About Us

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Tracey began her journey with dance very early in her life.  She studied all genres of dance – she especially thrived in tap - and was a successful competitive student for many years in Canada and the U.S.  Since then, her passion for dance continued to grow and became a way of life for her.

Tracey is the Owner and Director of Tapps Performing Arts that she established after returning to her hometown of Orillia, Ontario in 1999. Tracey has poured her heart and soul into the studio and under her guidance, Tapps has grown to become the largest and longest running dance studio in the area. Many of her students have gone on to study dance at university, become dance instructors and have graced many pre-professional and professional stages. 

Tracey has been a dance educator for over 30 years. She gained her initial teaching certification under the Canadian Dance Teacher’s Association (CDTA) and then went on to recently complete her ADAPT Teaching Certification in Jazz and Tap under the mentorship of Brian and Faye Foley. As a dance instructor, Tracey truly shines when she teaches acrobatic dance. She is creative, interactive, hands on, and extremely knowledgeable. She holds her Module 1 Certification with Acrobatic Arts and is a certified Level 2 Provincial Gymnastics coach and a Level 1 Provincial Trampoline coach.

Anyone who knows Tracey knows that she always has a large smile and an even bigger heart. She is actively involved in a number of volunteer groups in Orillia and surrounding areas and is always willing to lend a helping hand. She is heavily involved with skating clubs, gymnastic clubs, Canada Day committee and many non-for-profit events, most recently the extremely successful first annual “Dancing With the Doctors Fundraiser”.  

Emily is an instructor, choreographer and adjudicator from Orillia, Ontario with well over a decade of dedicated teaching and choreography experience. As a student, Emily trained extensively in various and her dancing has taken her all over the world. She has trained in New York City (Broadway Dance Center, Pulse on Tour Summer), Los Angeles (MDC), Las Vegas (The Dance Awards), and Vancouver (Harbour Dance) and has competed all over North America. Emily has performed on many stages including shows at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida and most memorably, she travelled to Riesa, Germany with the 2012 Canadian National Showdance Team.

As an instructor, Emily began training students and choreographing routines at a young age and has experienced immense success winning numerous awards. After high school she was an integral part of developing the award winning Wilfrid Laurier Competitive Dance Team and worked as their head choreographer while she completed her Honours BBA degree. Immediately after, she returned to Tapps to continue teaching while simutanesiouly obtaining her CPA, CA designation. 

Beyond choreography, Emily is a dynamic and nurturing dance educator who believes that consistent training is the key to any dancer’s success. Emily has graduated with a gold seal from the ADAPT syllabus teachers training program, where she completed an extensive 3 years of training, under the direction of Brian and Faye Foley in the styles of Tap and Jazz. She is also a member of the Professional Adjudicators Alliance, has completed her Acrobatic Arts Module 1 Certification Course and her Alixa Flexibility Module 1 Certification Course. Additionally, many of Emily’s students have moved on to study dance in post-secondary environments in some of Canada’s most prestigious programs including York University Dance, Ryerson Dance, and Intrepid Dance Company. 

Emily is an in-demand guest teacher and choreographer but is proud to call Tapps her home.

Shelby Dasilva is a dance educator and choreographer from Orillia, Ontario. 

Shelby’s love for dance started over 20 years ago at Tapps Performing Arts, where she spent numerous years training and competing in various styles including jazz, ballet, contemporary, and acrobatics.  Shelby began assisting and teaching at Tapps while in high school, discovering her passion and interest in dance education.

Shelby has an Honors Specialization in Health Sciences from the University of Western Ontario.  During her time at Western, she further developed her passion for dancing, teaching, and choreographing when she joined UWO Dance Force, the university’s largest club.  As one of the club’s elected team instructors, Shelby was responsible for leading classes and choreographing routines to be performed in yearly showcases, which were a large contributor to the club’s substantial philanthropic efforts.  In her fourth year, Shelby was elected team manager, and as such, was an integral part of organizing the programming and events leading up to the year-end showcase.  Shelby has also earned a Bachelor of Education degree and a Master of Education degree from Lakehead University, furthering her knowledge and commitment to providing valuable and impactful learning experiences. 

Since returning to Orillia, Shelby has been dedicated to sharing her talent, passion, and love for dance education with her students. Shelby is continuously striving for new inspiration and exuding immense commitment to nurturing her students’ potential and artistic voice.  As a teacher and choreographer, her competitive work has received numerous entertainment, choreography, high score, and overall awards at various competitions.  Recently, Shelby has also set choreography for music videos, including Cassie Dasilva’s “I Don’t Trust Anyone Anymore,” “Unsolicited Contact,” and “I Don’t Hang Out With My Exes.”

Shelby is gold seal certified in the ADAPT Syllabus teachers training program, where she completed three years of Jazz and Tap instruction training under Brian and Faye Foley. She is also a proud member of the Professional Adjudicators Alliance.

Andrea Marcucci, affectionately known as Miss Andrea, is a full teaching member of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) since 2000 and is also a member of International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS).  She has trained in and taught Ballet, Modern, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Tap, National Dance, and Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) for over 20 years. She is also a teacher of the Dance for PD program founded by the Mark Morris Company in NY and has created a dance program, which she teaches several times a year at Empower Simcoe. 

Before joining Tapps in 2018, Miss Andrea was successful Principal and Proprietor of her own studio from 2004 to 2017, and a company member of Simcoe Contemporary Dancers from 2010 to 2014. She also has over 20 years of performance experience, and has been  involved with productions such as Godspell, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, The Odd Couple (Female Version) and Jesus Christ Superstar to name a few. She has taken master classes with many notable educators including Frank Augustine, Lynn Wallis, the Limón Company in NYC and was invited to take class company class with the Isadora Duncan Foundation in NYC in the summer of 2010.

As an educator, Miss Andrea takes her job very seriously. In 2011 she was nominated for Educating in the Arts through the Orillia District Arts Council and her former studio was also nominated for Educating in the Arts. Miss Andrea has also been the dance coach at Mariposa Gymnastics Club for the past 11 years. Additionally, she has guided a multitude of students through the successful completion of RAD exams and many of her students have gone on to pursue pre-professional, professional and teaching positons within the industry. 

Miss Andrea is extremely pleased to be a part of the Tapps Faculty and we are extremely lucky to have someone as knowledgeable, experienced and nurturing and her running our ballet program.

LaurieAnn danced competitively for over 15 years and has over 5 years of teaching experience. As a student, she was extremely focused, driven and determined. She trained extensively in many styles and she was known for her versatility and her hunger to master every genre of dance. 

In 2018 LaurieAnn returned to Tapps after completing her BaH in Classics at Queen's University. While there, she joined Queen's Dance Club, the largest student run organization on campus, teaching Intermediate-Advanced Contemporary for the 2015/2016 season and Advanced Choreography from 2016-2018. Through QDC she was given the opportunity of running many outreach programs, including free workshops for mental health, choreographing for the performance team which showcased at events in the local community, and an acro workshop fundraising for the lung disease Pulmonary Fibrosis. LaurieAnn was also a member of Flow Performance Crew, competing at OUCH and helping to lead the team to two consecutive Dance Battle wins, a coveted title in the Queen's dance community.

LaurieAnn has enjoyed reuniting with her family at Tapps and is excited to continue sharing her love of dance with her students. 

Ashley Veldboom is a Tapps Performing Arts alumni and dances professionally in acrobatic/jazz/contemporary dance. She started dancing at the age of 3; and danced competitively in many dance styles for over 9 years. In her competition years, Ashley won many awards but the one that meant the most to her was winning the title of Sr Ultimate Dancer at On The Floor Finals. 

After graduating Ashley was invited to train with Intrepid Dance Company, a post-secondary professional dance program in Markham, ON. Ashley trained with Intrepid from 2019 to 2021, where she learned from industry professionals. With Intrepid she competed on season 1 of Canada’s Got Talent; having made it to the live audition rounds. 

Aside from her training at Intrepid Ashley has danced in many other films and content such as backup dancer for artist Cassie Dasilva in her music video “Unsolicited Contact”, a dancer in the movie “Boy City”, and dance concept video “How To Be A Lady” choreographed and directed by Allie Goodbun. 

Ashley is also a member of the dance group “OPUS”, dancing in their show “The Introduction”. The group also danced in the major dance event “The Big Show In Toronto” among numerous other talented performers. 

Ashley not only has a passion for dancing but sharing that passion with others. Ashley has been teaching at Tapp's since she was 13 years old. Now at age 20, she is our acro technique teacher and teaches recreational and competitive students. Ashley is an Acrobatic Arts M2 Certified Instructor as well, she is almost completed with her Gymnastics Ontario Competition 1 Coaching Certificate program.

Karen "Kay" was born in Toronto, ON and started her journey with dance at the young age of 3 with Spirit of Aloha School. Growing up, hula dancing brought out her gracefulness but Kay, as family and friends like to call her, enjoyed watching BET and learned choreography through music videos from artist such as: Aaliyah, Monica, Missy Elliot, etc. At the age of 13, Kay took her first hip hop class with Fly Lady Di (aka Diana Reyes) at the Markham Federation of Filipino Canadians (MFFC). She continued to perform with the MFFC youth group for several years fundraising money for the community.

Alongside working with the MFFC, Kay wanted to pursue her career in singing and formed a singing trio called Blush. In 2001, Blush went on to debut their first EP album working with Backstage Productions. Blush performed at several Toronto landmarks such as Harborfront Centre, Nathan Phillip Square and Metro Convention Centre. During this time she had the privilege to work with artist and choreographer Cleopatra Williams. By the time she graduated high school she got accepted into the Humber College Theatre program where she developed her skills as a dancer with classes such as; African Dance (Ballet Creole), Movement and Character Dance.

By 2009, Kay auditioned and joined the first generation of "Bucc N Flvr Dance Crew" members. As a professional dancer and a part of "Bucc N Flvr Dance Crew" Kay regularly performs as well as facilitates, mentors and teaches workshops around the GTA. She has also traveled and performed with her crew in places such as: Montreal, Ottawa, Washington DC, Dallas TX and Dominican Republic. She continues to work professionally and continues to train under Lenny Len Dela Pena.

Kay always keeps true to street dance and hip hop culture with new techniques of training and always having the mindset of a student. Kay aims to maintain and carry on the legacy of "Bucc N Flvr Dance Crew" for the love of hip hop culture and to share her passion of hip hop with all of the students.

 Tia Degagne grew up dancing and has 15 years of extensive training and  competition experience that she completed during her school years in  Orillia. After graduating from High School, she attended post-secondary  at Western University in London Ontario where she earned her business  degree.
 

During her time at Western, Tia continued to dance and also began  teaching for the largest University Dance Team on Campus called “Dance  Force”. Dance Force welcomed dancers of all levels and focused on  technique training and performance skills. The club also put on a  year-end performance every year to showcase the dancer's skills as well  as raise significant funds for local charitable organizations. During  her time with Dance Force, Tia had the ability to teach university  dancers of all skill levels. For the 2012-2013 season, Tia focused her  work with beginner dancers in jazz and lyrical/contemporary styles and  as she became more involved with the club, she took on roles of teaching  jazz and lyrical/contemporary to the most advanced groups. For the  2014-2015 school year, Tia even became the President of Dance Force.
 

After graduating University, Tia started her working years living in  London. While in London, she continued her teaching career at a fitness  boutique teaching barre classes, which is a mix of ballet and pilates  techniques, to those of all levels.
 

Tia has now moved back to her home town of Orillia and is thrilled to be  teaching at Tapps Performing Arts. She is happy to reconnect with some  of her old teammates and continue to make Tapps the best studio in  Orillia.