Emily Lightheart

Instructor

Emily Lightheart danced at Martin School of Dance & Baton for 15 years, training in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, hip hop, baton, acro, and heels. She has completed her pre-advanced ADAPT tap exam, intermediate 3 jazz exam, Grade 8 RAD exam, and Advanced Foundation RAD exam. She started assisting baton and combination classes at 14 years old. She started choreographing at 15 and received numerous choreography awards.

Emily competed with Team Canada at the World Tap Dance Championships in Riesa, Germany in 2016 and 2019. The team placed second and third in 2016. In 2019, Emily received a scholarship to attend the Orange County Tap Festival in California, where she studied under numerous tap masters and was first introduced to the world of rhythm tap. Emily lived in Calgary for two years, training with the Tritone Rhythm Ensemble studying under Tasha Lawson.  She has studied body music, historical repertoire, music theory, tap technique, improvisation, and rhythm tap. She has learned from over 30 guest artists from all over the world and performed throughout the city of Calgary. In the second year with Tritone, she also completed the Tritone Teacher Training Program.

In the summer of 2024, Emily was a cast member of the tap dance concert “Paying the Dues”, which was performed in Calgary and Vancouver. The show was the product of a Creative Arts Residency at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary, where the dancers had 89 hours of studio space to put the show together. “Paying the Dues” was the first show ever produced by the Coastside Taphouse Society, created by Jordyn Lemire. 

Outside of dance, Emily has recently completed her BSc Honours in Biology from the University of Regina, and has started pursuing her MSc in microbiology.