Laurel Brown, President

Laurel Brown, Hons.B.A., B.Ed., hosted the first DANCEFEST event in 2003 at Bluevale Collegiate in Waterloo with the support of teachers who attended the York Dance AQ the winter of 2002/03. Today, she feels very fortunate that many of those teachers return each year to network and provide important “next steps” to their student choreographers and dancers at this friendly and empowering dance experience now called Ontario Secondary School DANCEFEST.  

Laurel is most proud of the  DANCEFEST philosophy, DANCEFEST is more celebration, less competition. Everyone present at this unique dance festival respects the creative process and the artistry of all students to compose original dance choreography in their schools classrooms to perform at DANCEFEST before a supportive peer audience and empowering adjudicators.

Previously, Laurel was a board member for CODE, the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators, our provincial subject association, holding a variety of positions for over 10 years. She was presented with the Mentor Award from Kitchener Waterloo Arts Awards in 2004 for her contributions as Founder and Artistic Director for Acting Out, a musical theatre experience for youth she coordinated for 18 years in Stratford.  

Laurel retired from WRDSB in 2018 as a Dance and Drama educator.  She continues to teach Dance and Drama PT at Brock University, for the Faculty of Education.