Teachers

Kate is passionate about all forms of movement, but Yoga is the form that she has spent her life exploring in depth. Having studied with luminary teachers in India, Canada, and the United States, her rich understanding has become its own powerful voice in her decades of international teaching. Kate choreographs phrases of yoga poses that embody the grace of the natural world, while emphasizing breath as the key to moving with clarity. Kate views each practice as a journey for all ages and levels of understanding. She wants her students to find grace within their limitations and sees yoga and movement as a creative expression and physical therapy. She aims to create an active calm through movement, breath, and attention to detail.

Dom is a former professional football player and a lifelong elite athlete and mover. Proudly hailing from North Vancouver, Canada, he believes in multi-sport participation and grew up playing lacrosse, basketball, and football. Dom is passionate about promoting a lifestyle rooted in health and fitness that extends to an enhanced performance in all areas of life. He has worked in personal training and as a teacher for several fitness studios, teaching the foundations for HIIT with a twist of fundamental movement skills, footwork, and high-intensity plyometrics. His work with the non-profit Launch Academy aims to fuel a sports community in British Columbia that is inclusive, empowering, and creative, working with young students and fellow elite athletes. Dom represents a new generation of athletes who strive to be role models for the community and look to excel in all areas of their lives. Beyond football, Dom finds satisfaction and drive when playing basketball, in slowing down to stretch out his mind and body, and in just moving to music.

Farinaz is a dedicated athlete, motivational coach, and influential leader. Her competitive spirit and tireless passion became the foundation for a lifelong kickboxing career, fueling her to become the first Iranian and Canadian woman to win the WAKO world kickboxing championship, teach kickboxing internationally, and become a BCRPA Personal Trainer. From her first class at the age of 18 she set her sights on greatness, and has pushed boundaries in every aspect of her personal performance and professional aspirations. With an elite national K-1 title under her belt and current division ranking of 5th in the world, Farinaz continues to channel her love for movement and teaching into leading and training at District Warrior, the Muay Thai studio she co-founded with her husband, Ali Khanjari. She challenges herself mentally and physically with running, hiking, yoga, public speaking, running a business, and staying engaged in her community. Beyond personal goals and excellence in kickboxing, Farinaz leads the charge as a motivational speaker and mentor for women in sport, embracing a strong yet humble voice and inspirational movement journey to empower every individual to start where they are and discover their inner champion.

Keighty is an influential mover, teacher, and leader in every community she sets her mind on, driven by her love for making movement happen, however it looks. Her movement journey is diverse, much like her creative expressions: Weight-lifting, HIIT, TRX, metabolic conditioning, track & field. An accomplished hepthathlete, Keighty is a former captain of Canada’s Junior National Athletics Team and NCAA Div. 1 track and field athlete. She is the founder and Head Coach of Tight Club Athletics, a community fitness club for everyone: from former athletes looking to get their kicks back to those who’ve never seen themselves as an athlete, and everyone else who’s just looking for room to be themselves. The list goes on, but excellence alone isn’t Keighty’s fuel for exercise. For her, movement is about self-expression, about connecting to a grander whole, about creating positive experiences, and about moving for yourself in season. Now, she is constantly exploring new programs and teaching diligently with Tight Club Athletics as her home base. Her motto? Move like how you should, stay curious, and be kind.

Adrian Gaskin is an avid learner and teacher, striving for both excellence and simplicity in his movement practice. For him, movement is a constant search for improvement and rediscovery of the basics; finding how the body is meant to move. Adrian grew up in New Zealand, climbing trees, biking in his neighborhood, and playing basketball. Driven by a desire to travel, explore, and work with people, he first considered personal training as a way to combine these strengths in a practical and meaningful way. Adrian has pursued countless modalities of training internationally, received numerous accreditations in personal training, and currently teaches as an elite Tier 3+ Coach and Master Instructor with the Equinox Group. He is committed to ongoing education, practicing Animal Flow, Triggerpoint Therapy, Anatomy Trains for Movement Specialists, Kettlebell Athletics One, Progressive Bodyweight Training, and Pre & Post Natal Performance. In learning, practicing, and teaching, Adrian continues to not only seek out new ways to understand the body and its natural design, but to achieve the best way to move from there. Adrian moves to optimize human condition and function, to share his wealth of knowledge with others to improve quality of life, and to snowboard as much as possible.

Sylvia Ozbalt has been teaching fitness for over 40 years. She still remembers the feeling of teaching her first class in 1980 and realizing that getting people moving was her passion. Her love of the science and the art of fitness leadership leads her to create classes that are functional and designed to make your body feel strong and confident. Coming from a dance background, Sylvia also incorporates upbeat playlists and fun dance moves, and encourages you to let loose and have fun in your movement practice. Sylvia believes fitness should always feel good and leave you feeling positive, vital, and creative in your own life.

Rob is a Vancouver native and competitive boxer with more than 15 years of experience in the ring and over 120 fights under his belt. Since attending his first boxing class at age 12, Rob developed a lifelong love for the sport and has competed at both national and international events. A member of Team Canada, Rob is a four-time Gold Canadian Championship Champion, seven-time Provincial champion, and four-time Golden Gloves Champion among other notable tournaments. Aside from continually progressing in his personal skill and performance, his long term goals focus on coaching the next generation of boxers. He believes everybody can benefit from the discipline of the “sweet science” of boxing that transformed his own life. Rob makes this commitment to community evident through the time he spends supporting local youth and in his work with the Vancouver homeless population. Outside the ring, Rob uses movement to stay creative, find longevity and ease in all aspects of his lifestyle, and enjoy the things he loves: an avid sewing hobby, garage barbering, taking photographs, yoga, skipping, and of course, boxing.

Hannah was born feet first… with Tap shoes on! Throughout her childhood she was exposed and well trained in many styles of dance that each left their mark on her. One day, her sister showed her this enchanting expressive movement known as Hip Hop. Hannah was forever changed. The impact of immersing herself in such a vibrant culture still colours the way Hannah shares this magical art form. Privileged with the experience of learning from her many mentors, she cherishes the opportunities to pay it forward. Whether it’s in the studio with her students or performing with her crew, Hannah shows up and shows out in the dance community. While it may seem obvious that dance is her choice vessel for physical expression you may be surprised to find her in her local community centre weight room. Or down the hallway on the Basketball court, breaking ankles and draining 3’s. Presently, Hannah’s focus with movement is centred around exploring her authentic expression within these avenues as well as facilitating that for her community.

Leo Sammarelli is an adaptive athlete and a boxing coach in Vancouver. Leo brought the first wheelchair adaptive boxing council to BC and now sits on the World Adaptive Boxing Council. He’s also working towards bringing the sport of Adaptive Boxing to the Paralympics and reclaiming his goal of representing Canada in the ring. As a coach, Leo shares his passion for boxing with all levels and abilities of students and is the Boxing BC director of Diversity and Inclusion. He is also the founder of the WWAB (Westcoast Wheelchair Adaptive Boxing), a non-profit organization working to empower those living with disabilities by building up their physical capabilities through adaptive boxing.

Erica believes in the power to move and be moved. A Canadian-born resident of California, Erica has studied and practiced yoga since 1996. She has taught classes, workshops, and teacher trainings around the world, including China, Nicaragua, and Dubai. She weaves a balance of intensity and grace into rhythmic, mindful movements. Together with a focus on alignment and breath awareness, she offers an inspiring moving meditation that is playful, challenging (yet accessible) and centering. Aspiring to Gandhi’s words of “Be the change you wish to see…”, Erica uses yoga as a tool to guide her students and her clients to become aware of the relationship between thoughts, actions, and experience.

Cam is an established yoga teacher and multidisciplinary trainer. She found her love of yoga after a rock climbing accident that forced her to shift her perspective on movement and health. Her curiosity and passion for teaching movement has led her to study a wide variety of practices, including rock-climbing, yoga, pilates, gymnastics, circus performance, cross-fit, boxing, and high-intensity-interval-training. Cam is known for being able to balance on her hands almost as well as her feet. When teaching, she loves finding creative ways to help students push their boundaries and loosen those tight, hard to reach areas of the body. Cam is a well-rounded trainer who likes to find new challenges for herself and sees no end to how movement can be incorporated into one’s life.

Slava is dedicated to the exploration of the body. He has travelled the world exploring various disciplines of movement including: gymnastics, acroyoga, circus acrobatics, thai massage, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, yoga, and dance. He connects his studies in movement with a practice of stillness, Vipassana meditation, as he believes we cannot separate our physical state from our mental state. Slava is always willing and excited to be a beginner as he approaches all new movement disciplines with a sense of consistency and curiosity. His most recent movement studies include Capoeira and ballet. As a mover, he balances the concepts of fluidity and strength to create a sense of grace and ease that is both artistic and functional. As a teacher, he guides his students to understand their bodies through educated exploration and body integration, emphasizing the importance of movement in aging gracefully.

Amanda has a long history with sports and movement. As a young girl, she practiced gymnastics and figure skating before moving on to a career as an elite junior tennis player where she first developed a foundation in conditioned training. Amanda compliments that dynamic training with over 15 years of practice and 10 years experience as a yoga teacher. A mother herself, she is also a certified Pre/Postnatal Performance Training Specialist and is passionate about helping mothers build strength and confidence throughout their pre and postnatal movement journeys. Amanda will empower you to create a personalized movement practice even if you only have ten minutes a day. She believes that when we move our bodies, we move our lives forward, opening ourselves up to new opportunities for self-expression, connection, and lifelong health. Her classes balance effort with ease, making space for both challenge and rest.