Jannine Saarinen
Jannine Saarinen is a graduate with honours from the George Brown College Dance Performance Studies Program, and received the certificate of professional development from Ballet Jorgen Canada. She is an Associate Member of the Society of Russian Ballet, and has been teaching dance since 2003. Jannine taught for Karen Davies-Thomas at PSB & Interplay Dance for 15 plus years, heading up PSB's modern dance and musical theatre programs, before converting PSB's Kingston Road location to Jay9 Dance Centre. She also teaches at Swansea School of Dance where she spent many years as the Apprentice 1 Company director, and also helped to develop their daycare outreach program. In the past, she has taught at various dance studios such as City Dance Corps and Martha Hicks. She has been a guest teacher at Father John Redmond High School and Danforth Collegiate Technical Institute. In 2012 she was the lead dance coordinator for the Toronto Youth Ballet Ensemble (TYBE) helping to create a 45 minute ballet inspired by The Lord of the Rings.
Professionally, Jannine was fortunate to perform for several excellent companies and choreographers, including Viv Moore, Marlee Cargill, and Company Blonde. In 2006, she began working under the name Jay9 Dance Projects to choreograph and produce modern dance works with a strong sense of characterization and narrative. Her choreography was presented in the Made in Canada/Fait au Canada WYSIWYG Series, Junction Arts Festival, SummerWorks Theatre Festival, Dance Ontario Nuit Blanche 2009, as well as many more. Jay9 Dance Projects produced two successful themed cabarets, as well as the Toronto Fringe show (un)boxed which recieved positive reviews. Jannine also worked collaboratively as part of the 4 Starch Dance Collective. They presented work in Fresh Blood and 60×60, and were also participants of the 2012/2013 Series 8:08 Take 2 Residency.
Jannine is excited to continue to share her love of dance with the students of Jay9 Dance Centre.
Kenyatta Brown
Kenyatta Brown has been training in various styles of dance for the past sixteen years. She began training in ballet at the age of four at Taylor Dance Centre, where she has completed fourteen years of her dance career competitively and recreationally. She has also trained with Koba and Mwendo to further her skills in Afro fusion and West African dance styles. From 2013-2017, Kenyatta attended Wexford School of the Arts as a part of the Musical Theatre and Performance Dance program. While at Wexford, she also was a part of the Wexford Gleeks who travelled around Toronto to perform in many professional gigs and shows. Currently, Kenyatta is pursuing a BFA in dance at York University, along with a BA in English and B. in education.
Tasha Rickman
Tasha joined the Intensive Program and Profile Dance Company and Competitive Division at PSB Dance Academy at the age of twelve. Since then, she has trained in ballet under the direction of Karen Davies Thomas, Glenn Gilmour, Stephanie Landry, John Ottmann and Lucie Ward and has attained her Intermediate Cecchetti Certificate along with her Intermediate Royal Academy of Dance Certificate. Tasha has also trained in various other dance styles such contemporary, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, silks and tap. She graduated from the PSB Intensive Program & Dunbarton Pre-Professional Dance Program in 2012, at which time she started teaching at PSB. Tasha received her acro certification with Gymnastics Ontario in 2013. She has taken part in multiple workshops with well known choreographers such as Chan Hon Goh, Blake Mcgrath, and Stacey Tookey. Tasha has also danced alongside music artists on stage and in their music videos. She has danced for popular events such as FOB, Lucid Dreams Art Show, Caribmade Fashion Show, Parapan Am Games and the Rogers Cup Opening Ceremonies. Tasha has run summer dance camps at PSB and Enlightened Kind Acknowledge Positive Movements Summer Camp.