Teaching Zumba classes at the Kerrisdale Community Centre for 12 years, Tanya Hillson draws deeply from both her Caribbean heritage and Latin dance background. “My family comes from Trinidad and Tobago, which is the birthplace of soca and calypso music, the steel drum and limbo, and home to the world’s largest Caribbean carnival,” says Hillson, who was born and raised in Vancouver but frequently visited Trinidad as a child and teen. “Latin dance is also popular on the

Julien Toscano-Saoui has entered the building as our new food services coordinator. Working in Vancouver’s restaurant scene since he was 16, he fully embarked on his culinary journey at Mahoney’s Tavern (Vancouver Convention Centre location) before moving on to help open Tap & Barrel‘s North Vancouver location, oversee Tacofino‘s food trucks, work as chef de partie at Kitsilano’s Oddfish Restaurant and, most recently, as sous chef at Yolks on W. Broadway. Only a few weeks into his new Kerrisdale Community Centre Society role, Toscano-Saoui says: “I like it, it’s exciting, it’s fun.