MEET OUR TEAM

Hazel Sparling is a dancer, choreographer, and educator from Unama'ki/Cape Breton Island, NS. She has earned a reputation as a passionate leader, earnest performer, and a force of positivity in the east coast. Hazel has over 20 years of dance education and relevant experience. Her unique credentials outside of dance, as both a certified yoga instructor and a certified classroom teacher, give her a profound understanding of diverse bodies, differing learning styles, and healthy teaching pedagogies. She is proud to carry these skills into all dance spaces, whether as a student, artist, or teacher. Her training post high school reflects a small town, small budget, “work-with-what-you-got” passion for dance education; shared knowledge in community, learning from peers, online resources, intensives, research, and creating opportunities for herself and community. Some of her more recent training has been with: Anastasia Weibe (Mocean Dance, Halifax, NS), Lydia Zimmer (Zimmerdans, Halifax, NS), Stephanie Decourtielle (Espace Ouvert, Montreal, QC), and James Wilton and Sarah Jane Taylor (James Wilton Dance Co., UK).

Hazel has been working as a dancer and choreographer for both stage and film since 2015. Some notable work over the last 5 years includes both community work and professional work. In 2020, Hazel worked with Thomas L. Colford as a core dancer for his music video “Adventure Song” by Leander, a feature song from his debut album, Something About Expectations. The same year, Painted Dance Collective released a dance short to Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s “Freefall”, choreographed by Hazel and her collaborator, Lesley MacLean. In 2022, Hazel was a successful candidate for Mocean Dance Company’s: Choreography Lab, Exploration and Research Forum in Ross Creek, NS and spent a week curating concepts that would inform a live group work titled “Where Do We Go From Here?” featuring dancers from Painted. This work premiered at Lumiere-Art-at-Night Festival in September 2022. At this same festival, she was a speaker on a discussion panel alongside other artists and premiered her first fully funded solo work "mis(fit)", a multimedia dance exhibit. Amidst all the studio and stage work in 2022, Hazel also worked on another music video, “Under My Skin” by Elyse Boudreau, choreographed by Marrin Jessome. In 2023 Hazel was cast in The Devil’s Intervals: a ZIMMERDANS company premiere with director and choreographer Lydia Zimmer. The show premiered in December 2023 and was a sold out success.

All while practicing her own professional work, Hazel is consistently recognized and awarded for her choreography in competitive dance across Atlantic Canada and more importantly is recognized for the level of care and support she offers her students. Her teaching model reflects a ‘human first, dancer second’ mentality and her work with individual dancers, both in studio and on stage, demonstrates her ability to see each unique individual and pull from their unique gifts. 

Hazel is passionate about her community in Unama’ki/CB and believes continuing in her own dance career is the best thing she can do for her students- to offer more knowledge to our community and help put Cape Breton on the map in dance. Hazel’s strongest motivator is their unwavering passion for dance and finding joy in every moment spent doing it.