One of the most dynamic partnerships in the dance world today – Melissa Panton and Chantelle Leonardo, hailing from Vancouver and Toronto respectively, have combined their considerable talent and experience, fusing the best of West Coast and East Coast urban dance styles to create innovative, stylish choreography.
Mel & Chanti credit their versatility to extensive training in Hip Hop and Street Jazz, along with a range of other styles including Broadway, Lyrical, Tap and Acrobatics, where they have honed their skills as dancers from some of the industry’s hottest stars.
As dancers, both Melissa and Chantelle have extensive worldwide experience both onstage – Foxy Brown, Shaggy, The Beatnuts, and Michael Buble; in music videos – Hillary Duff, Shawn Desman, Eva Avila; and in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters – Hairspray, Shall We Dance, Honey, White Chicks, Cheetah Girls, Save The Last Dance 2, Silent Hill, and Repo! The Genetic Opera.
Together they have an impressive list of credits choreographing and staging for such artists as Cascada, Sam Roberts and Misstress Barbara, Zascha Moktan, Rochester, Dragonette, The Canadian Tenors, H-Boogie, George Nozuka, Danny Fernandes, Cory Lee, and Grandmaster Flash. Their choreography is featured on the TV shows Baxter, Life With Derek, Overruled!, Pop It!, and The Listener, and in commercials for Joe Fresh, Camelot Lottery, Virgin Mobile, Zantac, Zellers, and Bally’s Fitness. They have choreographed live shows for Scarlet Johansen’s Reebok Line Launch, That’s So Raven fashion show with Raven Symone for Wal-Mart and Disney, the Opening Ceremonies for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Toronto, and several industrials for General Motors, Nike, and the Gemini Awards.
Mel & Chanti are in high demand across Canada as choreographers, casting directors, and dynamic guest instructors. Melissa consults for Canada’s leading dance agency da Costa Talent in the youth and urban divisions as well as Groovestreet Productions- a touring dance convention in it’s 13th season, and Chantelle owns her own dance studio in downtown Toronto – Tha Spot Dance Centre. They continue to be immersed in the urban dance scene and are known for their unique style of smooth and edgy hiphop infused with their technical upbringing in all genres of dance.
Watch for their most recent project released in August on Friday the 13th- Mattel’s Monster High product launch and hot music video!