Ellyna Tedesco – Competitive Director, Instructor

Ellyna Tedesco is accomplished as a performer and competitive dancer for several years, she is an example of what exposure to many different teachers and styles can do for an elite-level athlete.   She became the competitive dance director for Move With Grace in 2019.  The dance studio’s competitive dance team of 50 performers hails from Cambridge Ontario.  

Performance dance and international experience

Ellyna traveled to Germany as a member of Team Canada Tap in 2018 and has a Silver Medal in the World Championship under the direction of Mathew Clark.  She was previously performing as a member of Team Canada East 2017 she competed in the elite small jazz, and modern formations. Additionally, Ellyna has performed internationally in Spain in 2018, in Los Angeles in 2014, and with the National Ballet of Cuba in 2010 on the Havana Grand Theatre stage, their group being the first North Americans to perform since the revolution.

At age 13 Ellyna was awarded a full scholarship to attend BeDiscover‘s LA Intensive where she trained at “the Edge” performing arts and worked with world-class teachers and choreographers. 

She has appeared as a dancer in the music video “Bootie Swing” by Parov Stelar, and has acted and danced in Drayton Entertainment‘s 2015 production of “Peter Pan” & the 2014 production of “The Little Mermaid.”   Credits also include catalog modeling for Costumes By Jazzamatazz.  

In 2013 Ellyna was featured in a video by Active Cambridge for a Contemporary Jazz dance during a campaign to show the community how dance can be an ACTivation activity. 

Competitive Dance Team, winning choreography awards across Ontario, Move With Grace, Dance Studio in Cambridge Ontario

During her transition year in 2017 from dancer to teacher, Ellyna won three top choreography awards at the competition for her initial work in full-time competitive categories.  Move With Grace Dance Studio placed in multiple competitions.

She taught workshop classes in jazz and lyrical to three hundred students from across the Provence at CANi 2018 Canadian Dance Convention at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  The three-day event was her first major workshop teaching opportunity but allowed her unique teaching style and energy to be seen by many respected industry experts. 

Her recognition in the industry as an up-and-coming talent is reflected in her teaching at workshops for Pure Rhythm Dance Company-Ancaster, Boundless Dance Company in Toronto & Dixon Dance-Owen Sound. 

Ellyna’s focus in the dance studio is to not only push dancers’ limits and bring out their potential, but to work on the artistry and movement in a way that connects the performers with the music. 

Students at the dance studio find a community where Ellyna leads highly invested athletes both in love with the art of dance and looking for a challenging experience.   Belonging purpose and pride guide the team in a common focus as a force.  The team members in the dance studio, learn the skills and collaboration that will aid them in success outside of the dance studio.  When the team goes to perform at competitions, they are a cohesive unit that will learn from every stage experience.  Ellyna draws from her own previous training as an elite dancer and athlete and from the many international dance performance opportunities she has had.  

Ellyna has attended ADAPT teacher training as well as being certified with Acrobatic Arts module 1 with the addition of an aerial & back handspring clinic  & International Dance Teacher Standards and is an affiliate of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association.  She is also Acrobatic Arts Module 2 certified up to pre-professional training and Ballet Associates with CDTA in 2019 and has her PBT Certification.  Ellyna is apprenticing as a professional dance judge and is currently enrolled in the Certified Dance Adjudicators program.