Melissa Page-Webster, RAD RTS
Owner/Artistic Director
Registered Teacher with Royal Academy of Dance
Ballet Exam Prep Program Director, Contemporary Faculty, Jazz Faculty, Cobequid Young Company Director
Melissa is a Dance Educator and business owner based in Truro NS. Over the past 30 years, she has had the privilege of being taught by and working with many notable artists including Sally Brayley-Bliss, Robert McCollum, Suzette Sherman, Irene Dowd, Michael Trent, Peggy Baker and Darryl Tracy. Melissa is a Registered Teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance and a certified Rambert Grades instructor. She is a graduate of the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts Teacher Training Program and has trained in Toronto at Peggy Baker's annual Educator's Seminar and at Canada's National Ballet School in the work of Irene Dowd. She is a certified Pilates instructor and hold a membership with the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science.
As a Dance Educator and business owner she has had the privilege of presenting as a panelist at the Fundy Female Leadership Network’s event “Shattering The Glass” on the topic of work-life balance and the role of female leaders in elite level activities, sitting on a panel of guest speakers for a Royal Academy of Dance Canada online symposium on the transition of dance during Covid, speaking as a panelist for the Women’s Social Network Real Talk event on the challenges and surprises of running a business during Covid, and as a guest on the podcast “Let Me Overthink About It” on the topic of discipline. Melissa is also a past board member on the Colchester East Hants Health Centre Foundation board as well as a member of their fundraising committee. Melissa’s other past board experience includes the Downtown Truro Partnership (2015-2021 as a director, 2021-2022 as Vice President), Dance Nova Scotia, Cobequid Arts Council and The Lotus Centre.
Early in her career, Melissa was one of the original company members with Symphony Of Movement (Consumer Experiment, gendeRBender), originated roles with independent choreographers, and created two original works for Ballet Jorgen Canada's Solos and Duets Series. She had the privilege of performing in Amanda LaRusic’s Edge Of Chaos at the St. John Contemporary Dance Festival in July of 2017. In May of 2018, Melissa's piece Get Some debuted at Art At Night in New Glasgow.
In 2018, Melissa co-founded KickTalkDance Productions with colleague Amanda LaRusic as a platform to create, share and inspire dance and art in the local community. In the fall of 2019 they launched Night Market, a free community event aimed at providing professional dance, visual, music and multidisciplinary artists a venue to present their work in an open, casual setting. In February 2020 KickTalkDance commissioned Darryl Tracy for a new piece “Clairvoyants at the Disco”. In April 2020 KickTalkDance participated in Connection Danceworks and Resonance Music’s New Music | New Dance Residency where they created a new work entitled A Collection Of Main Characters solely over Zoom. Other project highlights include an original work in collaboration with DJ Moves (Brian Higgins) and Jordan Burns (JC Media) for the Lotus Centre’s virtual International Women’s Day event in March 2021. They have since retired KickTalkDance and have started fresh with a new group, Blurred Bodies Dance Projects which has brought powerhouse dancer, Chris Van Green, into the mix. Their debut performance was at Art At Night in New Glasgow in May of 2023.
In April 2021, Melissa participated as a choreographer in Votive Dance’s PER (Play, Explore, Research) Residency in Halifax NS. She was welcomed back again in April of 2022, this time as a dancer under the direction of Kathleen Doherty.
In 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Melissa was nominated for the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards presented by Women Of Influence.
