Teachers

our teachers

Ashley Stowkowy

Ashley is the current director of the Gillie Callum Highland Dancers. Having danced most of her career with this studio, Ashley holds dear the culture and legacy this community of dancers has. Ashley has a passion for dance and loves enabling that same passion in her students. Highland dance has so much to offer and Ashley strikes a balance of bringing fun and hard work into the studio, she creates an engaging environment for the dancers. In her 15 years of teaching she has trained girls that have been successful at both the provincial and national level. Ashley loves working on the traditional Highland dances, but also has a keen interest in creating choreography. Her creative talents led her dancers to a 2nd place finish at the recent ScotDance Canada Championship Series.

As an accomplished dancer herself, Ashley, strives to bring out the best in her dancers. Ashley is an eight time Alberta provincial champion. She has won three National titles, and placed 2nd at the 1999 World Championships. Ashley is also an Adjudicator with the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dance. She is a member of the SDTA and BATD, as well as being a professional member with ScotDance Canada. Outside of the dance studio Ashley is an engineer with TransCanada and can often be found taking a Zumba class from her former Highland teacher and the past director of Gillie Callum, Pierie Danysk.

Keltie Stowkowy

Keltie has nurtured and developed Gillie Callum Highland Dancers for over 20 years. Keltie is masterful at engaging young dancers and developing, not only a passion for dance, but also a strong work ethic. One thing all of Keltie's students share is a love of dance. She has a great eye for technique, a trait that has led her to develop national champions and world class dancers.

Keltie is a Fellow of the SDTA and BATD, she is not only a member of ScotDance Canada, but also the National Registrar and National Competition Organizer chair. As a respected teacher in the Highland community Keltie is also an accomplished judge with the SOBHD. She has travelled all over the world to judge major championships and lead workshops for dancers.

Carley Frazer

Carley has been involved in highland dance for over 17 years, beginning dancing at Gillie Callum at the age of 5. A focused and dedicated adult competitor, Carley has achieved many successes, representing Alberta at the Canadian Championships for the past several years. Most recently, she finished 3rd and 6th at the 2015 and 2016 Canadian Championships and 6th at the Commonwealth Championships. In August 2014 and 2015, Carley qualified to dance in the Adult World Championship Finals held in Dunoon, Scotland.

Carley has been teaching classes for the past four years and values creating positive relationships with her students which allows them to be their best. Outside of highland dance, Carley began attending the University of Calgary Law School in the Fall of 2017. She believes in promoting a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle, balancing dance alongside a variety of activities and priorities.

Megan Nettleton

Megan began dancing with Gillie Callum in 2000, under the instruction of former Gillie Callum directors Pierie Danysk and Keltie Stowkowy. Megan’s passion and commitment to highland dance has given her the opportunity to represent Alberta at the Canadian Championships numerous times and travel to championships throughout North America and Scotland. Most recently, she finished 4th, 5th and 6th the 2015, 2016 and 2018 Canadian Championships, respectively.

Megan is a firm believer that the friendships that are made in the dance studio, and dance community, are friendships that will last a lifetime! She strives to foster a love of dance within all of her students, and values a positive, strong work ethic to become both the best dancer and person you can be. Megan continues to share and develop her love of teaching outside of the dance studio as well, as she is a Grade 2 teacher with the Calgary Board of Education.

Leah Smith

Leah began highland dancing at the age of six. She had a successful competitive career that spanned nearly 20 years, including dancing three times in the Canadian Championships. Leah was a student at Gillie Callum and began student teaching in 1997 under the mentorship of Pierie Danysk and Keltie Stowkowy. She enjoys working with dancers to pass on her love of highland dance, both the athleticism and the artform. Her desire is to continue to help foster the Gillie Callum family atmosphere and lasting friendships.

Highland dancing has provided Leah the opportunity to travel and compete across Canada, the US, Scotland and even Japan where she danced in the Canadian Festival at Inawashiro in 2002 along with Ashley.

She is presently a member of SDTA, a professional member of ScotDance Canada, an adjudicator with the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dance. Leah has her B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and currently works as a structural engineer for a Calgary consulting firm.