DIRECTOR | OWNER: Tessa Neuhoefel
Tessa has been a part of the Dance Industry & Competitive World as an Award-Winning Choreographer and Instructor. Her innovative concepts, passion and love for dance has allowed her the opportunity to create The Dance Rage Dance Competition.
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Starting dance at age 6, Tessa grew as a Dancer and danced Competitively throughout Ontario. She has extensive training in Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theatre, Ballet & Hiphop. Introducing herself as a Competitive Dance Instructor, her students successfully received many Scholarships, Top Scores and Professional Opportunities. Tessa has Choreographed for Walt Disney World's Magic Music Days, endless Community Productions, Events and High School Curriculums in Ontario. Tessa has also been exposed as a Dancer in Music Videos & many local events and as an Adjudicator for Ontario Dance Competitions.
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To further be proficient in her Dance Education, Tessa is a proud Certified Member of Dance Masters of America and the Professional Adjudicators Alliance.
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Tessa is constantly inspired from the talent brought by the dancers who hit the TDR Stage, the ever growing Dance World, and her role as Owner + Director of The Dance Rage Dance Competition. She continues to educate herself by attending Workshops, Seminars & Conventions across North America.
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Tessa lives on creativity and passion. She encourages every dancer to trust in themselves, express their emotions with every breath, and strive to reach their potential. She urges dancers to take advantage of every stage as an outlet to exude and share with the Audience & Judges how beautiful the Art of Dance is.
TDR ASSISTANT / TABULATION: Evangeline Prothmann
Evangeline (Evie) has been a part a part of the dance world since she was 3 years old. For many years, she was a part of a competitive dance team competing on a stage just like TDR. She had the pleasure of being taught a variety of dance disciplines by director Tessa as well as dancing along side Mattie.
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She has been with TDR from our very first competition and has not missed a single event! Every year she is more blown away by the talent of all of the dancers that hit our stage.
More recently, she has become very involved in the planning and organizing of the competition. At the competition you will find her behind the computer doing all of the tabulation and awards! She is super excited for our biggest season yet!
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TDR ASSISTANT / EVENT MANAGER: Mattie Bower
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Mattie has been working with us and has been one of the faces of TDR since season one. Fun fact: Director Tessa also taught Mattie dance growing up! Mattie started dancing at the age of 3 and danced competitively since she was 5.
During her university career she was the lead of the Guelph Gryphons Fitness & Recreational dance program where she continued to share her passion and love for dance. She continues to do so teaching locally and hopes to further explore this route of dance.
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Currently she is a TDR Assistant/ Event Manager. You can find her running all over the competition venue, she is there to help with anything you may need throughout the competition. She is excited for another season and can't wait to see all the dancers light up our stage.
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TDR HOST: Dhanung Bulsara "BIG UPS"
Hey Dancers and Ragers! Welcome to the wonderful experience that is The Dance Rage! My name is Dhanung Bulsara, however some folks like to call me D for short. BUT, because I like you so much and it just seems to be a lot more funner (is that a word?) YOU can call me Big Ups :)
I am your extremely lucky Host and Guide through Competition Weekend. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I’ve been for this opportunity and it only gets better with every year and every city!
Growing up in a East Indian home, Bollywood movies became a staple in my house. Our home was filled with the tunes and beats from my native country of India. So I often found myself (or caught by others) either singing or dancing, and this is what developed my passion for not only dancing but entertaining people as well!
As I grew older, I gained more confidence in my dancing skills but more importantly performing in front of a crowd. As I continued to dance and perform, I also really gained a knack for public speaking and hosting events. My passion steered me towards studying Film & Broadcast Journalism and after graduating, lead me to a position in Radio.
My journey up until this point has been filled with so many different experiences and unique opportunities. I’m most recognized now for my work with blogTO as a host & I also just recently wrapped up a campaign with CAA in celebrating their 150th anniversary as the face and host of their live streams.
I also just landed the title of the Raptors 905 IN ARENA HOST! someone pinch me!
I’ve got everything from fashion shows, music show cases, sporting and community events under my belt. But, nothing’s been more special then my time with The Dance Rage. Competition weekend’s are some of my most exciting experiences of the year, and I look forward to it every time. My goal is to deliver not only incredible time, but my hope is that you will carry an unforgettable memory with you forever!
I really hope that I have the great pleasure of meeting you one day, and if I’ve met you already, I look forward to it again!
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