Michelle Dorrance (Artistic Director, Choreographer) is a New York City-based artist. Mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble), she was fortunate to study under many of the last master hoofers. Career highlights include: STOMP, Derick Grant’s Imagine Tap!, Jason Samuels Smith’s Charlie’s Angels/Chasing the Bird, Ayodele Casel’s Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies, and playing the bass for Darwin Deez. Company work includes: Savion Glover’s Ti Dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Co., JazzTap Ensemble, and Rumba Tap. Solo work ranges from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to commissions for the Martha Graham Dance Company, Vail Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Center. Michelle made her Broadway choreographic debut with James Lapine’s Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center Theater in 2021. A 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, and 2015 MacArthur Fellow, Dorrance is humbled to have been acknowledged and supported by United States Artists, The Joyce Theater, the Alpert Awards, Jacob’s Pillow, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Field, American Tap Dance Foundation, and the Bessie Awards. Dorrance holds a B.A. from New York University and is a Capezio Athlete.

Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. Led by Michelle Dorrance, the company supports dancers and musicians who embody and push the dynamic range that tap dance has to offer. The company’s mission is to engage with audiences on a musical and emotional level, and to share the complex history and powerful legacy of this Black American art form through creation, performance, and education.

Founded in 2011 by artistic director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company has received countless accolades, rave reviews, and has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, Sadler’s Wells London, New York City Center, The Kennedy Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Vail International Dance Festival, Danspace Project, The Bolshoi’s DanceInversion International Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Lincoln Center Out Of Doors, Seattle Theater Group, Singapore International Festival Of Arts, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, National Arts Centre Ottawa, American Dance Festival, Colours Festival Stuttgart, Maison de la Danse Lyons, Fira Tàrrega, Danse Danse Montréal, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, Carolina Performing Arts, Cal Performances at Berkeley, Boston’s Crash Arts, Fire Island Dance Festival, and many others.

www.DorranceDance.com
@dorrancedance
facebook.com/dorrancedance/

 

Dorrance Dance is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, and Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Rehearsal and development for this performance was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. These performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council. Dorrance Dance is a recipient of a U.S. Small Business Administration Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, made possible by the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Charles D. Schumer.

Christopher Broughton (Dancer) is from Los Angeles and began dancing at age 11. Under Paul and Arlene Kennedy at Universal Dance Design, he was a member of the Kennedy Tap Company and received the national NAACP ACTSO Award twice. He is a current member of nationally proclaimed New York-based tap dance company Dorrance Dance, under the direction of MacArthur Genius Grant award winner Michelle Dorrance. His noteworthy performances include Capezio’s 130th Anniversary, New York City Center’s Cotton Club Parade; Juba! Master’s of Tap and Percussive Dance at the Kennedy Center; and Broadway’s Tony and Astaire Award–winning production After Midnight and Jelly’s Last Jam.

Elizabeth Burke (Dance Captain/Dancer) has performed full time with Dorrance Dance since its inaugural 2010-2011 season. Prior to this, she spent 11 years under the tutelage of her mentor, Gene Medler, in the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, and she’s also an alumna of the School at Jacob’s Pillow. Elizabeth is a sought after educator and performer at dance festivals across the US and abroad, and enjoys collaborating choreographically with, and performing in the work of, fellow North Carolinian Luke Hickey. She thanks Amelia Peden for their singular support, and Go Heels.

Warren Craft (Dancer) a NYC tap dancer and founding member of Dorrance Dance, studied ballet at JKO and SAB, tap improvisation with Ayodele Casel at Fazil’s, and was introduced to butoh dance theatre by Ko Murobushi and Yuko Kaseki at CAVE in Brooklyn. Warren was a contributing choreographer for the 2019 award winning film In This Life, directed by Bat-Sheva Guez, starring Robbie Fairchild, and was nominated for a Bessie award for his work alongside the incomparable Bill Irwin in Bill’s Harlequin and Pantalone, performed at New York City Center.

Jeffrey Dawson (Local Guest Performer) is a tap dancer from Vancouver, BC. He has performed in the award-winning show “The Souls of Our Feet” with Tapestry Dance Company in Austin; with Jason Janas’s Co.MMIT at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project; and in Danny Nielsen’s production “On Foot” in Vancouver. Most recently, he was invited to be the Artist-in-Residence at the 2023 OC Tap Festival, and premiered an original 25-minute work at the festival in July of 2023.

Luke Hickey (Dancer) is a NYC based tap dance artist and choreographer, named by Dance Magazine among ‘25 To Watch’ in 2020. Hickey credits his knowledge and achievements to the incomparable brilliance of his mentor, JUBA Award recipient Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble). His choreography has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow, Birdland Jazz Club and the Chelsea Factory, to name a few. Luke is honored to be a company member of Michelle Dorrance’s Dorrance Dance.

Addi Loving (Dancer) is honored to be at DanceHouse! Hailing from North Carolina and St. Louis, she trained under Gene Medler and later had involvement with the MUNY St. Louis. She most recently joined Dorrance Dance on their spring tour. Now stationed in New York, Addi is currently in school with hopes to further her dance career. She attended the School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2019 and is delighted to return alongside Dorrance Dance!

Claudia Rahardjanoto (Dancer), born and raised in Berlin, Germany, started her professional dance career at the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the age of nine. At fifteen, she fell in love with tap dance under the tutelage of Sven Göttlicher and Marie-Christin Zeisset and moved to NYC in 2003 to pursue a career in tap dance. A Dorrance Dance member since the company’s inception, Claudia hopes to continue to share her love and passion for music and the art of tap dance through her teaching and performing worldwide.

Gregory Richardson (Musical Director/Musician) is a multi-instrumentalist focusing on upright and electric bass. He’s the co-creator of Music From The Sole, an Afro-Brazilian tap dance and live band show that is currently in residence at Lincoln Center Education. He’s played drums, keys, and guitar with the band Darwin Deez at the world’s largest music festivals in the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, and Austria.

Leonardo Sandoval (Dancer), Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval is renowned for blending America’s great tap tradition with Brazil’s rich rhythmic and musical heritage. A member of Dorrance Dance since 2014, he also directs Music From The Sole, a tap and live music company, with composer Gregory Richardson; the company recently appeared at the Joyce Theater, Vail Dance Festival, New York City Center, Boston’s Celebrity Series, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Leonardo was recently commissioned to create a new work to mark composer Philip Glass’ 85th birthday celebrations. He is a 2021 Dance Magazine “25 To Watch” and 2022 NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, and received a 2022 Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise.

Kathy Kaufmann (Lighting Designer), is a New York City native, and two time Bessie recipient. She is resident designer at the esteemed Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, and has taught at Sarah Lawrence and NYU. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, Rebecca Stenn, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Vicky Shick, and Music From The Sole.

Christopher Marc (Production Manager/Sound Designer) is a NYC-based Sound Designer & Production Manager from Minneapolis, MN. He has designed and engineered sound for Michelle Dorrance, Music From the Sole, Variety Life Productions, Lincoln Center Restart Stages, Luke Hickey, and Michael Jellick, as well as regional and off-broadway productions with the Kennedy Center, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, IJB Productions, Aquila Theatre, and Mills Entertainment. Christopher also designs/builds custom floors for percussive dance and is owner/operator of @CMarcAudio.

Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance
Executive Director Andrea Nellis
General Manager Hillary Kooistra
Production Manager/Sound Designer Christopher Marc
Development Manager Amanda Hameline
Associate Producer Gabby Benavides
Company Manager Taylor Craft
Dance Captain Elizabeth Burke
Musical Director Gregory Richardson
Lighting Designer Kathy Kaufmann
Financial Administrator Evan Aanerud, Arts FMS
Artist Representative Barbara Frum, outer/most

During the winter of 2012-2013, when this piece was created, I was asked to consider my influences, lineage, legacy – “the web of connections that new generations of artists trace with the past through their work” – and I would argue that no dancers call upon specific individual influences of so many of their masters and their form’s innovators (our ancestors, if you will) more directly and more often than tap dancers. Their personalities and unique styles live deeply within most of us.

I have had the honor of studying with and spending time with a great number of our tap and vernacular masters before they passed away: Maceo Anderson, Dr. Cholly Atkins, Clayton “Peg-Leg” Bates, Dr. Bunny Briggs, Dr. James “Buster” Brown, Ernest “Brownie” Brown, Harriet “Quicksand” Browne, Dr. Harold Cromer, Skip Cunningham, Arthur Duncan, Gregory Hines, Miss Mable Lee, Dr. Jeni Legon, Dr. Henry LeTang, LeRoy Myers, Dr. Fayard Nicholas and Dr. Harold Nicholas, Donald O’Connor, Dr. Leonard Reed, Dr. Jimmy Slyde, and Dr. Prince Spencer. I would also like to honor two of our living masters whom I am constantly influenced by: Brenda Bufalino and Dianne Walker.

While we are exploring new ideas in this show, we are also constantly mindful of our rich history. Dr. Jimmy Slyde was the inspiration for my initial exploration of slide work in socks (in the original full evening work) and his influence continues to guide us. In order to tap dance on the original wood floor of St. Mark’s Church, we had to turn away from aluminum taps towards using different surfaces on the soles of our feet. Leather soles and wood taps pre-date aluminum taps as they were used in the late 1800s when the form was still called “Buck Dancing” or “Buck and Wing”. There is a bit of a historical reference in some of the leather-soled work we explored, in that we explore the sounds of early tap dancing (imagine Bill “Bojangles” Robinson on the balls of his feet) before introducing the power of the rich bass in the heels. Tap master, John Bubbles, the game changer, is known for revolutionizing the syncopation and sound of tap dance in this way. We invite you to experience tap dancing with a fresh pair of eyes and ears, with both an acknowledgement towards the past and a look into the future.

– Michelle Dorrance

“One of the most exciting dancers to ever step on the world stage,” Joel Hanna is a Global artist known for his alchemy with Irish dance, Tap, Flamenco and Martial Arts. From legendary venues and for dignitaries around the world he is praised as “Breathtaking” – (BBC), “Utterly Winning”- (New York Times) and was NY Times “Pick of the Year”. He toured Riverdance: The Show; Dancing on Dangerous Ground, choreographed/starred in Fire of Dance; created Revolution: Sweat, Dance, Rock & Roll.

Arun Gandhi, activist/grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, says “Joel Hanna is being the change we all wish to see in the world” for creating “Fighting For Change”, a women’s rights program in India.

Troy McLaughlin holds a B.F.A. in Jazz Dance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Highlights: The Lion King, Starlight Express, The Radio City Rockettes, Tap dancer 2010 Olympics, Schmigadoon, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and several tv/ film/theatre projects. Troy is a professor at Capilano University in Musical Theatre and Acting for Stage and Screen Programs.He has choreographed & directed musicals, industrials, tv/film, cruise ships and dance companies worldwide. Troy McLaughlin’s Dance Works: I HAVE A DREAM, S.T.I.L. (Stuff That I Like), and tap/flamenco WESTSIDE STORY and GREASE with Karen Flamenco Company.

Côté Danse’s mission is to create and present original dance works and experiences in collaboration with various and diverse designers, artists, and partners with the goal of providing performance excellence.

We continue to offer accessible and scalable productions for a multitude of audiences and venues within Canada and abroad, fostering a new generation of dance and theatre goers.

Informed by his classical ballet vocabulary, Guillaume Côté’s choreography contours space with resonant geometries and fervent human connections. Contemporary lines and forms with a sleek edge and refined athleticism give his work a bracing quality.

Guillaume Côté

Guillaume Côté is a native of Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec. He studied at Canada’s National Ballet School and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1999. He was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2004. Since then, Mr. Côté has danced most of the major classical roles with the National Ballet and has been the leading male figure of the company. Guillaume Côté was awarded the médaille de l’Assemblée Nationale du Québec in 2011, and named Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec in 2021.

In 2013 Mr. Côté assumed the role of Choreographic Associate with The National Ballet. In 2012, his work Enkeli won an Audience Choice Award for Best Choreography, and Fractals: a pattern of chaos was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography. Among other creations, Mr. Côté choreographed his first full-length ballet Le Petit Prince in 2016, and his collaboration with renowned director Robert Lepage Frame by Frame in 2018.

In 2014, Mr. Côté was named the Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, the largest summer dance festival in the country. In 2021, Guillaume Côté founded his own company, Côté Danse, focused on the multidisciplinary creation of innovative works with the mission of making dance seen and experienced differently.

Martha Hart

Martha Hart is a freelance dance artist, choreographer and educator based in Toronto. She is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School, as well as training at the Palucca Schule Dresden, L’ecole Superieure du Ballet de Quebec, and Arts Umbrella Dance in Vancouver. After an engagement with the Dresden Semperoper Ballet in Germany, she returned to Canada and has since worked with esteemed companies and artists such as Cote Danse (Guillaume Côté), iskwē, Nicole Von Arx, Human Body Expression (Hanna Kiel), TranscenDance Project (Julia Cratchley), Ace Dance Theatre, The Garage, Hit & Run Dance Productions, Mascall Dance, Broadbent Sisters, Project20 (Donald Sales) in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. From 2015-2016 she toured Mexico, Spain and Italy as a member of the Metamorphosis Dance Collective directed by Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich and has since organized and produced Metamorphosis Method Workshops in Toronto. In 2020, she founded the company hART dance to act as a collaborative umbrella for her choreographic endeavours. Her work has been featured at Stackt Market for Nuit Blanche, New Blue Dance Festival, in the short film Oasis (Canadian Film Centre) and most recently she choreographed a music video for Canadian singer Jessie Reyez. She continues to educate and coach dancers of all ages across the GTA and is passionate about sharing dance as a visceral experience to a wide variety of audiences.

Natasha Poon Woo

Natasha Poon Woo began training and performing with Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) in her hometown of Toronto. She then studied at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, performing the works of Pam Tanowitz, Twyla Tharp, and Doug Varone before graduating summa cum laude with a BFA and the President’s Award for Achievement. Natasha is a frequent performer with Rock Bottom Movement and Côté Danse, and has worked with Conny Janssen Danst, Kevin Wynn Collection, BoucharDanse, The Dietrich Group, Roderick George, Benjamin Landsberg, Ryan Lee, Gadfly, Little Pear Garden, and Hit & Run Dance Productions, among others. She is a Dora Award-winning performer with Rock Bottom for its acclaimed production, hollow mountain.

Natasha has been the Associate Artistic Director of CCDT since 2019 and the company’s Rehearsal Director since 2012. She has also directed rehearsals for artists including Hanna Kiel, Roderick George and Rodney Diverlus. Natasha is a passionate and sought-after dance educator specializing in Limón-based modern technique and is a certified instructor of C-I TrainingTM (conditioning-with-imagery), trained and mentored by Donna Krasnow.

Willem Sadler

Willem Sadler began his training as a streetstyles dancer based in Toronto, Ontario. His exuberant passion led him to begin his professional career at the young age of 11, joining and dancing for the Artists in Motion Dance Company. As a young dancer and performer his drive has always come from his love for movement and the art of dance. Following many years solely training in street styles, he expanded his variety of training in this artform, beginning to train in a multitude of styles including Ballet, Contemporary, Ballroom, Modern, Jazz, Afro, etc. Throughout his young career has performed for institutions and companies like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Shoppers Drugmart, Roots Canada, Mirvish, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Little Pear Garden, Hit & Run Dance Productions, Dusk Dances and Dance Collection Danse. Willem is grateful to have the opportunity to work with Côté Danse and hopes with every show he can bring joy and enlightenment into every viewer’s day.

Kelly Shaw

Kelly Shaw is a BFA honours graduate from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Dance program, and recipient of the University’s 2018 Jack McAllister award. She is a Tkarón:to/Toronto-based free-lance Dance artist who currently collaborates and performs with Human Body Expression, Guillaume Côté (Côté Danse), Transcendance Project, ProArteDanza and Alysa Pires Dance Projects. She has previously performed with Citadel + Compagnie (Tori Mehaffey choreography), Echo Chamber Choir, for Dance Ontario Weekend, Toronto Fringe Festival, Hit and Run Dance Productions and was a 2010 and 2018 Dora Mavor Moore nominee.

Additionally Kelly has toured internationally to perform as a part of New Dance Festival in (Daejeon) Korea, ACE Dance Awards in New York City, as well as Festival International de DansEncore and Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur in Quebec. In fall 2022, she was rehearsal directing in Germany for Ballett Hagen and is a sought after dance educator and choreographer across North America. Kelly is also a Pilates and Barre instructor, and most recently certified as a holistic life coach, offering work in the realm of somatic healing and mindfulness.

Evan Webb

Evan Webb (they/them) hails from Calgary Alberta, and is currently based in Toronto Ontario. They attended Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in the Performance Dance program. At TMU Evan had the opportunity to work with William Yong, Anne Plamondon, Peggy Baker, Jera Wolfe, and Dylan Crossman in the repertoire of Merce Cunningham. Outside of academia, Evan has worked with Jera Wolfe, Louis Laberge Côté, Guillaume Côté, and Nicole Von Arx. Evan is well versed in various movement practice’s and visual art forms, lending to a desire to naturally perform authentically and idiosyncratically in all aspects of movement expression. With a love for anthropology and philosophy Evan holds fascination for the ways in which people interact with each other, often allowing experiences from their own life to inform their creative inspiration. Evan is a company member of ProArteDanza under the direction of Roberto Campanella, where they have worked with Naishi Wang, Leslie Telford, and Syreeta Hector. While holding focus on physical interpretation of dance art, Evan values a multidisciplinary approach to performing; they have assumed a lead role in an original play written by Sadie Epstein-Fine. Experiences of being othered as a gender non-conforming member of the LGBTQ+ community has given them a unique perspective, and influenced their artistic values. They continue to research gender, sexuality, and politics in their own Art practice. 

Anisa Tejpar

Anisa Tejpar, a Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning dancer from Toronto, is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School. She has performed and danced with renowned companies such as Toronto Dance Theatre, ProArteDanza, Human Body Expression, Against the Grain Theatre and Zata Omm. Tejpar is also the Co-Artistic Director of Hit & Run Dance Productions Inc., creating captivating works for brands like NIKE, PUMA, M.A.C Cosmetics, and The Rolling Stones. Tejpar teaches Consent + Boundaries for Dancers at Toronto Metropolitan University and is an Associate Producer, Creative Assistant and Rehearsal Director for Guillaume Côté and Côté Danse. Additionally, she is an Intimacy Coordinator and Director, collaborating with The National Ballet of Canada and Ballet BC, as well as various film and theatre projects. Tejpar serves on the Board of Directors for Canada’s National Ballet School, is one third of the contemporary dance collective The Platform and hosts Inside the Arts on Sauga 960 AM in Toronto.

Jean Orr

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Came to Canada as a child.

Took up ballet in Ottawa & became Canada’s first Giselle.

Joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a Leading dancer (1951).

Moved to Vancouver & became Founding President of Ballet BC (1986).

Jean was awarded the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award (2001), Entertainment Pioneer of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame (2006), and Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame (2023).

Jean is currently on the Board of the Vancouver Ballet Society.

Elle Sofe Sara

Choreographer

Elle Sofe Sara is described as one of the most interesting and important choreographers in her generation in Norway. She grew up in and lives in Guovdageaidnu Finnmark. In addition to working as a choreographer, she has also made several award-winning short films and documentaries. She is currently working on a feature film, which will be the first feature film musical in Sámi language.

Sara’s work expands upon seemingly mundane, often overlooked areas of Sámi physicality— unspoken rituals that have escaped the vice grip of colonialism. Sara uncovers a space in which the past and the present coincide. While her choreography is known for its playful approach, she also delves into taboo subjects such as trauma, abuse, and suicide. As an Indigenous artist, Sara seeks to create work that resonates as strongly for her community as it does for the art world.

Internationally, Sara has created work with Liu Chi (China), Wimme (Finland), and Lana Hansen (Greenland) among others. She is also the co-founder of DÁIDDADÁLLU, a Sámi indiginous contemporary art collective. When she is not working with choreography or film, or traveling for work, Sara can be found marking reindeer calves with her children or reading animal tracks in the snow.

Frode Fjellheim

Composer

Frode Fjellheim lives in Trondheim, Norway and is a Norwegian musician (piano and synthesizer), composer and yoiker (performer of the traditional Sámi vocal tradition). He is best known for his band Transjoik and for being the composer of the opening theme of the Disney movie Frozen. Fjellheim was educated as a classical piano teacher, but has developed his own style as a performer and composer, combining elements from the traditional Sámi tradition with elements from classical music, jazz, pop and rock. He has released several albums both as a solo artist, with his band Transjoik, and through various collaborations. Fjellheim also heads his own music company called Vuelie (www.vuelie.com). He holds a professorate in music at Nord University.

Alexandra Wingate

Co-choreographer, dramaturg

Alexandra Wingate works as a choreographer, producer, and process facilitator.

As a choreographer she works with performance for stage, dance film, performance installation and participatory performance. She does this as part of a non-hierarchical collective, as the leader of a team and sometimes as a co-creator in someone else’s project.

Improvisation and score building are the main techniques for developing and performing her work as well as a strong focus on co-authorship with the dancers. Several of her works explore how culturally conditioned symbols, icons, ideas, ideologies, etc. are internalized and become an invisible part of a human being and of a society.

Wingate also works as a producer and process facilitator for interdisciplinary, intercultural and community art processes. Mainly through her own workshop format Kind of like this and as a co-founder of the art centre Ställbergs gruva. She is currently working with the Sámi Arts Collective Dáiddadállu as project manager for their 10-year jubilee.

Wingate collaborates with Sara as co-choreographer, dramaturg and sometimes as dancer generating movement materials. Their collaboration and friendship started in 2003 while studying to become dancers together in London. Most notably Wingate has been a part of creating Beatnaga ii galgga gulgii geahččat- Don’t judge the dog by its fur (2010), Jorggáhallan (2012), Vástádu eana – The answer is land (2021) and Birget; ways to deal, ways to heal (2023).

Based in Skärkäll in Bohuslän on the northwest coast of Sweden.

When not working she likes to “dega” (to be a dough, a Swedish term for seriously and unpurposefully relaxing), listening to podcasts and exploring the landscape with the dog Ilja.

Grete Daling

Singer

Grete Daling works as a senior lecturer at Nord University and is a freelance singer, singing coach, teacher and conductor. Has particular experience from the genres of classical singing, Cuban music and joik, works mostly with voice use, especially in relation to ensembles such as vocal groups and choirs. Darling has experience as a singer from Vokal nord, Trondheim vocal ensemble, Embla, Frode Fjellheim/The orchestral Joik.

Darling collaborates with Sara as a singer and as a co-creator vocally. Their collaboration started in 2021 during the production of Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

Darling is based in Trondheim.

Darling likes flowers, coffee and “koselige folk” (Norwegian expression meaning warm, genuine and fun people).

Sara Marielle Gaup

Yoiker

Sara Marielle Gaup is a yoiker, composer and artist. She grew up in a home with a living, unbroken yoik tradition, and is thus a traditional yoiker.

Gaup has worked as a professional yoiker/artist/vocalist full-time for the last 17 years and has extensive experience in the field. She is one of the most known artists within Sámi music in Sápmi and internationally. Gaup is known from her musical project Adjágas (former band, together with Lawra Somby) and Arvvas (together with double bass player Steinar Raknes), and also does, among other things, traditional yoik concerts and yoik courses, film music and guest appearances in other people’s music projects. Together with her sister Risten Anine Gaup she has the multimedia project OZAS, and has played together with Terje Isungset in his ice instrument project since 2007.

Gaup puts a lot of effort into preserving the Sámi vocal tradition which has almost died out due to the strong process of assimilation, Norwegianization and Christianization to which the Sámi were and still are subjected to.

Gaup collaborates with Sara as a singer and as a co-creator vocally. Their collaboration started in 2021 during the production of Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

Olga-Lise Holmen

Singer, yoiker

Olga-Lise Holmen is a freelance musician/artist. She is a sea-sámi and has taken back her indigenous roots during the last years.

Holmen is an ensemble-singer in the professional vocal ensemble Vokal Nord and has cooperated with several Norwegian and international composers and artists. Right now she is working on her own project recording an album with traditional Kven/Finnish folk music. She enjoys exploring different vocal techniques through styles as baroque, traditional folk music, contemporary music and ethnic sound.

Holmen collaborates with Sara as a singer, yoiker and as a co-creator vocally. Their collaboration started in 2021 during the production of Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

Based in Skibotn in Sàpmi / Northern Norway.

In addition to her artistic work, she is working as a physical therapist and emphasizes human movements as therapy for better health and a way of expression. She is also a hunter, dog-keeper and enjoys mountaineering.

Vilja Tjemsland Kwaśny

Dancer, project coordinator for Birra

Vilja Tjemsland Kwaśny is a Norwegian/Polish dancer. She has worked as a freelance dancer with choreographers such as Roza Moshtaghi, Simone Grøtte, Karen Eide Bøen, Tormod Midtbø, Hege Haagenrud and Shi Pratt. Vilja has worked with the dance company Nagelhus Schia Productions since 2019 and was employed as a dancer in Carte Blanche – The Norwegian National Company for Contemporary Dance in 2021.

Tjemsland Kwaśny collaborates with Sara as a dancer and with generating movement material. She also serves as a project manager for Birra. Their collaboration started in 2022 when she became a dancer in Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

When she is not working, she enjoys traveling, getting to know new cultures and flavors, and learning various crafts such as baking, ceramics and painting.

Julie Moviken

Dancer

Julie Moviken is a performer and creator. She is drawn to collective workspaces where she can unfold in many present beings. She has worked with choreographers such as Kristin Helgebostad, Ingri Fiksdal and Janne-Camilla Lyster.

Together with Harald Beharie and Charlott Utzig she is a part of the performance collective De Naive. The group mainly works with dance practice as soft activism – inviting and invading public space with social performances.

Moviken collaborates with Sara as a dancer and with generating movement material. Their collaboration started in 2021 during the production of Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

Based in Oslo, Norway.

She also has a passion for ice hockey and plays for the Ringerike Panthers women’s team.

Emma Elliane Oskal Valkeapää

Yoiker

Emma Elliane Oskal Valkeapää is a Sàmi artist and actress from Guovdageaidnu. Growing up with traditional Sámi music and yoik, Oskal Valkeapää creates contemporary music where she combines her own yoiks and songs with modern elements. Working in her mother tongue, North-Sámi, she released her first album Dovddut eai gielis – Feelings don’t lie at 16 years old. As an actress Oskal Valkeapää loves to tell stories through music, joik, dance and acting. She is currently working on her second album.

Based in Guovdageaidnu, Sápmi / Northern Norway.

Oskal Valkeapää collaborates with Sara as a yoiker. Their collaboration started in 2023 when she became a yoiker in Vástádu eana – The answer is land.

Nature keeps her grounded, and she likes to run and walk without following a path exploring and reconnecting with her environment.

Nora Svenning

Dancer

Nora Sveninng is a contemporary dancer with a background in classical ballet. She has worked with choreographers/companies such as Panta Rei Dance Theater, Sølvi Edvardsen, Astrid Serine Hoel, Frikar, and has toured nationally and internationally. Svenning also creates her own work, most recently the full-length piece Liminaria in 2023.

Svenning works with Sara as a dancer and with generating movement material. Their collaboration started in 2017 during the production of Jielemen Aavoe.

Svenning is based in Oslo, Norway.

Nora loves seeking out knowledge and perspectives through traveling, connecting with people, nature and reading. She enjoys occasionally dabbling in photography, and is aiming to take up the hobby og wind-foiling when summer comes around.

The Dancers of Damelahamid

The Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company from the northwest coast with a rich history of masked dance. The Dancers of Damelahamid has produced the annual Coastal Dance Festival since 2008, presenting Indigenous dance from the northwest coast as well as hosting guest national and international Indigenous artists. The company’s full-length works include Setting the Path (2004), Sharing the Spirit (2007), Visitors Who Never Left (2009), and Spirit Transforming (2012). Newly created works include Flicker (2016) and Mînowin (2019). 

Margaret Grenier

Margaret Grenier is of Gitxsan and Cree ancestry. She is the Executive and Artistic Director for the Dancers of Damelahamid. She has produced the Coastal Dance Festival since 2008. Margaret’s multimedia choreographic works bridge Gitxsan and Cree dance forms with current expressions. Her works have toured internationally and include Setting the Path (2004) and Spirit and Tradition (2007), and Visitors Who Never Left (2009), Luu hlotitxw (2012), Flicker (2016), and Mînowin (2019). Mînowin premiered at the Mòshkamo Festival, National Arts Centre, Ottawa (2019) and at the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico. Margaret holds a M.A. from Simon Fraser University and a B.Sc. from McGill University. She was a sessional instructor for Simon Fraser (2007) and faculty at the Banff Centre (2013). She received the Reveal Award (2017) and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts (2020).

Lobi bivdit/ Asking for permission

(luohteálgu, pre-yoik)
Luohtedáhkki/ Composer: Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska
Dajahusat/ Text: Elle Sofe Sara, Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska

Vuollegašvuođain bivddán lobi
Báikkis bivddán lobi leahkit
Attán lohpádusa báikái, eatnamii
guođđit nu mo gávdnen

Asking for permission with humbleness
Asking this place permission to be here
Giving a promise to this place and land
To leave it as I found it

 

Vástádus eana/The answer is land

Komponista/ Composer: Frode Fjellheim
Dajahusat/ Text: Jenni Laiti, Niillas Holmberg, Outi Pieski
(Rájácummá divttaid vuođul)

Gažaldat eana, vástádus eana
Váldit dušše maid dárbbaša
Álo álmmastit miehterávdnjái,
miehtemurrii álo njáskat
Johka ieš min šaldi
Buhtes čáhci, sáivaluohti

Land is the question, the answer is land
Only take what’s needed
Scoop the water along the stream, cut the
branches along the grain
Let the river be the bridge
Clean water, the sacred song

 

Dálvi/ Winter

Komponista/ Composer: Frode Fjellheim
Dajahusat/ Text: Elle Sofe Sara

Dálvi bohtos ain
Let the winters still come

 

Leaibejoga gájanasat/ Eccos from the Leaibe river

Komponista/ Composer: Elle Sofe Sara
Arr.: Frode Fjellheim

 

Luukin vää´r/ The Lukin mountain

Árbevirolaš leudd maid Anfisa Ivanova Gerasimova oahpahii.
Traditional leudd taught by Anfisa Ivanova Gerasimova.
Arr.: Frode Fjellheim

Luukin vää´rr lij go ceerkavena da
Luukin vää´rr lij go ceerkavena.
Suu´pp má´te lij go paappáena,
suupp máte lij go paappáena.
A suála- vää´rr lie go vooltárena,
A suála- vää´rr lie go vooltárena.
Kuózz ååuśa lie go tuóvvásena da
kuózz ååuśa lie go tuóvvásena.

Luukin- vaara on kuin kirkko.
Haapapuu on kuin pappi (papin kaapu).
Saarivaarat ovat kuin alttari.
Kuusenoksat (-kävyt) ovat kuin
tuohuskynttilöitä.

The Lukin Mountain was like a church,
an aspen tree was like a priest.
The Isle Mountains were like an alter,
the cones of spruce were like candles.

 

Gabba heargi/ The white driving reindeer

Komponista/ Composer: Frode Fjellheim ja árbevirolaš luohti maid oahpahii Anna Nilsson Lasko Árjjetpluovis eret (voksarullabádden Karl Tirén).
Frode Fjellheim and traditional yoik by Anna Nilsson Laskos from Arjeplog (wax roll by Karl Tirén).

 

Stoerre vaerie/ The Great Northern Mountain

Árbevirolaš vuelie maid Gaebpien-Njaita Charlotta oahpahii.
Traditional vuelie as taught by Gaebpien-Njaita Charlotta.
Arr.: Frode Fjellheim

Stoerre vaerie
Söökes leah kraesieh
Aaltoeh miesieh gåatoeminie
Daate lea stoerre vaerien vuelie

Umbesámegillii/ Ume Sámi original:
Stuora várrie
Sügs leäh krásieh
Álduoh miesieh l’ guahtuominne
Dáhta leä stuora várien vuöllie

The Great Northern Mountain
Lush is the grass
The female reindeers and the calves grazes
This is the yoik of The Great Northern Mountain

Báhcet dearvan Beahcán duoddarat/ Farvel Beahcán-viddene
Árbevirolaš luohti maid Ivvár Niillas rohkki oahpahii.
Traditional yoik as taught by Nils I. Porsanger.

Báhcet dearvan, báhcet dearvan Beahcán duoddarat
Dál mii fertet din maid guođđit
Ii lean ruoktu, ii lean ruoktu gosa bođiimet
Buot lei amas, buot lei vieris gosa bođiimet.

Boardat ala čuoččahii ja juoiggadii dan luođi
go fertii vuolgit, fertii guođđit
Báhcet dearvan ráhkis duoddarat

Farevel Beahcán tundras, farevel Beahcán tundras
Now we have to leave you
No home, no home where we arrived
Everyhing was unknown and strange where we arrived

She stood on the stairs and yoiked the yoik
When she had to leave, had to leave behind
Farvel dear tundras

Gravity and Other Myths is a circus company with roots in Adelaide, Australia. They utilise an honest approach to performance to create work with a focus on human connection and acrobatic virtuosity. Through this, they hope to maintain an exceptional and diverse artistic program. After forming 2009 as a group of young Adelaide artists with a passion for circus and physical theatre, the company has spent the past 13 years growing steadily and creating six critically acclaimed main stage works.

Their work strives to nurture human connection while challenging the genre of circus through conceptual sophistication and acrobatic virtuosity. They employ an honest approach to performance, illuminating the complexities of humanity through genuinity, humour and physical prowess.

Gravity and Other Myths’ predominantly ensemble driven creative process encourages their artists to engage deeply with the work they are inhabiting and allows true investment in and commitment to the company’s core values.

As a leader of contemporary circus in Australia, they feel it is their responsibility to continue to challenge circus as an artform.

Darcy Grant

Artistic Director

Darcy is a classically trained acrobat, award-winning fine art photographer, physical theatre director and founding member of Circa, revered as one of the world’s most adventurous, genre-defying circuses. He has trained, taught and toured work on the cutting edge of New Circus to some of the world’s most prestigious venues. Where theatre, dance, circus and visual art meet is where Darcy likes to practice. His visual aesthetic is foundation and scaffold to his show making. In 2017 Darcy was commissioned by Adelaide International Arts Festival to direct Backbone by Gravity and Other Myths. The show premiered to 5-star reviews and standing ovations, also attracting three Helpmann Award nominations including Best Choreography and Best New Australian Work. Also a brilliant photographer, Darcy regularly shoots live performance for companies such as Opera Australia and The Farm. Darcy has had solo photographic exhibitions in Brisbane, Melbourne and Berlin.

Sometimes these things begin with a concrete premise or proposition, but we were starting from scratch. It was early spring, and we were meeting over coffee one bright morning for the first conversation about our next project.  Neither of us knew what the other was thinking and both had come with only the faintest inkling about what terrain we might want to explore next. 

 

By the end of that meeting though, a group of individuals had assembled in our imagination. They were gathered around the remnants of an old story – a story, it seemed to us then, that they were caring for and keeping alive. Were they Historians? Folklorists? Conservators? How had this story drawn them into its orbit? What was the connection? Perhaps these people needed this story as much as the story needed them. Or perhaps the story itself was secondary to that age-old human need to congregate; to participate in a communal activity; to be recognized and feel a sense of belonging.  Then Spring became Summer, and Summer, Fall. Then Winter came and before we knew it, a year had passed. 

 

A quick scan through our various exchanges over the course of that year reveals something of the meandering route we took to arrive at Assembly Hall. Although many signposts were left along the way, with headings written in bold above paragraphs of what seemed essential information at the time, the truth is, many of the paths we so eagerly blazed are now overgrown. Here are some examples from the trail:

 

The Shirt of St. Louis. The Lund Astronomical Clock. An Automated Display of Two-dimensional Figures. A Collection of Fragile Artifacts. An Unexpected Reunion, by Johann Peter Hebel.

“The spirits that I summoned I now cannot rid myself of again.” Goethe

The Quest to Fail, the Medieval Presence in Modernist Literature, by Jonathan Ullyot.

From Ritual to Romance, by Jessie Weston. Perceval, by Chrétien De Troyes.

The Chapel Perilous. The Harrowing of Hell. The Hour of Recollection.

“Absence is the form God’s presence takes in this world.” Simone Weil

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. A History of the Elks. 

The Society for Creative Anachronism. 

“There is no death.” Guy W. Ballard. 

Roberts’ Rules of Order. Ten Laws for Great Governance.  A Bunch of Amateurs by Kim Hopkins. 

A small community hall used by a variety of different groups.

 

Was there a more obvious, more direct route to get here? It may have been more efficient to avoid the forest and stay on the road.  Then again, if we’d taken a different route, with a different group of people, this particular hall might never have been found.  Despite its many mysteries, Assembly Hall emerged from familiar memories. It’s as though we spent some of our childhood here attending recitals, or fundraisers, or ceremonies, or pageants, or potlucks. It was built by a group of people who came together on a common quest; A group of people who sat together, hour after hour, conjuring it, sketching it, speaking it into existence, listening for how it sounded, and for what it might say.  A group of people who struggled to maintain and restore it when it seemed on the verge of falling apart; A group of people who believed in it and fought for it at each twist and turn. A group of people who, through the passing of seasons, filled this little hall with life.  Welcome. We’re grateful you’re here. 

– Jonathon and Crystal

Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot’s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, the company’s distinct choreographic language — a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation — is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention.

Kidd Pivot tours extensively around the world with productions such as Betroffenheit (2015), The Tempest Replica (2011), The You Show (2010), Dark Matters (2009), and Lost Action (2006).

Since 2015, Kidd Pivot has measured its touring carbon footprint and offset over 400 tonnes of CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling Kidd Pivot to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.

Crystal Pite

Artistic Director, Co-Creator, Choreographer, Director

In a choreographic career spanning three decades, Crystal Pite has created over 50 works for companies including The Royal Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, Ballets Jazz Montréal (resident choreographer 2001–04), and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Pite is a Member of the Order of Canada, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Benois de la Danse, Canada Council Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, two UK Critics’ Circle Dance Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and the 2022 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. She began her dance career as a company member of Ballet British Columbia (Ballet BC), then William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt, and is currently Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater I, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells in London. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University and is a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathon Young

Co-creator, Writer and Director, Voice Actor

Jonathon Young is playwright-in-residence at Kidd Pivot and a core artist and co-founder of Electric Company Theatre, where he has created and performed in over 20 original productions since the company was formed in 1996. He has worked as an actor on stages across Canada including Soulpepper Theatre (King Lear), Coalmine Theatre (Knives in Hens), Luminato Festival, Vancouver Playhouse (Full Light of Day), Necessary Angel (All but Gone), Theatre Calgary, (No Exit, The Great Gatsby), Bard on the Beach, (Hamlet). Assembly Hall is the third full-length work created with Crystal Pite after Betroffenheit (2015) and Revisor (2019). In addition, he wrote the text for two projects at Nederlands Dans Theater (Parade and The Statement). Jonathon is the recipient of the UK National Dance Award.

Owen Belton

Composition and Sound Design

Owen Belton lives in Vancouver, Canada and graduated from Simon Fraser University with a degree in Fine and Performing Arts (concentration Music). He has been composing for dance for the last 25 years as well as creating sound design and music for live theatre for the past 15 years. Owen has created pieces for The Paris Opera, Ballet Nuremberg, Electric Company Theatre, The Arts Club, as well as Nederlands Dans Theatre and of course Kidd Pivot.

Alessandro Juliani

Composition and Sound Design, Voice Actor

Alessandro is a Vancouver-based multi-disciplinary artist. He has previously collaborated with Kidd Pivot as a composer and sound designer on Revisor, Betroffenheit, and Tempest Replica. Other credits include: The Lady from the Sea, Trifles, Prince Caspian, On The Razzle and Middletown (Shaw Festival/Crow’s Theatre), To Kill A Mockingbird (Stratford Festival); The Great Leap, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, Saint Joan, Master Class, The Penelopiad. (Arts Club); Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, The Tempest, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Bard on the Beach; King Lear, NAC; All the Way Home, Palace Grand, Electric Company; Vigil, Mark Taper Forum, A.C.T., Theatre Calgary; You used to call me Marie, Savage Society; Bunny, Search Party; Little Women, Theatre Calgary; The Madonna Painter, Centaur Theatre; The Miracle Worker, Equus, Vancouver Playhouse. Film and TV credits include: Donkeyhead, Netflix; Big Trees, NFB; Wait for Rain, Motion 58.

 

Meg Roe

Voice Direction, Composition and Sound Designer, Voice Actor   

Meg’s work as an actor, director, composer, sound designer, and dramaturg has been seen across the Canada at Crows Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, PuSh Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, SoulPepper, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Junction, Citadel Theatre, Ruby Slippers Theatre, Electric Company Theatre, Blackbird Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Arts Club, Belfry, Theatre SKAM, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Catalyst Theatre, RealWheels, Intrepid Theatre, Elbow Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Western Canada Theatre, National Arts Centre, Centaur Theatre, The Banff Centre, Yukon Arts Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Why Not Theatre, Savage Society, vAct,Theatre Replacement, Rumble Theatre, The Cultch, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Luminato Festival, and internationally with the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), Center Theater Group (Los Angeles), and as a collaborator with Crystal Pite’s renowned dance company Kidd Pivot. She scored Esie Mensah’s short film Tessel, and Why Not Theatre’s feature What You Won’t Do For Love.

Jay Gower Taylor

Scenic Design 

As a scenic designer Jay Gower Taylor has collaborated with Crystal Pite since 2008, creating onstage environments for works such as Figures in Extinction [1.0], The Statement, Parade, Plot Point, Frontier, Solo Echo, In the Event and Partita for 8 Dancers, for Nederlands Dans Theater 1; Emergence and Angels’ Atlas (a co-production with Zurich Ballet) for the National Ballet of Canada; Polaris for Sadler’s Wells; The Seasons’ Canon and Body and Soul for The Paris Opera Ballet; and Flight Pattern / Light of Passage for The Royal Ballet. For Pite’s own company, Kidd Pivot, he designed Dark Matters, The Tempest Replica, Betroffenheit, and most recently, Revisor.

Nancy Bryant

Costume Design 

Nancy Bryant works widely as a designer in dance, theatre, opera and film. Her home is on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver. Previous collaborations with Pite include Body and Soul and The Seasons’ Canon (Paris Opera), Flight Pattern (Royal Ballet), Figures in Extinction, Partita, Parade and Plot Point (Netherlands Dance Theater), Revisor, The Tempest Replica (Kidd Pivot) and Betroffenheit (Kidd Pivot/Electric Co.), Angels’ Atlas (National Ballet of Canada / Zurich Opera House), and most recently, Light of Passage (Royal Ballet / Norwegian National Ballet). Bryant’s work has brought her together with various teams of fellow designers, directors, writers and choreographers to theatres and production workshops across Canada, the USA, the UK and to Europe. Her approach to costume design has been influenced by her visual arts background and many years of exceptional collaborations with some of Canada’s most innovative and groundbreaking theatre artists.

Tom Visser

Lighting Design

Tom Visser grew up in the countryside of west Ireland. At the age of 18 he started working in music theatre through his theatrical family and in dance through the Nederlands Dans Theater. Since 2005 he has created original designs for choreographers including Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Stijn Celis, Lukas Timulak, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shechter, and more.

Cybèle Young

Video Design 

Cybèle Young is a multidisciplinary artist and author best known for her intricate Japanese paper installations and children’s books. More recently, her practice has encompassed photography, ceramics, stop-motion film, video, and kinetic works. Young’s works form relationships where the mundane coincides with the surreal, and the ebb and flow of growth and regression reside on equal planes. Sculptures manifest as one-act plays, and large tableaux map clues to epic stories. She studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, since having mounted over twenty solo and thirty group exhibitions, and has received multiple grants and awards, including Canada’s Governor General’s Award. Cybèle is represented by Forum Gallery NYC, and her books are published worldwide, currently with Penguin Random House.

Eric Chad

Show Control and Sound Programmer

Eric Chad is an lighting/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’s recent credits include works with Emma Portner, Electric Company Theatre, 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 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 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.

Eric Beauchesne

Assistant to the Creators

Born in Québec, Eric has been on stage with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, as well as with Canadian contemporary dance icons such as La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault, Paul-André Fortier, Louise Lecavalier and Crystal Pite. Company member since 2004, Eric now collaborates with Kidd Pivot as associate artistic director, and stages Pite’s work on companies worldwide. Eric has served as guest teacher for several organizations as well as rehearsal director for Nederlands Dans Theater. He currently resides in Holland and devotes his spare time advocating for climate action in the dance world.

Brandon Alley 

Performer

Born and raised in North Carolina, Brandon Lee Alley is a multi-hyphenate artist residing on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Brandon began his professional career with Hubbard Street 2 followed by one year with BODYTRAFFIC in LA. In 2015, he joined Ballet BC. After 5 seasons, he continued to perform and collaborate with numerous companies and artists within Vancouver such as Company 605, Idan Cohen and Rachel Meyer. In 2022, Brandon joined Kidd Pivot for Revisor and was a member of the final global tour. In 2019, Brandon co-founded Dance//Novella – a contemporary dance company based in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to creating dance, Brandon is also an Audio Engineer with a diploma from SAE North Vancouver. He has made several original scores for dance and is excited to continue developing his musical journey.

Livona Ellis 

Performer

Livona Ellis was born in Vancouver on the unceded territories of thexwməθkwəyə̓m (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She has performed with Ballet BC (11 seasons), Buhnen Bern, Mascall Dance and Rachel Meyer. Livona has created works for Dances for a Small Stage, Dance Deck, Public Salon 2019, Contemporary Art Gallery Gala 2018, Arts Umbrella Season Finale, and Ballet BC Take Form. In 2017 she received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist and in 2023 received the inaugural Louise Bentall Biennial Award for Emerging BC Choreographers.

Livona joined Kidd Pivot in June 2023 and is currently collaborating with NYC based artist Rebecca Margolick on the creation of their full length duet “Fortress”.

Rakeem Hardy

Performer

Rakeem Hardy (they/them), originally from Toronto, Canada, received their BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase College. In 2020, they were the recipient of the Thayer Fellowship Award. Through their time at Purchase, they performed works by Ohad Naharin, Doug Varone, Sidra Bell, Norbert De La Cruz III, and Roderick George. Rakeem has had the pleasure of performing with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Loni Landon Dance Projects, and Gallim Dance. Rakeem joined Kidd Pivot in 2022. 

Gregory Lau 

Performer

Gregory Lau was born in Honolulu, Hawaii where he began his training at Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts. After attending The Juilliard School, he moved to join Nederlands Dans Theater 2 in 2013 and went on to join Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 2016. After leaving the Nederlands he went on to join Kidd Pivot in 2019. Gregory was featured in Doja Cat’s 2021 VMAs performance. During his career he has helped to stage ballets for NDT2 and The Norwegian Opera & Ballet. He has been a recipient of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Award in both Modern Dance and Ballet. He has also worked with choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Camille A.Brown, Marco Goecke, Paul Lightfoot & Sol Leon, Hans Van Manen, Johan Inger, Medhi Walerski, Alexander Ekman, Imre & Marne Van Opstal and Bobbi Jean Smith. 

Doug Letheren 

Performer

Doug is from New Hampshire USA, and is a graduate of The Juilliard School.  He danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance before joining the Batsheva Dance Company, where he worked with Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal from 2007 – 2012.  Doug was then a founding member of Sharon’s company, L-E-V, until 2015, and danced with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch from 2016 – 2019.  He has also performed with the GoteborgsOperansDanskompani, Alan Lucien Øyen’s Winterguests, Aszure Barton, Adam Linder, Ella Rothschild, and in films such as Georgia Parris’ Mari for the BBC, and Apart and Voyeur, collaborations with dancer Silas Henriksen, filmmaker Cecilie Semec, and the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. Doug has been a choreographic assistant to Sharon Eyal, Adam Linder, and Bobbi Smith for companies such as Netherlands Dance Theater, Royal Swedish Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and Ballet de Lorraine. He is a recipient of the 2007 Movado Future Legends Award, nominated by Mikhail Baryshnikov, and a 2019 “Der Faust” German Theater Prize nominee for Dancer of the Year. Doug joined Kidd Pivot in 2018.

Rena Narumi 

Performer

Rena Narumi was born in Japan. She trained at Centre d’art chorégraphique Franco-Japonais  in Paris France and Arts Umbrella dance graduate program in Vancouver BC under the direction of Artemis Gordon and Lynn Shepard. After her graduation, she performed with ProArteDanza, Hessischen Staatstheaters Wiesbaden, Royal Swedish Ballet (RSB), and Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT1). She has worked with renowned choreographers such as Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Sol Leon/Paul Lightfoot, Johan Inger, Alexander Ekman, Orjan Andersson, Sharon Eyal, Franck Chartier/Gabriela Carrizo (Peeping Tom), Emily Molnar, and more. With RSB in Sweden, she performed the main role of Juliet in Juliet and Romeo by Mats Ek in many theaters, including Paris Opera Garnier in Paris and Sadler’s Wells Theater in London. With NDT1, she traveled all over the world to perform. She was an apprentice with Kidd Pivot for season 2010/2011, part of the artistic team for The You Show. Rena is delighted to be rejoined with Kidd Pivot.

Ella Rothschild 

Performer

Ella Rothschild was born in Israel and is a choreographer, multidisciplinary artist and dancer. Since 2010, Rothschild has been creating her own works in collaboration with various artists from different disciplines. Her works include: Acord, 12 Postdated Checks, Judah, Jesus with Soy, Sal, Flood, Dood, IMO the mouth is redundant, Feed, Timeline, Futuristic Space, Unpair and Formula. Rothschild received the Rosenblum Performing-Arts Award by the city of Tel-Aviv for promising creator of 2016, as well as the ministry cultural award. In 2017 she received the Israeli Ministry of Culture Award for the best solo performer. From 2013 to 2023, Ella created and performed twelve of her works in Israel, Europe, Japan, and the US. In 2020 Ella received a residency at Baryshnikov art center (NYC) and was named an artist in residence in the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s inaugural residency program where she created her work Pigulim. In 2021 Ella created Summer snow, on the edge of nowhere, and A Year Without Summer which are a trilogy of artworks for the Batsheva Dance Company. This year Ella created Milk teeth as part of Kammerballetten festival in Copenhagen and is creating for the Royal Ballet of Flanders a new creation for Stravinsky music Petrushka, which will premiere this in December.

Renée Sigouin 

Performer

Renée was born in Saskatchewan and moved to Vancouver in 2008. Since graduating from Modus Operandi contemporary dance program in 2012, she has performed in several works with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance, Mascall Dance, Kinesis Somatheatro & EDAM. She joined Kidd Pivot in 2018.

Ryan Beil

Voice Actor

Ryan Beil is a comedian, actor and writer based in Vancouver, BC. He holds a BFA in acting from the University of British Columbia and has become a fixture on local stages. He has won two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards. Selected Theatre Credits: Angels In America, Parts 1&2 – Arts Club. Twelfth NIght / Comedy of Errors – Bard On The Beach. Billy Bishop Goes To War –  Arts Club/Belfry. Undeveloped Sound – Electric Company. Ryan is also involved in the world of Film and Television, with two Leo Awards to his name. Selected Film/TV Credits: iZombie – The CW Mech X4 – Disney The X-Files – FOX Trial & Error – ABC You, Me, Her – eOne, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Nickelodeon, Turner & Hooch, Disney. You can also catch Ryan every Sunday at the Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, performing with The Sunday Service: The Legendary improv comedy troupe he co-founded.

Marci T. House 

Voice Actor

Marci T. House is an American/Canadian (Canerican) actress of stage, voice, film/tv, and also a producer. Hailing from the south-side of the city of Chicago, she now makes her home in

Vancouver, BC in Canada. Marci is a NAACP Theater Award (Los Angeles) & Jessie Theatre Award (Vancouver, BC) nominated actress and set designer, and now works as a professional actor in both the U.S., and Canada. A graduate of Louisiana Tech University (B. Of Arch.), and the University of Illinois Chicago (MUPP), where she not only studied acting, but also studied architecture and urban planning, policy & design. Marci has also had a vast array of theatrical training with Diane Hardin (Young Actors Space-LA), Bill Duke (Actor’s Boot Camp-Miami & LA), Michele Lonsdale Smith (Lyric School of Acting-Vancouver, BC), and Susan Batson, Greg Braun, and Christian Contreras (Black Nexxus/Susan Batson Studios/New Collective Acting Studio –LA, NYC & Vancouver).

Gabrielle Rose

Voice Actor

Gabrielle Rose is a veteran award winning film, television and theatre actress with more than 50 years experience . Most recently she has appeared in a number of series for television such as Night Agent, Virgin River, and Yellow Jackets. Her large resume of theatre roles includes Martha in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Amanda in ‘The Glass Menagerie’, Mrs. Malaprop in ‘The Rivals’ Queen Elizabeth in ‘Elizabeth Rex. Gabrielle has received numerous awards for her work in film, TV and theatre. She has also received several lifetime achievement awards: The Sam Payne, Woman of the Year for Vancouver Women in Film, Vancouver Critics lifetime achievement, the Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction, and has a star in the Vancouver Walk of Fame. This past year she worked with Bruce Sweeney on his latest film, “She Talks to Strangers” which will premiere at the Whistler Film Festival. Currently Gabrielle is working on an indie feature called “Hanne and the High Sea” and she will be onstage in the new year at the Belfry Theatre in Christine Quintana’s new play ‘As Above’ directed by Meg Roe.

Amanda Sum

Voice Actor

Amanda Sum (she/her) is a performer and creator who dances between theatre and music. Amanda has collaborated on many interdisciplinary theatre based works, which have brought her to perform and present works at the Smush Gallery (Jersey City) at On The Boards (Seattle), Fury Factory Festival of Ensemble and Devised Theatre (San Francisco), and Summerworks (Toronto). As an actor, Amanda’s recent credits include 4 seasons of the East Van Panto (Theatre Replacement), and Sense and Sensibility (The Arts Club). Amanda’s debut indie-pop album, New Age Attitudes, was released in the fall of 2022. Her music video, Different Than Before was JUNO-Nominated for Music Video of the Year, and won the SXSW Music Video Jury Award. As Theatre Replacement’s COLLIDER Artist, Amanda created New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert. Part pop-up book, part performance, this experimental theatre piece premiered in the spring of 2023, and will tour in 2024. Amanda holds a BFA from SFU. Antics and updates: @amanduhsum /  www.amandasum.com

Vincent Tong

Voice Actor

Vincent’s favourite theatrical roles: West Side Story (Chino) Vancouver Opera, Beauty & the Beast (LeFou), Altar Boyz (Juan) Arts Club, and La Cage aux Folles (Jacob) Playhouse Theatre. Vincent’s voice work has been heard around the world in Disney’s Ice Age The Adventures of Buck Wild where he played Crash, the lovable possum, alongside Simon Pegg. Other recent releases: Kai in Lego Ninjago Dragon’s Rising, Knuckles in Sonic Prime, and Megaman in Megaman Fully Charged.  His television appearances include Love Hard, Arrow, Transporter The Series, and Fringe. Thank you to Crystal, Jonathon, and Meg for asking me to be a part of this show.

Carmen Aguirre

Carmen Aguirre is an award-winning theatre artist and author, and an Electric Company Theatre Core Artist. She has written and co-written over twenty-five plays and the #1 international bestseller Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (2012 CBC Canada Reads winner), and its bestselling sequel, Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution. Her new play Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project will premiere at the 2024 Chutzpah! Festival. She is currently directing Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding at Studio 58. Carmen is a 2020 Siminovitch Prize finalist, and a graduate of Studio 58.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marcus Youssef

Marcus is a playwright and theatremaker. His fifteen or so plays have been produced in more than twenty countries across North America, Europe and Asia, from Seattle to New York to Reykjavik to Venice, London, Vienna, Hong Kong, Athens and Berlin. Marcus is a recipient of Canada’s largest theatre award, the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre, for his body of work as a playwright, as well as the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award, Berlin, Germany’s Ikarus Prize, the Rio-Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, the Chalmer’s Canadian Play Award, and the Vancouver Critic’s Innovation award (three times). Marcus co-founded the artist-run production centre Progress Lab 1422, where he led Vancouver’s Neworld Theatre for fifteen years.

Rocío Molina

Rocío Molina, a versatile dancer, is one of the Spanish artists with greater international repercussion. She was born in Malaga in 1984. She started to dance at the early age of three years old. At seven, she was outlining her first choreographies. At 17, she graduated with honours at the Royal Dance Conservatory in Madrid and became part of the cast of professionals companies with international tours.

At 22, she premiered Entre paredes (Among the Walls), her first work, which was followed by many more self-creations, all of them with a thing in common, a curious and transgressor look at a flamenco style escaping from the well-trodden paths: El Eterno Retorno (2006), Turquesa como el limón (2006), Almario (2007), Por el decir de la gente (2007), Oro viejo (2008), Cuando las piedras vuelen (2009), Vinática (2010), Danzaora y vinática (2011), Afectos (2012) and Bosque Ardora (2014), Caída del Cielo (2016) and Grito Pelao (2018), Inicio (Uno) (2020), Al fondo Riela (Lo otro del Uno) (2020) and Vuelta a Uno (2021), the last three productions being part of Trilogía sobre la guitarra.

Molina has been working with the leading figures of flamenco such as María Pagés, Miguel Poveda, Antonio Canales, Israel Galván, and of the contemporary arts such as Carlos Marquerie, Mateo Feijóo or Jean Paul Goude.

She has been an associate of the Chaillot National Theater in Paris since 2014, and has been invited to most prestigious theatres and festivals around the world – from Avignon to the Barbican Centre in London, to the City Center in New York, the Esplanade in Singapore, Tanz Im August in Berlin and the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow.

She has received many awards, including the Spanish National Award for Dance, Best Dancer Award at the Seville Bienal, the Gold Medal awarded by the Province of Malaga, the Max Award in 2015 and in 2017, the Dance National British Award in 2016, the Venice Biennale 2022 Silver Lion for dance, the Positano Dance Award ‘Léonide Massine’ 2022, and Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport 2022.

Carlos Marquerie

Carlos Marquerie Rocío is one of the most relevant figures in the Spanish avant-garde of the last few decades. In his youth he trained with the sculptor and marionette artist Francisco Peralta, who he considers his mentor. An author, director, plastic artist and lighting designer, he was branded by El País newspaper “a distance runner who covers the length, breadth and depth of our avant-garde theatre (…) the living maestro of stage lighting within Spanish theatre”. He has worked with artists such as Elena Córdoba, Rodrigo García, Antonio Fernández Lera, Angélica Liddell, Roger Bernat, Israel Galván, Ana Buitrago, Óscar Dasí, Amancio Prada, Jorge Drexler, Silvia Pérez Cruz, José Luis Gómez, Claudia Faci, Itxaso Corral y Àlex Rigola. His lighting work has featured at theatres and festivals such as Deutsche Oper Berlin, Théâtre del Odéon de París, Théâtre National de Bretagne, Festival d´Avignon and Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz. He has worked with Rocío Molina on Cuando las piedras vuelen, Afectos, Bosque Ardora, Caída del cielo, Grito Pelao and Carnación. 

Pablo Martín Jones

Born in Madrid in 1980, Pablo Martín Jones is the son of a flamenco guitarist and a flamenco dancer, both Americans living in Spain. Surrounded by music from childhood, he was drawn into percussion in his early teens, later exploring many different instruments and styles, although flamenco and spanish folklore remain his main source of inspiration. His approach broadened as he grew musically, and he developed a wider palette of sounds, that includes practically anything, while simulteniously inmersing himself in electronic music. During this time he has performed with many great artists from many different fields, in many different styles and is increasingly in demand as a composer for film, dance and other performing arts. He was the winner of two Latin Grammy Awards for his work in the album ‘Salvavidas de Hielo’ of Jorge Drexler (2018), awarded as ‘Best new song composition’ in the ‘Premios de la Música’ (2011) and nominated in the same category (2009), awarded as ‘Best Composition for Dance’ in the IX Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco, (2000), and nominated for Best Composition in the Premios Max (2016). As a composer and/or arranger, he’s worked with Rocío Molina, Carmen Linares, Rosario ‘La Tremendita’, Eliseo Parra, Jorge Drexler or Javier Colina, among others.

Kiko Peña

Kiko Peña, Cantaor (singer), great revelation in the art of flamenco singing, was born in Ecija (Seville) in 1995, in a cantaores’ family, son of bullfighter and singer Paco Peña and Esperanza Garcia de Soria.

He began his career at the age of 12 in the flamenco club David Serrano of Ecija where in 2009, Kiko, with his guitarist, Antonio Garcia, captivated the audience by seguiriyas, cantiñas and taranto, and qualified for the semifinals of the X Youth Competition of the Federation of Flamenco Entities of Seville in the Peña de Tomares. There he continued to gain fame thanks to new songs, tonás, fandangos and bulerías. The half a dozen songs he created quickly gave him recognition in flamenco circles, awakening the interest of the aficionados.

On April 7, he participated in the Festival de Marinaleda and ten days later he was recognized in Jerez de la Frontera Festival. He was invited to the XXII Festival de la Campiña, the XX Noche Flamenca Pedro el de la Timotea, the X Festival Flamenco Joven de Andalucía and the closing of the XXIII Jueves Flamencos de Cádiz, where he will share the stage with Miguel Poveda, who will produce Kiko Peña’s first recording, and who will be the opening act in his concerts in Alcorcón and Badalona, among others.

Óscar Lago

Óscar Lago is a guitarist born in Cadiz. At the age of nine he began his guitar studies with maestros Rafael Abujas, Rafael Porras and Andres Martinez. At the age of 16 he began performing in Spain, and later, working in some flamenco tablaos such as Los Tarantos, El Carmen, El Cordobés or El Flamenco de Tokio, where through hard work and perseverance, he became the artist he is today. In his career he has worked with artists such as: Adrian Galia Company, Javier Latorre Company (Rinconete y Cortadillo), Antonio el Pipa Company (De Tablao), Ángeles Gabaldón Company (Inmigración, Taller Flamenco), Miguel Poveda, the pianist Sergio Monroy, Concha Vargas, Rocío Molina, Ramón Martínez, Andrés Peña or Fuensanta la Moneta, and Jesús Carmona, among others. As a soloist he participated in the Bienal de Sevilla, in the cycle “jóvenes flamencos”. He has studied with guitarists such as Chicuelo or Gerardo Núñez. He has taught guitar courses at the Tanzhaus Festival (Düsseldorf), Flamenco del sur (Cinecitta Campus, Rome). His curiosity and interest in music, and his attention to the study of the guitar and the cadence of playing, have led him to the opportunity to compose music for some of the artists already mentioned, such as Adrian Galia, Angeles Gabaldon, Ramon Martinez, Sergio Monroy.

Jose Manuel Ramos, “El Oruco”

Born in Seville, 1987. He received his first lessons from the Sevillan dancer «El Torombo», with whom he later shared the stage in the season of flamenco of the Diputacion and Coliseo Cubierto «El Palenque» of Seville. He added to these studies with artists such as «La Farruca», «La Faraona», Antonio Canales and Juan de Juan. Within his most important works stands out his participation in the show «Los Gnomos del Flamenco» by the company of Antonio Montoya «Farruco Jr», in presentations such as «Galvanicas», «Evocacion» and «Son de Peñas» presented in the XII and XIII Bienal de Arte Flamenco of Seville, as well as is his protagonistic role as a dancer in the show «Flamenco de Raza» of the singer Curro Fernandez in the Cloitre Nazaire of Bézières, in France and Switzerland. In addition to this, he also presented his own work «Diquela» with his company in Ambérès, Belgium and Athens, Greece, as well as participating in the work «Alma Gitana» of the renowned dancer Juana Amaya in Germany. That same year, he participated in «Jovenes+Flamenco», «Peñas de Guardia», and the XV Bienal of Arte Flamenco as a guest artist. 

Currently he is producing his latest work «Ladrón del Tiempo (Thief of Time)», working with artists such as Rosario «La Tremendita», Rocio Molina, Juana Amaya, Concha Vargas and Ines Bacan, as well as continuing to present, along with his company, his spectacles «ECO» and «Oruco», in various venues in Spain and around the world.  In addition to his career as a performer, El Oruco continues to develop his academic project «FormArte Flamenco» alongside the dancer, Karolina Gonzalez «La Negra», promoting the study of the Flamenco art from its technical, rhythmical and choreographical bases, «FormArte Flamenco» has reached several different academies in countries such as Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Greece, Japan and the United States.