NETWORKING LUNCH Artist Tables 2015

TABLE 1

ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONS Denise Fujiwara recently won the Toronto Arts Foundation Award for International Achievement in Dance. Her dance concerts have toured to international festivals all over the world. Her approaches to choreography, performance and teaching have developed over 30 years of intensive practice, performance and study. Her most influential mentors include Japanese butoh masters, Natsu Nakajima and Yukio Waguri, and Montreal master dance pedagogue, Elizabeth Langley. She recently premiered Eunoia in Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage series (“-one of the best dance events of the season. Clever, witty, engrossing. “ Paula Citron, Globe & Mail dance critic) In October, she walked hundreds of kilometres of the 88 Temples Pilgrimage in Japan, to research the notion of walking as a medium for transformation. www.fujiwaradance.com. Photo: Denise Grant.

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COLLECTIVES FOR CREATING AND CHOREOGRAPHING

Hanna Kiel is from Seoul, South Korea and moved to Vancouver in 1996. Since then, she has been pursuing her goal as a choreographer. Hanna’s work has been presented at 12 Minutes Max, PlanB Singles and solos Festival, Rainbow Festival, Dancing on the Edge Festival, Asian Heritage Month Festival, Pulse at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, Roundhouse Centre, Surrey Arts Centre in Vancouver, Lynda Raino Dance in Victoria and New Face Dance Festival in Seoul Korea. In 2007, she choreographed and danced at the Centre A collaborating with Yoko Ono. Hanna moved to Toronto in 2008 where she continues her dance career as an independent dance artist. She choreographed and performed at Series 8:08, Dancemakers Centre for Creation, Rivoli Dance and Dance Ontario Nuit Blanche in Toronto. She is Co-producer and choreographer for 3 is Company. She was commissioned by Maindance School, Choommy dance group in Vancouver, George Brown Dance, Ryerson Dances, Cadence Contemporary Ballet, ProArteDanza, Canada’s Ballet Jorgen and Kenny Pearl’s Emerging Artist Intensive in Toronto and Garion Contemporary Dance Company and Soong Hee Woman’s College in South Korea. Hanna is also the TABLE 2012 winner 3 of Northwest Dance Project ‘Pretty Creatives’ international choreographic competition in Portland, Oregon. Hanna Kiel presented her full evening work in December 2013, Project L – The world that you created for which she was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award in the Best Choreography category. She is the artistic director of Human Body Expression and one of the founders of ‘The Garage’ dance development and exchange collective group.

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CREATING AND PRODUCING A graduate of the dance program at York University Jesse Dell has worked as a contemporary dance artist for over a decade, performing across Canada and the USA while creating over ten original choreographic works. Jesse has had the privilege of performing work by Peggy Baker, Kate Franklin, Susan Lee, Shannon Litzenberger, Tracey Norman, Julia Sasso and Holly Small, as well as for Larchaud Dance Project, The Scandelles, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, and JDdance, a collective she co-founded in 2009. As a choreographer, Jesse has created work for the Art Gallery of Ontario, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Dance Ontario, Dans Kamera Istanbul and the Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal.

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INTERNATIONAL WORK–PERFORMING

Louis Laberge-Côté is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer, teacher, and rehearsal director. An acclaimed performer, the “singularly magnetic” (Fjord Review) and “absolutely charismatic” (Globe and Mail) Laberge-Côté has danced nationally and internationally with over 20 companies, including full-time positions with Toronto Dance Theatre (1999-2007) and the Kevin O’Day Ballett National theater Mannheim (2009-2011). He has performed in the works of several highly respected dance artists, such as Peggy Baker, Patricia Beatty, Serge Bennathan, Peter Chin, Guillaume Côté, Dominique Dumais, David Earle, Robert Glumbeck, Danny Grossman, Christopher House, Sasha Ivanochko, James Kudelka, Matjash Mrozewski, Kevin O’Day, and Michael Trent. Working in film as well as on stage, he has been part of six Bravo! Fact productions. He has created over 60 choreographic works, which have been presented and commissioned in Canada and abroad, and have been described as a “wonderfully sophisticated jewel” (DieRheinpfalz) and a “triumph... with tremendous depth and subtext” (Classical 96.3FM). His work has garnered him a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography (and 6 other nominations for Performance or horeography). NOW Magazine named him “Toronto’s Dance Most Valuable Player” in 2006 and “Best Male Dancer” in 2014. A sought-after pedagogue, he has taught classes and workshops all across the country and is currently on faculty at Ryerson University. He currently shares the Vice-Presidency at the Canadian Dance Assembly and is the Chair of the Dance Committee at the Toronto Arts Council.

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MAKING YOUR PLACE IN THE DANCE WORLD Bageshree Vaze has studied the classical dance styles of Bharatha Natyam, Kuchipudi, and Kathak with some of India’s legendary dance masters, and is also a North Indian classical vocalist. A co-recipient of the 2010 K.M. Hunter Award in Dance, Bageshree has choreographed and performed numerous dance works in festivals such as the CanAsian Dance festival and Dusk Dances, and is currently working on a new production entitled ‘Paratopia,’ which will premiere in April 2015 at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre as part of the 2014/15 DanceWorks Mainstage Season. www.bageshree.com

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BUILDING YOUR DANCE COMMUNITY

Artistic Director of KasheDance, Kevin A. Ormsby works as a dance teacher, choreographer, movement coach and Arts Marketing Consultant. The Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award recipient in Dance (2014) for outstanding achievement by a mid-career artist, and with many interests in the creative practice / administration in dance, he has honed his passion for dance, advocacy, writing and education while performing with companies and projects in Canada, the Caribbean and the United States. Kevin was a company member of Garth Fagan Dance (NY), the Assistant to the Artistic Director and Marketing / Outreach for Ballet Creole, and performed in works by Marie Josee-Chartier, Allison Cummings, Ron K. Brown, Menaka Thakkar, Mark Morris and Bill T. Jones. As the Project Coordinator for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) he delivers professional and organizational development programs in the Arts. Mr. Ormsby is a published author in “Pluralism in the Arts in Canada: A Change is Gonna Come” by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and is a Board Member of Prologue to the Performing Arts and Nia Centre for the Arts and was on Toronto Arts Council’s Community Arts Programs Committee (2010-13) and now sits on Toronto Arts Council’s Dance Committee.

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MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTS Amelia Ehrhardt is an independent contemporary dance artist and administrator based in Toronto. Amelia has worked in Adminstration alongside her artistic career for the past six years. She has since worked with many organizations in the Toronto Dance and Arts Communities such as Coleman Lemieux and Compagnie, the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, The Artists’ Health Centre Foundation, and Ballet Jörgen Canada.

Amelia has performed professionally in works by Carol Anderson, Susie Burpee, Zeesy Powers, Julia Sasso, Menaka Thakkar, and Bluemouth Inc. Her choreographic work is shown most frequently in artist-run centres and contexts such as Double Double Land, the Toronto Dance Community Love-In’s ps: We are All Here, A Month of Sundays, and others. She has also participated in Summerworks 2014 and the Art Gallery of Ontario’s First Thursdays event. Amelia holds an Honours BA in Dance Studies from York University and is a graduate of the Dance Performance Studies program of George Brown Dance. Amelia has trained independently in Toronto, Montreal, and Vienna at ImPulsTanz through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Amelia is a co-Artistic Director of the Toronto Dance Community Love-In and the founder and curator of multidisciplinary performance series Flowchart. Photo: Omer Yukseker. Sky Fairchild-Waller is an artist, producer, and manager working in performance, video, and installation. He attended the National Ballet School of Canada, completed his formal education at York University and the University of California, Berkeley, and is an alum of the Jeux de Canada Games National Artist Program and Metcalf Foundation Performing Arts Program. He is a 3-time recipient of the Koerner Foundation’s Award in Performing Arts, and his video and performance work have been supported by Die Schweizerische Post, the Canada Council for the Arts, and presented in Assisi, Boston, Brooklyn, Cairo, Charlottetown, Edinburgh, Montréal, New Delhi, Philadelphia, São Paulo, Toronto, Turin, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Zürich. As an interpreter, he has performed in work by Diane Borsato, Brendan Fernandes, John Greyson, Andrea Nann, Eroca Nicols, Tracey Norman, Yoshi Oida, Kaitlyn Regehr, Tino Sehgal, and Twyla Tharp, with credits including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Dancemakers, Scottish Ballet, and Toronto International Film Festival. www.skyfairchildwaller.com

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AUDITIONING—AT HOME AND ABROAD Elke Schroeder is an independent dance artist based in Toronto working as a performer, choreographer and teacher. Since graduating from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2005, she has worked with Blue Ceiling Dance, TILT Sound + Motion, Catalyst Dance Company, Lindsay Ritter Dance, Event Horizon Dance, and Toronto Night Artists, and with choreographers Amanda Acorn, Susie Burpee, Vanessa Kimmons, Kate Nankervis, Andrea Nann, and Daryl C. Tracy.

Elke continues to train in Europe where she focuses on floor-work technique. She has studied extensively with the artists of Ultima Vez and has as her mentor the noted dance artist and teacher Iñaki Azpillaga. Elke is known for her explosive performance quality, skills on the floor and edgy choreographies; she moves like, “an almost literal ball of effervescent energy, like a swiftly tilting planet falling out of orbit” - as described by online review forum Mooney on Theatre (March 2013). She is passionate about teaching and has created a class called FloorWork(ed) taught to professionals and beginners alike. Elke is also a yoga instructor and studies sexuality, a topic that feeds her dance creations.

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DANCING OUTSIDE THE BIG CITY

Sarah Lochhead is the Artistic and Executive Director of Simcoe Contemporary Dancers - a not-for-profit professional dance company based in Barrie ON. She holds a BFA honours in dance from York University and is currently back at York as an MA candidate in Dance Studies. She has worked with choreographers Julia Aplin, Trish Armstrong, Susan Cash, Meaghan Giusti, Susan Kendal, Andrea Nann, Nancy Pottage, Heather Saum and Holly Small. She has also performed with HNM Dance Company, Dance Nonce, and Menaka Thakkar Dance Company. This October 2014, as part of Nuit Blanche, she performed in an installation by Dana Sherwood of Brooklyn NY. She has trained the modern styles of Duncan, Humphrey/Weidman, completed teacher training in Limón with Donna Krasnow, and with the Limón Company in NYC. She holds intermediate ballet certificates in RAD and Cecchetti. Her work has been acknowledged through the receipt of grants from the City of Barrie, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Sarah holds professional memberships with the CADA, the DTRC, Dance Ontario and the CDA.

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TEACHING / OPENING A STUDIO Ann-Marie Williams is the owner of the Movement Lab, a dance school for Leslieville’s youngest movers and shakers, and is the author of the award winning children’s book, Learn to Speak Dance (OwlKids Books). She has an MA in Dance (York University) and a BFA in Theatre-Dance with a specialization in dance pedagogy (Ryerson University). She is also a fully certified teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance. In addition to teaching, Ann-Marie has a background in arts management. She is the Program Manager for The CanDance Network, and is on the board of directors for The Dance Current.

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COMMERCIAL DANCE, CRUISE SHIPS, AND MUSICAL THEATRE Trained in contemporary/modern dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Andrew Taylor began to perform as a dancer in 2008 with an internship at the Toronto Dance Theatre company under the direction of Christopher House, appearances with Zata Omm directed by William Yong, and a European tour with Corpus directed by David Danzon. In 2010, he danced in The Nutcracker presented by the Ontario Ballet Theatre, directed by Sarah Lockett, and went on to perform with Carnival Cruise Lines. Andrew made his musical theatre debut in 2011 as Mungojerrie in Rainbow Stage’s Cats; since then, he

has appeared in productions of La Cage aux Folles at Neptune Theatre, Anne of Green Gables and Ring of Fire at the Charlottetown Festival, and most recently Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz presented by Mirvish. He continued with The Wizard of Oz during its first national tour, where he understudied his first lead role, the Scarecrow. Andrew is grateful for these many opportunities to develop his career as a dancer, singer, and performer, and he eagerly looks forward to further exploring his creative work on stage through the opportunities that await him.

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STARTING A COMPANY

William Yong was trained at the London Contemporary Dance School in England and was admitted to the Master of Arts with distinction by University of Kent. In the last year of his MA study, he was sent alone for his placement to study with the Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 in the Netherlands. Previous dance companies he worked with included Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, Toronto Dance Theatre, CORPUS, Theatre Rusticle, Lina Cruz’s Fila 13 and many others. Currently William is the artistic director and choreographer of Zata Omm Dance Projects (www. zataomm.org). William is a double Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee. William was also nominated for the Young Centre Performing Arts Multidisciplinary Dance Artists Award and K.M. Hunter Artist Award. He is recently awarded the winner of 2013 Canadian Dance Assembly’s ‘I love dance/J’aime la danse’ Award for Innovation. Currently he is working on Zata Omm’s next full-length production vox:lumen premiering from 4th to 7th March 2015 for Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage.

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ENGAGING YOUTH

Michael Prosserman found his passion for break dancing at a very young age. By the time he was three, Michael was already standing on his head while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Since then, he has performed for over 300 audiences, has spoken at over 100 schools, and has taught hundreds of workshops all over the work from Canada to Italy to Asia to the Arctic. Michael has competed world-wide, placing first in over 22 competitions. Michael is the founder and Executive Director of UNITY Charity, an organization that empowers youth to be role models and leaders in their communities through after school programs in break dancing, graffiti art, spoken word poetry and beat boxing. UNITY has reached over 100,000 young people across Canada. In the past year UNITY was featured in over 50 major media outlets in Canada including Maclean’s,Toronto Star, CBC, CTV, CityTv, and many more. UNITY teaches youth to use urban arts as a powerful outlet to relieve their stress and anger in a positive way.