FACULTY

Youth Division

Andrea de Almeida - Ballet
She has a master degree in physical education with a dance teaching specialization at Alberta University. She studied teaching and Ballet in Brazil, at Rochester University and at Garth Fagan dance school. Moreover she followed a dance and an educative dance program at New-York University. She is now teaching creative dance to young children.
Odette Lalonde - Ballet and Jazz
Odette Lalonde began her performing career as a member of the Grands Ballets Canadiens corps de ballet. In 1974 she joined Ballets Jazz de Montréal as a principal dancer, where she remained until 1991. Ms. Lalonde toured extensively, performing and holding master classes in more than 50 countries. She also directed the professional development program and served as pedagogical director of the École des Ballets Jazz de Montréal. From 1991 to 1998 she taught at École Secondaire Pierre-Laporte and also worked as a teaching assistant and dance program coordinator.

Marie Parisella - Flamenco
Marie Parisella is fluent in flamenco, classic ballet, tap and contemporary dance forms. She studied dance at the Université du Québec à Montréal from 1989 to 2002, and went to Spain to perfect her chosen art of flamenco in 1996. She began her career
with one of Quebec’s pioneering dance companies, Les Lacasse-Morenoff, and was a member of the Arte de Espagna company
for more then a decade as dancer, choreographer and coach. With more than 20 years of experience in performing and teaching,
Ms. Parisella has taught at Ballet Divertimento since 1992.

Amélie Rajotte – Modern
Amélie Rajotte holds a degree in choreographic studies from the Conservatoire National de Région de Grenoble in France. She then went on to work with many leading choreographers, dancers and teachers in Paris. Ms. Rajotte also obtained a Diplôme d'État (state qualification) in modern and contemporary dance pedagogy from the CeFEDeM in Rouen before undertaking a yearlong internship, teaching at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris. While in Europe she was involved in several choreographic and cross-disciplinary projects to further her artistic development as a choreographer. Since 2006, she has been teaching at Ballet Divertimento and at the Collège de Montréal dance program created by Ballet Divertimento. She also dances for the Company PPS Danse.

Fabrice Rouville - Ballet
was formed by Rudy Bryans. He danced at l’Opéra de Marseille, at Ballet du Louvre Paris (artistic director Rudolph Noureev) for Anne-Marie Porras companie and at Ballet National de Nancy, France . He has been main soloist at Balletto del Centro at Naples in Italia. Fabrice has danced in more than 15 countries all over the world. He interpreted in New-York, Atlanta, Chicago, Tokyo, Osaka, Londres, Rome, Paris, During 10 years, Fabrice directed the Junior Ballet Company in the south of France. In Québec since 2004, he teaches at Ballet Divertimento in Montréal. He also colaborated with Ballet Ouest, Conservatoire de Montréal, the École Supérieure de Ballet Contemporain, and with many other dance-study program in the great Montréal.


Dance-Study Pre-Professional Program

Pedagogical Director Yamandu Delgado - Ballet
Born in Uruguay, Ballet Divertimento’s dynamic director of pedagogy trained to become a ballet teacher at the John Cranko School
in Stuttgart, Germany, from which he attained a Masters degree. He first studied ballet at the National Ballet in Montevideo before dancing professionally with the Ballet Company of Montevideo and the Ballet del Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile. Over the past two decades he has taught at two Austrian ballet schools, the Landeshaupt Stadt in St. Poelten and the Ballettschule der Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, as well as for the Hochschule für musik und theater in Zurich, Switzerland. Mr. Delgado was appointed pedagogical director in October 2006.

Erin Flynn / Pilates
Erin Flynn has enjoyed a career as a dance artist and teacher since the mid nineties and began teaching Pilate in the last five years. Certified through Peak Pilates (a method noted for its usefulness to dancers), Erin integrates her knowledge of dance, yoga and somatic training with the Pilates method to develop core strength, body awareness and healthy alignment. Erin began Pilates as a complement to her dance training, and has studied with Johanna Abbott, Diane Miller, Monique Romieko, Sara Wiskar, Namchi Bazaar, Katie Ward and at the studios Spinale Movement and Ann McMillan Pilates. In addition to Pilates, Erin has studied diverse training techniques, such as: Ashtanga Yoga with Hart Lazer and the team at Ashtanga Yoga Montreal, Anatomy with Irene Dowd & Pat Miner, Alexander technique with Erma Taves, Bartenieff Fundamentals with Bill Evans, Klein technique with Jeremy Nelson, Angelique Wilkie, Russell Malephant & Roberto Galvan and physical education through the YMCA’s Fit program.

Liliana Pérez Jaramillo - Ballet
Born in Colombia, Mrs Pérez holds an artistic BA from Incolballet. She then pursued methodology studies with Clara Carranco from the National Ballet of Cuba before joining Incolballet's teaching faculty and the "Ballet de Cali" dance company as a soloist under the auspices of Alicia Alonso and the direction of Gloria Castro. After performing in France, Cuba and the United States, she participated in many intenational competitions and was awarded the "Silver Medal" in Trujillo, Peru. In Canada, she danced with the "Alberta Ballet" before joining Ballet Divertimento.

Sonya Stefan - Modern
Sonya Stefan's most recent endeavors includes producing, directing and performing in a 5-screen installation winning the 2010 Mel Hoppenhiem Cinema Award as well as joining forces with Yves St. Pierre and Sylvain Poirier creating a new dance company called Bande Interdite. She has worked with several dance artists and companies including Toronto Dance Theatre, Cas Public, Fondation Jean Pierre Perreault, Montreal Danse, Les Carres des Lombes, and Dance Theatre David Earle. As well a choreographing, Sonya is a filmmaker and has recently exhibited her work in Montreal's World Film Festival, Toronto Moving Images Festival, Trieste's Wallpaper Dance, Buenos Aires' Video Danza and the International Video Dance Festival in Japan.


Adult Division

Véronique D’Abaté - Lyrical Jazz
Véronique D’Abaté studied jazz and tap before undertaking professional ballet training. A former member of the contemporary
dance company Classique Art Jazz, an avid interest in alternative dance styles led her to study hip hop and join the Urban Dance Society company. Appearances in major stage musical shows such as Beauty and the Beast soon followed, and she also studied
at Steps on Broadway in New York City. Since September 2007 Ms. D’Abaté has been a member of the Unkut Productions company directed by Alexandra Landé.

France Dufresne
France did her dance studies at Les Ballets Russes de Montréal where she was immersed in the Vagonova technic. Among her teachers were Maria Abdel-Malek (Bolshoi, Principal of the Ballet of Cairo), Mikhail Berkut (Bolshoi, founder of Les Ballets Russes de Montréal), Diane Joffe (New York City Ballet, and Mira Popovich (University of Alabama).
She began her career with the Ballets Russes’s Kalinka Company at the age of 17 and went on to become a soloist. She danced for Eddy Toussaint’s ballet company from 1983 to 1988 also as a soloist. She has taught dance for over 20 years, mainly classical ballet, but also character dance, Jazz and tap dance.
Since 2004, she has worked at the Cirque de Soleil as assistant to the director of Production and Quality Control.

Odette Lalonde - Ballet-Jazz
Odette Lalonde began her performing career as a member of the Grands Ballets Canadiens corps de ballet. In 1974 she joined Ballets Jazz de Montréal as a principal dancer, where she remained until 1991. Ms. Lalonde toured extensively, performing and holding master classes in more than 50 countries. She also directed the professional development program and served as pedagogical director of the École des Ballets Jazz de Montréal. From 1991 to 1998 she taught at École Secondaire Pierre-Laporte and also worked as a teaching assistant and dance program coordinator.

Seryozha Petrosyan - Ballet
Seryozha Petrosyan began dancing at the Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Spendiarov in Yerevan, and was a teaching assistant at the Yerevan Ballet and Choreography College. From 1973 to 1986 he performed leading roles in a wide repertoire that included Gisèle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and La fille Mal Gardée at YAOBT. He also taught at the Yerevan Ballet Academy
and has choreographed a number of ballets for television and stage. He was bestowed the title Artist Emeritus of the Republic of Armenia in 1978. Retired from performing since 1988, Mr. Petrosyan currently focuses on teaching and choreography.

Amélie Rajotte – Modern
Amélie Rajotte holds a degree in choreographic studies from the Conservatoire National de Région de Grenoble in France. She then went on to work with many leading choreographers, dancers and teachers in Paris. Ms. Rajotte also obtained a Diplôme d'État (state qualification) in modern and contemporary dance pedagogy from the CeFEDeM in Rouen before undertaking a yearlong internship, teaching at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris. While in Europe she was involved in several choreographic and cross-disciplinary projects to further her artistic development as a choreographer. Since 2006, she has been teaching at Ballet Divertimento and at the Collège de Montréal dance program created by Ballet Divertimento. She also dances for the Company PPS Danse.

Victoria Yakobov - Ballet
Victoria Yakobov holds a diploma as a ballet artist from a leading choreographic institution in Baku, Azerbaijan, as well as an undergraduate degree in teaching French. It was but the first step in a career in ballet and choreography that has spanned more
than 30 years. She performed with the company of the Azerbaijan State Theatre Opera and Ballet, and the Azerbaijan National
Ballet. Ms. Yakobov then went on to teach ballet in Russia and Israel, and helped establish a teacher training institute. A highly experienced teacher, she has helped shape the careers of ballet performers at all levels.


Accompanists

Lucie Monsarrat Chanon - Ballet/Piano
Born into a musician’s family Lucie is playing piano since she is 5 years old. She got into the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal in 1998 and in 2007 she has been rewarded by a price in piano interpretation. The same year she played in Brazil and during her formation she played into many Maison de la Culture of Montreal. Interested by contemporary music and mixing of artistic mediums she also takes time to compose some music. She just writes the music of the multidisciplinary show Slinky for the company Mandoline Hybrid and the musical theme for the peace “The lion in the streets” played by the company “Tableau d’Hôte”. Polyvalent musician, she plays for chorus, musical camps, singer, and ballet classes, pop, rock and world music.

Ilia Khodos - Ballet/Piano
is a pianist with about 40 years of experience. He is also composer and arranger. He educated in Russia. He immigrated to Canada in 1992 and has played for many ballet schools and companies in Ontario and Manitoba. Before he came to Montreal in 2009 he played for Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Josianne Laporte- Modern/Percussion
Josianne first sarted banging on her drums at 8 years old. After a bachelor’s degree in latin percussions at UQAM, she goes on tour with Cirque Éloize show Nomade. With the artists of the show, she learned the art of juggling. Since then, she joined Cirque Alfonse show La Brunante as a multidisciplinary artist. Ever since she arrived in Montréal, Josianne has been performing as a freelance artist with people from many disciplines, like music circus or danse. She plays for the modern danse classes since the summer of 2006.

Francis Pomerleau - Modern/Percussion
He was a co-founder and co-composer of the band SoulCirkus, and played in cover bands during the nineties. He is an accompanist drummer percussionist for the artists (ex. Robin Gorn, Michael Reinhart) and musicians from the local scene, on stage and in studio. He is teaching drums at the Collège international Marie de France and the Centre communautaire Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and in private. In the past, he has taught drums and has given workshops as an introduction to rythms and percussions in other colleges, community centers and private schools. He is also an accompanist drummer percussionist for the teaching choreographers in professional classes of contemporary dance at LADMMI, Ballet Divertimento, and occasionally for the O Vertigo dancing company.

Martin Swerdlow - Ballet/Piano
Martin Swerlow is a musician with more than thirty years experience as a pianist, composer, producer and arranger. He has played for the National Ballet of Canada and L.G.B.C., has composed for the stage, film and media and has been an independent producer of numerous recordings and multi media project.