Dance PossAbilities

Christelle-Jean Chow, BKIN, RKIN, C.Ped. (C), originating from the small town of Timmins, ON., has been dancing since the young age of 8 and teaching for 16 years. She has trained in a variety of dance styles such as Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Hip Hop, Commercial Street Styles and, Filipino Folk. After making the ultimate decision to move to the city of Toronto, Christelle has been fortunate enough to partake in a variety of opportunities in the dance industry. From dancing with Toronto’s NBA Raptors Dance Pak to The Girls Club a professional heels company, she has been exploring multiple avenues to further invest in her love for dance. She went on to dance for multiple artists such as Notifi, LOONY, Kelsey Vaz, Ylvis’s “What Does The Fox Say?”, New York’s Ginette Claudette, Allydice, Haley Small, Deborah Cox, Tag Team’s “Whoomp There It Is” and many others. From music videos to on-stage performances, Christelle has also involved herself in some work in TV and commercials such as Lucky 7 and the brand Pink Martini. Not only has she been able to participate and involve herself in the commercial dance industry, but she has also been able to use her experiences in Filipino Folk dancing to perform and model for Canada’s Filipino Fashion week and to tour with Philippine’s Please Be Careful with My Heart cast. With respect to Christelle’s teaching career, she ensures that her students understand the importance of foundation while maintaining an energetic and positive atmosphere. Currently, Christelle is a Research Kinesiologist at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and the University of Toronto and she is a Pedorthic Candidate. She specializes in working with children and youth with disabilities and in creating inclusive and adapted programming for individuals with diverse abilities. She is the director and co-founder of Dance PossAbilities, an educational platform, that trains dance teachers, dance assistants, adjudicators, and studio owners on building inclusive and accessible dance classes. Christelle has been more than grateful to have been a guest in teaching with incredible organizations such as Special Olympics, SO Youth Games, Happy Soul Project, Dance Vocab, Inclusive Communities Canada, Variety Village, Best Buddies Canada and in Mexico with DUBO Force. She looks forward to future endeavors and sharing her love and passion for dance and inclusion with others.

Jay T is a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated performer, educator and adjudicator. His twenty-five year teaching career spans Canada’s most prestigious post-secondary arts institutions and dozens of dance studios. A graduate of Ryerson University’s dance program and a former Mr. Dance of Canada, he has been a faculty member at the Randolph College, George Brown College and Saint Lawrence College. Jay has been a guest teacher at Sheridan College, Canada’s National Ballet School, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Pearson School for the Arts, the Eastern Arkansas Ballet, Duboforce Mexico, Metro Movement and the Charlottetown Festival Young Company. He is currently the Tap Director at Dimensions in Dance in Kitchener, a choreographer for the Canadian Tap Team of World Performers and the Director of Programming for the Toronto Dance Teacher Expo. His professional choreographic credits include: Singin in the Rain (Drayton), The Fan (Odyssey Theatre), The Time of My Life (Soulpepper), The Haunted Hillbilly (Sidemart Theatrical), Little Shop of Horrors (Magnus Theatre) & Dads II (Magnus Theatre). As a performer, he continues to work in theatres across the continent. He has performed for The Stratford Festival, Mirvish Productions, Capitol Theatre, Charlottetown Festival, Stage West, Drayton Entertainment, Clearchannel Entertainment and dozens more. Some of his favourite roles include: Cosmo in Singin in the Rain, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, Bobby in Crazy for You, Skimbleshanks in Cats, Nana in Peter Pan, Pepper in Mamma Mia, Jimmy in White Christmas, Ethan in The Full Monty, Jinx in Forever Plaid, Cecil in Anne of Green Gables, Batboy in Batboy the Musical, Action in West Side Story, Barnaby in Hello Dolly. An accomplished voice-over actor, Jay is the voice of Platy the Platypus on Arthur (PBS Kids), Data Bot, Build Bot & Garbage Bot on Space Ranger Roger (Family Jr), Mr. Security on Inspector Gadget (Teletoon/Netflix), Felix on Trucktown (Treehouse), Blinky on Willa’s Wild Life (YTV / Discovery), Satoru Kakuta on Slam Dunk and Tad in the animated feature Totally Spies-The Movie. His voice has been used by Royal Bank, Microsoft, Pfizer, Subaru, CBC, Aleve, Cepacol, Air Transat, and Motorola. He’s appeared on Netflix/Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Discovery Channel’s Mayday, Showcase’s Lost Girl, CBC’s Getting Along Famously, Showtime’s Queer As Folk and the Gemini nominated film From Time to Time. He also provided the motion capture for the lead character Hadyn in the PS4 game Dark Sector. Jay is one of North America’s most prolific talent adjudicators and has judged and hosted over 200 talent competitions, pageants and festivals across the globe. He is the Owner/Host of Dance Attack Competition. Jay is a member and contributor to the Professional Adjudicator Alliance manual, has written articles for The Agent’s Book and had a column in Dance Canada Quarterly. He is a recipient of a Tyrone Guthrie Award and a Maud Whitmore Scholarship. Jay is the owner of Tap Shoes Canada and is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Miller and Ben Tap Shoes.