The Dancers
Meet our dancers for the evening.
Celebrity Dancers 
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Marni Kuhlmann Marni Kuhlmann is the Noon News Anchor at CTV. She's originally from Saskatchewan, but has lived and worked all over Western Canada and has called Edmonton home for the past five years. Since starting at CTV Edmonton, she's worked as a reporter, anchored Medical Watch, and has now moved on the Noon News desk. Marni has also become involved with several community groups; volunteering for the Terry Fox Run, the Stollery Children's Hospital, and the Edmonton Down Syndrome Society, just to name a few. In addition to that, Marni is also a busy mom, with four kids at home - from preschooler to teenager! When she does find time for herself, she's usually at the gym, running, doing pilates or just relaxing with a trashy gossip magazine or some cheesy reality television! Dancing for the Kids will be a completely new experience for Marni. She's excited to do it for a great cause but she has almost no dance experience at all! There was that one ballet class when she was 7, but she quit when the teacher threatened to lock the kids in the trunk of her car if they didn't listen! Marni could likely remember how to do a plie - just don't lock her in the trunk if she gets it wrong! |
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Sean Fleming Sean was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. During his high school years he attended an All Boys Private School where he excelled in soccer, football, and track. Upon completion of High School, Sean received a football scholarship from the University of Wyoming kicking off his career in football. Sean was drafted 6th overall by the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1992 CFL draft. He played for the Eskimos his entire CFL career with stints in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs. Sean maintained a hectic schedule during football season. He became a licensed Investment Advisor and worked for National Bank Financial from 1996-1999. In 2001, Sean joined PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. and is currently a Manager in the Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Department. In 2007, Sean retired from football after 16 seasons. Sean is taking full advantage of his new found free time by focusing on his love of travelling. In addition, he recently achieved one of his post-football goals of competing in his first triathlon. Triathlon racing has now filled the void of football and Sean plans to continue racing in events in the future with the goal of competing in an Ironman Triathlon within the next three years. Sean makes Edmonton his home year round and is actively involved in the community and local charities. |
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Briana Hincemon MacIntyre ÒStifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips.Ó ~Adabella Radici Throughout her career Briana Hincemon Macintyre has been in Finance Technology and Operations in many different industries including Retail, Manufacturing and most recently in a Global US based financial institution. She hopes the challenges of her job and the high stress environment she works in will prepare her for this challenge, though she ponders whether math will get her very far on the dance floorÉ Briana has always loved to dance, whether when she was a small girl in ballet class or more recently dancing around in her living room with her children. When her husbandÕs dream was realized last year to play for the Oilers (a team he grew up cheering for) the entire family relocated from North Carolina to join Steve here in Edmonton. Briana and Steve and their three children; Dakota (13), Kalyme (3) and Klaira (1) have grown to love the city and hope to make a permanent home here. As part of that Briana looks forward to getting more involved in the community, so when they asked who was interested in the Dancing for the Kids event this year she jumped at the chance. |
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Linsay Willier Linsay Willier spent her first 18 years in Sucker Creek First Nation, living with both of her parents and four siblings. At the age of 18 Linsay moved south to Edmonton to complete her Bachelors Degree in Child and Youth Care at Grant MacEwan College. In 2009 Linsay submitted an application to be on CanadaÕs Next Top Model and was chosen from 14000 other hopefuls as one of the 11 finalists all competing for a high profile modeling contract. Now 23, this young woman acts an inspiration to those around her as she pursues fulfillment of her lifelong dreams. |
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Tony Franceschini Born in Italy, raised in Toronto and an Edmonton resident since 1976, Tony recently retired as President & CEO of Stantec Inc., Edmonton's largest publicly traded company at the time of his retirement. Tony joined Stantec, then known as Stanley, in 1978 where he assumed increasing responsibility in building a strategic plan for the CompanyÕs direction and growth. Appointed President & CEO in 1998, Tony ushered in a bold new era by bringing the Company under the single, global brand name of Stantec and by establishing the goal of becoming one of the top 10 global design firms. His passion and strong commitment to StantecÕs growth and vision was instrumental in growing Stantec to over 10,000 employees in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and other international markets and $1.6 billion in revenue. Currently, Tony keeps busy serving on 7 company and public service boards. An avid booster of the City, Tony is proud to chair Edmonton's bid to host EXPO 2017. Tony and his wife Daniela continue to live in Edmonton-for most of the year anyway-where they can spend time with their grown children Michael and Laura. |
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Ron Clark Ron Clark is the host of the EZ Rock Morning Show and is a true blue Albertan...in fact he's a true blue (actually copper and blue) Edmontonian. Born at the Royal Alex and raised in Parkallen, Ron attended Strathcona Composite and Harry Ainley High Schools. Ron Clark has had the good fortune of working in Edmonton radio since 1986 after radio jobs in Alberta and B.C. starting in 1980. Ron's broadcasting career began in Wetaskiwin in 1980 when he was hired as the evening announcer changing religious tapes and working one hour on air. That only lasted 5 months as the big city of Red Deer came calling. After another 9 month's in central Alberta, Ron packed up and moved to Prince George B.C. He left behind a 1969 GTO convertible because it got lousy gas mileage. (So you can see even back then, Ron wasn't the smartest kid on the block). In all fairness he also had a 1976 SAAB which he used to rally from time to time and thought it was the better choice. umm...see brackets...nuff said. In addition to being a DJ, Ron has also appeared in film and his voice can be heard all over the world doing commercials. As someone once said to him " I was on vacation in the Grand Cayman's and I thought I heard your voice on a radio station down there" to which Ron replied.."Yes, you did". After playing in top 40 radio for years and establishing himself as one of Edmonton's top DJ's, Ron came to 104.9 EZ Rock in 2004. In his off hours Ron keeps active in the community attending as many charity functions as possible. He has served on the board of non-profit organizations. He loves to help a cause and is quick to respond "Yes" when asked to help out. He also has a music business (Ron Clark Music) and considers it an honor to perform music for newly married couples on their big day as well as corporate parties. He also owns and runs a landscaping company and commercial grading company called RTD Bobcat and Artia Landscaping. Ron will never turn down a game of golf or tennis and has also found himself at the bottom of the ocean as a qualified scuba diver. His mother taught him how to do the foxtrot as a teenager and her is looking forward to dancing the night away for the Kid's With Cancer Society. |
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Professional Dancers
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Vince Davis Vince is thrilled to dance for the kids and to blend swing's jump with tango's intricacy. After starting in ballroom dance, Vince first visited Argentina in 1995, committed to bring tango from Buenos Aires to Alberta, and then travelled extensively to learn performance and teaching from top Argentine professionals. Vince has organized events to bring Argentine performers to Edmonton, and has designed, choreographed and performed over 100 group and solo tango shows, including Dancing For The Kids 2008, two shows at the Winspear Centre with the Edmonton Symphony and Edmonton Chamber Orchestras, Edmonton's World Championships in Athletics, Calgary's "Rhythm of Peace" and "Nostalgia" shows, two UofA International Week concerts, as well as Vinok/BeLLavia's recent "Christmas around the World". He is the founder and director of Tango Norte, which promotes Argentine Tango in Western Canada, and has collaborated in tango-fusion with Flamenco, Yiddish, Ukrainian and Ismaili Muslim traditions. He teaches community tango classes and acts as a competition judge for the UofA Dance Club. In "real" life, Vince is a husband (to dance partner Cindy), father of three, a systems consultant and a full-time instructor in Information Systems at the UofA School of Business. |
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Daiana Moy Sanchez Daiana Moy Sanchez is the founder and artistic director of Salsaddiction Dance Company. DaianaÕs diverse heritage includes and exotic mixture of beautiful cultures. Her mother is a mix of Colombian and Afro-Brazilian and her father Chinese. From early on Daiana has been involved with her Latin community performing and teaching Salsa all over Edmonton as well as organizing fundraisers and festivals. She is currently involved in three large projects; organizing a Cuban Dance Festival, CubameMucho, organizing the Edmonton Latin Festival and creating a Salsa dance program for children. The largest project will be CubameMucho. In September, 12 internationally renowned Cuban Dance Artists will be brought to Edmonton along with a renown 20 piece Cuban Latin Orchestra. For one weekend you can experience the tropical island of Cuba right here in our city. Daiana has a World Salsa Championship behind her. She has performances around the globe including Puerto Rico, Miami, San Franscisco ad Los Angeles. Star Brazil is part of the Salsaddiction Company and performed in September at the New York International Salsa Festival. Talk about a busy year! |
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Dominic Lacroix Dominic Lacroix started his journey as a musician, coming from the music family it seemed like the logical thing to do. Dominic's interest in dancing started with the movie "Dirty Dancing". In 1989 teamed with Delphine Romaire and took his dancing to the next level after seeing a tape of the 1989 World Latin Championships in Montreal. Since then he has been 8 times Canadian Champion, 16 times Quebec Champion, North American Standard Champion and 19 times Canadian representative at World Championships. He took part in the 2004 motion picture, ÒShall We Dance", with Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. After living 3 years in London, England, to perfect his knowledge of dance, he moved to Edmonton, retired from competition to build a strong team of adults and junior competitors in Alberta and opened Elite Dance Studio in 2007. |
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David Lam David Lam began ballroom dancing in 2000 with the University of Alberta's Dance Club while he was in school. What was initially a hobby soon became a passion. During his first few years of dance, David volunteered for the club. At the same time he also danced competitively under the guidance of Dominic Lacroix and Delphone Romaire. In all the competitions he entered he always placed in the top three standings. His crowd-pleasing antics always made him one of the favorites in the U of A Formation Team's Moulin Rouge and James Bond performances. He has also performed for several fundraisers throughout the city. David has recently retired from competitive ballroom dance and is currently teaching with the Kids Club at Elite Dance Studio. David's passion for dance is not confined to ballroom only, he is also a competitive salsa dancer with Salsaddiction in Edmonton. |
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Delphine Romaire Delphine Romaire started to dance ballet at the age of 3 years. She was admitted to the Canadian Grand Ballet in Montreal at 10 years old, by age 11 she had started ballroom and latin american. Since then, with her partner Dominic Lacroix, she has been 8 times Canadian Champion, 16 times Quebec Champion, North American Standard Champion, and 19 times Canadian representative at World Championships. She took part in the 2004 motion picture "Shall We Dance", with Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. After living for 3 years in London, England, to perfect her knowledge for dance, she moved to Edmonton, retired from competition to concentrate her efforts to build a strong team of adults and junior competitors in Alberta and opened Elite Dance Studio in 2007. For more information, check out www.elitedancestudio.net. |
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Elena Sinelnikova Elena had a dream to be a dancer from when she was a little girl back in Russia. She started taking ballet classes when she was 7. As her ballet teacher moved to another city, she enrolled herself in gymnastics and then ballroom. Unfortunately there was not a lot of dancing opportunities in her small home town, so real dancing had to wait until she moved to Canada. In Edmonton she started dancing ballroom in 2002 at the University of Alberta Dance Club. When her coaches Dominic Lacroix and Delphine Romaire came aboard, she realized that this is a chance for a dream come true. Today Elena, mother of 2 boys, is a Canadian Senior Latin Champion. She also is very excited to start this year as a Student Teacher at the Elite Dance Studio. Elena achieved a lot, but she believes that all her accomplishments would be impossible without her partner Jim, her coaches Dominic, Delphine and Benoit and her beloved husband Andrei. |
Demonstration Dancers
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DoDel Kids Club Formation Team 2009 DoDel Kids Club is a unique and outstanding amateur sport/dance program. In May 2006 8 times Canadian Champions, Dominic & Delphine, began training Edmonton's children and youth to compete in competitive ballroom dance. Although we are still a young club, our program has become recognized as offering some of the best training in Canada for aspiring competitive ballroom dancers. In addition to their regular classes with Dominic and Delphine, our "advanced" competitors had the honour of receiving guest instruction from ``So you think you can dance Canada`` judge Jean-Marc GŽnŽreux and Danny Arbour, Top 10, Season 1. Our next introductory program begins end of January 2010. The commitment is 2 hours per week: group syllabus instruction Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm to 7pm. Tuition is based on $25 per week. Advance registration is required, for registrations & inquiries: Please contact Delphine: dodelkidsclub@hotmail.com mailto:dodelkidsclub@hotmail.com or visit our website for more information at: www.elitedancestudio.net |
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Marr-Mac Musical Theatre Group Marr-Mac Dance and Theatre Arts offers an alternative studio atmosphere that trains dancers from beginner to the pre-professional level. Since 1968, after many years of teaching students the art of dance, Marr-MacÕs philosophy remains the same, ÒTo instill the love of dance and music and to provide a supportive atmosphere which will encourage students of all abilitiesÓ. At Marr-Mac our dancers have many fantastic opportunities to travel, receive guest instruction, compete and attend dance conferences throughout the year. Marr-Mac offers a variety of disciplines including Ballet (freestyle and/or examination classes), Jazz, Modern, Tap, Hip Hop, Highland, Irish, National, Musical Theatre and Creative Movement. Choreographed by Kristi Chipeniuk, tonight the intermediate-advanced musical theatre class will perform their interpretation of Billy JoelÕs ÒItÕs Still Rock and Roll to MeÓ. They are very excited to be here to dance tonight as they love any chance to perform. Registrations and Inquiries: Please contact Marr-Mac at 780.434.9281 or visit our website for more information at: www.marrmac.com.
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Wojciech Drobina and Grace Lau Wojciech Drobina and Grace Lau have been dance partners for two and a half years. They have taken part in numerous competitions throughout Canada and the U.S. where they have paced first. Originally introduced to each other by one of their current coaches, Delphine Romaire, this couple had no idea what was in store for them in their years to come. They are currently in their third season together, and are continuing to compete throughout North America, representing Edmonton at the Championship level. They are proud to represent Alberta in the upcoming Canadian Championships in April, with the help of their wonderful coaches from EdmontonÕs own Elite Dance Studio. |
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Jim Deglau and Elena Sinelnova Jim Deglau and Elena Sinelnikova started dancing together back in 2003. At that time they were TAs at the University of Alberta Dance Club. With the help of their coaches Dominic Lacroix and Delphine Romaire from Elite Dance Studio, Jim and Elena progressed through their dancing career from beginner level up until they won their current title of Canadian Champions. In April 2009 they made history in Alberta by being the first couple from our province to win this prestigious title: Closed Canadian Championship in Adult II Latin category. They successfully represented Canada at the World Latin Championship which will took place in Liege, Belgium in October this year. |
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