ABOUT OUR TEACHERS

At Rosedale Valley Dance, our teachers are more than instructors—they’re mentors, motivators, and passionate artists. With extensive training and experience in various dance styles, they bring expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm to every class. Committed to fostering a positive and supportive learning environment, our teachers help each dancer grow in skill, confidence, and love for dance.

Miss Arlene Cuff

is the owner and operator of Rosedale Valley School of Dance and

has been teaching for the past 39 years! She was born and raised in Vancouver, BC.

where she began her dance training at the age of 5, starting with Ballet. Through the

years, she studied Ballet, Tap, and Acrobatics, extensively, then added Jazz and

Polynesian in her teens. Growing up, her studio was part of the Canadian Dance

Teacher’s Association and she received testing and medals through that syllabus.

Arlene first taught in Vancouver in 1982 then opened her own studio in Surrey, BC the

following year. She has now been teaching in Lacombe for 30 years! Arlene loves

children, especially the young ones! Her own three children are grown up, and she

now has SIX grandchildren! Her youngest child, Melanie, is a dancer as well and a

long-time teacher at the studio. Dance has always been Arlene’s passion. Sharing

this love of dance has brought her much joy over these many years!

​Miss Melanie (Cuff) Cox

has been dancing since the age of three. She danced with

her mom’s studio through the years, training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics and

Polynesian as a youth. As a teenager, she continued to dance in Lacombe and

branched out, as well, into competitive dance in Red Deer. She expanded her training

to include Lyrical, Pointe Ballet and Hip Hop. She has attended many workshops and

dance camps throughout B.C. and Alberta to further her education and knowledge of

dance. Melanie is very creative, has wonderful fresh ideas and a flair for fashion,

bringing her talents and enthusiasm to all her classes. She has been teaching at the

studio for 19 years! Melanie also is the very busy mother of three! She has an 8 year

old boy, and twin girls who are 6! They are all dancers! As well as keeping up to them,

Melanie runs a busy home-based hair salon and she teaches several classes! We are so grateful that she juggles it all to be such a big part of our studio.

Miss Kyra Douglas

is dynamic and passionate about her dance! She has danced all

her growing-up years, the last 7 of them at RVSD! Kyra is pleasant, patient, and

peaceful - just a joy to be around! And, to top it all oh, she is an innovative and

creative choreographer! Skilled in all genres of dance taught at our studio, Kyra

particularly loves and excels at Contemporary, which she will be teaching for her

fourth season. Also, Kyra is qualified and willing to teach (and team-teach) any of the age groups, so she is scheduled to teach many classes! Good work, Kyra!

Miss Naomi Gaertner

grew up on a farm outside Tisdale, Saskatchewan with her 4

sisters. Her love of dance started early, as she would choreograph dance numbers for her sisters and friends to perform in school talent shows and at camp. Naomi has

been in hip hop music videos and performed across Canada with a variety of dance

teams. She also trained in New York City at Step Up Your Game with several hip hop

legends! Naomi has a teaching degree but is currently a busy young stay-at-home

mom, with her three young boys! She is high energy and approaches all that she does with boundless energy and enthusiasm. This is Naomi’s 10th season teaching with us!She has lots of experience and patience, especially with the boys, and will be teaching our Boy’s Hip Hop again this season, as well as the Primary/Junior mixed class! Naomi’s words: “To dance is to live!”

Miss Kyleigh Grovet

was born and raised in Lacombe and graduated from Lacombe

Composite High School. She first came to our studio in 2008 and became very

proficient in hip-hop, tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical and contemporary. She gained

experience, as well, as a student helper for two years before taking on her own hip-hop class and, later, a jazz class. Kyleigh had been away at University for two years but we are excited that she made her way back and is happily teaching again! Kyleigh excels at Hip Hop – so we are excited to have her teaching our older hip hoppers! This year she is also taking on our Teen Stretch & Tech class, as well as one of our jazz classes! It’s gonna be awesome!

Miss Raina Bodnar

and her family moved to Lacombe from Saskatoon, where she grew up dancing. She danced for 25 years, 20 of them in competitive Ukrainian Dance. Raina’s interest and experience in Ukrainian dance is vast – including dance camps, winning scholarships in competitions, and performing in major Ukrainian

festivals. Other dance experience includes ballet, jazz, hip hop and musical

theatre. A busy mother of two teenagers, we’re happy that Raina finds time to be back in the studio again! She returned to us after a couple of years away, so we are excited that she is back teaching our Musical Theatre classes again this year! Raina’s kind and caring personality, coupled with her love of children, makes her a perfect fit for our “Dance for the FUN of it” studio!