TORONTO 2019 PANEL & WORKSHOP PRESENTERS

SETTING THE STAGE - RESPECTFUL WORKPLACES

Nicole Hamilton is the founder, and Artistic Director of Inica Dance Industries. A certified dance educator, Counsellor, and member of Dance Masters of Canada and Dance Masters

of America, Hamilton has served as a faculty member, master workshop leader, mentor, and guest teacher at institutes across Canada, and the U.S.A, including George Brown College, University of Toronto, and Royal Academy of Dance.Hamilton serves as a reporter for Dance Channel Television, is a contributing host on The Career Buzz Show, and a Producer with Turn Out Radio on CIUT 89.5 FM. Hamilton is the recipient of numerous awards in the competition sector, and provides both advisory

and adjudication support for competitive dance organizations across North America. As a touring Educator, she has presented in national, and international conventions, and

championships including; En Avant - RAD world convention, Creation Dance Championships, the Performing Arts Medicine Association and more. Hamilton has performed, and choreographed

for several major musicals, and dramatic theatre productions. Selected credits include; To Jane with Love (2016), The Singers (2014), Pieces of Me (2013), Private Pain in Public Pews (2012), and Who’s that dancing (2009). She looks forward to presenting at on the MOVE! - Image credit: AR4Photography

Kevin Ormsby - Program Manager for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) and Artistic Director of KasheDance, Kevin A. Ormsby works as a dancer/choreographer and arts marketing consultant, and is an Adjunct Artist with Dance Exchange in Washington, DC. Kevin is an Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Fellowship recipient, OAC KM Hunter Dance Award 2016 nominee, Toronto Arts Council’s Cultural Leaders Fellow, and the 2014 Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch — Staunton Award recipient in Dance. He sits on the Boards of three leading arts organizations in Toronto and has career that spans over 25 years, performing with various

companies and projects in Canada, Caribbean and the United States

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: NICOLE HAMILTON

Ashley Bomberry is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory. She is a writer, producer, director and actor for film and theatre. Her short documentary film, Hoop Dance,

premiered at the Female Eye Film Festival and she continues to write and create projects within an Indigenous storytelling framework. Ashley recently co-produced The Hunt, a short VR film, written and directed by Danis Goulet, included in the 2167 installation at TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre. It features a predominantly Haudenosaunee cast and the film is predominantly in the Mohawk language and shot on Indigenous territory in Tkaron:to and on Six Nations. As a producer and curator for multicultural and diverse showcases, Ashley creates discussion and aims to build bridges between marginalized and non-marginalized

groups with her work. Ashley focuses on her Indigenous roots and endeavors to impart strength, hope, and healing in Indigenous communities around the world.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

William Yong is currently the artistic director of Zata Omm. He has spent the past decade breaking new ground by collaborating with scientists, artists, and engineers in bold and

innovative ways to re-imagine dance for our technological age. William’s professional dance and theatre career spans more than twenty-four years since starting with Random Dance in 1994. He has performed in 75 cities within 15 countries. He has created over seventy-eight dance and theatre works world-wide. He was trained and received his master degree at the London Contemporary Dance School in U.K. Past companies he worked for include: Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance and Matthew Bourne’s Adventures In Motion Pictures in the U.K.; Toronto Dance Theatre,

CORPUS, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Lina Cruz/Fila 13 in Canada and many others. William was nominated for Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Young Centre Performing

Arts Multidisciplinary Dance Artists Award, K.M. Hunter Artist Award and MyTheatre Awards. He was awarded the winner of 2013 ‘I love dance/J’aime la danse’ Award for Innovation presented by Canadian Dance Assembly.

Monica Pain is the Discovery Program Coordinator and Ontario Dances Presenter at the Flato Markham Theatre. With more than 20 years experience in arts education, outreach

and community engagement working with the City of Markham, York Region and the City of Toronto, she has produced over 100 community engaging dance activities including a city-wide project with the PAN-AM/PARA-PANAM Games TO2015. She has collaborated with local, national and international dance companies and most recently produced a dance tour featuring contemporary works by professional Ontario based artists called “3,a2,1 Dance”.

Monica specialized in dance at York University and graduated from Randolph School of the Arts Professional Training Program. As a professional dancer, she toured

Canada and the United States with various dance companies, including Ballet Creole and performed in schools educating through dance. Her passion for dance is fulfilled by bringing

people together through creative, collaborative experiences.

PIVOTS AND NEW DIRECTIONS, LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE (PANEL)

Jenn Goodwin is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies - Curatorial Studies program at the University of Toronto. Previously, she received a BFA from Concordia University in

Contemporary Dance with a minor in video. She is a dance artist, curator, producer, and filmmaker. Over the last 20 years her dance work and short films have been shown across Canada and internationally from St. John’s Newfoundland, The Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa, Tangente and Studio 303 in Montreal, The Next Wave in Melbourne, Australia, Brussels, Amsterdam, New York City, Vancouver and extensively in Toronto. Goodwin is one half of the art band MORTIFIED with Camilla Singh which is a band that uses

choreography, drum kits, tap dancing, and cheerleading as its instruments. Goodwin has worked with Toronto’s Nuit Blanche since it’s inception in 2006 and has curated performance

and exhibitions for Summerworks Festival (2016), The Drake Hotel, and Harbourfront Centre. She has written for the Canadian Theatre Review, Journal for Curatorial Studies and The Dance

Current. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their two sons.

Samyuktha Punthambekar is a Bharatanatyam dancer, arts educator and a professional freelancer in arts administration. Currently, she works for Jaberi Dance Theatre, Lua

Shayenne Dance Company and Canadian Dance Assembly, DTRC and several other companies as professional freelancer in arts administrator. As part of leadership development and her keen interest in cultural policies, she has worked with Shannon Litzenberger on projects such as the 2018 Canadian Arts Summit, Embodied Leadership and several others. She has been part of residencies at The Banff Centre including the Truth and Reconciliation program. Samyuktha is an artist educator for

Toronto District School Boards, Peel School Regions and conducts workshops for various festivals across the GTA. Samyuktha has been on the Board for Lakeshore Arts.

Along the way, she has won several awards and recognition to her credit. Currently, she is mentoring with Jane Marsland as part of CHRC’s Talent2Lead Program.

Kristina Lemieux is an accomplished arts administrator with more than 18 years of experience, and contemporary dancer. Her passion for the arts has driven collaboration,

creation and innovation in the Vancouver arts scene for the last decade. She has worked with many of the Vancouver’s art organizations: Arts Umbrella, New Works, Out On Screen (Queer Film Festival), Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/West Chapter (CADA/West), Tara Cheyenne Performance, Theatre Replacement, Progress Lab 1422 (a project of Vancouver Creative Space Society), Vancouver International

Dance Festival (VIDF) and Vancouver Art Gallery. Kristina is the Artistic Producer for Brief Encounters, a production company that supports, enhances, and amplifies the

work of interdisciplinary artists and spaces that light the fires of diverse, interdisciplinary creation. Recently, she launched The Scaffold, a consulting, administration and skill

development service designed to support performing artists and groups. She currently acts as a director on the Board of Directors for 110 Arts Cooperative (The Post at 70), Up in the Air Theatre (rEvolver Festival), and Music on Main and is an Ally member with the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. Kristina is most passionate about dialogue in the arts, and to this end, achieved a certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement, has founded a series on audience engagement and citizenship and is co-founder of Polymer Dance, a group dedicated to bringing dance experiences to non-professional dancers.

PIVOTS AND NEW DIRECTIONS PANEL (CONTINUED)

FINANCING YOUR LIFE AND CAREER (WORKSHOP)

Natasha Mytnowych is currently the Managing Director for the Globe and Mail Centre. Prior, she was responsible for the programming, facility and administrative

management for Artscape Youngplace, a cultural community hub in the West Queen West area and Artscape Sandbox, a creative event space in the entertainment district. An award-winning arts leader and theatre director, she was acknowledged with an Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence as an emerging artist, and the Toronto Arts Foundation’s inaugural Mayor’s Arts Award for an Emerging Artist. Natasha was at Canadian Stage for over seven years, most recently as Associate

Artistic Producer. She has sat on advisories and boards including Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, The Artists Mentoring Youth Project, the Laidlaw Foundation’s Arts

Advisory Committee and was an inaugural member of Toronto’s DiverseCity Fellows Program and the Toronto Arts Council’s Cultural Leaders Lab.

DANCING WITH WORDS (WORKSHOP)

Michael Trent is a Toronto-based dance artist who makes things with people for others. In a career spanning 30 years, he has worked as choreographer, performer,

teacher, artistic director, curator, and arts community activist alongside many notable collaborators including Peter Boneham, Ame Henderson, Christopher House, Jean-Pierre Perreault and Jacob Zimmer. Michael is currently the Director of Performing Arts for the Metcalf Foundation with programs that leverage opportunities for new approaches and shared learning.

Michael was the Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Toronto’s Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation from 2006 to 2014, one of Canada’s

leading contemporary dance companies and a centre for research and development in new dance practices. His most acclaimed productions for Dancemakers were seen in

Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and throughout Ontario. In his final year with the company, Michael launched the Incubation Production House model, a paradigm shift in the way the company makes work and connects it with publics through the collaboration between a curator and resident artists.

Michael is a founding member of the 8 DAYS peer-to-peer Canadian choreographic community. He was a board member and President of the Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA), Canada’s national dance service organization. He frequently consults and collaborates with artists and arts organizations at the local and national levels on issues including transition, curatorial expertise, artistic assessment, and training.Michael was the co-recipient of the 2004 K.M. Hunter Artists Award in dance.

EXPLORING AVENUES FOR DANCE TEACHING AND PEDAGOGY (PANEL)

Heather Saum, originally from Saskatchewan has many years of experience in dance education and the performing arts. She holds a Master of Arts degree from York Univer-

sity (Dance Performance) and a Bachelor of Arts Education degree from the University of Regina. Heather’s certifications and professional memberships include: Canadian Dance Teachers Association, Canadian Artists of Dance Association, Royal Academy of Dance, National Dance Educators Organization, Dance Educators International, and the Ontario College of Teachers.Within Toronto’s dance community, Heather has engaged in multiple collaborations with leading organizations and events such Dance

Ontario, Canadian Dance Assembly, and the Fringe International Dance Festival. She has also served as a board member for The Dance Umbrella of Ontario. Currently,

Heather trains young dancers at Etobicoke School of the Arts in the Toronto District School Board. She is also an instructor for the Dance AQ certification program at York University in

the Education Department.

Amanda Acorn is an award winning choreographer and teacher based in Toronto, Can-ada. As a dancer she collaborated as a company artist with Dancemakers from 2011-

2015, under the artistic direction of Michael Trent. Independent engagements include projects with Dana Michel, Brendan Fernandes, Helen Husak, Lady Janitor, Benjamin Kamino, Isabel Lewis, Lemi Ponifasio and Andrea Spaziani. Her first group work multiform(s) was awarded the Canadian Stage Award for direction at SummerWorks Performance Festival (2015). Her work has been presented across Canada including the Festival TransAmériques in Montréal, Workers Arts Heritage Centre in Hamilton,

Festival of New Dance in St John’s and Dancer’s Studio West in Calgary to name a few. She was the emerging artist in residence at Dancemakers (2016-2018). She is cur-

rently developing a new full length work set to premiere in 2021. Recent projects include a commission for Toronto Dance Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Season and choreography for an

instalment of Susanna Fournier’s Trilogy; The Empire. A passionate pedagogue, she has shared her prac-tice with professionals and young dancers across Canada and teaches Pilates and movement at Toronto’s Misfitstudio.

Esie Mensah is an award-winning dancer and choreographer who has worked with some of the industry’s biggest icons such as rihanna, drake, french montana, janelle monae,

nelly furtado, as well as coca cola, luminato, tiff, estée lauder, fifa, we day and more. Esie is the 2019 national ballet’s sharing dance day co-choreographer; an initiative to expand and connect the country thru the power of dance. Esie was the choreog-rapher of the 2015 pan am games “panamania” event, and choreographer of the chfi commercial “mornings are a little different” for the erin and darren show. In 2016 she was a featured dancer in the fox tv remake of rocky horror picture show directed

by kenny ortega and lou adler. She is the choreographer/dancer for up and coming pop soul artist francesco yates who is the opening act for justin timberlake’s man of the

woods tour. Aside from her accolades, esie is committed to bringing a new fresh genre of dance into the

industry. Afrofusion is her own unique style of dance that includes movements from traditional and contem-porary african, commercial, urban and contemporary styles. Expanding her abilities, esie has worked with internationally recognized theatre companies as a movement director for soulpepper theatre, shaw festival and obsidian theatre. Her original creations are zayo which debuted at summerworks festival 2018 received top reviews from now magazine and my entertainment world, and akoma which has toured the us and the uk and shades that debuted september 27-30 at factory theatre. Shades and zayo are currently nominated for outstanding dance production for the critics pick award from my entertainment world.

Amelia Ehrhardt is a dancer, choreographer, curator, and teacher working and living in Tkaranto, on land that is and has been the territory of the Wendat, Haudenosaunee,

the Mississaugas of the Credit River, and other Indigenous peoples documented and undocumented. Her work researches and creates circumstances that render it pos-sible for herself or other people to dance. She has been supported in residence and presentation across Canada and in situations ranging from itinerant artist-run centres to large institutions. Amelia is the Curator at Dancemakers, a choreographic resi-dency and research centre with a 45 year history. Amelia has studied independently

in Toronto, Montréal, New York, and Vienna. She is a regular student of Janet Panetta and in her practice as a dancer works at queering ballet. Amelia is a 2016 fellow of

the Toronto Arts Council Leaders Lab, a participant in 8 DAYS: a Gathering of Canadian Choreographers, and a 2017 recipient of the danceWEB award. Amelia is also an appren-

tice astrologer in study with Julia Beyer. Amelia has never lived further than five kilometers from Lake Ontario.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Sarah Lochhead is a dance artist, educator and arts administrator who is passionate about the role dance plays in both personal development and community building. She is

the Founder/Artistic Director of Simcoe Contemporary Dancers, a not-for-profit profes-sional dance company based in Barrie Ontario established in 2009. She has trained in the modern dance styles of Duncan, Humphrey/Weidman, completed teacher trainings in Limón with Donna Krasnow and the Limón Company in NYC, as well as earning intermediate ballet certificates in RAD and Cecchetti method. Her artistic and academic works have been acknowledged through a Top Paper Citation award

from the NDEO (USA), grants from the City of Barrie, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Coun-

cil of Canada. She has held administrative positions in with national dance organizations such The Dance Current – Canada’s dance magazine and is now the Director of Administra-

tion for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. Sarah holds a BFA honours in dance and an MA in Dance Studies from York University. Her writing can be found on thedancecurrent.com as well as academia.edu.

EXPLORING AVENUES FOR DANCE TEACHING (CONTINUED)