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Mark and Eileen first opened our doors in 1991 at the “Abbotsquare Mall." Eileen had been teaching a parent/tot program, known as “Scribbles” for the Abbotsford Rec commission. Initially, she taught at the Abbotsford Ag Rec Centre and later the McCallum Activity Centre, but realized a more permanent space was needed to continue to run this program. So “Abbotsquare” was the answer. Back then, the school was known as “Creative Edge Music & Activity Place." To make the best use of the space there, Eileen ran “Scribbles” in the day while Mark, who has a degree in music education, began offering afternoon music lessons. Soon afterward they added art classes and within a year had already grown to 135 students. After the first year they moved into the Clayburn Centre to make room for this growth, and the addition of new programs in dance and drama.

In the new facility they became known as “Creative Edge Kids Centre”. Here “Scribbles” became an official licensed “child minding” and soon after became an official licensed preschool offered 5 days a week. Since then, Creative Edge have experienced unprecedented growth, with enrollments peaking at over 1500 registrations. In 2013 they welcomed Andrew, Mark and Eileen's younger son, and his wife Stephanie, home from University in Victoria and they began teaching and helping with the everyday operations of the studio. Around this time Creative Edge also outgrew the second location and moved to a larger space within the Plaza, where they are today.

Creative Edge now offers fine arts programming 6 days a week for ages 1-Adult! It has the largest youth Theatre program in Abbotsford; an incredible recreational and competitive dance program with award winning dancers, teachers and choreography; an ever-growing Visual Arts program; a huge selection of group and private music classes; aerial hoop, acrobatics and creative writing classes and, of course, the Fine Arts Preschool which started it all!

In December 2016 Mark passed away. He would be very proud of how the studio has continued to grow and uphold the standard of excellence and family values that he strove for in the 25 years he devoted to Creative Edge.

After nearly 30 years Creative Edge is still proud to serve the Abbotsford community and will continue to do so for many years to come.

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Stephanie graduated from the University of Victoria in 2012 where she studied Visual Art, Art History, Art Education and Psychology, with a focus on child development. While living on the island, Stephanie instructed adults and children at The Paint Box School of Art in Victoria in Mixed Media, Water Colour and Acrylic Painting, Drawing, Sewing and Clay Sculpture classes and several fun camps and workshops. She also instructed art workshops at The University of Victoria for teen and adult students in an exchange program. Stephanie instructed art at Creative Edge for nearly 7 years total before transitioning to full-time administrator eventually shifting into the position of studio director.

Stephanie loves her job with a passion and recognizes what a huge privilege it is to do what she does. She seeks to ensure that Creative Edge continues to be a safe and inclusive hub for high-quality fine and performing arts instruction and childcare for decades to come.

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Andrew holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre as well as a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Victoria. He has fourteen years of experience teaching drama and music to students ages 3 to adult. He is also the recipient of the 2016 Abbotsford Arty Award for Outstanding Theatre Artist.

Andrew has a strong background in live theatre as an actor, writer, and director including acting in a leading role in the Victoria Shakespeare Festival and writing and directing a play for the Victoria Fringe Kids Fest.  Over the past 20 years, Andrew has been involved in nearly every year-end production at Creative Edge! 

As a BC Certified Teacher, Andrew also has experience in K-7 public school classrooms.  He currently teaches drama for the Abbotsford School District. He is a patient, outgoing and creative teacher, who brings energy, enthusiasm, and artistic knowledge to his drama classes.

As the drama program coordinator and teacher, Andrew instructs weekly drama classes and organizes and directs 4 major productions a year, plus several in-class performances. As the Artistic Director, Andrew plays a key role in conceiving the idea for, producing, directing, and running our huge Year End Show, our Mainstage productions, and more!

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Yoshi is a versatile and innovative Hiphop dancer/ bboy who values the integrity of Hip Hop culture and Hip Hop dance. Yoshi is a well experienced teacher who loves sharing his knowledge to everyone who is interested in the art form.

Yoshi has been teaching professionally since 2003. He focuses on hip-hop basics and fundamentals, the important hiphop steps, grooves and rhythm. He also teaching, Breaking, locking, popping, house and hustle the same way; with a strong focus on building off a solid foundation.

His passion and dedication to the art can be seen performing or battling with his crews Over the Influence, Robson800 and Rhythm Recall. He is an award-winning choreographer who specializes in a unique and abstract blend of multiple street styles. He has coached multiple national championship groups as well as coaching a variety of local street dance battler winners.

He also embraces the competitive element of street dance himself. He has twice represented Canada at the Hiphop International Championships. He is also a winner of the World of Dance Vancouver Hiphop battle.

Yoshi is an important active member of the street dance community and continues to passionately guide his students through all the best aspects of street dance culture.

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Tia began dancing at the young age of three. She trained in many styles of dance including jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet, and hip hop. At the age of ten, Tia was presented with the amazing opportunity to take tap lessons under Bonnie-Jean Anderson. Tap dancing immediately became her most intense passion. People were extremely impressed to see someone begin to specialize in a dance style at such a young age!

 Tia quickly immersed herself in all things related to tap dancing and took as many classes as possible pertaining to her interest. It was typical for her to spend numerous hours per week working on just one genre of dance. Almost every year Tia was a member of at least two different tap routines, attended extra technique classes, and also learned a variety of solos, duos, and trios over her dancing career.

 Tia was provided with yet another amazing opportunity to become a member of the Canadian Tap Dancing Team and traveled to Reisa, Germany two years in a row to represent Canada. There she performed multiple routines, including small and large formations and a tap trio. She and her amazing team were able to bring back an impressive amount of titles, including two silver medals, one bronze medal, and a sixth place. The groups’ Tia was a member of competed against many different countries, some categories totaling up to 40 different routines.  Tia is now happy to be a Tap instructor and to share her knowledge, experience, and love of the genre with her students!

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Carmen is a Hip Hop and Acro teacher. Carmen started dance at the age of 3 and fell in love. As Carmen got older she continued her passion and took classes in Ballet, Pointe, Contemporary, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Hip Hop, Acro, and Song and Dance. She was a competitive dancer for about 9 years and traveled around the lower mainland for most competitions. Representing Canada in the Hip Hop world’s competition was a highlight. She also passed a number of her AIDT jazz tech exams before graduating and leaving for University. Throughout her years of dance she would help her teachers with the younger kid’s classes to gain teaching experience as well as help pay for her own classes.

When Carmen returned from university she started teaching Hip Hop and Acro at various studios and rec centers. It was also at this time that Carmen started training Hand to Hand with her partner Jason. They dedicated a lot of time and hard work into training and soon enough were performing professionally. These gigs included corporate events, weddings, birthdays, city events, and commercials. They have had the opportunity to train with Cirque Du Solei performers as well as traveling to Montréal to broaden their Circus knowledge and abilities.

Carmen’s passion for dance and circus is always growing and there is nothing she loves more than to share that passion. She believes in hard work, commitment, and most of all having fun.

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Miss Kirsty began her dance life at the age of 3 with Scottish Highland Dance then adding Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre. She performed Nationally and Internationally before beginning her career as a Dance Instructor. Kirsty has taught generations of dancers in the Lower Mainland for the past 25 years with many of her students going on to be dance professionals. She has won many Choreography awards over the years and is a registered member of the Scottish Dance Teachers Alliance.

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At a very early age, Jessica knew that dance was not only a passion but something she wanted to pursue for the rest of her life. Jessica has trained extensively in ballet, jazz, modern, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, and partnering, among other styles in which she has competed in and won prestigious awards and scholarships to train at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and the Edge Dance School in L.A

After dancing in the competitive circuit for many years, Jessica decided to focus on her ballet training and was accepted into the School of Alberta Ballet and later into their post-graduate professional division. Here, she trained under Murray and Nancy Kilgour, and Edmund Stripe, as well as many other world-renowned ballet dancers and teachers. During this time Jessica went on to successfully complete the challenging Advanced I and Advanced II exams in the Cecchetti method. In January of 2014, Jessica was chosen out of thousands of applicants to compete in the Cecchetti International Ballet Competition held in Richmond, Virginia. She has also competed in both ballet and contemporary, in the international ballet competition; Youth American Grand Prix. Jessica has been fortunate to perform in The School of Alberta Ballet’s “Coppelia”, Edmund Stripe’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”, Moscow Ballet’s “Cinderella”, as well as other repertoire pieces.

Jessica loves to experiment with choreography, movement, music, and emotion in dance, as well as pass on the classical repertoire that she received as a student herself. One of the things she loves most about teaching is the opportunity to work alongside students in their pursuit of excellence in dance and life, and is excited to be teaching at Creative Edge!

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Marcel Tremel is a dance educator, choreographer, and dance adjudicator based in the Vancouver area. He is a fully certified Dance Teacher with ADAPT Syllabus (Jazz, Tap), Canadian Dance Teachers’ Association (Jazz, Tap, Acro), Acrobatic Arts, Progressing Ballet Technique, Alixa Flexibility. Marcel is also a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts (CCPA) where he completed the full three-year program, earning him a Diploma in Applied Performing Arts. He also holds certification specifically for adjudicating with the ADA Adjudicator (ADTA), and is a proud member of the Professional Adjudicators Alliance.

Over the years, Marcel has had several exciting opportunities to perform and showcase his choreography. Some of the highlights include: touring Western Canada and parts of the United States with a song and dance group called Saskatchewan Express, co-choreographing CCPA’s production of 'Young Frankenstein', starring in CCPA’s production of 'Lend Me A Tenor', choreographing 'Hello, Dolly!' with Fraser Valley Stage, setting choreography and dancing in a production of ‘The Nutcracker’ with The Sunshine Coast Youth Dance Association, and touring to England to dance in the Gilbert and Sullivan International Festival in a production of 'The Gondoliers'.

Marcel’s versatility has allowed him to push the boundaries of basic dance routines and create exciting new pieces to share with his community. He has been recognized with numerous choreography awards, and high score/overall wins with his pieces. Marcel has had students be accepted into prestigious post secondary institutions, and various former students have created professional careers in the performing arts industry, becoming performers, teachers, and choreographers themselves.

Marcel is passionate about dance education and continues to train and perform as a working professional artist around the West Coast. He looks forward to another year of sharing his knowledge and love of dance with you all.

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Sam discovered her passion for dance at the age of 3. She began competing at age 6 and danced competitively for 12 years. Sam started her teaching career subbing dance classes at Creative Edge in 2015 and has been a part of the faculty ever since. Sam has also choreographed numerous successful solo and duo routines in Tap and Musical Theatre genres, even earning choreography awards for her work.

In 2015, Sam had the amazing opportunity to compete with Team Canada Tap! She was accepted onto the large group Jr team and invited to the special small group team as well. Her teams competed in Reisa, Germany at the IDO World Championships and took home a 3rd place bronze medal, as well as 6th place!

Sam has been trained in Tap, Musical Theatre, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Song & Dance, and Stage with many different teachers and choreographers around the lower mainland. Sam has participated in several workshops in many different genres. All of her experiences have contributed to her thriving career as a sought after teacher and choreographer in the Fraser Valley. Sam is the recipient of multiple choreography accolades including winning Top Choreographer at Shine Mission 2023 among many other awards. Sam is a hard-working instructor who will always strive to help her students improve their technique and grow their love of dance!

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Shania has 22 years of dance experience in various genres, focusing mostly on R.A.D classical & character ballet, variations, modern, contemporary, lyrical & jazz. Shania has received numerous awards in dance and is now passing along the same opportunities to her students. Shania has been scouted out by Barcelona Ballet Project and offered a scholarship, but chose to decline the offer to stay local to raise her son near family, while focusing on various other dance studies. Shania has been taught by renowned R.A.D mentors such as Anushka Roes T.T.P Director, Barbra Chonin R.A.D examiner and educator, Teresa Randall R.A.D examiner and teacher all from the Canada National Ballet (CNB). She’s also had the privilege to be educated by numerous other outstanding teachers such as Jo-Ann Adams, Marissa Visnjak, Mary-Anne Stephans, Carlin Swift and Judi Kellet to name a few. Shania has also performed in ballet teaching intensives along side dancers from some of the worlds most well known classical ballet schools such as the GOH academy, Coastal City Ballet, and Royal Winnipeg ballet. Shania has 10 years teaching experience in R.A.D ballet, contemporary, modern, lyrical, and jazz. As well as has achieved all 3 levels of Progressing In Ballet Technique (PBT). Shes actively working towards achieving multiple other teaching courses. Her biggest joy is dance and having the opportunity to create and inspire todays youth by creating a safe environment, where all students develop proper understanding of music, technique and foundations of dance, to enhance artistic quality of movement, and bring out each students confidence as an individual. She believes everybody can learn to dance, and that dance is therapeutic way to express oneself freely.

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Brianna has been training as a competitive dancer since she was 5 years old. She explored as many styles as were available to her, training in Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Tap, HipHop, and Ballet. Brianna knew from a young age that she had a passion for teaching and thus wanted to get started as soon as she could. She began teaching at 15 years old and has continued developing her craft ever since. She’s utilized her abundance of training to create pieces that are inventive and challenging for her students. Her devotion to developing both her students and her choreography has enabled her to find success in both local and international competitions. As a result, Brianna has won a variety of awards for her choreography. Furthermore, Brianna has performed in the 2010 Paralympic opening ceremonies, as well as in a variety of performances at the PNE. Brianna also trained with United by Unify, under the direction of Lex Burnham and Alex Shigetomi. She aims to share her love of dance and learning with her students in a fun and constructive environment.

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Sophia has been dancing for 16 years, 13 competitively. Sophia has won several overall high score awards and special recognition from judges. In the past year she has begun choreographing solos for other competitive dancers, instructing advanced combo classes and creating and delivering curriculum for dance camps and our summer intensive. She has been a natural teacher since she first started assisting classes several years ago. Under the mentorship of Mary-Anne Langstaff Sophia is becoming a promising young teacher and chorSophia loves teaching and is thrilled to be able to share her love of dance with her students while helping them develop technique and their own individual passion for dance!

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Leticia’s passion for dance began at the early age of 4. Her studies began in the local dance studio where she grew up in Maple Ridge, BC. Starting out with jazz and tap. It instantly became evident to her family that Leticia was a natural performer. She then started taking on different styles of dance including hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, musical theatre, and ballet. Leticia was part of the Northwest Dance Project, competitive dance team in her teens. She has had the opportunity to travel and train in New York City, perform, compete, and has trained under many well-known choreographers in the industry. She was the lead choreographer in her High School Dance Program and received Best Choreographer awards each year. Leticia has continued to enhance her skills professionally by attending Dance Conventions in Canada and the US, taking classes at Harbour Dance Center in Vancouver, BC, and was a member of Elevate Dance Crew directed by Leigh Hilary Lee. Leticia believes education is key to keeping things fresh and current. She attended the Dance Life Teacher Conference in Arizona ran by Rhee Gold in the Summer of 2015 and most recently got certified in Sugarfoot Therapy, a physical therapy-based conditioning for dancers. Leticia has had many performance opportunities including the 2015 Western Summer Games in “Big Spirit Sky.” Vancity Project, Monsters of Hip Hop, Next Level Hip Hop, and the BC Ride to Conquer Cancer to name a few. Leticia’s journey led her to Fort McMurray, AB in 2013 where she resided and taught for 5 years. She enjoyed being apart of such a unique city and tight knit dance community full of such wonderful opportunities; Leticia choreographed for Keyano Theatre Company’s 2013 Farce “Boeing Boeing.“ She also was a celebrity dancer in Fort McMurray’s 2014 Dancing with the Stars in support of the SPCA. Leticia was the Dance Director/Choreographer for Keyano Theatre’s Drama Force Youth Intensive. She choreographed 2014 Jr. Musical “Disney’s Aladdin,” and 2015 Jr. Musical “Disney’s The Little Mermaid,” and the 2016 Jr. Musical “Disney’s The Jungle Book Kids.” She also spent her time as a Dance Instructor and Educational Assistant with the Fort McMurray Public School District. Leticia has been back in BC for about 5 years now after becoming a mom, and has been enjoying teaching and doing choreography through out the lower mainland. Leticia has extensive experience teaching students of all ages, levels, and styles and her choreography has been recognized for numerous awards at competitions and festivals. Leticia brings a fun and positive vibe to all of her classes at Creative Edge.

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Keira took her first ballet class when she was 3 years old, and knew that she had fallen in love. Since then, she has continued training in ballet and later pointe work, as well as lyrical, jazz and musical theatre. Keira has trained in RAD levels from Grade 1 to Intermediate and has been dancing competitively for 9 years. In 2016, Keira begin her teacher training as a volunteer assistant in ballet classes. She continued assisting for several years and started substitute teaching dance and ballet classes in 2021 before taking on classes of her own in 2023.

Keira has attended the Shine Top Ten Dancer workshops in 2020, 2021, and 2023. These workshops gave her opportunities to learn from Canadian dancers and choreographers in the industry, like Louise Hradsky and Sarah Brewer Clowes. In 2023, Keira won a scholarship for the Lightning Elite Performance Team. The team consisted of dancers from across Canada and the USA. She performed with Lightning Elite in Disneyland and while there, got the opportunity to attend a workshop taught by a Disney cast member.

Keira hopes to share her love of dance with her students, and aims to make the class environment fun and engaging.

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Nevada has been involved in the arts since the age of 5. She has studied both dance and drama during this time and has been in the classroom as a student, assistant and teacher. Nevada has studied many genres of dance including ballet, contemporary, lyrical, musical theatre, acro, hip hop, tap, song and dance and jazz. In addition, she has been very involved in our drama program and has taken part in all of our mainstage productions as well as being our music program.

Nevada enjoys working with young children and sharing her love of dance. Nevada has been working with young children as a teacher or assistant for many years and delights in their energy and playfulness. She is one of 5 children and has always been around young children.

Nevada is excited to spread her love of the arts with her students.

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Rachel is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, having received her Master of Arts Degree in Musical Theatre Performance in October 2015. She also holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Manitoba. While living in Scotland she was lucky enough to find work teaching language and performing arts in the UK, France and Switzerland and continues to return to Europe each summer to teach. Rachel currently works in the Fraser Valley as a drama teacher, in-demand vocal coach and as a director for local musicals and plays. Favorite past roles include Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Theatre in the Country), Potiphar’s Wife in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Secondary Characters) and Ophelia in the original workshop of The Women Of William (Thurston/Saringer, RCS).

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Kristin has always had a passion for theatre and singing and has been classically trained and singing high level music since she was 14 years old. She has a large background in musical theatre and has performed onstage frequently with various groups such as Lighthouse Theatre, Ignite Theatre and Gallery 7 Productions. Kristin also has specialized training in working with students with various special needs and aims to tailor all classes to meet the individual needs of her students. She believes in creating a fun learning environment where students feel safe to make mistakes, express themselves, and grow in their abilities. Kristin is very excited to be teaching drama, voice and mainstage at Creative Edge.