Staff and Consultants

Artistic Director & CEO

Simone Orlando
P: 250-762-6105
E: ad.ceo@balletkelowna.ca 

Rehearsal Director

Joanna Lige

Joanna Lige is a graduate of the Dance Arts Institute (formerly School of Toronto Dance Theatre), a RAD Registered Teacher, a Certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor, and a member of the International Association of Dance Science and Medicine.

Ms. Lige grew up in Kelowna and has trained with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, SITI Theatre Company, Hubbard Street Dance Company and FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab.  She has performed work by Sharon Moore, Michael Trent, Danny Grossman, Julia Sasso, Peter Chin, José Limón, Bill James, and Sarah Chase. Ms. Lige continues to be involved in movement creation in the Okanagan and has collaborated with the Inner Fish Theatre Society, Evolve Arts Collective, and the Body Project.

With Ballet Kelowna Ms. Lige has worked alongside Cameron Fraser-Monroe, Alysa Pires, Kirsten Wicklund, Robert Stephen, Esie Mensah, Jake Poloz, and Simone Orlando to support their choreographic vision in creating new works for the Performance Season.

Marketing Coordinator

Abigail Sawchuk E: communications@balletkelowna.ca

Abigail Sawchuk (formerly Wiens) is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, gaining her Bachelor of Arts in Honours English with a minor in visual art from UBC’s Okanagan campus. Her honours thesis, under the direction of Robert Eggleston, studied witty women characters in Restoration drama focusing on plays by William Congreve, Edward Ravenscroft, and George Etherege.

Growing up in South Africa, Ms. Sawchuk studied ballet with Caryn Harvey under the Dance Academy of South Africa syllabus, passing her Advanced I exam with distinction, before moving to Kelowna in 2018. Since coming to Kelowna, Ms. Sawchuk found a community within the student-led UBCO Ballroom Dance Club and served as the club’s president for three years, gaining her certification to teach General Variety American-style ballroom dance through Kelowna Ballroom’s Christopher Thorburn. During the course of her degree, Ms. Sawchuk worked at UBCO’s Learning Hub as a Writing and Academic Integrity Consultant. Also a visual artist, Ms. Sawchuk has been a part of multiple group exhibitions at the Fina Gallery as well as the 2023 exhibition Cultivations at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

After working with the Kelowna Art Gallery for two summers as an Art Adventure Supervisor, Ms. Sawchuk started working with Ballet Kelowna as a part-time marketing assistant in 2021, helping to revitalize the Company after Covid shutdowns. Since then, she has loved the diversity of working with a small performing arts company and has been working as Ballet Kelowna’s Marketing Coordinator since 2023.

Elana Bizovie
E: info@balletkelowna.ca

Elana Bizovie is a graduate of the University of Alberta, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Drama and Anthropology. She also received a Fine Arts & Communications Diploma, with distinction, in Arts & Cultural Management from MacEwan University. Elana grew up Ukrainian dancing in her home province of Alberta and has spent over a decade acting, directing, writing, and producing for theatre with occasional cross over into film.