Artistic Director

Ms. Akua Acheampong

Ms. Akua Acheampong is the Artistic Director of Conservatory of Dance Plus Inc. (CODPI).

Ms. Akua (as she is called) is a dynamic Dance Artist with a rich and diverse background in dance.  Influenced by her Ghanaian West African heritage, and Hip Hop dance while growing up, Ms. Akua began to study ballet at the tender age of nine at Canadian Conservatory of Dance.

An Honours Graduate from the University of Western Ontario and an M.A. graduate from York University Dance Programme, she also trained at Ontario School of Ballet and Pia Bouman School for Ballet & Creative Movement.  She is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance, RAD RTS.  She has her B. Ed at the intermediate/senior level with French and Dance as her teachables.

A mother to a beautiful little girl, Ms. Akua believes in learning through the arts.  Dance is an opportunity to encourage people to live a healthy life style.  A versatile dancer, Ms. Akua enjoys sharing her passion for dance with others.

Artistic Coordinator

Ms. Jennifer da Silva

Since the young age of four, Jennifer da Silva has loved the art of dance. Beginning her dance career at the Canadian Conservatory of Dance, she attended Etobicoke School of the Arts as a dance major- it was here that she was first introduced to modern and contemporary dance, a component that would influence her style and become a signature element in her choreography .

A recent graduate of York University's dance program, she has worked with such choreographers as Gabby Kamino, Arwyn Carpenter, Danny Grossman, Helen Jones and Milton Myers. She continues to pursue her love of dance and enjoys sharing her love of movement with her peers.

Honorary Instructor

Ms. Melanie Elliott

Melanie's love for dance was born at this very studio back in 1989 where she was taught by the founder of the Canadian Conservatory of Dance (CCofD). Despite the studio name change in 2004, throughout the years Melanie has been very dedicated to the school, preparing the students for the RAD examinations and choreographing for the recitals. Melanie furthered her dance training at the Ontario School of Ballet and Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement pursuing the Vocational Pre-professional stream in ballet as well as expanding her dance repertoire with modern dance and strengthening it with pilates. President and presently the Artistic Director of the University of Toronto (U of T) Dance Club, Melanie has discovered salsa, merengue, bachata, chacha, bollywood, bellydance and tango. She is currently pursuing her PhD at U of T in linguistics in the department of French. "It is the love of working with the children, their enjoyment and sense of creativity that keeps me here. I want to share my love of dance with them through the discovery of technical precision and a strong sense of performance. If the eyes are the windows to your soul, then dancing is its voice."

Musician and Composer

Ms. Susanne Maziarz

An inspiration to students of all ages for over 10 years, she enjoys sharing her talent with dancers and faculty at CODPI. Suzanne graduated in 2002 from Mohawk College with a 3-yr Applied Music Diploma with a major in piano performance. It was at Mohawk that she first began her explorations into jazz and improvisation, returning in 2008 as a guest lecturer in composition. In 2005 she graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music with an ARCT-First Class Honours in Piano Performance and in 2006 she graduated from McGill University with a double major in Composition and Theory, minor in Piano. While living in Montreal, she had the honour of being commissioned by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to write a short orchestral work for the children's concert series. The Music Director at Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation in the Beach since 2007 and Masters degree in motion, she happy to be working with CODPI. She is able to teach piano lessons either from her home studio near Keele and Bloor or at the Bellwoods Dance Studio location.

Instructor and Outreach Coordinator

Ms. Holly Newton

Holly Newton was enrolled in ballet lessons at the age of three in Whitby, Ontario. Her curiosity drew her to experiment with tap, jazz, musical theatre, and hip hop. She performed with her studio’s competitive team for five years under the direction of Jennifer Gravina, and later became a teaching assistant. Throughout high school, she developed a more serious approach to dance and began training at the Quinte Ballet School of Canada.

Holly has recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in York University’s dance program. She has had the honor to work with Jen Bolt, Helen Jones, and Julia Sasso, among others. Holly was a member of the York Dance Ensemble, a pre-professional dance company directed by Susan Cash. With the YDE, Holly has performed work by choreographers such as Darcy Callison, David Earle, Susan Lee, Tracey Norman and Zashar Zarif.

Holly wants to experience all facets of creativity in relation to dance and is thrilled to explore the choreographic process, as well as the joy of teaching.

Assistant Administrator (student)

Deepali Khatri

I have always been interested in being involved with dance, and now working at CODPI with adorable children, is wonderful. According to my mom working at a dance studio is absolutely amazing because you get to carry out various duties that adults do! My mother thinks it is remarkable for me to obtain administrative skills during my teenage years. The studio benefits me by allowing me to explore creativity and imaginative ideas that I study in my school’s specialized art program. To sum it up, the dance studio is fabulous working environment with energetic people.