Teacher Bios

Katy Liu
Artistic / Company Director

Katy brings a lifelong love of dance to the company. As a child she took dance lessons in China. Following her move to Toronto, she studied in finance and continued her dance training. Katy is a co-founder of the Orient Dance Company (Toronto). Her passion is to promote Chinese traditional and folk dance to a wider Canadian audience and to ensure the continued existence of Chinese dance in Canada’s cultural mosaic.

In her business career, Katy was the Finance Manager of the Canadian Opera Company for 10 years and is currently the Financial Controller at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.

Katy continues her dance performance and her achievements in the sector volunteer have earned her two Ontario Volunteer Awards

Florence Chan,
B.F.A( Dance, Honors Specialist), B.Ed.,R.A.D. Diploma

Florence started her ballet and Modern Theatre training at the age of five in Hong Kong. She received several competition awards from the Hong Kong Schools’ Dance Festival. After arriving Canada, she furthered her ballet and modern dance training and concurrently obtained her Dance Degree as well as her Education Degree from York University. Her passion for dance had extended her interest to a variety of other dance genres, such as African Dancing and Drumming, Classical Jazz, and Chinese Dance.

Florence had won several university scholarships for her academic and artistic excellence. She participated in the world-renowned American Dance Festival and performed for several dance companies. Florence initiated and ran a ballet program at Gosford Public School, as part of the Westview Schools Project for three years. She was the winner of the Brian and Lynda Wilson Memorial Award for teaching in the years from 1993-1995. Florence holds the title of Dance Specialist with the Toronto District School Board.

Presently, she is working with a great teaching team at Timberbank Jr. Public School.