Kim Grant-Taylor
Kim is the founder and director of the Australian Company of Performing Arts, which incorporates, The Talent Company agency.
Kim has been dancing since she was 5 years old and has studied most forms of dance including Classical, Theatre, Tap, Jazz as well as the modern styles, funk and groove. She has extensive experience in performing, teaching and choreography as well as an A. D. P.A. (Associate Diploma in Performing Arts) and A. R.A.D. (Advanced Royal Academy of Dance). She is a familiar face on television, having worked on channel 7, and has toured the world in some of the best shows ever created. Kim's passion and love for dance is highly contagious and is readily visible in her students. She has that special eye for each child she teaches, and this is what makes her such an amazing teacher. She makes a fantastic connection with her students and this enables her to get results instantly.
Currently, Kim acts as the director of the company and also works heavily in event management, providing entertainment for corporate functions held at venues such as the Convention Centre and Entertainment Centre. She is the definition of performing arts in South Australia!
Peppino Rigano
Pep has been dancing since the age of 9 and trained in Hip Hop, Funk, Jazz, Tap, Burlesque and Commercial Dance. His persistence has seen him through National title's in F.I.S.A.F and School Aerobics competitions. Pep, along with his team, were invited to compete in the World Hip Hop titles in Los Angeles in 2005 and has since then, recieved a scholarship from Andre Fuentes (Britney Spears' Choreographer), to travel to America and work closely with the world's best international choreographers such as Tony Czar, Kevin Maher, Kyle Hanagami, Andye J, Kennis Marquis, to name a few. Not only has Pep trained extensivley in LA, he is the coach of the winning Hip Hop crew, TC FUNK, and is the director of one of adelaides well known corporate vocal groups. Pep currently teaches at the Australian Company of Performing Arts, is the choreographer for major corporate events and works a professional dancer/singer in the indsutry. Pep's passion for the performing arts is evident as soon as you walk in the door. His focus, attention to detail and dedication to his students is phenomenal.
Sam Pulvirenti
"Enthusiastic and motivated" are only some words to describe Sam. She has been employed as a Master Choreographer inE Melbourne on various occasions teaching students from 3 - 17 years in styles such as Hip Hop, Funk, Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Contemporary, Cheerleading and Acrobatics. She is known to be a very passionate dancer, who loves to pass her wide array of knowledge onto students of all ages. Some of her successful achievements include training a number of students who have been accepted into the Australian Ballet and state and national champion teams.
Nicole Christopoulos
Nicole has been dancing since the age of 6, in particular Aerobics, Funk, Cheerleading and Jazz. Having only recently returned from completing her full time course at Jason Coleman's Ministry of Dance, Nicole has taken position as our receptionist. She is one hard worker thats for sure. But is doesn't end here, she also teaches Hip Hop, Funk, Cheerleading and Jazz for us. In addition to this, Nicole has one of the best voices you will ever hear. She has a strong interest in Musical Theatre which has led her to teach private and group vocal lessons for ACPA. We are very proud to have her on our team.
Ebony Baker-Matane
"Fun, energetic and very talented" - these are some of the words that have been used when describing this spark of talent. Ebony has been training in dance since the age of 3; in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Funk and Commercial Dance. After recently being offered a position in our corporate group, the Dezire Dollz, Ebony decided she would undertake training as a personal trainer. With all this knowledge and large amount of passion, Ebony now teaches Hip Hop for our teams.
Erin McNamara
Erin has been training extensively in dance since the age of 3. She has experience in Contemporary, Jazz, Ballet, Funk, Tap, Hip Hop, Cheerleading and Commercial Dance. Erin has been a part of our national hip hop champion team for over 6 years as well as being a member of our Gold Medalist team at the World F.I.S.A.F Championships. Currently studying her Bachelor of Physiotherapy, she has found a love for teaching students dance, in particular Jazz and Funk. Not only does she have an amazing list of performance credits in dance to her name but, Erin is also one of our well respected vocalists.
Renee Auciello
Renee Auciello has a huge passion for the performing arts. In 2007 she completed a Certificate IV in Performing Arts at ED5 International in Sydney. Since then she has been a part of numerous corporate gigs both interstate and overseas. Renee has recently returned from Macau, China after working as a Glamour Girl at the Sands Casino for 8 months. While back in Adelaide, Renne is teaching Stiletto, Hip Hop and Jazz classes here at ACPA.
Marcel Blanch - de Wilt
Marcel’s passion for the performing arts began in his early years. His talent has been described as ‘amazing’, but it goes beyond that. ‘He can write, direct, produce and act’! Having completed his Bachelor of Arts: in Drama and English, Marcel continues to work with many of SA’s most talented actors. He currently is the founder of his own company – Never Ender Productions who put together 6 very successful productions, of which four of those have been produced for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Critics described his shows as “a marvellous local Fringe offering that should be supported by Adelaidians all'. Marcel is currently completing his final year in secondary teaching specialising in Drama and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for the arts with the students of ACPA. Marcel believes “the Performing Arts is a brilliant way of expressing oneself”
Buddy Dawson
Buddy is an enthusiastic actor who is currently studying at Flinders University. His studies include the analysis of Stanislavski’s system, Improvisation, Naturalism, Realism, In depth script analysis, and more. Buddy has been a part of many South Australian productions including the recent Beauty and the Beast. Buddy is heavily influenced by Musical Theatre and aspires to work in stage productions across the globe. However, he also has a bursting passion and excitement for sharing his talent, skill and ability with students. Buddy loves teaching kids and is thrilled to be part of the teaching faculty at ACPA.
