Melissa Mahady Wilton is a former Senior Manager of Strategic Planning at Deloitte Consulting. She holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Queen’s University, where she was awarded the W.R. Thompson Prize; Medal In Psychology; Ontario Graduate Scholarship; Queen’s University Graduate Award; A.Z. Arthur Prize; Queen’s University Graduate Fellowship; R. Samuel McLaughlin Fellowship; and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship. Ms. Mahady Wilton has formally trained in classical ballet (Vaganova, Cecchetti), ballroom (international, social), Latin (international, social), wheelchair dance, flamenco, Spanish classical, tap, jazz and Afro Cuban dance. Melissa completed intensive teacher training in the Vaganova method with the Open World Dance Foundation, under the direction of Irina Kolpakova, Ekaterina Shchelkanova and Anton Boytsov, and she holds a Certificate of Merit with Honours from master teacher Finis Jhung’s ballet teacher intensive training. Melissa has completed dance medicine certificates in foot and ankle function, injury prevention and assessment, pointe readiness and shoe fitting, and adolescent dancer health from the Harkness Centre for Dance Injuries, at NYU’s School of Medicine. She has completed Lisa Howell's Level I Certification in functional dance anatomy, dancer assessment, musculoskeletal and fascial programming, injury prevention and remediation. She is certified in the Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced levels of Progressing Ballet Technique, and is a Master Teacher of wheelchair ballroom dance -- the only teacher in Canada certified by the American DanceWheels Foundation. Melissa was recently honoured to be one of a dozen dance educators across Canada invited by George Brown Dance and Canada's Ballet Jörgen to participate in a national research task force on the future of dance education and performance in Canada. She has a current CPIC and First Aid certification.

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Building upon her clinical and dance training and commitment to therapeutic arts, Melissa is the founder and director of ConCorpsDance Inclusive Dance Programs, a Kingston organization devoted to dance for people of all abilities. Her expertise in inclusive dance has been recognized by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Kingston, the Kingston Arts Council, the Ontario Communities in Action Fund, Exceptional Families Magazine and Queen’s Alumni Review. She has presented master workshops to Variety Village, Bloorview Kids’ Rehabilitation Centre, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and Queen’s University. She is the creator and head of the dance program at H’art Centre, and provides inclusive programming to school and community groups. She is the Choreographer for Peerless Productions, a production company she founded with Kathryn Mackay and David Archibald, dedicated to presenting professional theatre for all abilities, whose works have been supported by the Kingston Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.

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As the City of Kingston’s Dance Engagement Coordinator, Melissa liaises with professional dance artists to create residencies, master classes and educational events, under the Ontario Dances Program. She was appointed by Ontario Dances to lead an inaugural dance outreach project in four Northern Ontario communities, and has been asked to serve on Ontario Arts Council dance grant juries. She is the former Chairperson of Canada DanceSport, host of the 2009 World Senior Standard Ballroom Dance Championships. Under her leadership, Canada DanceSport became a leader in the management and organization of ballroom dance events, and her consultation was sought by international dance sport leaders in developing their own programming.

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Looking to bring a dance conservatory experience to Kingston, Melissa founded the The Conservatory with Anthea Morgan, where she directs The Conservatory Ballet Company, and teaches Ballet, Pointe, Theatrical Jazz, and Latin Dance. It is her great privilege to share the joy and beauty of dance, and she hopes to offer integrity, inspiration and inclusion to the community.

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