THE CREATIVE TEAM
KIM-GRANT TAYLOR
A creative director, producer and choreographer with an extensive list of industry credits over the past 35 years. Originally a professional dancer, now an experienced business woman who has worked in many different settings including National Television, Stage Management, Creative Concepts and of course her main love: teaching and inspiring the next generation with her well-known and reputable school: Australian Company of Performing Arts. Kim’s client profile across Australia includes: Basketball Australia, Port Adelaide Football Club, Rundle Mall Management, Adelaide Entertainment Centre and Adelaide Convention Centre, to name a few.
PEP RIGANO
Adelaide born and raised, Pep has been in the performing arts industry for over 20 years now. Starting as one of the first Australian ‘s team members to ever travel and compete on an international level to creating a Hip Hop syllabus for training schools all around the world. Pep has worked closely with some of the most well known choreographers in Los Angeles, as a result of receiving a mentorship from Britney Spears’ creative team.
An established choreographer, teacher, mentor, producer and creative director. Pep is founder and manager of pop group ‘G-Nat!on’ as well as creative director on many projects for Dancestar Australia, South Australian Dance Festival and Australian Company of Performing Arts.
Awarded, Local Hero in 2020, Pep also has an incredible passion for reaching out to vulnerable communities and commits to making a difference.
STEPHANIE THOMPSON
Born and raised in Adelaide, Stephanie studied dance at the Barbara Jayne Dance Centre and singing under the guidance of Pauline Jamieson. She continued her studies with The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where she received a BA in Music Theatre. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Leslie Anderson award for Best showcase. Professionally she has starred in Love Never Dies (RUC), A Chorus Line (TLP), The Producers (TPC), Pirates of Penzance (TPC) and Sweet Charity (HTC). She also starred alongside Geoffrey Rush in A Funny Thing Happened Along the Way to the Forum (GFO). TV credits include Mr & Mrs Murder and several televised live events. Stephanie has since returned to Adelaide to share her experience with the next generation of performers.
JOSHUA TAYLOR
Having moved to Sydney after completing a year in the Australian Company of Performing Arts Cert IV program, Joshua went on to graduate from ED5 International under the guidance of William A Forsythe where he had the privilege to work with artists such as Marcia Hines and Aaron Farley. The following year Joshua made his professional debut in Opera Australia’s 2019 season of ‘West Side Story’ as ‘Action’, reprising the role again in 2021. Joshua has also been cast in the upcoming season of ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’.
ERIN MCKELLAR
Two-time Downbeat award winner, Erin McKellar, is an Australian vocalist, songwriter and composer.
Erin’s musical career is multi-faceted and has seen her perform at Dizzy’s Jazz Club in New York through to presenting at the 2017 International Jazz Voice Conference in Finland. Erin is currently undergoing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and also holds a First-Class Honours alongside a Bachelor in Jazz Performance from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Erin was awarded the Helpmann Academy Award for Voice in 2020. As a songwriter Erin has worked with Aussie icon Paul Mac, Liam Quinn, Bish Malik, Danny Duke and many more. This year Erin has co-written numerous song that have been used for major synch deals including Target US. She was a Top 40 finalist in the International Song Writing Competition for ‘Girls’ Night Out’ which was written for G-Nat!on. Other writing accolades include co-wrote Emmagen Rain’s singles City Lights Call and Karaoke Song which both charted number 1 for two weeks consecutively on the Triple J Unearthed charts and 6 weeks on Country Australia radio. Erin has worked on numerous projects including Australian Company of Performing Arts productions, touring school show (Eyes of The Beholder) and most recently she written the music for “Dance Star Live” I Am Me. Erin is also in the process of writing and composing two new Australian musicals, Muriel Matters and A Box of Memories.