Voice and Speech Arts
2026 Adjudicator TBA
Dennis Colpitts -Instrumental
Dennis Colpitts is a graduate from the Department of Music, University of British Columbia, 1976. He has taught music in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan at all levels of the school system.
Mr. Colpitts has been second chair in the horn section of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra for 23 years and plays regularly with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra. He also plays trumpet in the Fish On Five Brass Quintet and the Okanagan Jazz Festival Big Band.
Dennis retired in 2011 after 34 years of teaching, but keeps busy by volunteering in the schools and working with the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Joanne Gibson Menzies - Dance
Joanne has been dancing for most of her life, with a teaching career spanning over 40 years. Her training spans from England to Los Angeles, California, with a repertoire that includes ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, and National dance. She is a graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic University/Canadian College of Dance in Toronto, where she obtained her Royal Academy of Dance Teacher Credentials in ballet and her ISTD credentials in Modern and National Dance. She holds the Licentiate designation with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, London, in ballet and the Advanced Teaching Certificate RAD. She is an experienced adjudicator and producer of dance productions and dance festivals.
Joanne has taught in Toronto and the Lower Mainland for the past 40 years at various schools, as well as her own, and currently runs the ladies’ dance group, Dance Divas, in Abbotsford. She has danced professionally in Toronto with Dance Breakers, Folk Ballet Theatre, and Capricho Español. Joanne also holds her Pilates Level One Certification and a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher qualification, as recognized by the International Yoga Alliance. She currently guest teaches at various schools in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley areas and resides in Abbotsford with her husband and two grown children, Cale, her son, and Marissa, her daughter.
Piano
2026 Adjudicator TBA