Teachers

At Loch Murray our dance teachers are both qualified and kind. Our advanced students also have the unique learning opportunity to help teach classes of younger children. The teachers at Loch Murray are:

Mrs. Terrie Kember

Terrie Kember is the Director of the Loch Murray Dancers.
She is a life Member of the S.D.T.A. (Scottish Dance Teachers Alliance), the B.A.T.D. (British Association of Teachers of Dance) and the O.H.D.A. (Ottawa Highland Dancing Association). Terrie is a current professional member of ScotDance Canada (Ontario) and has been a judge with the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing for 40 years. A former principal dancer with the Alberta Ballet Company, Terrie has training in Ballet (R.A.D.), Highland, National, Jazz, Stage, Country & Western and Irish Dance.

Terrie is an Apprentice member of ACTRA. Terrie was the Founding Director of the RCMP Pipes and Drums Dance Team and its Choreographer for five years.

Michael Patrick Farrell, TCRG — Irish Dance

Mr. Farrell is one of Canada's top performers and choreographers of Irish dance. He is a master of three distinct forms: Irish step, céilí and set dancing. Having competed successfully at a world championship level until 1990, he spent the next four years studying social work and travelling in Ireland to study, bring back and teach some esoteric forms of Celtic dance throughout Canada. He has lectured at University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson Polytechnic University, given many international radio and television interviews and been the subject of a documentary. He founded and is artistic director of the Celtic Dance Company of Canada. National broadcasts include a commissioned work for the CBC on Parliament Hill, the du Maurier Concert Stage Gala (Vancouver), and the 1999 Juno Awards. He was honoured to be chosen to choreograph the finale for Canada’s showcase of premiere professional dance talent, Dancers for Life (1997), at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto. His career as a performer culminated with a personal invitation to perform at Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s Farewell Tribute, broadcast nationally from Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. Most recently, he has provided choreography and artistic consultation for The Magic of Ireland, which will tour Britain, Europe and North America for the 2007/2008 season. Mr. Farrell choreographs, trains and directs professional dancers from alternate disciplines in Celtic dance performance.

Patricia Farrell — Irish Dance

A respected teacher and choreographer, Ms. Farrell is also the executive director of the Celtic Dance Centre. She loves choreographing for children, and has staged countless works for young people, with many appearances in schools, local theatres and on television. Her work with professionals in Dancing at Lughnasa garnered critical acclaim and several award nominations. Ms. Farrell founded Greenfire Celtic Dance Theatre, a children's company, in 1999. She was the subject of a CBC Radio play, focussing on both her reputation as a dedicated and ground-breaking teacher, and on the success of her students. A champion dancer, who left competition due to injury, she was motivated to pursue studies in aerobic training, fitness assessment, and strength and flexibility training methods. She works actively with the Sports Medicine Specialists, SportsCARE (Sunnybrook & Women's), teachers from the National Ballet School and various Olympic trainers in furthering the development of our training programs. Ms. Farrell has a specialist degree in English theatre from Trent University.

Darcia Isenor - Tap.

Darcia has her B.A. in Early Childhood Education and B.Ed. in Primary/Junior with additional qualifications in Special Education. Darcia is fully qualifed with the BATD to instruct Highland, Tap, Stage and Step Dancing. Darcia toured North America with "Durante" and was the lead in William Orlowski's "Jennifer's Dream." A veteran stage performer, Darcia studied at the American Dance Machine in New York City and took master classes in tap and jazz in Toronto. Darcia is also quaified to teach Kindermusik.
Melanie Lemieux

Melanie Lemieux is fully qualified in Highland & National with the SDTA. She was a principal dancer with the RCMP Pipes and Drums Dance Team for five years and its Dance Captain for two of those years. Melanie is currently a principal dancer with the Ottawa Police Services Pipes and Drums and travels and performs with that Band. A highly successful dancer, Melanie has competed in 11 SDCCS International competitions. Melanie has been teaching for over 5 yrs. She is in her 4th year at Ottawa U. in Science and Medical research.
Kristen Keane

Kristen graduated from Canterbury High School in June 2007 and has her Associates qualifications in Highland with the BATD. She was a principal dancer with the RCMP Pipes and Drums Dance Team for five years. Kristen is a talented musician, dancer, choreographer and instructor.
Heather-Claire Nortey - Jazz and Hip Hop.

Heather-Claire graduated with distinction from Canterbury High School's dance program. She is currently attending the University of Ottawa in her second year pursuing a B.A. Honours Degree with a Specialization in Theatre. Heather-Claire brings to Loch Murray a wealth of dance training and performance in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Liturgical, Pointe, Tap, Interpretive dance, and Basic Ballroom and Latin Dance. She is also adept at choreography and has numerous years of teaching experience. She is currently a member of the University of Ottawa Competitive Lyrical and Jazz Dance Team. Heather-Claire is a professional actor and voice talent and has recently finished filming a television commercial and a movie called "Unwritten".
Laura Gilchrist

Laura has her member’s qualifications in Highland and National with the SDTA and in Highland with the BATD. Laura has training in over 10 different dance disciplines. She was part of a 15 member team representing Canada in 2002 who performed at the Edinburgh Tattoo in presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee. Laura is currently dancing and competing in the U.K. and has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City with the Ottawa Police Services Band, as part of a salute to Police Officers of 9/11. Laura is on sabbatical from the Loch Murray Dancers but is still involved with the school during the year and teaches when she is in Ottawa.


Class Assistants:


Claire Boteler - Highland and Irish.

Claire is attending Canterbury High School in the dance program. She has received honours in both SDTA & BATD Highland and National theory exams and was awarded 6th place overall in the North American Sadie Simpson Scholarship program in 2005. Claire was a 2006 runner up recipient of the Ontario Division for the James L. McKenzie Award. In 2007 Claire was the Wendy Ewart (MacMillan) Scholarship Winner for OHDA. Claire was a principal dancer with the RCMP Pipes and Drums Dance Team for four years. A keen competitor, Claire is at the championship level in Highland and the Open Prizewinner level in Irish. Claire's training includes Highland, Irish, Country & Western, Choreography and Hip Hop.
Kelsey Campbell  - Highland.

Kelsey is at Rockland High School. She has just completed a very successful competitive Highland year coming 3rd Runner Up at the Ontario Provincial Championships (14-15 yrs) in Toronto in June 2007, 1st Runner Up in the North American Championships (15 yrs) , as well as winning the Under 16 yrs Bay of Fundy Jig & Hornpipe Trophy, and the Under 16 yrs Premier Nationals Trophy at the SDCCS in St John, New Brunswick in July 2007   Kelsey was a 2006 runner up recipient of the Ontario Division for the James L. McKenzie Award and the 2006 Winner of the Wendy Ewart (MacMillan) Scholarship for OHDA. She was a principal dancer with the RCMP Pipes and Drums Dance Team for five years. Kelsey is completing her Highland and National exams with SDTA.
Emily Soussana - Tap

Emily is an experienced performer in Irish, Tap, Jazz and Highland. She is at her Premier Award level in Tap and her British award in Jazz. Emily has been dancing for 9 years. In addition to dancing Emily also designed and maintains the Loch Murray web page.