Dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts paid off in a big way for alumna Amanda Cleghorn; she has been selected as the sole Canadian dancer on Taylor Swift’s 2014 RED tour. Cleghorn was one of 500 hopefuls to audition, and just seven were selected.
You may recognize her from season three of So You Think You Can Dance Canada, where she placed in the top two as Canada’s favourite female dancer. Cleghorn is no stranger to So You Think You Can Dance Canada, having appeared on seasons one and four of the show thanks to her dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts.
Working on So You Think You Can Dance Canada let Cleghorn build on her dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts by adding tango, cha cha, salsa, quickstep, house, afro-jazz, Broadway, and Bollywood. She describes appearing on the show as the chance of the lifetime and coming full circle after receiving dance lessons with us, having received the opportunity to choreograph and teach at workshops across the country.
Cleghorn has also performed as part of a duet for Canada’s Got Talent and as part of a promo for the movie Rock of Ages on Dancing with the Stars.
Dance lessons have benefited Cleghorn’s career, as she has appeared in many movies and TV shows, including the films Camp Rock 2 – The Final Jam, Honey, Desperately Seeking Santa, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and the television shows Nikita, The L.A. Complex, and Bomb Girls.
Cleghorn has also served as a backup dancer for Deborah Cox and Kellylee Evans during their opening performance at the 2011 Gemini Awards. Her dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts also led to her providing backup for former Backstreet Boy Howie D when he performed at Citytv’s New Year’s Bash in 2012.
Cleghorn’s dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts also led to her performing in videos from recording artists Cascada, as well as commercials for Dove, Mentos, and Playtex.
Cleghorn has experience dancing at events for KPMG, Shaw Media, Ronald McDonald House, and the AIDSbeat event for CANFAR. She has also assisted many choreographers, including Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, and Stacey Tookey, as well as Sean Cheesman for famed comic Russell Peters’ A Russell Peters Christmas Special in 2011.
Heading out on the road is nothing new for Cleghorn, having recently returned from a tour as an assistant for Mia Michaels and other choreographers as part of the JUMP Dance Convention.
Cleghorn is a true triple threat; in addition to being a talented dancer, she is also an actress and a singer. If dance lessons at Performing Dance Arts did all this for her, imagine what it will do for your child!
