Ashley Sweett is a Vancouver-based dance artist with over two decades of experience spanning performance, choreography, artistic direction, and production. She grew up attending the Langley Fine Arts School as a dance major and went on to complete her post-secondary training with Source Dance Company and Modus Operandi. Launching her professional career as a teenager, she quickly embraced performance and travel opportunities, further expanding her craft in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto. She also pursued acting and improv at The Second City Conservatory, adding another layer of versatility to her artistry.
Her career highlights include work in film, television, and stage with networks such as NBC, Netflix, Disney, and Nickelodeon, as well as collaborations with celebrated choreographers like Mandy Moore, Jillian Myers, and Heather Laura Gray. Ashley’s choreography has been showcased internationally and through local platforms such as Small Stage, Dancing on the Edge, The Lovers Cabaret, and her own collective, SweettMoves. Known for her collaborative spirit, she has contributed to music videos, popular television shows, and innovative interdisciplinary projects.
The bulk of Ashley’s career has been dedicated to her work as a dance educator and adjudicator, where she has taught across North America, Europe, and Australia. Her dedication to teaching has helped shape the successful careers of many students, reflecting her commitment to nurturing talent and fostering creativity. This passion for mentorship reflects her lifelong devotion to the performing arts and her desire to leave a lasting impact on both the industry and the communities she serves.
Dance: Ballet/Modern
Stephana Arnold
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Stephana attended the National Ballet School of Canada, where she received the prestigious Peter Dwyer Award. Upon graduation, she worked closely with choreographer Xing Bang Fu and danced with several small companies before being asked to join the National Ballet of Canada, where she danced for three years. She went on to join Les Grands Ballets Canadiens for seven years and then Ballet British Columbia, where, with both companies, she danced a wide and eclectic variety of Principal Classical and Contemporary roles. Dancing on many prestigious stages around the world, Stephana was a favourite muse for many choreographers and worked with such notable names as James Kudelka, Édouard Lock, Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Shawn Hounsell, Septime Webber, Jean Grand-Maître, Giocanda Barbuto, and Kevin O’Day, among others.
While still dancing, she became a Ballet B.C. Company Teacher from 2004-09, and in 2010, came out of retirement to dance in the Opening Ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. In the past several years, Stephana has won various ballet and contemporary choreography awards, including the 2021 YAGP Best Ensemble in Canada, and has recently created works for Coastal City Ballet and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
She has been Resident Choreographer for CatchingArt Contemporary Ballet Theatre, Senior Coach at North Vancouver’s Pro Arte Centre, on faculty at Arts Umbrella and Founder/Director of the Dance Conservatory in North & West Vancouver.
Stephana is currently a sought-after Guest Teacher, Master ballet coach, on faculty at Coastal City Ballet, plus a popular instructor at Oxygen Yoga and Fitness. She has also been an Adjudicator for many Canadian ballet festivals and the Youth American Grand Prix since 2022.
Woodwinds, Brass, and Bands
Douglas Macaulay
Douglas Macaulay works as a Conductor, Composer, Arranger, Educator, and Producer.
He has composed for a wide variety of genres, including band, orchestra, film, and dozens
of theatrical scores (a recipient of the Jesse Richardson Award for Outstanding Theatrical
Composition). He is an independent record producer, music consultant for the film and
television industry and has worked as Music Director for CBC Television and Radio, the
Pacific Music Industry Association, the Cambie Street Brass Band, the Vancouver
Community College Wind Ensemble, Theatre Under the Stars, and the Vancouver
Firefighters Band. He is the co-founder, Artistic and Managing Director of Con Brio Festivals, where, since 2000, he has produced the respected Whistler and Sun Peaks Music Festivals. As a volunteer, Doug has taught instrumental music and band to visually impaired youth in a program he founded for the CNIB and volunteers as a board member and consultant with a variety of music and arts organizations.
Currently, Douglas Macaulay is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician at music festivals throughout Canada and the U.S., from the North Vancouver schools’ band and strings festival to the Southern Alberta Band Festival and the Pearl City Band Festival in Hawaii. As a guest conductor, he has directed Vancouver’s Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the UBC Summer Music Institute Senior Band, the Southeastern United States (SEUS) High School and Middle School Honour Bands, the Troy University (Alabama) Symphonic Band and many schools and community bands throughout BC and Alberta. He has also been a guest lecturer in Music Education at UBC and several music educational conferences. Doug continues to support local artists, serving as Executive Producer for Malcolm Aiken’s debut CD Paper Star, as Associate Producer for Robert Buckley’s album of Wind Band works and is a co-founder and producer for the Marcus Mosely Chorale.
In his community, Doug was instrumental in creating the unique and visionary “Community Music Hall” – a dedicated large-ensemble rehearsal space within the new West Vancouver Community Centre. The facility provides space for many community music ensembles and is home to the West Vancouver Youth Band, for which Doug has been Principal Conductor and Program Director since 1993. During that time, the WVYB has grown from 39 musicians in three ensembles to nearly 200 in five ensembles.
Choral and Vocal Arts
Speech and Dramatic Arts
Gabriel MacDonald
Gabriel MacDonald is a Vancouver-based composer, mixing engineer, producer, and performer. He grew up in Nelson, BC, where his passion for music and performing began at a very early age. He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts, where he received the “Founders Award” for achievement in musical theatre performance. Gabriel subsequently attended Selkirk College for Contemporary Music & Technology, where he majored in Audio Production and Film Scoring. In the audio world, Gabriel regularly works with industry-standard programs such as Ableton Live, Pro Tools, iZotope RX, Ozone, and Kontakt. He has been the audio engineer for countless live bands and corporate conferences and has worked on podcasts as a recording/post-production audio technician. As a mixer and producer, Gabriel has collaborated with artists all over Canada. As a performer, he has played lead roles in shows such as Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Jesus Christ Superstar, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago, and The Rocky Horror Show. As a vocal soloist, Gabriel has toured internationally, performed the baritone role in Carmina Burana and shared the stage with artists such as David Foster and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra.
Bernard Duerksen began playing the piano by ear at the age of 5. His early training included studies with Hilda Reimer, followed by instruction from pianists Peter Katin, Jane Coop, Robin Wood, John-Paul Bracey, and composers Peter-Paul Koprowski and Gerhard Wuensch.
He is experienced in solo, chamber and concerto work. Performance highlights include numerous solo recitals at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where he played the Preludes of Messiaen, Visions Fugitives by Prokofiev, and Tippett Sonata No.2. In 1991, he was honoured to work with Jean Coulthard in preparation for the world premiere of Image Terrestre. She described him as “a splendid pianist,” and the composer and critic David Gordon Duke described the debut as “radiant”. In the mid 1990’s, Mr. Duerksen learned the 32 sonatas of Beethoven, performing many of them, as well as piano concertos 3 and 4.
His six-year collaboration with baritone Glen Harder culminated with an invitation to perform Schubert’s Die Winterreise at the 1993 International Schubert Conference and Festival at the University of Victoria. In 2001, he co-founded, directed and performed in “Simply Piano Recitals”, a series of eight piano recitals with Martin Humphreys. In 2003 and 2004, he played piano duos of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, Brahms Haydn Variations, and Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations. He has recorded for CBC Radio and is also an accomplished organist.
Mr. Duerksen performed on the last 3 seasons of West Coast Chamber Music, where he played quintets by Brahms, Dvořák, Schumann and Martinů with members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. This season, he will play Trios by Beethoven and Schumann at Douglas College and again for West Coast Chamber Music.
He has been actively teaching and adjudicating for 31 years. He has taught music appreciation courses for seniors and given pre-concert lectures for various concert societies. His students are frequent prize winners in festivals. He is a graduate of UBC and holds an MMus degree. He is an avid reader and runner, and was recently the hand double for John Lithgow in the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, playing Bach. He resides in Vancouver.