ASHLEY

Ashley Touchette is a fourteen-year-old dancer from the French River area. She started dancing at the age of three. She also practiced gymnastics for a few years before deciding to focus solely on dance. Ashley started dancing competitively during her second year at Spotlight Dance Company when she was eight years old. Ashley enjoys all styles of dance, her favourites being acro, lyrical, and ballet. 

Because of her skills in acrobatics, Ashley quickly found herself focusing more on hand balancing. She had been training individually with Meaghan Wegg, former Cirque du Soleil artist, before the pandemic and has continued to do so since then through Zoom classes. She has also had the opportunity to train with many other Cirque du Soleil artists such as Tyler Heath (expert in hand balancing), Sabrina Aganier, (Cirque du Soleil Amaluna), Xander Taylor (Cirque du Soleil Totem) to name a few. In 2016, she was introduced to acrobatic canes by her acro teacher. Since then, Ashley has focussed a lot of her training on the canes and plans to eventually teach others.

Ashley is currently part of a project directed by musician DJ Unpier and other franco-ontarian singers called “Dans la danse”. During the summer of 2021, they recorded music videos featuring various artists and including young dancers from all over the province, including Ashley.

Ashley says she is excited to be a 2021-2022 Ambassador for Dance by aKaiserPhoto because, not only does she get lots of beautiful photos, this experience also gives her the opportunity to be part of a group of dancers that showcase the beauty, strength, and athleticism that is dance.