Selina’s Studio for the Performing Arts has been Ottawa’s premier talent studio for (10) years, offering Dancing, Singing and Acting lessons. At Selina’s Studio students can express themselves to their fullest potential and build lifelong friendships. Selina’s Studio takes great pride in being diverse and offering many forms of performing arts. We have programs available for all children, regardless of their age and experience.
Our team is a group of dynamic performers and they are certified teachers as well! We’re accepting your family into our hands. Rest assured the best of hands, with people trained at the highest levels of performing and academia.
Selina Holvey is a singer, dancer, actor and teacher who grew up in Barrhaven. She is a graduate from Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto, where she studied dancing, singing and acting. While living in Toronto, Selina performed professionally in musicals at Solar Stage Children’s Theatre. Roles included; Goldilocks in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Wolf in The Three Little Pigs, and Pinocchio. Selina also holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice and a Bachelor of Education from The University of Ottawa. There she performed in operas Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Don Giovanni, and Le nozze di Figaro. Other credits include; Miss Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (Randolph Academy) and Prissy in Anne of Green Gables (Orpheus Musical Theatre Society). Selina has been the music teacher, band director and choir director at the private school Westboro Academy since 2013. She has directed several performing arts classes and camps including vocal, dance and musical theatre over the last 15 years. Selina applies her teaching experience and knowledge to create a safe space where students feel motivated, challenged and free to explore their creativity.
Bethany is a registered Early Childhood Educator as well as an Ontario Certified Teacher. Her passion for dance began as a young girl where she received her dance training in Atlanta, Georgia with a pre-professional dance company entitled Roswell City Dance. Afterwards, Bethany was a member of The University of Ottawa’s Competitive Dance Team in 2006 -2007 and 2010-2011, while pursuing her Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree. In 2007, Bethany was a founding member of Project 7, a non-profit professional contemporary commercial dance company in Atlanta, under the direction and choreography of Cherrise Wakeham. Bethany’s dance experience has been teaching and attending workshops in hip hop, contemporary, jazz, tap, and ballet. Bethany was also a dance teacher and choreographer for On Your Toes Dance Company in Atlanta, Georgia where she taught dance to students ranging from ages 3 to 50 years of age. Today, Bethany is thrilled to be one of the lead instructors at Selina’s Studio. Her positive teaching style focuses on encouraging her dance students to work hard and do their personal best.
J. Taylor Morris (J.T.) is an actor, director, teacher with performance credits across eastern & southern Ontario.
He studied theatre and directing at the University of Ottawa and is now active in the local theatre scene having most recently directed Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel at Centrepointe Theatre. Selected performance credits include: Inspecting Carol (Wayne Wellacre); The Full Monty (Ethan Girard); West Side Story (A-Rab); Antigone (Creon); Jeppe of the Hill (Lackey). J.T. has conducted numerous camps and workshops, taught with: Salamander Theatre for Young Audiences; Fiddleheads, an organization dedicated to teaching youth fiddle playing and drama within its context in the history of Canada, in Chelsea, Quebec; and, currently, also teaches at the Ottawa School of Speech & Drama/Ottawa Theatre School.
In 2004, J.T. was one one of 10 actors selected to represent Canada at the International Drama Educators Association festival (I.D.E.A). J.T. holds a passion for helping youth discover themselves through theatre and creation and is excited to bring it to Barrhaven and its surrounding communities.
Lianna has been dancing in Ottawa since she was 4 years old. Starting out recreationally, but quickly joining a competitive team when she was just 7 years old. Throughout her competitive career, Lianna has won many overall and judges choice awards at various competitions across Canada. Lianna has also attended multiple dance conventions and workshops, allowing her to take classes with and learn from many well-known and experienced choreographers like Blake McGrath, Shannon Mather, Twitch, and NappyTabs. Lianna is formally trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, and Hip Hop. She has completed many B.AT.D, R.A.D, and A.D.A.P.T dance exams. Lianna has been teaching recreational and competitive dancers in Ottawa for over a decade. She has choreographed many high scoring solos and group dances for the competitive team at Selina's Studio. Lianna hopes to pass on her own knowledge of the art, as well as instill the love of dance into her students.
Isabelle Grzegorzko is the senior hip hop instructor and choreographer at Selina’s Studio. She has been teaching for approximately ten years in Ottawa, from youth outreach programs to recreational and competitive classes. Her competitive dances have one overall awards and high scores at Nationals. Her experience in teaching varies from kinder ages to adults and includes choreographies for various private events. Isabelle was a member of both Culture Shock Ottawa and Driven Dance Company after training in a local Ottawa studio for 8 years. She has participated in countless masterclasses and workshop events including training with Lenny Len, Kim Gingras, Vincent Noiseaux, House of Vogue and Mark Scramblelock. She has performed at Igloofest, Winterlude, Canada Day, CultureShock International Showcase as well as several birthdays, fundraisers and club and promotional events in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. Nowadays, her passion lies in teaching and mentoring youth while instilling a deep love and knowledge for the culture of hip hop in all her students.
Courtney has been dancing since the age of three, and has trained and competed in all styles of dance. She has successfully completed her Advanced 1 R.A.D ballet examination, as well as A.D.A.P.T exams in both jazz and tap. Courtney is a recent graduate from Carleton University, where she took part in the university’s varsity dance team. Currently, she is studying at the University of Ottawa, for her Bachelor in Education. Having been an instructor at Selina’s Studio since 2016, Courtney enjoys sharing her love of dance with her students, while inspiring them with positivity and constructive encouragement. She is looking forward to continuing her journey here at Selina’s Studio!
Shannon comes to us from a small town in Southwestern Ontario, known as St. Thomas. By the time Shannon was able to walk by herself, she never stopped carrying a deep love and passion for dance and acrobatics. She began her training in St. Thomas at the young age of two, participating in gymnastics classes. By the age of four, she was enrolled in ballet classes at the local YMCA. She signed up for her first acro class in 2002 at a studio known as, “Dance Pointe,” from Aylmer, ON. She fell in love with this discipline and continued her dance studies there until she graduated. At the age of twelve, she began her first year on the competitive team and started to assist and teach acro classes. She has experience in many dance styles, from acro to jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, musical theatre, and aerial silks/circus skills. Outside of dance, Shannon works as a Registered Massage Therapist. She loves integrating her knowledge of the human body into her studio time; guiding her students towards increased movement and stronger performance through breathing, stretching, and strengthening. Shannon works with all levels of the competitive team, teaches acro and jazz, and is the Acro Manager for Selina’s Studio. She is also certified in the Acrobatic Arts Preschool AcroDance Program.
Sarah Stapleton is a fourth-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University studying Music Education and specializing in Voice. She has completed thirteen years of private piano instruction as well as ten years of private voice instruction and currently studies classical voice with Kimberly Barber and contemporary voice with Amanda Brunk. Prior to Laurier, Sarah attended Canterbury High School in her hometown of Ottawa to specialize in Voice and sang in numerous choirs and vocal competitions throughout her time there. Sarah is also a passionate musical theatre performer and grew up performing in show choirs and musicals. Sarah is the recipient of numerous music awards, including the 2016 Robert Palmai Vocal Award, the 2019 Henry and Mabel Krug Scholarship, and the 2020 Dorothy V. and Abram Wiebe Scholarship. Sarah aspires to teach music and mathematics to high school and university students after her time at Laurier while maintaining her private studio. She has taught students of all ages – from two to seventy-two! – and is a firm believer that anyone can be a musician. Sarah combines her passions for teaching and wellness to help each of her students reach their goals healthily, enabling her students to enjoy music for life.
Nadia is a student at the University of Ottawa studying Biomedical Sciences. She's been singing since the age of 6 and has been taking formal lessons for the past 5 years. She has always been interested in vocals as well as in theatre, and loves performing. In her free time she volunteers as a performer at senior residences and in restaurants at their coffee houses. In the past, she's been invited by our local MPP to perform at one of her campaign launches. She's also had the honour of singing our national anthem numerous times at City Hall for different events. Nadia has been working at Selina’s Studio as both an assistant with Selina and an instructor for a total of 5 years. She really enjoys working with kids and is looking forward to continuing sharing her passion of singing and acting with the students at the studio.
Mariam has been dancing since the age of 4 and has received training in ballet, jazz and contemporary. She has studied multiple styles of ballet, such as R.A.D. and Checcetti. Mariam has taken three years of dance courses at Longfields Davidson Heights Secondary School and has experience in choreographing and teaching many dance styles. She has danced on Selina's Studio competitive dance team and has assisted and volunteered in many studio dance classes throughout her time with us. She has been teaching ballet and jazz with us since 2018. Mariam is currently a student at the University of Ottawa's Biomedical Science program. She is very excited to continue sharing her love of dance with others.
Amy has been dancing since she was 2 years old. She began at Janie Burrows School of Dance in Glasgow, Scotland, where she completed many B.A.T.D dance exams in tap, jazz, and modern and took part in the annual recitals. Since moving to Ottawa in 2015, Amy has been dancing at Selina’s Studio and has been dancing competitively for the studio since the team was formed. Currently, she competes in jazz, tap, and hip hop but also has experience in other styles. Amy loves to spend all of her spare time at the studio. She has been working at the studio summer camps initially as a volunteer and then a counsellor for the past four years. Additionally, she assists with dance classes on a regular basis and is now teaching her own classes. Currently, Amy is a senior at Sir Robert Borden High School. She hopes to continue to combine her academic learning with her love of dance. As well as sharing her passion with all of her students.
Taylor began dancing at the age of three and has trained and competed in many styles of dance. Taylor has competed at numerous local competitions as well as ADA national championships throughout her training. Taylor first began to teach dance to students while at St Paul High School for her school dance team and assisted in ballet at Greta Leeming Studio of Dance. In 2015, Taylor started professionally teaching her own classes. Taylor has successfully completed A.D.A.P.T exams in both jazz and tap as well as her Advanced 1 R.A.D ballet examination. Taylor is currently an active member of the Carleton Ravens Dance Pak while studying Interactive Multimedia and Design at Carleton University. Taylor is thrilled to be joining Selina’s Studio and is looking forward to sharing her passion for dance with all of her students.
Alex has been dancing since age 10. She started with jazz, but fell in love with dancing of all styles and received extensive training in jazz, musical theatre, tap, ballet, and modern. At age 15, Alex was added to a professional dance company in the GTA and performed at charity events, school events, and, her personal favourite, haunted houses! She started teaching in 2018 and has been hooked ever since. She’s taught at summer camps, Fosse workshops, Musical Theatre workshops, and classes for adults and kids. She completed her professional BATD Jazz Associates Exam in 2019 and has studied for multiple BATD exams including Tap and Ballet. Outside of the dance world, she’s completed her BA at Carleton University and works for one of Canada’s top animation studios. Alex believes that dancing is for everybody and is a great way to build self-confidence, which is often a subliminal theme in her classes. Her overall goal is for students to fall in love with movement and self-expression.
Brenna has been dancing since the age 5 and began dancing competitively at the age of 12. However, it was evident that she always wanted to teach. In 2014, she began as a dance teacher’s assistant and supply teacher; and by her graduating year she had accumulated over 1000 volunteer hours as a teacher’s assistant. She is trained in tap, jazz, ballet and contemporary; and has completed A.D.A.P.T dance examinations in both jazz and tap. Brenna is currently a student at Carleton University studying Biology and is a founding member of Carleton’s DanceLab, a recreational dance club for classical dance styles. Brenna is very excited to be an instructor at Selina’s Studio and to share her love of dance with the next generation of dancers!
Rachel is ecstatic and very humbled to join the team at Selina’s Studio! A recent graduate from Randolph College for the Performing Arts and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Rachel is an international singer, actor, dancer, and musician. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Rachel has performed and worked all over the world, including the UK, Canada, and China. Her most recent acting credits include: Margot in Legally Blonde: The Musical (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Dee in a new Actor-Muso musical: City of Dreams (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music (Randolph Theatre). Other than theatre, Rachel is an avid lover of yoga, dogs, and pizza. Furthermore, she is excited to share her passion for acting, and hopefully, inspire others to find confidence in themselves to share their passion for acting too.
Express Yourself, Be Creative, Have Fun!
Address: 3091 Strandherd Dr Ottawa, ON, Canada K2G 4R9
