Our Team
Leticia Wiltshire
Leticia started dancing at age 4 doing ballet in the local church hall in Gore. As Leticia grew more in love with dance, she added other dance styles including Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theatre and Contemporary whilst continuing her ballet training. She completed her ballet exams up to Advanced Level and achieved her Solo Seal in Jazz with NZAMD before sitting her teacher’s exams. Leticia danced with the Southern Ballet Company, performing in many shows while also starting her teaching career in the junior school. Leticia also danced in many other local shows and musicals and is recognized for her consistent performance and ability to pick up choreography very quickly. As a young teacher, Leticia taught at many schools around Canterbury and dreamt of opening a school where everyone - no matter their age, size, shape, ethnicity or gender - could dance and be accepted as themselves. She is passionate about young dancers learning dance in a way that builds confidence and self esteem and Expressions Dance Company is the realisation of that dream.
Kristina Heller
Kristina is a ballet teacher, and this will be her second year teaching. Her passion for ballet started when she was six and took her first ballet class. She loved it so much that she hasn’t stopped since, making this her 13th year dancing. She’s from the US and moved here three years ago, so a lot of her training took place in Colorado at the company Boulder Ballet. Kristina believes improvement is the measure of success, and tries to emphasise that in her teaching. She strongly believes in the values of Expressions Dance - community and kindness, and strives to make her classes a kind supportive environment. She’s excited that she gets to teach something she’s so passionate about, and hopes she can support your kids’ love of dance.
Emily Beck
Tuesdays were Emily’s favorite day growing up because it contained one alternating jazz/tap class. This soon became 4 days a wekk with styles including contemporary, lyrical and acro. Th added love of music and guitar quickly became a catalyst for a deep love of tap dancing. A Tap dancer must use the strength and transfer of weight to create complex rhythms, while looking fantastic. Emily began her exams with NZAMD but soon fell in love with the Glen Woods Tap Syllabis due to its passion and creativity. Here, she completed her exams whilst performing in various capacities. She has spent the last 4 years at Expressions Dance Co spreading the technique and love of this art for to students of all ages. A love of developmental psychology and neuorscience could explain her love of teaching but it is the relationships and pride in seeing her dancers push their limits and excel that makes Emily excited for classes each week. Watching the vulnerability evolve into confidence ad the bonds develop within the Expressions Dance family will forever be her greatest gift.
Jennifer Martin
Jenny started ballet at 7 years old and found a love for dancing. She trained with Ann Judson from the early years and then trained with Sarah Anderson in her last few years. She has completed all BBO exams up to Advanced 1. When Jenny left school, she decided to study contemporary dance, full time, at Hagley Dance Company in 2012. Her passion for dance grew when she started teaching at the age of 17 and knew teaching was her calling. Her favorite thing about teaching is seeing students overcome challenges and seeing the growth and confidence when students put the work in. Dancing is never easy, but if you love it enough, it won't matter how hard it is. Jenny juggles teaching yoga, pilates and contemporary dance as well as being a mum to her daughters.
Ruby Jamieson
Ruby grew up with a love for drama and the performing arts, having performed in various musicals and plays throughout her schooling years. At the age of 15, she discovered dance and immediately fell in love with the art form. Dance is where everything clicks for her, it filled a space she didn’t even know was missing. Expressions was her first dance studio and has been her home ever since. She began with jazz and quickly expanded into taking all styles available. Ruby has been teaching jazz and ballet at Expressions for three years and absolutely loves it. As a psychology major with a passion for child development, teaching is a true gift. She truly lives and breathes dance and feels like the studio is her second home. Ruby is forever grateful to have the opportunity to teach such amazing young dancers and foster an environment of confidence and self-belief.
Hollie Nicholson
Hollie started dancing when she was 8 and quickly fell in love with hip hop. As a dance form, hip hop has so many facets for expression of emotion, music and story telling. Hollie competed with Swarm Studios at the Worlds and also danced with the Royal Family, NZ’z premier hip hop crew when they performed in Christchurch. Hollie’s hip hop dance classes are designed to a positive and inclusive atmosphere. Each class begins with five minutes dedicated to building connection and setting a supportive tone for the session. This is followed by a fun, high-energy warm-up to upbeat music, before moving into a calmer stretch and technique work. Every fortnight, Hollie introduces a new short toutine, spending the first week learning the choreography. When students have put in strong effort, classes often finish with a fun game as a reward. For Hollie, dance is a space to switch off from the outside world, stay motivated, and express emotions that can’t always be put into words — a passion she loves sharing with others.
Our Support Team
Running a dance company is a team effort and we are very lucky to have some awesome people who support us. Chris is Leticia’s husband and is our technical expert who looks after our sound, lighting and other technical needs for shows and around the studio. Roesjka is Leticia’s Mum and is the hands behind the costumes and sets of all our productions as well as coaching the singing aspects of our shows. We are also privileged to have the help of some amazing parents to volunteer to do other duties around the studio and during shows.
