Harriet Chung

HCPA Artistic Director
Musical Theatre, Ballet, and Contemporary Instructor

Over the past two decades, Harriet Chung has been teaching, choreographing and directing aspiring performers in ballet and musical theatre, internationally. It has been a dream of hers to share her skills and experience with those who wish to express themselves through song and dance.

Harriet Chung was born in Hong Kong and grew up dancing, singing and playing the piano. As a member of children's choirs that performed around Europe and the United States, Harriet became enamored with the west at a young age. After graduating from high school she majored in dance at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

Harriet moved to Toronto to further her dance training at the National Ballet of Canada. Afterwards, she danced professionally with the Empire State Ballet, Ontario Ballet Theatre, Xing Dance Theatre, among others. During this time she also landed roles in operetta and musical theatre productions.

Harriet's career took a huge turn when she was cast in the Toronto production of The Phantom of the Opera, becoming the first Asian cast member in Canada's most successful theatre production. She later performed in the most successful show in German history, Cats, in Hamburg. Harriet also appeared in the award-winning world premiere of the opera Iron Road and several productions of The King & I where she played the role of Eliza. She also served as choreographer and received an Ovation Award nomination for Outstanding Choreography for her work in the Gateway Theatre production of The King & I in Vancouver.

Harriet played the titular role in the award-winning stage production of Golden Lotus in Hong Kong which earned her a Hecklers Award nomination for Best Actress. She has also received several Outstanding Actress awards for the internationally acclaimed musical film of Golden Lotus from the Film Fest International Paris, Barcelona International Film Festival, among others. Harriet also appears on the Golden Lotus: Sounds from the Musical soundtrack album.

Harriet's debut single is a rebooted version of A World Away (Remix) from Golden Lotus which was recorded with a full orchestra. The track won Best Original Song at the Hollywood Gold Awards. Its glamorous music video has won numerous Best Music Video awards including the Amsterdam International Film Festival, Canadian Cinematography Awards, Europe Film Festival U.K., Hollywood Gold Awards, among others. She also received a Best Actress award from the Europe Film Festival for her performance in the music video.

Harriet's debut album, A World Away, was released in January 2023 and includes her hit track, A World Away (Remix) and Today and Tomorrow which won Best Original Song at the New York Movie Awards. Its music video won Best Music Video at the Los Angeles Film Awards. The song and music video for Old Montreal earned her the award for Best Artist of the Future at the 2023 World Class Film Awards. Old Montreal has also captured Best Song at the New York Cinematography Awards and several Best Music Video awards.

Harriet's music has been featured on radio stations across North America. She has been featured in Tinnitist, Record World International, BK on the Scene, Cashbox Radio, Canadian Beats, Portland Blog, Pipilo Pop, Frontview Magazine, Broadway World Music, among others.

Harriet received critical acclaim for her dual roles as Hui Li and Auntie Zhao, and for her dance choreography, in the world premiere of Salesman in China at the Stratford Festival in 2024.

Mariana Mangevil Alvarez

Ballet and Lyrical Instructor

Mariana began her studies at The National Ballet School and Fine Arts in Mexico City. In 2001 she graduated with a special Honors in Ballet and with a bachelor’s degree in Dance.

She trained in Ballet (Vaganova methodology), modern and contemporary dance, among Folklore dance, Music, Theater, Choreography, and Visual Arts.

At the age of 13 she played the role of “Clara” in The Nutcracker with the National Ballet of Mexico and the same year she obtained a scholarship at the Kirov Academy Ballet School, in Washington, D.C. for their summer program and school program.

Mariana has participated in several Ballet competitions at a National and International Level representing the best in her Country.

At the National Ballet Competition, she won a bronze Medal in 1999 and silver medal in 2001 and 2002.

In 2001 Mariana was invited to participate and represent Mexico at the most prestigious International Ballet competitions in the world. “The Grand Prix de Lausanne” in Lausanne, Switzerland. There, she had the opportunity to take classes and to work with the best teachers and choreographers in the world of dance.

In 2002, she won a Gold Medal at The XXI International Ballet Competition for Latin America, celebrated in Yucatan, Mexico.

From 2002 to 2008 she danced with The National Ballet Company of Mexico as a Corps of Ballet and was given the opportunity to performed soloist roles such as Two swans of Swan Lake, fairies from sleeping Beauty, among others. She participated in productions such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Carmina Burana, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, just to mention a few.

Since she moved to Canada Mariana continued her dance career performing with Motus O Dance Theatre and as an independent choreographer and dancer, she participated in festivals such as The Uxbridge Studio Tour in 2013 and Vanguardia Dance Festival for Latin American Choreographers at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Mariana has been teaching and choreographing in Canada since 2011, for recreational and competitive programs all around York Region, Durham, and Mexico.

She obtained her PBT Certification “Progressing Ballet Technique”, and She continues her professional training at “In Studio” at the National Ballet in Toronto, Dance Teq and Metromovement, just to mention a few and continues to help her students achieve their dreams and share her passion for Dance.

Juliya Valasevich

Ballet and Acro Instructor

Juliya's passion for dance started when she was 5 years old. Once turned 10 she entered a nine year full time ballet program, since then she achieved impressive results as a ballerina, teacher and artist. 

After the graduation from Balarusian State Choreographic College Juliya became a successful ballet dancer and a professional teacher of Russian classical dance. Her talent and skills brought her all over the world, she participated in international competitions and multiple ballet tours. She perfomed in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and South Korea. 

During the time at Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus Juliya's hard work and extraordinary determination helped her to be chosen to take part in various ballets of the theatre repertoire including The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Spartacus, Don Quixote , Romeo and Juliet ,Giselle, Cinderella, Bolero, La Bayadere , La Sylphide , La Esmeralda, Anyuta , Carmina Burana , Chopiniana , Cipollino , Creation of the World, La Fille Mal Gardee , Flower Festival in Genzano , etc. 

After moving to Canada with her family Juliya's main focus fell on her teaching career. Since then she's been working for many dance studios around GTA teaching both recreational and competitive divisions. Always feeling interest to other styles of dance and looking for the new opportunities to grow and expand her business, Juliya successfully completed the certification course in Acrobatic Arts and is recognized as a fully certified and qualified Module One Acrobatic Dance Teacher. She also spent some time learning and mastering contemporary dance and jazz in Germany and Poland, where she was also honored with certificates. 

Alongside the teaching Juliya never loses her passion to perform for the audience, she often takes part in local dance projects, collaborates with singers, musicians and circus artists and became a co-choreographer and a soloist with the Ismailova Theatre of Dance. She continues to seek out professional development opportunities and during her time away from Canada has recently attended a teacher training seminar (Vaganova method)  and classical dance teacher workshops in Minsk and St.Petersbourg. 

Juliya is very excited to continue sharing her knowledge with the shining stars of HCPA family!

Etsuko Ng

Ballet and assistant musical theatre Instructor

In 2020 Etsuko graduated from the associates program at Canada’s National Ballet School, and was given the opportunity to perform in The Nutcracker (2017-2020) with The National Ballet of Canada. Over the past 6 years, Etsuko has competed in provincial, national as well as international competitions. Etsuko started competing at the age of 8 and has since won solos, duets and group awards, including ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, and musical theatre. She has competed at Youth America Grand Prix, Toronto Kiwanis Festival, International Dance Talent Competition Italy, Take The Stage Festival, The National American Dance Awards, StarCatchers Dance Competition, Inspire Dance Challenge, SHOCK Dance Challenge, Northern Star Dance Challenge, etc.

Etsuko’s passion for dance started at the age of 3. She started her Royal Academy of Dance ballet training and examinations at Jean Wong School of Ballet Hong Kong, where she was able to achieve distinction on all of her exams (2009-2022). Etsuko also performed in La Fille Mal Gradee (2007) as well as Sleeping Beauty (2008).

In 2012 she joined The Conservatory of International Style and Cultural Arts (CISCA) to continue her RAD ballet exams and training while discovering different dance styles such as Jazz, Lyrical, Hip hop, and Modern. There Etsuko was privileged to learn and work with Flora Zeta Elizabeth Cheong-Leen and Johan Stjernholm, as well as the honor to perform the lead role in The Nutcracker (2012-2014) and Sleeping Beauty (2015-2017), along with charity events at the Rotary Club of Beijing. Etsuko was also given the opportunity to visit and attend classes at The Joffrey Ballet School in New York.

In 2018 Etsuko joined the Harriet Chung Performing Arts (HCPA), where she continued her dance training and discovered her voice as a singer. Since then she was able to learn and work with Harriet Chung, and won multiple overall awards in musical theatre as well as in dance. In 2021 Etsuko became a teacher at HCPA, she started teaching ballet and being an assistant teacher in musical theatre.

Recently, Etsuko has completed her Advanced 1 Royal Academy of Dance Examination, and is looking forward to completing her Advanced 2 examination.

Eric Tran

break dancing Instructor

Eric Tran also known as "Transitionz" has been dancing for over 10 years.

He started his journey in high school where a group of breakdancers inspired him to pursue this unique journey.

Over the decade, he has competed many times in Toronto and even extended all over North America. He has  won and has been placed in the top spots in numerous competitions.

He is also an important member of the Breakdancing community as he has hosted many competitions since the pandemic to keep the community engaged.

After being a business professional for 3 years who graduated from Ryerson University in HR, he has decided to share his passion of dance to the younger generation and wishes to grow the dancing scene.

He has taught students of all ages for over 2 years now, and takes great pleasure in seeing his students progress and improve!

Jazlynn Su

jazz, Lyrical, ballet and K-pop instructor

Jazlynn started dancing when she was 4 years old and joined Harriet Chung Performing Arts at 8. She was the first student to win the Triple Threats Award at Harriet Chung Performing Arts. Currently, she is a proud student of the Unionville High School Dance Program.

At 9 years old, Jazlynn began competing in the HCPA Full Time Dance competition team. She has received scholarships and won numerous overall awards in both International and local dance competitions. Beside dancing, she enjoys choreographing pieces for herself and her students. One of her pieces won first place with a Special Eyeline Awards.

Jazlynn also loves singing. She has won first place and scholarships at various festivals such as Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, Unionville Music Festival, Yip’s Music Festival, Take The Stage Festival among others. She had the privilege to representing Take The Stage Festival and participating in the Ontario Music Festival Association.

When Jazlynn isn’t dancing or singing, she volunteers at church and works with young children. She also enjoys participating in various sports such as volleyball, badminton, snowboarding.

Courtney Lam

Tap, Acro and Contemporary instructor

Courtney started her dance journey at the early age of 3. Ever since her first class, she fell in love with it and started competing at the age of 5. Her very first solo at 5 years old won her overall highest scoring novice solo, and she continued to dedicate hours of training to improve. Over the years she trained in numerous styles like ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop, lyrical, pointe, ballroom, musical theater, and acro. She started pointe at age 8, and consistently attained highest achievement at her studios ballet exams studying Vaganova method. At age 9 she performed with the Toronto International Ballet Theatre in the Nutcracker.

Not only an avid ballerina, Courtney also loved Hip-hop. At 10 years old, she did a fusion hiphop and pointe performance at the Sick Kids gala fundraiser in Toronto. With strong dedication to various styles of dance, Courtney has achieved recognition for her ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, contemporary, and acro and performances at many competitions like Candance, Move, Inspire, BeDance, Fever, TKO, and more.

Training at EliteDanceworx for 12 years, she had the honour to work with prestigious choreographers like Travis Wall, Jason Parsons, Stacey Tookey, Sonya Tayeh, Lauren Adams, Will Loftis, Katy Spreadbury, Al Blackstone, Akira Uchida, Hani Buzz, Ethan Colangelo, and many more. She won Jump, Nuvo, and 24-7 convention Winner scholarships across all age categories. She was awarded the Rockstar scholarship from Travis Wall at Jump Dance Convention, awarded to one dancer of choice that stands out to the faculty for a special reason.

She has competed all across North America, competing at nationals numerous times (The Dance Awards) and placed top 10 and top 20 among hundreds of dancers. Courtney has many scholarships and prestigious titles under her belt from her 15 years of experience.

Courtney worked alongside her own mentors to choreograph personal routines, but revisited her love of dance as a teacher and choreographer at HCPA. Her goal is to not only guide and inspire, but also learn from her students. When she’s not dancing, you can find Courtney cooking, reading, working out, or studying her love for nutrition.

Ela Weinreich

assistant musical Theatre instructor

Ela is a passionate and creative performer with a profound love for dancing, singing, and musicals. She brings a natural talent to the stage, seamlessly conveying the emotions behind each piece of music or story. Ela's artistic journey includes five years of full-time competitive dancing, during which she honed her skills and gained extensive experience.

In addition to her dancing prowess, Ela has excelled in various singing competitions, earning numerous awards. Her exceptional talent was recognized by Louise Pitre (Tony Awards Winner)  in Music Theatre Competition 2022, who commended her for her authentic presence and performance.

Ela's versatility extends to the theater, where she participated in the professional production of "Matilda" in 2022, portraying the role of Alice. She has also appeared in various commercials, showcasing her adaptability and broad range of skills.

Ela’s innate ability to connect with her audience through heartfelt performances sets her apart as a truly exceptional artist.

Arianna Leung

assistant musical Theatre instructor

Arianna began her vocal training with Ms. Harriet Chung at the age of 8 and started competing at the age of 10.

Ms Harriet’s guidance and professionalism led her to great successes, such as competing at the OMFA Provincials for 2 years, winning awards at multiple singing competitions in Stouffville, and more.

Now at the age of 17, Arianna has had the opportunity to become an assistant teacher at HCPA. Her goal is to not only improve her skills as a singer and teacher, but to inspire the younger generation of performers to reach their full potentials.

Elizabeth DeGrazia

guest instructor - musical theatre

Elizabeth spent 5 years singing the lead role of Christine Daae in the Toronto Production of Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages Theatre. Elizabeth originated the role of Blanche Ingram in the Canadian premiere of JANE EYRE which played at the Royal Alexander theatre and then went onto Broadway. Elizabeth can be heard on both the Canadian and Broadway full cast recordings. Elizabeth Earned the Garland Award for her performance in Jane Eyre on Broadway.

Elizabeth has sung with the Naples Philharmonic, the Cincinnati and Boston Pops orchestras, Opera Omaha and the Glimmerglass and Santa Fe Operas. A highlight for Elizabeth was being guest soloist at the Seoul Arts Center with Conductor Jung-Ho, Pak.

Elizabeth was also seen at Hope Harcourt in ANYTHING GOES with the Stratford Festival.

Elizabeth Currently lives in Toronto with her husband and 3 sons where she teaches and performs regularly with the Toronto Operetta Theatre company.

Mikayla Madronich

guest instructor - Acro and Contemporary

Mikayla grew up dancing in Hamilton Ontario, where she quickly discovered it was her passion. She began competing at the age of 5, which opened up so many opportunities for her as a dancer. As a teenager Mikayla had won scholarships letting her perform and take classes from Top Industry Professionals in LA, Vegas, and New York, where she danced in concept videos, a live show at the Minskoff Theater in NYC, and in Times Square. Growing up she completed all of her CDTA Ballet Exams, and trained at Zacada Circus on Aerial Silks, Aerial Hoop, and Trapeze. After graduating she continued her training as a CLI trainee, where she was directed under her mentor, Teddy Forance. Mikayla then attended Intrepid Dance Company learning from Choreographers such as Derek Piquette, and Mitchell Jackson, and graduated in 2022. Mikayla has also had the opportunity to assist the well known choreographer Mitchell Jackson. She performed on Canada’s Got Talent Season 1 as a contestant with Intrepid Dance Company, she danced as an opening act for Blake Mcgraths Live Promo Tour, Back Up danced for REVE, and Local Toronto artist Nadia Stone, and danced in multiple music videos.

On top of her love for performing she found a drive for Choreography, she first started choreographing competitive routines at the age of 16 and has since been awarded multiple choreography awards, and concept awards for her routines. Aside from the competitive industry Mikayla has choreographed Concept videos, Event performances, and multiple routines for a Nadia Stone virtual concert.

She is Certified with “International Dance Teaching Standards”, “Progressing Ballet Technique”, “Acrobatic Arts”, and is a “canadian Dance Teachers Association” affiliate.

Jennifer Ip

general manager

With a background in Bachelor of Administrative Studies and Marketing, Jenn Ip has seamlessly transitioned from academia to a dynamic career in event planning and management. Starting in 2018, Jenn took on the role of General Manager at Harriet Chung Performing Arts (HCPA), where she has been instrumental in orchestrating a variety of successful events such as the Take The Stage Music Festival and HCPA Annual Year End shows . Her role involves managing and liaising with parents, schools, and music festivals, ensuring smooth operations and exceptional experiences for all involved.

In addition to her achievements at HCPA, Jenn brings a wealth of experience from the media industry, where she work full-time in mainstream television. Her expertise in customer service has been a cornerstone of her professional journey, underscoring her commitment to delivering high-quality, client-focused solutions across all her roles.