Staff and Consultants

Artistic Director & CEO

Simone Orlando
P: 250-762-6105
E: ad.ceo@balletkelowna.ca 

Executive Assistant and Administrator

Ailsa Hobbins
P: 250-762-6105
E: ea@balletkelowna.ca / info@balletkelowna.ca

Ailsa Hobbins is a Canadian dancer, researcher, and arts professional. She is a graduate of London Contemporary Dance School (The Place), where she received a First-Class Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Dance Science at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, with research focused on understanding and measuring the development of soft skills through dance participation, and how these skills transfer into professional, academic, and personal contexts.

Originally from Calgary, Ailsa trained in the Professional Division at Alberta Ballet School, where she graduated as Valedictorian in 2021. Her performance experience spans Canada, the UK, and the US, working with James Cousins, Sarah Golding & Yukiko Masui, Katharina Schier, Edmund Stripe, Sir Richard Alston, and Protein Dance. 

Ailsa combines her artistic training with experience in higher education policy and governance in Canada and the UK. She serves as the Co-chair of the SEER (Students Engaged in Educational Research) Student Advisory Panel and has authored the London Contemporary Dance School's student submission for the UK Office for Students' Teaching Excellence Framework. Ailsa is deeply passionate about linking artistic practice with education and wellbeing, aiming to create a positive impact for dancers and the broader community.

Marketing Coordinator

Abigail Sawchuk
P: 250-762-6105
E: communications@balletkelowna.ca

Abigail Sawchuk is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, gaining her Bachelor of Arts in English (honours) with a minor in visual art from UBC’s Okanagan campus. Her honours thesis, under the direction of Robert Eggleston, examined witty women characters in plays by William Congreve, Edward Ravenscroft, and George Etherege.

Growing up in South Africa, Ms. Sawchuk studied ballet with Caryn Harvey under the Dance Academy of South Africa syllabus, passing her Advanced I exam with distinction, before moving to Kelowna in 2018. During her time at UBCO, Ms. Sawchuk served as the president of the Ballroom Dance Club for three years and trained under Kelowna Ballroom’s Christopher Thorburn. Ms. Sawchuk also worked at UBCO’s Learning Hub as a Writing and Academic Integrity Consultant.

After working with the Kelowna Art Gallery for two summers as an Art Adventure Supervisor, Ms. Sawchuk started working with Ballet Kelowna as a part-time marketing assistant in 2021, helping to revitalize the company after Covid shutdowns. Since then, she has loved the diversity of working with a small performing arts company and has been working as Ballet Kelowna’s Marketing Coordinator full-time since 2023. Also a visual artist, Ms. Sawchuk has been a part of multiple group exhibitions at the Fina Gallery as well as the 2023 exhibition Cultivations at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

Fund Development Coordinator

Elana Bizovie
E: development@balletkelowna.ca

Elana Bizovie is a graduate of the University of Alberta, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Drama and Anthropology. She also received a Fine Arts & Communications Diploma, with distinction, in Arts & Cultural Management from MacEwan University. 

Ms. Bizovie grew up Ukrainian dancing in her home province of Alberta and has worked as an actor, director, writer, and producer for the stage, and occasionally the screen, for 15 years. She co-founded the theatre company The Virago Collective in 2019 and teaches classes and workshops for actors at various training centres, including EMC Studios.

With a passion for making the arts visible, accessible, and inclusive, Ms. Bizovie focuses on community-based solutions through all her work. Believing that arts education, collaboration, and quality opportunities for both artists and the general public are essential to a healthy and vibrant community, she has supported several non-profit arts organizations in administrative and production roles over the past decade, including The Works International Visual Arts Society, Cool Arts Society, the Rotary Centre for the Arts, and Opera Kelowna. She is pleased to be part of the City of Kelowna Cultural Plan Community Working Group to support the development of the newest Kelowna Cultural Plan.