Reanna Maitland is a passionate and dedicated teacher of the Cecchetti Method of Ballet.
Her love for dance has taken her throughout North America, where she has had the privilege to study, teach, and perform.
Currently, she is the Head of Ballet and Artistic Director at two dance schools. In addition, she is an Examiner for the Classical Ballet Progressions of Canada and the founder of Live to Dance, where she organizes unique dance events, conventions, and competitions throughout Alberta and British Columbia.
After earning her 200-hour yoga teaching certificate in Costa Rica, Reanna developed Ballet Form Yoga. This teaching method blends her passion for yoga and ballet to enhance her students’ body awareness and strength.
It's been a privilege for Reanna to have taught numerous aspiring dance professionals now performing and teaching worldwide. Her former students have enjoyed professional careers with cruise lines and dance companies, including Cirque de Soleil, across Canada, the United States, and internationally. As someone who champions the development of teachers, it's particularly rewarding for her to see her dancers sharing their passion globally through teaching.
As a certified dance adjudicator, Reanna enjoys sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for dance by judging at dance festivals and competitions across Canada. She is grateful to have turned her passion into a career and hopes to inspire the same love of dance and movement in all the dancers she teaches and adjudicates.
Mireille Rijavec
Dance Adjudicators 2026
Inna Luzanac
Speech, Vocal and Musical Theatre 2026
Reanna Maitland
Piano and Strings 2026
Lindsay hails from Edmonton, Alberta and has been involved in the dance industry for over 35 years as a pupil, performer, instructor, choreographer, mock examiner, and adjudicator. These many training, performing, and teaching experiences have allowed her the fortune of immersing herself in a wide range of dance genres, including Ukrainian, Musical Theatre, Tap (Al Gilbert), Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet (Vaganova method), Modern, Contemporary and Hip Hop.
As a pupil and performer, Lindsay completed her Al Gilbert Graded Tap System exams through to Grade 9. She now acts as a Mock Examiner for studios around Edmonton, Alberta, as senior students prepare to complete their exams in this system. Lindsay trained primarily in St. Albert, Alberta, and had the opportunity to augment her training attending workshops and performing around Western Canada and the Northern US.
It became clear to Lindsay at a young age however, that her passion lay in choreography, storytelling through movement, and helping fellow artists develop technical excellence. Lindsay is a teacher and educator to her core.
Obtaining her Bachelor of Education degree with Distinction in 2011, Lindsay now teaches junior high and high school within the Edmonton Public Division. She instructed dance in the Vimy Ridge Academy Dance Program from 2000-2022, and now finds herself the Department Head of Student Leadership, teaching English Language Arts and Leadership to students from Grades 7-12 at Vimy Ridge Academy. Lindsay continues to share her passion for movement and storytelling with dancers young and old as a part of the creative team at Dancefusion Academy of Dance in Sherwood Park, and has had the privilege of sharing her love of dance as an adjudicator for the last 15 years in festivals and competitions throughout Western Canada.
In all facets of her life, the sharing of stories has always been a fascination, a passion, and a necessity. And while the ways in which we share our experiences with the world are many, of them all, dance is her favorite!
She looks forward to immersing herself in the performances as dancers showcase their hard work and dedication to the craft this weekend, sharing positive, uplifting, and meaningful adjudications with dancers and their families.
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul…” Martha Graham
Lindsay White-Thornton
Mezzo-soprano Mireille Rijavec has been heard on the CBC and many organizations in the Edmonton
area. Theatre being her first love, Mireille has found a number of ways of involving song in theatre
works, such as her cabaret Brie, Baguette and a Broad and a number of collaborative works such as A
Most Beautiful Deception, a play based on the poetry of Melissa Lacroix and Lost in Montmartre, a play
about a fictional wake for Érik Satie, all presented at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
Mireille was Music Faculty at the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean from 1999 to 2012 and was
on staff at Concordia University of Edmonton from 2006 to 2016 as a voice instructor, Manager and
Program Coordinator of Concordia's School of Music. Mireille was a member of Edmonton's professional
choir Pro Coro Canada for many years and from 2016 to 2019, their Executive Director. She was also a
member of the Edmonton Arts Council board from 2018 to 2024. Mireille continues to act as a
consultant for not-for-profit organizations.
Mireille is the vocal pedagogue and alto vocal coach for the Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus and has
conducted the Women’s Chamber Choir of Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus in 2023 and 2024. She
teaches voice privately and works with students of all levels and stresses the importance of being able to
read music, vocal technique grounded in physiology, and ultimately the joy of communicating through
song.
Inna Luzanac is an accomplished and multi-talented professional possessing over 30 years of proven expertise in the area of piano solo performance, piano instruction, chamber music, all aspects of music theory, harmony, and history instruction.
She holds a Master’s degree in piano performance, pedagogy and chamber music from the Lviv State Conservatory and a Bachelor of music degree from S. Krushelnytska school of music in Ukraine. This is a school specializing in instrumental music that combines regular academic subjects with an intensive training of an instrument, music theory, solfeggio, harmony, piano performance, chamber ensemble and choral training.
Inna is a piano instructor at the Winspear Center Alberta College Conservatory of music in Edmonton and was a professor of piano at the University of Alberta Augustana faculty for over 25 years. She is also an adjudicator and master class clinician. Inna believes that lessons must be an inspiration that every student can take home with them. Her education and performing experience combined with her welcoming and friendly nature allows students to gain a strong foundation in technique, build resilience in overcoming technical challenges, embrace their unique musical expressions, develop confidence to achieve their goals, and find joy from individualized lessons. Inna believes that to arrive at the best results, every student deserves an individual approach.
A native of Ukraine and a Canadian citizen, Inna Luzanac has enjoyed a dynamic musical career as a concert pianist, accompanist, adjudicator, and teacher. Her solo and chamber music appearances include performances throughout Italy, Poland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Canada. The highlights are – performance of Saint-Saens Concerto no.5 as a soloist with the Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at the age of 16. The most notable performance includes a live performance and private audience for Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy.
Throughout her career she has also worked with choirs as a rehearsal and concert accompanist with Polytechnic University choir in Ukraine, University of Alberta’s Augustana faculty choral union and Camrose community choir.
Currently, Inna Luzanac is residing in Edmonton and maintaining a full piano studio. Her students have received first class honors and medals in RCM exams and have been recognized through awards and scholarships at the local and provincial music festivals, competitions and master classes. In 2017, one of Inna’s students was awarded the highest mark in Canada for her Associate exam from Conservatory Canada.