Bio

Melissa Mahady Wilton is a former Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting. She holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Queen’s University, where she was awarded the Thompson Prize; Medal In Psychology; Ontario Graduate Scholarship; Queen’s Graduate Award; Arthur Prize; Queen’s Graduate Fellowship; McLaughlin Fellowship; and SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Ms. Mahady Wilton is formally trained in classical ballet, ballroom, Latin, wheelchair dance, flamenco, Spanish classical, tap and jazz.  Melissa completed Vaganova teacher training with renowned coaches Irina Kolpakova, Ekaterina Shchelkanova and Anton Boytsov, as well as master teacher Finis Jhung. She has completed Lisa Howell’s Level I Teacher Training and Level II Turnout Training.  She holds numerous dance medicine certificates from the Harkness Centre. Melissa is certified to teach Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced levels of Progressing Ballet Technique.  She is certified as a Master Teacher by the American DanceWheels Foundation. Melissa is the Executive Director of The Conservatory, and ConCorpsDance Inclusive Dance Programs. Her expertise in inclusive dance has been recognized by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Kingston, the Kingston Arts Council, the Ontario Communities in Action Fund, Exceptional Families Magazine and Queen’s Alumni Review.  She has presented master workshops to Variety Village, Bloorview Kids’ Rehabilitation Centre, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and Queen’s University.  As the City of Kingston’s Dance Engagement Coordinator, Melissa liaises with professional artists to create residencies, master classes and educational events.  She was appointed by Ontario Dances to lead an inaugural dance outreach project in Northern Ontario, and has been invited to serve on Ontario Arts Council dance grant juries. She is the former Chair of Canada DanceSport, host of the 2009 World Senior Standard Championships.  It is her privilege to share the joy and beauty of dance; she hopes to offer integrity, inspiration and inclusion to the dance community.

Testimonial 

The workshop was an excellent integration of the Leap 'n' Learn Syllabus with Lisa Howell's science-based approach to safely and consistently training turnout in a developmentally-appropriate, evidence-based manner. The progressions and exercises provided are not merely useful for young children, but excellent for older beginners, students returning to class after injury/hiatus and dancers of any level looking to ameliorate specific technical issues.