Faculty and Studio

Stacey Butterworth
~ Owner / Artistic Director / Instructor - Tap / Jazz / Lyrical

Stacey is the owner and artistic director of Harbour Dancentre.  She has instructed dance full time for the past 14 years, has toured in performance companies, has directed and choreographed stage productions, and has adjudicated at festivals across Canada.

Growing up, Stacey trained extensively in ballet (R.A.D. and A.D.A.P.T.), jazz (C.D.T.A.), tap (C.D.T.A.), lyrical, and highland.   Stacey has taught and performed in every discipline.  When she first began teaching she focused on ballet but now she focuses her studio teaching time on tap, jazz, and lyrical.  Stacey is a member of the Stage Division of the C.D.T.A in both tap and jazz and has served on the executive of this association in numerous capacities over the years.  She was instrumental in setting the syllabus for the tap and jazz examinations.

Chiara Ackerman
~ Instructor - Ballet / Pointe / Modern / Lyrical / Jazz

Chiara began her dance training at the age of four through the Pat Cummings School of Dance in Port Alberni, BC.  She studied several dance forms including RAD Ballet, Jazz, Tap and Modern.  Chiara continued her post secondary dance education at the National Ballet School in Toronto where she graduated from the Teacher’s Training Program.   She is a fully certified RAD ballet teacher and has also obtained her Associate Teaching Diploma (Cecchetti) and Associate Certificate in National Ethnic Dance.  Chiara has spent the past decade teaching, choreographing, performing and taking workshops while living abroad in Norway, Australia and Bermuda. She’s thrilled to return to Vancouver Island to teach at Harbour Dancentre.

Kathryn McVittie
~ Instructor - Ballet / Pointe / Modern / Lyrical

Kathryn has been involved in the dance world for 20 years and instructs primarily in ballet, but also in modern, contemporary, tap, jazz, musical theater, and hip-hop.  Kathryn is a registered ballet teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance and has completed the CDTA Jazz syllabus.  In addition to choreographing dance, skating, and productions, she has also had the lead roles in several musicals, is the assistant coach for the VI Raiders Dance Team, and has adjudicated at dance competitions across Canada.

Jen Gray
~ Instructor - Ballet / Modern / Jazz

Jen instructs in ballet, modern, and jazz at Harbour Dancentre.  Jen has danced for 16 years and has completed her ISTD Modern Advanced 1 and 2, RAD Intermediate Ballet, and her CDTA Associate Teachers certification in Jazz.  Jen is currently completing her teachers degree and looks forward to a career with children, both within and outside that dance world.

Christie Ross
~ Instructor - Musical Theatre

Christie teaches musical theatre at Harbour Dancentre.  She has completed her RAD ballet exams as well as her CDTA Tap medal exams.  She choreographed productions of Gigi as well Moulin Rouge where she also played the leading role. Christie is classically trained in voice and has worked with many professionals from all over the province. This year Christie represented the UIMF as the 2008 Classical Intermediate Vocal representative at the BC provincials in Burnaby.  As well as classical singing, Christie has worked extensively on her musical theatre by being involved in many musicals (Moulin Rouge, Guys & Dolls, Sound of Music, Tom Sawyer, Flapper, Music Man, Wizard of Oz and Annie Get Your Gun) and theatre productions (All for Beaver Hats, Inherit the Wind, A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

Heather Robertson
~ Instructor - Hip-Hop

Heather has trained extensively in dance for over twenty-five years. She has trained in Los Angeles at Edge Performing Arts Center and has worked with NIKE's Hip-Hop dance troupe. With Nike Heather performed at numerous movie premieres and local venues including Miss Fitness America on ESPN. Her work in LA also took her to Thailand where she performed for Telefilms International. After returning to Vancouver, Heather has danced for MAC cosmetics, toured Canada twice with Warner Canada, performed at an X-Box release party in Toronto and choreographed and performed in numerous local music videos, productions and fashion shows. She worked with renowned choreographer Tina Landon on the feature film "White Chicks". Her acting career has included roles in "Josie and the Pussycats", TV series "John Doe", "Jake 2.0", and others. Heather instructs all of the hip-hop classes at Harbour Dancentre.