About Us
For over 40 years, Van Buskirk Studios of Dance has been teaching pre-schoolers, children, teens, and adults take their first steps in dance while having fun and developing new friendships that last a lifetime.
Our beloved Nancy Van Buskirk (April 9, 1949 - Feb 16, 2018) started dancing at the age of five in Toronto. By the age of 11 she was performing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto and at the opening of the Ontario Science Centre. At age 17, under the tutelage of Mr. Dennis Moore she began teaching and choreographing. This led to her teaching in several schools in the Toronto area and choreographing for several community theatres as well as the all-male cast of the Hustler Show at Ryerson. During this busy schedule, Nancy worked at the National Ballet of Canada as a receptionist and quickly moved up to the position of fund-raiser for the company. Because of her extensive dance training, she was granted evening classes at the National Ballet School, classes with the company in the morning as well as several fill in parts during photo shoots at the O'Keefe Centre and Ontario Place.
After a lengthy time touring Canada with Theatre Groups, her love of choreography and teaching led her to opening her own dance studio, the Van Buskirk Studios of Dance Ltd., in 1976. She has had several students successfully accepted into the National Ballet School, Winnipeg's Contemporary Dance Theatre, School of Alberta Ballet summer program, Quinte School of Ballet, and performing arts high schools. Many of her students have gone on to open their own dance schools or have professional careers as dancers and actors.
Our Teachers:
Miss Anderson Langille began dancing at Van Buskirk Studios when she was just three years old. It was here that she was given continued guidance and encouragement to explore many styles of dance such as jazz, tap, ballet and contemporary. After continuing her education at George Brown College in the Dance Performance Preparation program, Anderson has returned to Van Buskirk where she hopes to give young dancers the same opportunity she was given at this studio: a chance to explore the art of dance and self expression, gain confidence in themselves and have fun while doing so.
Miss Aryanna Psofimis has been dancing at Van Buskirk Studios of Dance since the age of 3. At the age of 9 she began dancing competitively. Aryanna’s dance experience included Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Modern and Pointe. Aryanna also trained, performed and competed with Baila Boogaloo professional Salsa team. Some of her exciting performances took place at the 7th Annual Toronto Salsa Festival, the 2015 Pan American Games Openings and at the Mississauga International Dance Festival. Her years and passion of dance followed her throughout high school where she became a dance major and was accepted into the 4-year Cawthra Dance program. Later she went on to join Cawthra’s Competitive Dance Repertoire Program. Once she graduated from Cawthra Park Secondary School she was accepted to Western University’s Criminology Program. Aryanna has since graduated and recived her bachelor’s degree in Criminology. Dance has been a significant part of Aryanna’s life. Aryanna hopes to share and instill to all her students, her strengths, her experiences, her discipline and the joys and passion of dance.
Miss Charlotte Cain (she/her) is an emerging professional dance artist from Ottawa, Ontario. She began dancing ballet and jazz with National Capital Dance Educators, and attended De La Salle High School’s dance program,learning contemporary, modern, improvisation and creative process. Furthering her training at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, she flourished as a co-producer of student-run production and was awarded The Winchester Prize for choreographic distinction. After graduating in 2021, Cain premiered her first professional work, a dance film entitled What" is im from, in SummerWorks Performance Festival. She has worked with Toronto choreographers Hanna Kiel and Yvonne Ng, and performed in festivals such as dance: made in Canada/fait au Canada festival and Dance Ontario DanceWeekend’22. Charlotte teaches dance to youth across the GTA with Van Buskirk Studios of Dance Ltd., Sprouts Growing Minds & Bodies and Kaeja d’Dance. Charlotte is currently fulfilling a Career Catalyst Grant provided by the Ontario Arts Council and continues to cultivate an explorative action-based dance practice. Charlotte is dedicated to sharing her passion and curiosity of dance to all her students.