Action at a Distance is composed of small team of people who create, produce and share performative works.

Artistic Director

Vanessa Goodman respectfully acknowledges that she lives, works and creates on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and is the artistic director of Action at a Distance Dance Society. Vanessa is attracted to art that has a weight and meaning beyond the purely aesthetic and uses her choreography as an opportunity to explore the human condition. Her choreographic practice is driven by weaving generative movement and audio into performative environments. Her work creates a sense of intimacy between our surroundings and the body. She has received several awards and honours, including The Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award (2013); The Yulanda M. Faris Scholarship (2017/18); The Chrystal Dance Prize (2019); The Schultz Endowment from Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2019); and the "Space to Fail" program (2019/20) in New Zealand, Australia and Vancouver. Her work has toured Canada, The United States, Europe and South America. Recent collaborations include Graveyards and Gardens with Caroline Shaw and BLOT with Simona Deaconsecu.

Artistic Producer (in association with New Works) 

Hilary Maxwell holds a BA and MFA in Dance from the University of Calgary. She is a Vancouver-based arts administrator and dancer with 20 years’ experience working in the dance milieu, and is passionate about supporting people and their creative ambitions. She was the Member Services Coordinator at The Dance Centre from 2011-2020, engaging dance professionals, students, and seniors through networking opportunities, outreach, and programming initiatives. Hilary represented The Dance Centre on international research projects and conferences, and acted as Presenter Liaison to over 60 international delegates for the organization’s biennial Dance In Vancouver. Prior to this, Hilary was the Artistic Associate at Dancers’ Studio West in Calgary for five seasons, where she collaborated with the Artistic Director on creative planning and programming of the presentation season, and coordinated all stakeholders involved in productions. As a dance artist, Hilary has worked with notable artists and companies such as Danse Carpe Diem / Emmanuel Jouthe, Les Productions Figlio, Company 605, W&M Physical Theatre, and German Jauregui. She was a board member of the Training Society of Vancouver for eight seasons and, currently, sits on the board of mixed-ability dance company All Bodies Dance Project. 

The company believes in collaboration and creates each performative work with an incredible team of artists that share their practices and perspectives.

Shion Skye Carter (she/they) is a dance artist originally from Tajimi, Japan, who lives and dedicates time to her artistic practice in Vancouver, Canada as a guest on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples. Through choreography hybridized with heritage artforms that interact with digital and sculptural objects, Shion’s work looks inward to the facets of her intersectional identity as a lens to process the world around her. As co-founder of olive theory, an interdisciplinary duo with musician Stefan Nazarevich, she collaborates to experiment at the intersection between embodied performance, sculptural installation, and live sound. Shion has performed her work across Canada, including presentations at The Dance Centre (Vancouver), Tangente (Montréal), Kinetic Studio (Halifax), and Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto). As a performer, she has interpreted the works of artists such as Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), Wen Wei Dance, and Ziyian Kwan (Dumb Instrument Dance). She holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University, and is grateful to be the recipient of the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award (2021) and the Chrystal Dance Prize (2022).

Justin Calvadores (they/them) is a second generation Filipinx, queer freelance contemporary dance artist based in so called “Vancouver” BC, the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. They grew up on Treaty No. 1 territory, so called “Winnipeg”, MB. At the age of 16 they were introduced to dance through a Filipino led hip hop dance community. Justin completed two years of training with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and is a graduate of the Arts Umbrella contemporary dance program. Justin has danced with Ballet BC as an emerging artist under the direction of Emily Molnar and shortly after danced with Ballet Edmonton under the leadership of Karissa Berry and Wen Wei Wang.

As freelance performer Justin has worked and performed with companies and artists such as CoErasga, Daria Mikhaylyuk, Dumb Instrument Dance, Heather Myers, Isak Enquist, Jill Henis, Kelly McInnes, Mascall Dance, Mile Zero Dance, Nicole Von Arx, Normie Corp, Shana Wolfe, and Wen Wei Dance.

This season, Justin is lucky to create and perform works with Action At A Distance, Alyssa Favero, FakeKnot, Inverso Productions, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Andrea Pēna and Artists, Marie Chouinard and The Falling Company.

Justin’s artistry is distinctly described by their relationship to queerness and their passion in uncovering deep layers of human experience through vibrant forms of imagining and artistic practices.

Ileanna Sophia Cheladyn is a Canadian dance artist and scholar currently based on Patwin lands (Davis, California) to pursue her PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology at UC Davis, and on Coast Salish lands (Vancouver, BC, Canada).

Her work is critical of prescriptive mind/body dualisms and hegemonic approaches to kinesthetic experience. She makes movement, textile, and text-based art in quiet, devoted, clumsy, and rigorous ways to bring creative and infrastructural change to her communities. Ileanna works really hard to take care of the knowledge she and her collaborators engage with and generate.

Currently, Ileanna is working s l o o o o  o  o  o   o   o   o    o    o    o   w l y with slowness. Slowness for Ileanna is a practice of being present to the multipilicity of temporalities and tempos experienced in a moment, a practice, a relationship. It looks like moving slowly. It looks like taking time to be thorough, to not miss a step. It looks like patience and rest. It looks like resisting demands of productivity and consumption. Slowness is a political, contemplative, and somatic practice.

Eric Chad is an interactive projection artist and show control/integration specialist based in Vancouver, B.C. Eric’s work blends interactive elements, generative design, and live tracking into his love for natural forms. Eric is one of the founding members, and the current Technical Director of Lobe Studio in Vancouver BC, the first permanent 4DSound venue in North America.  Eric’s recent credits include works with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Crystal Pite, Action at a Distance, Joe Ink, Plastic Orchid Factory, Shay Kubler Radical System Art, Kidd Pivot, and Chuthis. Eric was also a primary designer on Sanctuary: The Dakota Bear Ancient Forest Experience, and The Canadian Pavilion at the Dubai Expo. Eric received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia, and a Bachelor of Science from McGill University.

SIMONA DEACONESCU is a Romanian choreographer and filmmaker working across genres and formats. She examines social constructs, at the border of fiction and objective reality, sometimes with irony and black humor. Her works were selected and presented in festivals and conventional stages, unconventional spaces, cinemas, galleries and museums, architectural sites, and family houses, reaching audiences from Europe and beyond. She holds a BA and a MA at the choreography department of the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. She received the danceWEB scholarship in Vienna (2014), the National Centre for Dance in Bucharest Award (2016), was an Aerowaves Twenty18 Artist, and a Springboard Danse Montréal Emerging Choreographer in 2019. In the past two years, she has been an artist in residence with the European Projects Moving Digits and Biofriction. In 2022 she will be a Forecast Mentee, under Mathilde Monnier’s guidance and an Associated Artist with The National Centre for Dance in Bucharest, while her latest stage piece — “Choreomaniacs” — brought her a second nomination as an Aerowaves Artist.  Simona Deaconescu developed her style in dance film by placing the body in unwelcome natural places and creating long-shot cinematic compositions. Her films were selected and awarded by the most well-known dance film festivals in the world, in 2018 receiving the LOIKKA Award for “Sonder.” In 2019, Simona Deaconescu was one of the Romanian artists who exhibited video works at the New York Foundation for The Arts (USA), within the collective exhibition Principle of Migration, curated by Olivia Nițiș. Simona is currently preparing for her third short film, produced by Tangaj Productions and funded by the National Film Centre in Romania, recently selected at the Brussels Co-production Forum 2021. In 2014, she founded her own project-based company — Tangaj Collective. Since 2015 she has been the co-founder and artistic director of the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival. 

Kate De Lorme is a Sound Artist from the Okanagan - currently living on the traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlil̓wətaʔɬ peoples, aka Vancouver, BC. Kate’s work integrates immersive spatial sound landscapes, technology and sound healing. She graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Theatre Design and Production and has a certification in Audio Engineering. Kate has been working in sound design since the age of 16, highly involved and interested in sound’s effect on an audience. As a professional sound designer, her work has been primarily in live performance with a large focus on contemporary dance and theatre. Kate’s designs are inclusive of high caliber recording and editing, composition, programming, live mixing and interactivity. In 2018, Kate was an Artist in Residence at The Spatial Sound Institute in Budapest, Hungary for two months, where she created her debut solo work Sta/g-mos. Sta/g-mos premiered at MONOM in Berlin, Germany, in September of 2019. Kate is the Co-founder of Lobe Spatial Sound Studio in Vancouver. katedelorme.comlobestudio.ca

Eowynn Enquist (she/her) is a dance maker/performer who lives and works on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples. Eowynn’s work in dance involves many roles including; interpreter, collaborator, rehearsal director, teacher, choreographer and administrator. 
Eowynn has worked with established dance companies and independent choreographers in Canada such as; Action at a Distance, Wen Wei Dance, Anne Plamondon Productions (Montréal, QB), Anya Saugstad, Mascall Dance, Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Vision Impure Compagnie, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Mahaila Paterson-O’Brien, Isak Enquist, Rachel Meyer, Heather Myers among others. Eowynn has participated in the Marie Chouinard Intensive 2019, Springboard Danse Montréal 2017 & 2019 working with; Stephen Laks - Goteborgoperans Danskompani and RUBBERBANDance, Simona Deaconescu and Guy Sharoni & Yaniv Abraham. 605 company intensives, Modus Operandi Intensives, and a scholarship student at The Arts Umbrella International Dance Intensives 2015, 2016, 2017. Eowynn seeks creation and performance opportunities that ask her to connect to her most courageous and vulnerable self.

Originally from White Rock, BC, HAYLEY GAWTHROP received their contemporary dance training through Modus Operandi in Vancouver BC. Since graduating in 2016, Hayley has had the pleasure of performing and interpreting works by Peter Bingham (EDAM DANCE), Emmalena Fredriksson, Arash Khakpour, Antonio Somera Jr, Fight With a Stick, Dumb Instrument Dance, Omer Keinan, Kelly Mc'Innes, The Response and MACHiNENOiSEY Dance Society, and has worked as a dramaturg/outside eye for Kelly McInnes and Marissa Wong. Since becoming a company member of EDAM Dance, they are deepening there practice into consent based partner work and the disruption of gender roles with in this practice. They are passionate about gentleness, bodily autonomy and deep somatic listening.

Ted Littlemore is a Musician, Dance Artist, and one of Vancouver’s most celebrated Drag Performers. After graduating from McGill University with a B.A. in Psychology, and a double minor in Music Theory and Economics, Ted shifted his studies to the field of dance, graduating from Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Training Program in June 2018. Since graduating, Ted has collaborated and performed with Action at a Distance, Alexis Fletcher, Compagnie Vision Impure, FakeKnot, Joshua Beamish/MOVE THE COMPANY, Kate Franklin, Justine Chambers, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Ne.Sans Opera & Dance, Tara Cheyenne Performance, and the Vancouver Opera. This spring, Ted began working internationally with Finnish choreographer Tomi Paasonen in Berlin, Germany. Ted is also a founding member, choreographer, and dancer in the collective CAMP. In addition to his work with other companies, Ted also teaches and choreographs for a schools, studios, and professional training institutions across the Lower Mainland, often fusing contemporary dance with his accompanying career in drag. Ted started drag in 2013 to explore the intersection of his musical, theatrical, and dance backgrounds. Performing as Mila Dramatic, he (/she!) took the title of Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar in 2016, and now performs frequently at local drag venues.

LOSCIL - Scott Morgan - LOSCIL is the electronic music project of Vancouver-based composer and multimedia artist Scott Morgan. For over 20 years, Morgan has released dozens of recordings under the LOSCIL moniker including his latest - Equivalents - for the US label kranky. Morgan is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts where he studied with computer music pioneer Barry Truax. As LOSCIL, he has also produced numerous special projects, remixes and collaborations with other musicians including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Murcof/Vanessa Wagner, Sarah Neufeld, bvdub, Rachel Grimes, Christina Vantzou, Seabuckthorn, Lusine and Kelly Wyse. Morgan has composed for film and TV and licensed music to bold documentaries, including The Corporation, Scared Sacred, Damnation, Enlighten Us and The Marshall Projects’s award winning series We Are Witnesses. LOSCIL has contributed bespoke music and video for contemporary dance working with choreographers Damien Jalet from Belgium and Vanessa Goodman from Vancouver. He has been involved in creating music for interactive multimedia projects such as Hundreds, Osmos, Lifelike and his own generative music application ADRIFT. As a touring entity, Morgan has brought his live audio-visual performances to festivals worldwide including Mutek, Le Guess Who, LEV, Gamma Fest, Today’s Art, Open Frame and Big Ears. http://loscil.ca/  

Brady Marks is a digital media artist working primarily in audiovisual practices, new media and kinetic art. She has collaborated with Geoffrey Farmer on seven works, including “And Finally The Street Becomes The Main Character (Clock)” (2005–2008), a sculptural installation with computer-generated sound presented and acquired by the Art Gallery of Ontario; and “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black” (2013–15), a 24-hour computer-generated installation composed of 50 light fixtures, 26 audio speakers and 18 synchronized, animatronic sculptures presented at REDCAT (Los Angeles), Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Zurich), Nottingham Contemporary (UK), Kunstverein (Hamburg), Pérez Art Museum (Miami) and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

BOOKS PUBLISHED WITH FIGURE 1:

Wetland Project

James Proudfoot: Lighting Designer

From Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his initial theatre training has been living in Vancouver since 1993. For 12 years he was Technical Director of the Firehall Arts Centre.  He eventually lit shows for the Firehall Theatre Company and has been Lighting Director for the annual Dancing on the Edge Festival for more than 20 years. He was Resident Lighting Designer / Lighting Director for Ballet British Columbia under the Artistic Director Emily Molnar from 2014 to 2021 designing 20+ pieces and touring nationally and internationally with the company.

Specialising in the realm of dance lighting, James has contributed designs for dance works to many companies, including: NDT 2, Lola Dance, Company 605, Sarah Chase, Co. Erasga, Wen Wei Dance, Joe Ink, EDAM, The Contingency Plan, battery opera, Kinesis Dance, Ballet BC, Move The Company, Restless Productions, Jeanette Kotowich, Dance Novella, Holy Body Tattoo, Dumb Instrument, MACHiNE NOiSY, Anatomica, Ingrid Vallus, Tara Cheyenne Performance, Les Productions Figlio, Karen Jamieson, Trial & Eros, Rachel Meyer, Action at a Distance, Out Innerspace Dance, Helen Walkley, Ballet Jazz Montréal, Justine A. Chambers, plastic orchid factory, Deanna Peters - Mutable Subject and Ouro Collective.

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This year’s projects include the score to “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s “The Sky Is Everywhere” (A24/Apple), music for the National Theatre’s production of “The Crucible” (dir. Lyndsey Turner), Justin Peck’s “Partita” with NY City Ballet, a new stage work “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust), the premiere of “Microfictions Vol. 3” for NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, a live orchestral score for Wu Tsang’s silent film “Moby Dick” co-composed with Andrew Yee, two albums on Nonesuch (“Evergreen” and “The Blue Hour”), the score for Helen Simoneau’s dance work “Delicate Power”, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from “Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part” (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances as violist (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, La Jolla Music Society). Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, and the Vail Dance Festival. She has contributed production to albums by Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary. (CS 10/252022)

Anya Saugstad is a dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver BC, living and working on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh' (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xwməθkwəyə̓m (Musqueam) First Nations. Anya trained at ArtsUmbrella, and holds a BFA with honours in Dance from Simon Fraser University. In addition, she has trained with San Fransisco Conservatory of Dance, and with The Performance Research Project under the mentorship of Lesley Telford. Anya has danced for Vanessa Goodman, Lesley Telford, and Rob Kitsos, among others. Anya and her collaborators create live and digital performance works that foster space for women to tell their stories through movement. She has been able to grow her choreographic work through mentorships with the Performance Research Program, The San Fransisco Conservatory of Dance, and Made in BC Dance on Tour. Anya has choreographed works for Simon Fraser University, The Rotary Centre for the Arts, Vines Art Festival, SplitScreen (Boombox), F-O-R-M, and Mt Pleasant Collective, among others.

Alice Weber is a dance artist working with choreography, performance and writing. Her performances use and misuse her various training backgrounds across classical ballet, somatic practice and critical dance studies. Alice’s work considers contemporary embodiments and intimacies, with a particular interest in agency, desire and restraint.

Alice has presented nationally and internationally, as well as being hosted by a number of residencies worldwide. Her most recent work 'Dream Cellscapes' was presented at Cement Fondu, and a publication to accompany the work was presented by Critical Path in 2022, following a 2021 year-long funded Research Residency. Other recent presentations include TinyFest (NZ), Christchurch Arts Centre (NZ), and upcoming international residency with Action at a Distance Company (CA).

Alice frequently dances for and collaborates with other artists, recently: Angela Goh 'The Concert' for Sydney Opera House; Justene Williams 'she predicted the weather' for Carriageworks Sydney Contemporary; Rebecca Jensen, Arini Byng and Jess Gall 'Sinkhole'; Rochelle Haley 'Ever Sun' for City of Sydney.

Alice holds an MFA Choreography from Laban (UK) as a funded Leverhulme scholarship recipient. She is an academic tutor at Australian College of Physical Education; a remote sessional academic at Laban; and teaches at various private dance studios; alongside dance curriculum research and development projects.

SOFT CURRENTS COLLABORATORS - West Coast Edition

Alder Mauria Orest Graye (he/him) is a movement artist residing on the unceded lands of the xwməθkwəyə̓m, Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh, and Selí̓lw̓itulh Nations.

Receiving his post-secondary training through Modus Operandi, he has had the privilege of working with and learning from fantastic artists and choreographers including Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond, Kate Franklin, Josh Martin, Lisa Gelley, Zahra Shahab, Francesca Frewer, Hayley Gawthrop, and many others.
As a trans person who is navigating the experience of physically shapeshifting while working in a medium that requires deep connection to the body, Alder’s practice is currently focused on his desires to playfully expand boundaries, tell effective stories, and approach the unfamiliar with tenderness.Alexis Fletcher I am a dance artist, creator and producer based in Vancouver, Canada. After dancing with Ballet BC for 14 years I then became a guest artist and Artist in Residence with the Company before moving fully into my independent career in 2020.

Alexis Fletcher and her husband, Sylvain Senez, are the founders and Artistic Directors of Belle Spirale Dance Projects. The Company is a 2023/24 recipient of The Chrystal Dance Prize and holds the position of Artist in Residence at Chutzpah! Festival. It has been generously supported by Dance Victoria, Ballet BC, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Presentation House Theatre, New Works, Vernon Performing Arts Centre, The Gordon Smith Foundation, Dancing on the Edge, InFrinGing Festival, Shadbolt Centre and Dance: Made in/fait au Canada. As a freelancer, I have most recently performed with Re:Naissance Opera, zoe | juniper, and Wen Wei Dance.
Belle Spirale is a platform for the work of many artists; through our collaborative processes we produce our own creations as well as commission original works by both emerging and established choreographers. We collaborate with exceptional dance artists and designers from the local, national and international independent community for all of these projects in order to continue building our diverse repertoire of poetic, relevant and engaging contemporary dance works. We believe in a hands-on and heart-centred approach to art making that supports the development of both our own creations as well as the work of other like-minded creative spirits. Belle Spirale is a 2023 recipient of the Chrystal Dance Prize from Dance Victoria. Belle Spirale also produces The Dance Deck, an outdoor, site-specific and multidisciplinary performance space and series at Sylvain’s and my home in East Vancouver. This platform is dedicated solely to the work of other artists in our community.I am fascinated by how exploring the movement potential of the human body becomes a way of accessing the inner landscapes of our spirits and psyches, and this is the primary motivation behind my physical practice and choreographic interests. I believe that dance is a unique vehicle with which to share, research, and discuss our humanity and a powerful and distinct tool for communication and connection.I acknowledge, with gratitude, my privilege to be working and creating on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples.

Brenna Metzmeier is a 27-year-old, neuro-divergent, and multidisciplinary artist living in Vancouver, BC. She is originally from Terrace BC, but completed her formal training at the Victoria Academy of Ballet, receiving a diploma in 2016. She has had the opportunity to work with Ballet Etoile, Arts Umbrella’s Performance Research Project, Sawdust Collective, Pi Theatre, The Banff Dance Company, Inverso Productions, Vision Impure, Opera Box, State of Underdress, Little Chamber Music, Corporeal Imago and Wen Wei Dance. Brenna is also a founding member of CAMP, which has been selected for multiple festivals, including the Vancouver International Dance Festival and Dancing on the Edge, as well as smaller-scale shows and a recent choreographic commission from Lamon Dance. She worked with the Edmonton Opera as a dancer and choreographic assistant for their re-imagination of Orphee+, and is in ongoing collaboration with Corporeal Imago and CAMP. Most recently, she completed a three-week residency at the Irish Aerial Creation Centre in Limerick, creating and performing a solo piece called ‘I,I’.

I use a lowercase “d” because I desire to navigate the world by easing into spaces. I go by my full name to acknowledge my maternal lineage. danielle Mackenzie Long, a queer emerging interdisciplinary artist, resides on the stolen and unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations. They seek to use new media/film to liberate gender non-conforming dance artists to create work that surpasses gendered bodies through various means of visual presentation and audience access. Currently, their creative practice is being expanded through engagements with Vanessa Goodman, Festival of Recorded Movement, Co.ERASGA, and Lamont. Spaces they have been in recent residencies with include Toronto Dance Theatre (Tkaronto) and New Works. Occasionally danielle additionally studies Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia with the aspiration to infiltrate and challenge the academic world by navigating it with an emphasis on curiosity, refusal, and rest.

Jamie Robinson is living on the unceded territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm, sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and sel̓íl̓witulh Nations. She has studied at Modus Operandi Training Program and has worked as an associate artist to Company 605. She has interpreted and performed works for Company 605, Justine Chambers, and Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg. Her choreographic work has been supported by Toronto Dance Theatre, Adelheid’s re:research, Banff Centre for the Arts, The Dance Centre, and Dance Victoria. She was awarded The Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award in support of her most recent work, Paradise Replica. Jamie is interested in developing collaborative choreographic works embodying a dancer’s ability to choreograph itself. Using generative movement tasks, she hopes to challenge the traditional notion of the choreographer as the sole architect of movement. Striving to remove the hierarchical importance of the choreographer, inviting the dance itself to question the designated spaces in which it becomes seen as valuable.
About my current practice:
In the past few years, a challenging injury disrupted my dance career, marking the first significant break in my training in over a decade. This pause gave me space for introspection, prompting me to reconsider the guiding principles of my artistic path. Until that point, my practice seemed to unconsciously adhere to well-meaning expectations of what a dance artist moves like, acts like, and the career trajectory they follow.
Currently, my practice represents a deliberate effort to disentangle from these notions. I'm working to liberate myself from ideas that no longer align with my overarching aspiration: the pursuit of authentic sensorial experience shared with others and leveraged by my extensive history as a moving person. This exploration has encouraged me to pose questions about my own identity in relation to dance, dismantle the value system I possessed in relation to specific movement modalities, and pursue movement as a necessary and personal experience first and foremost. It is a departure form the path I was on, inviting a more genuine and meaningful connection with movement, self, and the collective exploration of experience through movement.

Janice Laurance's experience with disability art and justice has been strengthened by her work in the joint Arts Club Theatre Company/Realwheels Theatre production of “Crip Cabaret: A Reclamation!” (2023), All Bodies Dance performances “Parts of Me” (2020), “R-EACH” (2021) and “Rate of Change” and Kelly McInnes’s “Late Stage Remedy” project (2023), all presented during the Vines Art Festivals, Lumière YVR Festival (2022), as well as the solo ensemble short film Near/Far (2020). She has studied with All Bodies Dance Project, Naomi Brand, Carolina Bergonzoni, Harmanie Rose, Heather Myers, Andrea Cownden, Luciana Freire D’Anunciação, Ben Brown with MAMMS, danielle wensley, Rianne Švelnis, Heather Lamoureux, Rachel Helten, Marco Esccer, JaniPi Star, AXIS Dance Company, Dance for All Bodies, and many other dancers.

Juan Duarte is a Brazilian dancer who has had the opportunity to be involved with multiple outreach programs and fellowships. After graduating from Bolshoi Ballet School in 2015 they/he moved to Vancouver, Canada.During Juan's first year in Vancouver, they/he got to work with Lamondance Company - a pre-professional program,  where they/he performed for two seasons. Juan later joined Arts Umbrella Dance Company, where they/he had the opportunity to perform works by a variety of artists; such as Crystal Pite, Johan Inger, Wen Wei Wang, Mats Ek, Ihsan Rustem and others.
 In 2019 Juan joined Ballet BC under the direction of Emily Molnar, where they/he got to experience and perform works by Medhi Walerski, Crystal Pite and Sharon Eyal. In 2020 Juan had the opportunity to work with Lesley Telford through the Performance Research Program in Vancouver.
After taking a brief absence from the stages, Juan joined Move The Company under the direction of Joshua Beamish where they/he had the chance to tour through Ontario, Quebec and Europe with the piece "Saudade", as well as the chance to perform some of Beamish's creations in their/his New York City debut in 2022, during that same year Juan toured with Traverse City Dance Project, under the direction of Jennifer Lott and Brent Whitney in the USA.
Earlier in 2023 Juan had the opportunity to premiere "Source Amnesia" at the Vancouver Playhouse, Joshua Beamish's newest work, since then Duarte has been working with Corporeal Imago, under the direction of Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes, as well as Belle Spirale, under the direction of Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez.
Juan continues to share their/his beauty and artistry with the world, and has been a powerful member in the queer scene in Vancouver. During the summer of 2023 they/he performed at the main stage of the Sziget Festival, in Budapest, the same stage as singers such as: Billie Eillish, Lorde, and others got to perform as well. As an ambitious and dedicated performer Juan is looking forward to what the future has to offer, and is very excited to continue to explore the meaning of diversity in the dance industry."

Justin Calvadores (they/them) is a second-generation Filipinx, queer freelance contemporary dance artist based in so-called “Vancouver” BC, the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. They grew up on Treaty No. 1 territory, so-called “Winnipeg”, MB. At the age of 16, they were introduced to dance through a Filipino led hip hop dance community. Justin completed two years of training with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and is a graduate of the Arts Umbrella contemporary dance program. Justin has danced with Ballet BC as an emerging artist under the direction of Emily Molnar and shortly after danced with Ballet Edmonton under the leadership of Karissa Berry and Wen Wei Wang. As a freelance performer, Justin has worked and performed with companies and artists such as CoErasga, Daria Mikhaylyuk, Dumb Instrument Dance, Heather Myers, Isak Enquist, Jill Henis, Kelly McInnes, Mascall Dance, Mile Zero Dance, Nicole Von Arx, Normie Corp, Shana Wolfe, and Wen Wei Dance.
This season, Justin is lucky to create and perform works with Action At A Distance, Alyssa Favero, FakeKnot, Inverso Productions, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, and The Falling Company. Justin’s artistry is distinctly described by their relationship to queerness and their passion in uncovering deep layers of human experience through vibrant forms of imagining and artistic practices.

Kate Franklin has been an independent contemporary dance artist for the past 20 years. She has spent this time training, performing, producing, administrating, educating and creating. She has performed in works by nearly 50 different choreographers/creators/directors over the course of her career so far. After graduating from Quinte Ballet School in 1999, Kate spent a season in the Mentor Program at Ballet BC and a season as an Intern Dancer at Toronto Dance Theatre. She spent the next decade in Toronto/Tkaronto, collaborating and performing with numerous companies and choreographers, most notably ProArte Danza, Kaeja d’Dance, Yvonne Ng, Company Vice Versa (Valerie Calam), Zata Omm Dance Projects (William Yong), and Matjash Mrozewski, amongst others. She was a core member of Dusk Dances for several years. Her choreography was commissioned by training programs such as YMI Dancing, Quinte Ballet School and Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, companies such as JD Dance and platforms such as At the Wrecking Ball, and Porch View Dances. Kate was a mobilising force in the Toronto contemporary dance community. She worked with Series 8:08 for many years, as the administrator of the Alternative Technique Class Program. She co-founded (with Tina Fushell) Ambitious Enterprises, a company that produced five At the Wrecking Ball programs of interdisciplinary dance over ten years (from 2002-2012). With Kate Holden, Franklin founded firstthingsfirst productions in 2005. Together, the Kates commissioned and performed an impressive number of original works from independent Canadian choreographers including Marc Bovin, Kate Alton, DA Hoskins and Emily Molnar, and produced three evening-length mixed programs between 2007 and 2013. Kate received the 2014 Dora Mavor Moore award for Outstanding Female Performance for the solo Gotta Go Church, choreographed by Valerie Calam. Kate has taught contemporary dance all over Canada since 1997, in studios, public schools, pre-professional training programs, University dance programs, community dance groups, and to professionals at GMD (Toronto), the Training Society of Vancouver and company class for the dancers of Ballet BC. Since 2012, Kate has lived in Vancouver on the unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. She is in her eighth season as Associate Director of Modus Operandi, a post-secondary contemporary dance program, where she teaches and mentors a group of 25 exceptionally talented young dance artists. She works as a dancer with Company 605, Tara Cheyenne Performance and Justine A. Chambers, amongst others. She particularly enjoys dancing for choreographers and filmmakers who are her former and current students (Avery Smith, Jamie Robinson, Oksana Augustine and Satya Mari). Her own choreographic work has been shown most recently at the EDAM Choreographic Series and Dancing on the Edge. Kate is now, as she was 20 years ago, a passionate, open-minded, optimistic and curious dance artist. She loves improvisation, collaboration, making dance education more joyful, and empowering the dance artists in her community, one interaction at a time. Kate Franklin Website to link: http://www.katefranklin.ca/

I am Kevin "Shazam" Li, a street/contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and teacher based in so-called Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ Nations. My journey in dance began in 2009 after moving from Hong Kong to Vancouver, where I fell in love with street dance. Starting with SOULdiers in 2010, the only Canadian company teaching authentic hip hop and street dance culture at the time, I trained in various styles, learning from local teachers as well as street dance originators from out of town. I was also performing and entering battles with my crews at the time, Free Agentz Krew and Technicru. After three years with SOULdiers, I focused on tutting, animation and flow arts, eventually becoming the only tutting teacher in Vancouver. This led to my role on the American fantasy TV series The Magicians, where I developed the spell-casting choreography for five seasons. In 2014, I joined Modus Operandi with no contemporary dance experience. Over the 4 years of professional development, I've collaborated with artists such as Shay Kuebler, 605 Collective, and Justine Chambers. Since graduating, I have worked as a movement coach/choreographer on Apple TV series SEE and theatre production Sparkle Bunny: The Last Raver Dancing. I have taught at studios, training programs, and institutions such as Harbour Dance Centre, Kill The Lights, Higher Ground, and Modus Operandi. I have also been doing work for the underserved communities through teaching for the New Works Share Dance Program and facilitating/interpreting for All Bodies Dance Project. I have also continued my passion for street dance and expanded my practice through various online training programs such as Soulbotics Mentorship Program, Funk in Focus, Reality Check, and DxP Jookin Tutorials. As a dance artist, I explore new avenues, such as organizing an exhibition dance battle and researching the intersectionality of ballet and Memphis jookin. Selected as one of the first mentees for the New Works XR Pilot program, I delve into extended reality technology in dance. Last year, I performed as a living statue at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. I co created and performed work in progress The Lichenized Movement as a part of the Earthen Bodies collective. My interest lies in the intersection of different dance forms, styles, elements, and cultures, with a desire to bridge communities through exploration.

Lance Lim is a disabled interdisciplinary artist living and working on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Lance Lim is a local artist who grew up in the Strathcona district, and his original movement background came from studying martial arts and Wu shu. As a former Wu Shu athlete, he competed in North American tournaments until he suffered significant injuries.
This brought him to study dance at Simon Fraser University. He had several student pieces displayed at student shows. In 1998, he was involved with the Chinese Cultural Centre and worked with other artists on Self Not Whole, a showcase of Canadian Asian artists.
He also has had his choreography displayed in Dancing on the Edge and, most recently, as part of the Heart of the City Festival. He is a teaching assistant and associate artist with All Bodies Dance Group.

Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis’ practice is rooted in the foundations of contemporary dance and intermedia creation methodologies. As a disabled, transgenderqueer artist of Nigerian/French/Algonquin descent, working in decolonial frameworks is central to their praxis. Being from Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Leelee has had the opportunity to train and work professionally across Turtle Island. Their artistic goals are to merge performance and life, stage and experience, building a bridge to revealing the human condition. They can most commonly be found, producing their own, however often collaborate across milieus. Leelee has had the profound pleasure of collaborating with artists and interpreting for choreographers such as Jolene Bailie, Dayna Danger, Raven Davis, Jesse Dell, Yannick Desranleau, Evalyn Parry, Vanessa Dunn, Audrey Dwyer, Reginald Edmund, Johnny Forever, Gambletron, Chloe Lum, Ryan MacNamara, Kate Nankervis, Alexandra Tigchelaar on works for theatre, film, and stage. Eko Davis also works as a program designer, facilitator, and consultant in the field of Social Innovation and Adaptive Change and is a Co-Artistic Director at the Toronto Dance Community Love-In.

Perelandra Waddle, I'm a recent graduate of SFU with a BFA in Dance, now transitioning to full-time professional work as a performance artist and choreographer. I'm a member of the Louis Riel Métis dancers of the dance company V'ni Dansi, a Métis dance company based here on stolen Coast Salish territory. I self-identify as Queer and Indigenous, and I'm currently trying to secure grant funding for a decolonial feminist adaptation of a sci-fi novel by C.S. Lewis. I'm really interested in interdisciplinary work and have a background in ballet, tap, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, musical theatre, jigging, Shakespeare and clown.

Simran Sachar is an East Indian/Punjabi contemporary and street dance artist, choreographer, and actor based in so-called Vancouver. She ranges in Tap, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, W*acking, House, and Hip-Hop. Her versatility allows her to train and perform all over the world with world-class contemporary choreographers and OG’s of various street dance styles. Her work upholds the value and distortion of memories, the effects of the people we experience, and our deepest desires shaping our own unique dance. Simran is a captivating anomaly in this industry. Simran’s latest film with XR technology premieres in 2024. Her first XR film, BETA बेटा was presented at Luna Arts Festival 2021 in Revelstoke. She is currently in the process of developing BETA बेटा into a live solo. In 2020, her first film ‘LUNACY’ was a part of the National Arts Centre time capsule and premiered at F.O.R.M Film Festival and won the Official Selection of the Audience Choice Award. Simran made her acting debut in 2023 as the lead and assistant choreographer in Alberta Theatre Projects showing of Bombay Black as Apsara. Most recently, Simran is the Winner of 2023’s Release Yourself Whacking Battle in Montreal at Artfulness Festival. Simran’s credits include Netflix, CW Riverdale, The Vancouver Opera, Dairy Canada, Fringe Manila, The Vancouver Art Gallery, Dancing On The Edge, OFF-Parcours Danse and more.

Natalia Martineau (she/her) is a queer emerging dance artist of Filipino and Canadian descent based in Vancouver, on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance (Hons) from Simon Fraser University. In the process of expanding the physical bounds of her dance practice, Natalia hopes to investigate how embodied sensations can reveal inarticulable truths about identity through movement. In her time at SFU, Natalia had the opportunity to choreograph and perform a number of works, as well as to perform in projects by Margarida Macieira, Shion Skye-Carter, Amber Barton, Henry Daniel, and Charlotte-Boye Christensen. Natalia is currently devising an original interdisciplinary work with musical duo Sapphire Haze, and is grateful to have recently participated in EDAM’s Fall 2023 Training Scholarship Program.

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