ottawa.
Hollie is very happy to be joining the County School of Dance and looks forward to working with all of the students to help them reach their full potential.