staff

Amelia Menjivar (she/her)

Instructor, (Breaking, Hip-Hop, Locking, Commercial, House)

Amelia Menjivar is a 17-year old dancer born and raised in Hamilton ON. Introduced to Breaking as soon as she could walk, Amelia has been dancing for 14 years, training at Defining Movement Dance in Street Dance styles such as Breaking, Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, House & Waaacking. Amelia has danced for the World of Dance LA Competition, Toronto Raptors and prelude New Jersey.

Anne Prat-Kalonji (she/her)

Fundraising Lead, Competitive Team Liaison

Anne has been an amateur dancer since her childhood in France, and has explored many genres such as Modern, Ballet, Jazz, and Contemporary. Anne has been dancing with the adult competitive program at DMD since 2019 in Street Dance and Hip-Hop. She participated in the Aeris Korper’s project Collapsing the night as well as many of their workshops throughout the years. Anne is currently a French teacher in a Montessori school. She is also an occasional storyteller sharing tales of a biracial and multicultural upbringing. Anne excels at event planning and organizing large groups of people which makes her an asset to DMD as the Fundraising Lead.

Brian Estime (He/Him)

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer (Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, Litefeet, Breaking, Commercial, House)

Brian Estime is a dancer based out of Hamilton, where he currently trains with, RXD, Republic and Defining Movement Dance. Brian began his dance journey at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts at the age of 7, where he trained in Hip-Hop, Jazz and Ballet, before focusing solely on Hip-Hop and Street Dance around the age of 12 at Defining Movement Dance. Throughout the last 9 years of his dance career, Brian has competed at numerous well-known events such as Hit The Floor and Hip-Hop International with DMD. As well as World of Dance in both Michigan and Los Angeles as a member and captain of The ARTillery Dance Company. Brian has also had the chance to train with many world-class dancers such as Melvin Tim-Tim, Sean Lew, and Frankie J to name a few. Brian hopes to continue learning from many artists so that he can share his creativity with the rest of his community

Chris Luczon (he/him)

Instructor, (Breaking, Battle and Freestyle Development)

Chris Luczon is a bboy/breaker based in Hamilton repping Weapons of Sole, World Serpent and Just Another Day Crew. Also known as "Lowki'', Chris has trained in breaking for 10 years while dabbling in other Street Dance styles. "I'm just a guy sharing the story of movement through breaking and storytelling everywhere I go, whenever I can. From conferences, to battles, to the Cypher, just leaving everything on the floor."

Claris Menjivar (she/her)

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer (Breaking, Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, Commercial, House)

Claris has been a dancer since the age of two but discovered her love and passion for dance after consistently attending her father's dance battles when she was just a little girl. Claris specializes in all kinds of Hip-Hop, Street Dance and Commercial Choreography. She specifically specializes in break dance thanks to her father, B-Boy Basz. The early years of Claris’ dance career were spent at Defining Movement Dance training in styles of Hip-Hop and Street Dances such as; Locking, Popping, & Breaking. During that time, she performed at various events like Super Crawl, Art Crawl, Banquets, Fashion Shows, Charities, Miss Philippines 2014 Pageant, PanAm games, CHCH News, CBC News and many others. Claris also took part in many dance battles across the GTA. Although she was as young as 8 competing against adults, she still managed to place high in the battles. As she got older, she started to compete in various competitions around the GTA. Claris has won many overalls and received a scholarship to perform at Disney Land Florida. She has competed and advanced at the Canadian Hip-Hop Championships in Montreal twice with her crew at Defining Movement Dance. At 14 she was a part of crew, ‘The ARTillery’. The ARTillery allowed her to compete at World of Dance LA 2019 and World of Dance Michigan 2019 placing first. Claris has also choreographed for multiple music videos and continues to teach and compete. She is currently in her first year at York University, studying Dance Education.

Crystal Lupal (she/her)

Administration Lead

Crystal Lupal previously trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Hip-Hop. She started training with DMD in 2017 and joined the Adult Competitive Team in 2019. In her role as an Educational Assistant, she has had the opportunity to connect with many youth, which led to her directing and choreographing two musicals. Furthering her love of working with children with Special Needs, she co-owned and operated an arts program that focused on dance, music and acting called “Especially You.” Crystal was the 2016 recipient of the Council for Exceptional Children’s President's Award for an Educational Support Professional for her work with at-risk youth. She also received the HWDSB Profiling Excellence Award in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Crystal’s neurodivergence provides her with excellent organization and immense creativity that she uses in her role with DMD.

Dylan Vandemaele (He/Him)

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer, (Hip-Hop, Popping, Animation, Litefeet, Commercial, Locking)

Dylan Vandemaele is an actor and dance instructor based in Hamilton. He is a graduate of Glendale Secondary’s performing arts program where he began his training and found his passion as an artist early on. Since graduating, Dylan has gone on to train at Defining Movement Dance and specializes in street styles such as Hip-Hop, Commercial Choreography, funk styles (Popping/Locking) and more. Dylan has worked with various companies such as The Hamilton Fringe, The CEBL, Theatre Aquarius, Defining Movement Dance, Rooks Theatre, and more within Hamilton’s scene of arts as a performer and producer. His work on “The 4 Grandmasters of Street Dance”, a Hip-Hop play he wrote and directed, recently won the best in Family Fringe 2022.

Dylan is currently training with Republic training team and RXD a semi-professional competitive dance crew that recently won Legacy Dance Comp in August 2023

Emilie Pickell (she/her)

Instructor (Tumbling, Stunts, Stretching & Flexibility)

Emilie Pires (she/her)

Instructor, Choreographer (Hip-Hop, Commercial Style, Popping, Locking, House, Litefeet)

Emilie Pires is a dancer based out of Hamilton, where she currently trains and teaches at Defining Movement Dance, a Hip-Hop and Street Dance focused studio. Emilie was introduced to dance at the age of 3 and began focusing on hip-hop and street dances around the age of 14. Emilie has had the opportunity to compete at many respected events such as Hip Hop International and Hit the Floor with DMD, as well as World of Dance Michigan and Los Angeles with The ARTillery Dance Company. Emilie has been able to train with many world-renowned dancers such as Ysabelle Capitule, Natalie Bebko, Julian DeGuzman and Lyle Beniga and has taken initiative to expand her training by attending workshops including Rhythm2Dance and KAOS. Emilie hopes to continue using her knowledge and creativity to further connect the Hamilton community through her dance.

Eshe (she/they)

Social Media Lead

Eshe is a dance teller and creative being based in Hamilton, Canada. She holds multiple awards for both her dance artistry and her community work.

She's graced the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar as well as stages in Denmark, Turkey, Australia, America, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia.

2021 saw her judging competitions in Norway and Japan, performing as the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz in Copenhagen's Danish Open. During the pandemic she's appeared virtually in Egypt, Turkey, Japan, Norway and The Netherlands and worked with companies like Nike. More at hamiltonbellydance.com

James Levy (He/Him)

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer (Hip-Hop, Popping, Animation, Funk Styles, Freestyle Development)

James Levy Jr. (T.E.I.N.) is a Hip Hop/Funk Styles dancer, teacher, and performer from Buffalo, New York. He has been a part of the dance and arts community for over 15 years. He is an adjunct professor for Alfred University and the University of Rochester, teaching Hip Hop history, culture, and dance. He works with multiple dance studios and schools in and out of Buffalo. He has also set work in multiple dance programs including University of Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, and Buffalo State University. A noteworthy accomplishment is the collaboration with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for multiple concerts. Sharing and exchanging through teaching, competing, and community outreach, he hopes to continue bringing a positive and uplifting energy to those around him through the education of dance and culture.

Janessa Pudwell (She/Her)

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer (Breaking, Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, Commercial, House, Contemporary, Jazz, Jazz Funk)

Janessa is a dancer, choreographer and teacher working out of Hamilton and the GTA. She has devoted her life to training extensively in a variety of styles including contemporary, jazz, ballet, tap, modern and street dance styles such as hip hop, popping, locking and house.

Janessa was a featured choreographer for Toronto's Nuit Rose Festival, Hamilton's Art Crawl Festival and received Hamilton's Emerging Dance Artist Award in 2020. She is always looking for new ways to create and evolve her artistry. Her first endeavor into filmmaking was with the short film "Moment Between 8 & 1", which won the independent short film category for the Hamilton Arts Awards in 2021.

Janessa works regularly in music videos and music production as a director, choreographer and dancer. Her passion for dance, music and art are undeniable. She hopes to inspire the generations after her to be fearless in their creations and expression. Janessa is currently co-director or Republic training team and co-director of RXD a semi-professional competitive dance crew that recently won Legacy Dance Comp in August 2023

Marlon Mendoza (He/Him)

Instructor, (Popping, Animation, Waacking, Freestyle Development)

Marlon Mendoza is a street dancer from Hamilton Ontario. Although he's been dancing all of his life, Marlon officially started training Street Styles in 2012. He loves to learn all styles of Street Dance but his main focuses are Popping and Whacking/waacking. Marlon regularly attends battles and open cyphers across the GTA and is known for his extravagant personality and character while dancing.

Sarah Smith (She/They)

Rental Lead, Administration, Photographer/Videographer

Sarah Smith is a dance artist and photographer based out of Hamilton ON. The early years of Sarah's dance career were spent training in styles such as; Tap, Ballet, Contemporary and Commercial Hip-Hop through Starlite Dance Studio, CM Dance and Hamilton City Ballet. Most recently she has been training in Hip-Hop and Street styles such as House, Locking, Popping, and more through Defining Movement Dance and Republic Dance Crew. Sarah competed in some of these styles from 2012-2021 and won many awards and overalls for their Tap and Ballet solos through these years. She has worked with companies and events such as the CEBL, Super Crawl, Theatre Ancaster, Hamilton Fringe and Haus of the Holy Spirit. Sarah continues to expand their creative practices through openness, curiosity and intuition. Hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Instructor, Competitive Choreographer (Tumbling, Stretching & Flexibility, Acro)

Veena Singh is a hip hop, bhangra and Bollywood dancer, an Acrobatics choreographer and a certified gymnastics coach based out of Hamilton, ON. Veena brings over 10 years of dance experience and 6 years of gymnastics coaching to the team, and has performed at Hit The Floor, North American Culture Show, Thaalam 2012, and the Vaisakhi special of the Raptors Halftime Show. Veena has competed with the McMaster South Asian Alliance and Tamil Student Union, and was President of Studio 2 Dance at Toronto Metropolitan University. She currently competes with the DMD adult competitive team and choreographs competitive acrobatics solos for the students.