INSTRUCTOR

SALSA / CHA CHA / LATIN JAZZ

As co-founder and Artistic Director of City Dance Corps, one of Toronto’s leading dance schools, Tina is one of Toronto’s most popular dance experts with a specialty in Jazz/Pop & Latin dance. She has been featured in numerous television shows and magazines including, Much Music, CBC’s “Living in Toronto”,  The Dance Current, Rogers “Toronto Living”, Elle Magazine, Dolce Magazine, Sun TV, Omni 1’s “Here and Now”, and CH TV to name a few. Tina has been the creative powerhouse behind some of City Dance Corps' most popular dance programs, including “The Stiletto Dance Series” and "Ballet Boot Camp", both of which have been featured on Splice TV “Three Takes”, City TV “Breakfast Television”, CTS “Real Life”, and National Post to name a few.

Tina's dance training started in classical ballet and she turned to Latin dance in 1996. In recent years, her unique blend of classical and Latin dance training has led her to some wonderful experiences. She choreographed Nelly Furtado’s ‘Mi Plan’ tour and also gained recognition for training lead actor Jake Simons for his role as the original “Johnny Castle” in North America’s fastest selling premier stage production of Dirty Dancing. Her credits also include instructing and choreographing on several television shows, appearing as a guest judge on American reality TV “6 Degrees of X” with Carmen Electra, Instant Beauty Pageant, and she has been featured in Fashion Magazine, Maclean’s, and continues to be a source for Toronto’s leading newspapers like Sunday Sun, National Post, the Metro and Toronto Star.

Tina has been teaching Latin dance since 1997 and began her international guest instruction as the first international instructor to teach in Bermuda, 2001. Since then she has taught in Greece, Ireland, Italy, across Ontario, and has participated as an instructor and performer in several Salsa conventions including Canada Salsa Congress, Puerto Rico Salsa Congress, Montreal Salsa Convention, Irish Salsa Congress, Isreal Salsa Congress, Shanghai Salsa Congress, Peru Salsa Congress and more.

Drawing inspiration from the elegance of classical dance and the intensity of Latin dance, Tina’s choreography is a unique blend of styles pulling out every high and low of the music, making it exciting and moving to the eye and to the soul. Her choreography can be seen in films, music videos, off broadway theatre productions, and live musicals and concerts. Her choreographic credits include “Instant Beauty Pageant” on E! Network, HGTV “Home Heist” with Collin and Justin, CBC’s television show “Fashion File”, Sarah Slean “Lucky Me” (music video), 54 40 “Golden Sun” (music video), “Dances with Bulls” (Bravo Short Film), Salsa Team Canada 2004, University of Toronto and Ontario Body Building, Country Music Network’s “Plucked” and annual productions at Harbourfront Centre.

Tina is is an advocate for dance and the arts in Toronto and produced and sponsored an annual showcase for Toronto’s emerging choreographers and dance companies called “Talent Defined”, that ran for 8 successful years. She also writes and produces the annual City Dance Corps faculty showcases that feature the choreographers and dancers of City Dance Corps. Taking dance to the stage and bringing the audience thought provoking performances is a passion that drives Tina.

www.tinanico.com