Katrina Nassichuk

Katrina grew up on the Saanich Peninsula and began dancing at age 4. As a teenager she decided to pursue ballet more seriously and moved to a pre-professional ballet school in Victoria, training with some of western Canada's leading dance educators, earning awards with performances at festivals and competitions and high marks in her Cecchetti ballet examinations. After high school she performed professionally with Ballet Victoria part-time while completing her Bachelors of Psychology degree at UVic. She made the switch into dance teaching and pursued her Associate teaching diploma through the Cecchetti Society of Canada, completing her training at Victoria Academy of Ballet. As artistic director of a studio back on the Saanich Peninsula she grew the studio into an award-winning and highly regarded training program, who's students achieved high marks at competitions and in examinations and who were accepted into professional training and performance programs. But more importantly she was able to develop a studio that paired high-quality technical training with a ground-breaking environment of personal growth and wellness that viewed each student as a person first, and then as a dancer. After becoming the studio co-owner she was instrumental in establishing a studio culture of respect, care and compassion for each child where their individual goals and personal health and safety was paramount and where training standards remained high. She is passionate about high-quality training that utilizes the most up-to-date data in dance science, child development and educational pedagogy to ensure physical safety and flourishing while also ensuring that students' emotional and mental wellbeing is equally and intentionally cultivated. Now bringing her experience and passion to Sea Star, she hopes to inspire more students to love dance and to feel confident moving in class and onstage!