Samantha Paul has been dancing since age 3 and has been teaching children and adults for over a decade. She studied dance and its history at Eastwood Colligate, the University of Waterloo, and the Dance Masters of America (DMA) Teachers Training School at the University of Buffalo. She has performed and competed across North America, winning many regional and national awards. Samantha danced with the “First Generation Dancers” Irish dance troupe for four years where she performed at festivals across Ontario such as Goderich’s Celtic Roots, Toronto’s Harbourfront and Hamilton’s Earthsong. She has organized and directed many dance shows, and her choreography has been featured several times on local, provincial and national television. Samantha has also performed on Breakfast TV. She has choreographed and/or performed for several artists including The Sprit of the West, The Irish Descendants, Ken Brown, Pierre Schreyer, Failte, The Marcell School of Drum, The Millennium Orchestra and Choir, and the Community Connection Choir. She is also the exclusive choreographer to euro dance singer Tânia Costa. Samantha has delivered workshops and lectures at pre-schools, grade schools, high schools and university. She has been a featured speaker for McDougall Cottage’s ongoing lecture series. Her students have performed at several multicultural shows, weddings and festivals throughout Ontario, most recently delighting audiences at the Brantford Festival of Villages, The Canadian Authors Association’s national conference and at the Fergus Highland Games. Samantha believes dance class should be fun and at the same time provide a strong technical base. She’s happy to answer any of your questions.  Georgina Watson was schooled in the Ceccheti method of ballet and was invited to audition for the National Ballet School, where she was accepted into the school’s summer program. Her extensive background in ballet set the stage for helping her to win more than a hundred championship titles in Highland Dance. Georgina worked as an instructor at the Queen’s University summer dance programme for four years, and has traveled throughout Canada and the United States as a dance judge. Along with her distinguished career as a competitive Highland dancer (where she won the Champion of Champions award three years in a row, and rose to be world-ranked), Georgina has been a featured soloist throughout North America and Europe. Some special highlights include performing with The Clan McFarlane Pipe Band as part of their traveling troupe, performing with the John Allen Cameron and the Cape Breton Symphony, and dancing with the Queen’s Own Grenadier Guards of Scotland during their four-week North American Tour. Georgina was also awarded the honour of performing at the Edinburgh Tattoo where she was presented to Queen Elizabeth. After raising her family, Georgina is back teaching dance full force. Sam’s Steps Dance Centre is delighted to have Georgina as our ballet teacher! Danielle Dawson started dancing at the tender age of 3 and a few years later began competing. Over her 16 years as a competitive dancer, she has competed in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical and even hip-hop. She has won many group and solo awards. One highlight of her competitive career was achieving the Overall Soloists Award at Footloose Dance Competition.  Although she began teaching 7 years ago, she has stayed active as a dancer, dancing with the University of Waterloo Dance Team. In the future, Danielle hopes to obtain a minor in dance and work towards her RAD diploma. Over the years, her love for teaching has inspired her to want to teach and choreograph at a professional level and she is thrilled to be teaching at Sam's Steps Dance Centre. Kristen Ethier has been dancing with Samantha for nearly a decade, first as her student, then as a class assistant, and now as a fellow teacher. As a student, Kristen performed and competed with SSDC's company, Celtic Dynamic. She has performed throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo area for many St. Patrick's Day events and summer festivals. A highlight for Kristen has been dancing a full-length duet to live accompaniment by Black Forest band member, Gary Kreller, on the interview segment of CKCO News and Noon. Sam's Steps Dance Centre is proud to have Kristen on our teaching staff.