Artists

Art Babayants is a theatre artist, educator and researcher, who has worked in Canada and abroad. His research looks at the phenomenology of multilingual acting and spectating as well as the concept of multilingual dramaturgy. He has published on the issues of stage multilingualism, diasporic theatre, queer dramaturgy, applied theatre and contemporary musical theatre; he has also co-edited Theatre and Learning (2015) and the special bilingual issue of Theatre Research in Canada/Les recherches théâtrales au Canada (Fall 2017) dedicated to multilingual theatre in Canada. Trained in Canada, Wales and Russia, he founded Russia's first theatre company specializing in performing American musicals in English. In Canada, Art has presented his work at various Toronto festivals such as Fringe (2017), Summerworks (2016) and Nuit Blanche (2015), Caminos (2017). Since 1997, Art has also been developing theatre projects integrating acting and second language teaching – his most recent ESL/Drama creation called Embodied English is a sought after course for advanced ESL learners offered through his experimental theatre company Toronto Laboratory Theatre/Le Théâtre Laboratoire de Toronto. Art holds a Lecturer position at Faculty of Media, Art and Performance where teaches acting, scene study, dramaturgy, post-modern theatre as well as directs musicals and devised theatre performances.

Art's teacher's vimeo link: vimeo.com/100617430

Larry J. Bauman is an award winning Saskatchewan filmmaker whose drama, documentary and performing arts productions have screened in countries around the world. He has acted as adjudicator, speaker and workshop presenter at several regional and national festival events and has instructed media production courses at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan.

“Over the past few years I've been able to move towards working with dancers, playwrights, actors, authors on projects that reflect my own interest in the screenas-canvas for realizing personal vision, experimentation, exploration and discovery. I've directed pieces ranging from Saskatchewan micro-budget dance works to feature dramas and documentary series, and recently created a twohour multi-screen video environment for a theatre production in Barcelona. In each instance I've been able to evolve my own visual aesthetic while working with artists who have strong and sophisticated visions of their own. This is the realm in which I'm most comfortable. It is never predicable, never safe, but always rewarding.”

Daniella is a professional dancer based in Toronto, Ontario. Daniella was raised in Regina, Saskatchewan where she started dancing at the age of 2. Starting in ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, lyrical, and commercial styles as she got older, such as Street Jazz, Heels, Hip Hop, Whacking, House and Vogue. Daniella is constantly training, performing and teaching all around Canada and the United States. She has most recently worked closely with choreographer Rhapsody James (Choreographer for Diddy, Beyonce, Trey Songz, Madonna, Arianna Grande, etc) assisting her in New York for the RCW Intensive. Daniella also was accepted into the program Motivating Excellence in Los Angeles with Rhapsody. 

Since then, Daniella has been working with Tanisha Scott on a new CBC tv show 'Utopia Falls' as a skleton crew dancer. Working again with Tanisha on a new Netflix tv show 'Grand Army' as a dance double. You will also be able to see Daniella in the movie 'Work It' coming to theaters in 2020.
 
Daniella has danced and choreographed for several Toronto artists, like Kendal Thompson, Willa Milner, Drag Queens Priyanka and Tynomi Banks. You can also catch Daniella dancing on the CBC Tv show, Frankie Drake under the direction of Paul Becker. She was also given the opportunity to perform twice at the All Star Showcase at Hit The Floor for Leon Blackwood. Daniella has performed at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, Pride Toronto, The Flaunt Festival, Toronto Dance Expo, Choreographers Ball and Fever After Dark. Her choreography and dancing have earned her notice, awards and scholarships at events such as Monsters of Hip Hop, Nuvo Dance Convention, The Industry and Triple Threat. 

Daniella teaches all around the Toronto GTA, as a guest instructor at studios such as Millennium Dance Complex, The Underground Dance Centre, and in various cities in western Canada. She is a member of Footnotes directed by Pyro and Mariano and The Vibe Ladies, directed by George Jones. Daniella is an advocate for working hard, going for one's dreams and never giving up on yourself. She has an absolute love for being in the studio, creating, and constantly learning, and is extremely excited to share her energy with the world

Sylvain Bleau has been part of the dance world for 25 years. 

From 1996 to 1999, he held the position of Director of Corporate Affairs at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, where he was responsible for private financing. 

From 2000 to 2005, Sylvain worked with Édouard Lock at La La La Human Steps, where he acted as Director of Public Affairs, first responsible for private financing and then communications. He witnessed the creation of Amelia, a famous ballet that became a film of rare beauty.

From 2006 to 2011, Sylvain advised artists and companies, especially in the field of performing arts. His greatest achievement during these years was in 2008 when he staged the rebirth of the Théâtre La Chapelle.

Sylvain Bleau holds an Income Manager Certificate from the University of Waterloo, a specialized degree in cultural marketing and financing. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Montreal. He has worked abroad twice, in London in 1990, as a tie salesman (yes, truly!) at the famous Harrods store, and in Lyon in 1992, as assistant in studies and statistics in the Office of Cultural Affairs at the City of Lyon.

www.cinedanse.ca

Amy Bowring holds an honours B.A. in Fine Arts Studies from York University and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario. She is the Executive and Curatorial Director at Dance Collection Danse where she was mentored by founders Lawrence and Miriam Adams, and has been involved with the organization in various capacities since 1993. She is one of Canada's foremost advocates for the study and preservation of Canadian dance heritage.

A dance writer and historian, Amy has published numerous historical essays and articles for books, academic journals, and magazines. She also curates live and virtual exhibitions on various topics in dance, and teaches dance history at Ryerson University. Amy is a co-recipient of the 2002 Toronto Emerging Dance Artist Award for her work as a dance writer. She has contributed to various boards and committees in the arts and museum sectors.

Amy is the editor of Down to Bowring's: A Memoir written by her grandfather, Derrick Bowring (Creative Book Publishers, 2015). Her book, Navigating Home: Artists of the NL Dance Project, was released in fall 2019.

www.dcd.ca

Tom Brown is an artist living in Calgary, AB, where he graduated from the Alberta College of Art & Design in 2015. His work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including the Today Show. Working primarily in handmade functional miniature, the focus of his practice is public engagement. Beginning doing pop-up public performances in his fully functional Miniature Kitchen as a part of the larger project, Feeding the Masses, his methods of public engagement have evolved to encompass multiple additional projects. Finders Keepers features a handmade miniature, hidden each Saturday, for a member of the public to find. He has successfully hidden and had found over 140 items since this project's 2017 inception. The items are hidden primarily in Calgary, but locations of successful hides include Spain, France, Japan, and a number of Canadian and American cities. His most recent project, Starting Small, is a collaborative initiative, utilizing his practice as a miniaturist to hand-make miniature skateboard decks which are then distributed to interested members of the public to paint, distribute further to their friends, and return to be catalogued and published. Since beginning this project in early 2019, he has distributed nearly 200 skateboards to people as far away as Turkey, Australia, and Sweden.

There is a contrast in his work, as the formlessness of virtually published work contradicts the heavily process-based practice of creating handmade functional miniatures. This dichotomy is useful in creating opportunities to move virtual interactions from the internet to the physical world, as in his projects Finders Keepers and Starting Small. Cultivating the internet as a display medium, while maintaining visual art as context, he hopes to continue to create new ways to interact with art.

tombrowncreates.com

Johanna Bundon is an independent artist whose practice includes dance and theatre performance, choreography, and teaching. She is a 2005 graduate of LADMMI (Les Atelier de Danse Moderne de Montreal), a 2008 graduate of the Globe Theatre's Actor Conservatory, and holds a BA is Arts & Culture from the University of Regina. Currently, Johanna is an Artistic Associate of Curtain Razors Theatre. As a choreographer, New Dance Horizons, Globe Theatre's Sandbox Series, the National Arts Centre's Prairie Scene Festival, and the Prairie Dance Circuit have presented her work. Her choreography has also featured in numerous Globe Theatre productions since 2006. Johanna frequently teaches dance and movement practices through New Dance Horizons Dance Core, as a faculty member of the Globe Theatre's Actor Conservatory, and as the 2017 director of Globe's Start Up training for emerging artists. Johanna is currently a 3rd year student of the San Diego Feldenkrais Professional Training Program.

Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia to chinese-canadian parents. After finishing an arts degree at Simon Fraser University and working freelance, Tony decided to move to Montreal, Quebec in 1994 to pursue a career as a modern dancer and choreographer. He has performed all over the world for various companies in Quebec, most notably La Compagnie Marie Chouinard, La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Carbon 14. He has also acted as the co-artistic director and director of Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa, Ontario from January 2005 – December 2008.

Tony has created a number of works that have been presented locally and nationally: The Berlin Project, Interiors, Le Naufragé, I See Much Less Than it is to Come, Rupture (Dance Video with the music of Martha Wainwright), and L'Empreinte des Anges for Danse l'Astragale in Trois Rivière, Delusions of Enchantment (three works: Sleeping Beauty, Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, and La Neige Bleue), Bloodletting and Other Pleasant Things for Dancemakers Company in Toronto, and Last Year's Love Made this Year, Berceuses Tristes et Autres Monstres for L'École Nationale de Cirque, Comme Hamlet (film) with the creative groupe Mouvement7.

www.tonythecompany.com
www.tonychong.wordpress.com
www.tonychongphotography.com

Jordynn Rayne Delorme is 20 years old from Cowessess First Nation. Jordynn is a graduate from Miller Comprehensive High School. Jordynn has been teaching pow wow dancing for the last 5 years but has been dancing Pow Wow since she started walking. Jordynn first started out dancing fancy shawl but has since transitioned into dancing contemporary jingle. Jordynn enjoys teaches all female styles of dancing. Jordynn welcomes all race and genders to learn the beautiful moments of women's Pow Wow dancing. 

Edward D. Finch (Ed Finch) was born in Strasbourg, Saskatchewan in 1941 to local farmers Douglas & Cora Finch. He had the good fortune to be able to help his dad with the day to day chores of farming including the machinery. When he was about seven years old he received a meccano set for Christmas which started his journey of building machinery & other things like Ferris wheels, merry go round, clocks & wind mills. Ed started to make model farm machinery from the past to scale that had working parts which he continues to do today. Ed is always thinking about the next project he can make.

Ralph Escamillan is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx dancer/choreographer/community leader based in Vancouver, BC. He is a graduate of contemporary training program Modus Operandi (2015), and his arsenal of performance skills includes a variety of street dance styles, ballroom, vogue, circus, and drag. Ralph has worked and toured internationally with a number of Vancouver based dance companies, and also works in Film and TV, represented by Da Costa Talent. The founder of non-profit VanVogueJam, Ralph shares his passion for Vogue/Ballroom culture at his weekly by-donation class and vogue balls, acting as a beacon for the queer dance form in Western Canada. Recently touring his first full length work 'HINKYPUNK' around the prairies, under his company alias FakeKnot, he is now working on his second work, 'whip,” premiering at the MAI (Montréal, QB) in Spring of 2021. Currently he is on contract with Wen Wei Dance and Mascall Dance, recently performed as a guest dancer for Ballet BC, and is also a Lululemon Ambassador.

www.ralphescamillan.com

At the forefront of modern dance for more than 45 years, internationally acclaimed dance Artist Margie Gillis is one of the most influential Canadian choreographers/dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Margie Gillis was born on July 9th, 1953 in Montreal, Quebec, into a family of athletes where corporeal experience and physical prowess were essential aspects of daily life. In 1981, she founded the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation in Montreal. Over the decades, Margie has created a rich repertory of more than one hundred and fifty creations, solos, duets, and group works, which have been performed around the globe. Establishing herself as an innovative choreographer, she built her career as a solo dancer, distinguishing herself with her naturalistic style and inimitable stage presence, and her iconic long cascading hair. She developed a new form of movement in her unique artistic voice that has influenced generations of choreographers and dancers. She continues to this day to shape the art of movement, earning public and critical recognition for the beauty, authenticity and emotional expression of her creations. Infused with political, social, and cultural themes, Margie Gillis' philosophy explores the notions of humanity, inner landscape, and our intrinsic relationship to nature, revealing the intimacies of the human psyche. Her repertoire covers a wide array of topics including: feminine consciousness, the natural world, and the transformative process, all merging in a profound and powerful expression of humanism and emotion.

Although primarily a soloist, Margie Gillis has collaborated as a guest artist on different projects initiated by some of the most significant artists and companies of her time, such as Jessye Norman, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Paul Taylor Dance Company, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Teaching, mentoring and passing on her legacy to emerging artists are an integral part of her vision. Responding to an overwhelming demand from the dance community, Margie Gillis curated the Legacy Project to share her unique creative history and ensure the continuity of her contribution to modern dance. From there, was born the Margie Gillis – Legacy Project Dance Company, which is now touring with repertoire pieces and new creations.

With her unique approach to teaching, Dancing from the Inside Out, she offers workshops for dance professionals and students alike. As a socially engaged artist, Margie Gillis believes that dance can contribute to positive transformation. She lectures and teaches on the power of movement as a means of problem solving, highlighting the political dimension of dance and art within societies, especially in her work with conflict transformation and reclaiming the body.

Embracing new challenges and opportunities, she has been the spokesperson for OXFAM, the Planned Parenthood Foundation, and a number of organizations dedicated to the fight against AIDS. Margie is also an active defender of environmental causes. 

Unwaveringly, she continues to develop her craft through experimenting, teaching, creation, innovation and performance.

margiegillis.org

Mistaya Hemingway is a freelance dancer, choreographer, filmmaker and urban thinker living in Montreal. She began her career in Europe with the Dutch National Ballet, followed by a brief stint at Alberta Ballet and then nine years with La La La Human Steps, performing in onstage and screen version of Amelia, Amjad and Les Boréades. Mistaya also spent time in New York City studying acting and then in Chicago dancing for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Her artistic experience covers a wide range of styles and inspirations, from classical to improvisation and performance theatre. In the last few years Mistaya has been creating her own screendance projects, performing in music videos and working with dance in visual projections and mixed media. Mistaya is inspired by collaborations with others and fuelled by her passion for music that fills the soul to overflowing.

Lee Henderson (1979~) is a contemporary artist whose practice includes video, photography, installation, sculpture, performance, and text. Henderson has studied art in Canada and Germany, holding a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design (2003) and an MFA from the University of Regina (2005). He shows regularly across Canada, and occasionally in Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Naples, and Berlin; notable recent venues include The Phillips Collection at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Magenta Festival Boston, and The Zero Film Festival (USA); The Dunlop Art Gallery, The Mendel Art Gallery, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Nuit Blanche Edmonton, and YYZ Artists' Outlet (Canada); and kunstraum tapir, Berlin (Germany). Henderson's work can be found in private and public collections including the Mendel Art Gallery/Remai Modern, the University of Regina President's Collection, and The Center for Fine Art Photography USA. He currently teaches art and media in Toronto at Ryerson and OCAD Universities.

Naomi Jackson is Associate Professor in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre at Arizona State University. Her articles appear in such publications as Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle, and Dance Research. She has served as a member of the boards of the Society of Dance History Scholars and Congress on Research in Dance, and has helped to organize various conferences, including the first International CORD Dance and Human Rights Conference in Montreal in 2005, and Jews and Jewishness in the Dance World in Tempe, AZ in 2018. Her books include, Converging Movements: Modern Dance and Jewish Culture at the 92nd Street Y, Right to Dance/Dancing for Rights, and Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice: Dignity in Motion (edited with Toni Shapiro-Phim).

Links to publications:

Dance and Human Rights,” in Dance and Politics (Peter Lang Publishers, 2011)
www.amazon.com/Dance-Politics-Alexandra-Kolb/dp/303911848X

Converging Movements: Modern Dance and Jewish Culture at the 92nd Street Y
www.amazon.com/Converging-Movements-Modern-Jewish-Culture/dp/0819564192

Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice; Dignity in Motion
www.amazon.com/Dance-Human-Rights-Social-Justice/dp/0810861496

Right to Dance: Dancing for Rights
www.amazon.com/Right-Dance-Naomi-M-Jackson/dp/1894773101

Ashley Johnson is a Regina based dance artist and somatic practitioner whose practice involves collaboration, performance, group facilitation and individual sessions in the Mitzvah Technique and Itcush Method. She holds a BA in Dance from the University of Calgary, with special training in Sport Science from the University of Hong Kong and is a graduate of the Grant MacEwan Dance Program. For the last ten years Ashley has apprenticed with movement pioneers from around North America, including mentorship with Amelia Itcush and three years as a scholarship student in Los Angeles with Emilie Conrad in Continuum Movement. Her work as an artist and movement teacher has been presented in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford and Los Angeles. Ashley is regularly involved as a teacher and performer with New Dance Horizons (Regina). She spent seven years as a teaching artist in Northern Saskatchewan public schools. For samples of Ashley's work in somatic creation and site specific performance see www.constantlyseekingsoftness.ca

Born in 1951, Marsha Kennedy has spent most of her life in Regina, Saskatchewan. During her formative years as a professional artist she moved to Toronto, Ontario where she received her MFA from York University. While living in Toronto she began wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and became involved with a group of neighbourhood women working to eliminate industrial pollution within her community. Her very first garden was on a roof top two blocks from the CN tower.

Early in life, Ms. Kennedy understood that her relationship with nature and other species was fundamental to the quality of her life. Motivated beyond personal sentiments, her art encourages her audience to recognize the essential meaning of our relationship to nature and other species. She is compelled to awaken and provoke a change that challenges our current cultural values, beliefs, habits, and life style. Most recently her work has turned to a personal reflection of the many changes she has witnessed throughout her life and resonates with despair over experienced and anticipated ecological and species loss.

Ms. Kennedy has exhibited her work across Canada, has been the recipient of numerous provincial and national arts awards and her art is held within many public and private art collections. She is currently represented by the Slate Art Gallery in Regina.

Karlie King completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan (2003), a Master of Arts Degree (2006), and three years of a Doctoral Degree at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She has received a variety of grants and awards, including a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Grant, Saskatchewan Arts Board Indigenous Pathways Initiative Grant, and the Saskatchewan Arts Boards Independent Arts Grant. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the country: Walking with Our Sisters, First Nations University of Canada, Regina (SK) (2013-2019); and Around Home, Campbell River Art Gallery, (BC) (2013); and An Education, Estevan Art Gallery, (SK) (2014), and PEST, Haida Gwaii Gallery/Museum (BC) (2015) and Newfoundland Labrador Craft Council (2017). For four summers, she was the Artist-in-Residence at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (SK) and in 2016 she was the Artist-in-Resident at the Canadian Western Agribition (SK). She currently teaches at The Cathedral School of Art in Regina (SK), is Curator at Hague Gallery (Regina, SK), and is a dedicated Mother of two.

Graham Kotowich is a professional danser with the Ballet de l'Opéra-Théâtre de Metz since 2016. He has been dancing since a young age and is originally from the prairies (Regina). He is very pleased to be recognised, due to his passion for both dance and video creation.

Tessa Rae Kuz is a dance artist and teacher. Her practice has led her through Toronto, Montreal, New York, Egypt and Israel where she continued to deepen her knowledge in dance, intelligent collaboration, and interdiscplinary performance. She has had the opportunity to interpret work for acclaimed Canadian artists Heidi Strauss (Adelheid), James Kudelka, Manuel Roque (MTL), Gadfly (TO), Marie Josée Chartier (TO/MTL), Kate Hilliard (TO) and Jamie Robinson (VAN). Choreographically, her work has been publicly presented by the New Voices Festival, Orillia Centre for Arts and Culture, Free Flow Dance Theatre, and New Dance Horizons. Tessa began her teaching practice with FRESH Dance Intensive (TOES for Dance) in 2010, and since then has taught across Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan for numerous studios, non-profits, and Arts High Schools.

Rob King's work has been featured at The Toronto International Film Festival,  in Cannes, Berlin and Tokyo, and has won numerous awards along the way. Rob is a past CSA award nominee for his feature directorial debut Something More, and a Drama Prize winner with the National Screen Institute for his short film Talker. He was a writer and a director on the International Emmy nominated Netflix series, Tokyo Trial (Sept 2016). Most recently he directed the feature films The Humanity Bureau (Nicholas Cage, Sara Lind) and Distorted (Christina Ricci, John Cusack), both set for release in 2018.

Alan Kohl. For over 20 years Kohl has been directing, editing and shooting a wide range films, including feature documentaries, dramatic series and dance films for international and domestic broadcast. Kohl has also directed live events including the Grammy's, the Tony's, U2, Willie Nelson and David Bowie. For the past 7 years Kohl has worked closely with Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal shooting and directing a series of short films. From an early age Kohl learned that being an artist is less about the medium and more about the creative outlook one has in perceiving and arranging one's world.
Filmography | Clay vs. Clay- CBC(2016), Roadsworth, Crossing The Line- NFB(2008); Capitalism- ArteFrance (2013) Wal-town the film (2005) Crash Of The Century-Arte (2004)

Shaun Leach is an outsider artist who aims to delight adult audiences with his work. He endeavours to transport would-be voyeurs to a charming world that conceals comedic titillation. He also makes paintings, murals and World War II-inspired dioramas.

Frans Lotz is a Saskatchewan based artist who draws inspiration from the handiwork of other people. Be it a factory made dartboard or a farmer-welded playground, such objects tell a story about the people who made them and the society that wants them. His years of making un-glamorous things like handrails and shipping crates for a living are carried into his small sculptures of old tools and commonplace objects.

Suzanne Miller's choreographic work evolves through dialogue as a generative process that interacts with people, place and living systems. Using dance as a form of knowledge - gathering, healing and questioning, Suzanne explores experience through movement, time and space. Miller's repertoire includes solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, and large group works. She has participated at National and International residencies and has received commissions from dance artists, companies and academies.

For the past 35 years Suzanne has been working closely with her partner, composer, sound designer and musician Allan Paivio. Both immediacy and transformation are central to their work. Using the body as a starting point they commemorate forebears' and invoke ancestral and artistic lineage attempting to create allegories that activate and revive a social consciousness. Suzanne Miller & Allan Paivio Productions have produced over fifty original works developed for presentation in theatres, galleries and outdoor spaces. Their collaborations have toured in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and most recently in South Asia.

www.millerpaivio.com

Through performance (Dancemakers, RMDW, TIDE and independent projects in various Canadian places), teaching, writing, rehearsal direction, artistic direction (Susan McKenzie Solo Projects, SMcK Dance, jumpstart performance society), my relationship with Dance is lifelong. 

Formative influences include teachers Linda Putnam, Dianne Miller, Don Farnsworth and endless collaborative discoveries with the Necessary Angel Theatre Company, New Dance Horizons, MascallDance, and as a contributor to theatre productions.   

I've taught from the Stratford Festival and Simon Fraser University  to impromptu gaggles of the many-aged imaginative.  I sit on the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society (SEACHS) Board of Directors.  
My husband, daughter, homestays, animals and I live in North Vancouver.   

BFA Hons. Fine Arts York University; recipient of awards and support from the British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario Arts Councils, the Laidlaw Foundation and the Canada Council of the Arts.  

Chasity Delorme is a 42 year Cree women from Cowessess First Nations in Treaty Four Territory. Chasity is an Old Style Jingle dress dancer and been dancing for over 15 years. Chasity has been teaching Pow Wow in the Regina community for over 6 years, including classed at New Dance Horizons, and Newo Yotina Friendship Centre. Chasity is a mother, an artist, and an educator who recently completed her Masters Certificate in Sustainable Community Development at Royal Roads in British Columbia. Chasity enjoys expressing and sharing her First Nations heritage and cultural traditions with all peoples.

Lance Ironchild is a 40 year old Cree man from Piapot First Nation in Treaty Four Territory. Lance grew up dancing and performing Men's Traditional Pow Wow dancing at an international level. Lances passion for Pow Wow dancing is legacy he carries on in honor of his late father who was also a Mens Traditional Dancer. Lance's artistic abilities have led him to create captivating contemporary Pow Wow dance videos that capture First Nations cultural dancing with a visual art focus.

Sandee Moore is an artist, curator, lecturer and art critic from Kamloops (Tk'emlúps), BC. She has been collecting miniature food since 1996. This video represents a portion of a collection she has been gathering since 2004.

Dick Moulding was born in Abernethy, Saskatchewan in 1939 and came from a farming family. Moulding's experiences have involved working for the city, building roads, farming, was a commercial grain cleaner for 18 years, and worked for Federated Co-op. Moulding began building Meccano machinery in the mid 1960's to 1070's where he has assembled a wide variety of functional miniature machines. Moulding currently lives happily in Regina with his wife Dianne has two sons and five grandchildren.

I have been turning wood items for over 22 years. My passion is turning wood columns up to 16 inches in diameter and 12 feet tall. With the base and capitals, my columns can reach to 14 feet ceilings. Wood choices are primarily oak, cherry and maple.

In addition to columns, I also turn small to very large candle sticks (36 inches tall), as well as some non-utilitarian articles of art.

PMO Custom Woodturning
pmo@sasktel.net

Daniel Paquet is a photographer active in Saskatchewan and originally from Quebec City. He works in particular portrait, dance and landscape. As a stage photographer, he explored performances from new angles, both during the performances and during their development. His photographs blur the lines between painting, documentary and fine art. He explores the human condition with simplicity and an aesthetic that does not distort the subjects. His photographs have been exhibited on various occasions in Saskatchewan and Quebec. They have been published in many media around the world.

Daniel Paquet studied computer science at Laval University. He has worked on multimedia and the web since 1995, when he launched Amnesty International's (Canada francophone) first website and the first online press conference in Canada.

photo.paquet.ca

sound designer, composer

Allan Paivio's music compositions and sound designs provide the aural landscapes for his company, Suzanne Miller & Allan Paivio Productions based in Montreal, Canada. Their repertoire includes over fifty original works developed for presentation in theatres as well as for unconventional sites for dance in public space. Their collaborations have toured in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and most recently in South Asia.

Paivio's work often blends sonic imagery such as; birdcalls, trains, crowds and many kinds of identifiable sounds and utterances that manifest in a rich vocabulary of auditory signage that gives meaning and an emotional foundation to a given work. In this way, Allan Paivio's soundscores evoke memory, place, people, and situates the audience in a particular setting.

www.millerpaivio.com

Chancz Perry is an award-winning multi-faceted producer, choreographer and triple-threat performer. He has spent more than 30 years in the entertainment industry – on stage, screen and behind the scenes. Chancz is certified in Early Childhood Education (SIAST), has a BFA in Dance, a BA in Criminology (Simon Fraser University) and is pursuing graduate studies regarding art therapy (University of Regina). He has served as an Artist in Residence in Regina Public Schools and a sessional instructor at the University of Regina, as well as in several roles at the Globe Theatre that have made a difference to people in marginalized communities, local artists and production teams, and children of all ages.

Jayden Pfeifer is a Regina-based artist whose work in improvisation and theatre, as creator and performer, has spanned the last 20 years. His monthly comedy variety show, Red Hot Riot with Jayden Pfeifer, ran for seven seasons in Regina, and he has hosted the monthly comedy show TALKIES at the RPL Film Theatre for the past five years. Jayden holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Regina (2003), and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies (2017), specializing in Improvisation and Ensemble Facilitation. Jayden is an Associate Artist for Curtain Razors Theatre, and has appeared in Curtain Razors' recent productions Live Duet(2016), Bad Blood(2017), and Carmen Angel(2018).

Edward Poitras is a member of the George Gordon First Nation and resident of Treaty Four Territory. He is an artist who has always recognized his mixed heritage – Métis/Cree/Saulteaux – as a powerful source of energy, creativity and contradiction. Poitras was born in 1953 in Regina. In 1974 he studied with Sarain Stump at the Indian Art Program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where he was introduced to diverse artistic and philosophical approaches that continue to inform his art practice. In 1975–76, Poitras attended Manitou College in La Macaza, Quebec, where Mexican Aboriginal artist Domingo Cisneros imparted an experimental approach to materials and introduced Poitras to the Quebecois performance art scene. Following this time in Quebec, Poitras taught at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College and at the University of Manitoba. During much of the 1980s, he taught at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of Regina (now First Nations University of Canada). Poitras worked as a graphic designer for New Breed Magazine in the 1980s. Poitras has since remained connected to his community, exhibiting with and mentoring emerging artists through his involvement with groups including Tribe Inc. (Saskatoon), Sâkêwêwak Artists' Collective (Regina), and New Dance Horizons (Regina).

Since the early 1980s Poitras' “artistic benchmark [has been] his masterful ability to combine seemingly contradictory materials”[1] such as fiberglass, circuit boards and magnetic tape with bone, horse hair and rawhide. His work examines complex issues of history and identity, and their connection(s) with place. As critic Nancy Tousley observes, his “family and regional history are [often] interwoven with references to the story of Aboriginal people in the Americas.”[2] Themes of colonization, assimilation, integration, genocide, displacement, migration, survival, nationalism and transnationalism permeate his work as he explores tensions, contradictions, narratives and interactions.

Poitras has exhibited extensively across Canada, as well as in the United States and Europe. His selection as the first Aboriginal artist to represent Canada at the prestigious Venice Biennale marks a recognition of his distinctive contribution to the questions of “Identity and Alterity,” the theme of the 1995 Biennale. His other solo exhibitions include: Qu'Appelle: Tales of Two Valleys, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon (2002); RESIG/NATION, Galerie Le lieu, Quebec City (2000); The Politics of Land, an earthwork at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon (1998); Jaw Rez, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau and MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (1996); Marginal Recession, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina (1991); Et in America Ego, Art Speak, Vancouver (1989); and Indian Territory, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon (1988). Among group exhibitions, nearly every major contemporary Native art exhibit since 1980 has featured his work, notably: New Work by a New Generation, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (1982); INDIGENA, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau (1992); and Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2011). Internationally, his work has been shown in Santa Fe, Paris, Munster, Havana, New York and Tampere, Finland. His work may be found in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, MacKenzie Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, and National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), among others.

Throughout his career, Poitras has been instrumental in organizing, producing, and participating in performance art, dance, and theatre works. He has created a number of sets, costumes and light designs in collaboration with various artists, including: Floyd Favel Star, Richard Martel, Benoit Lachambre, Jocelyn Montpetit, Bill Coleman, Boye Ladd, Bruce LaBruce, and Robin Poitras. Edward Poitras is a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual Arts (2002), the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Arts Award for Innovation (2005), and a Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art (2009).

Robin Poitras is one of Saskatchewan's most prolific dance and performance creators. Creating dance, performance and installation works, she has been actively engaged in contemporary dance practice since the early 80s. For many years Robin has traversed the formal worlds of dance and performance art. She co-founded New Dance Horizons in 1986, with Dianne Fraser where she continues to act as Artistic Director. With an interest in research into diverse fields of artistic and somatic practice she has developed a unique interdisciplinary approach. Robin's works have been presented across Canada, in Spain, France, Germany, Mongolia and Mexico. She is a recipient of the 2016 Lieutenant Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2006 Mayor's Awards for Business & The Arts' Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2004 Women of Distinction Award for the Arts.

About Robin's creative process

My practice is rooted in a physical world comprised of choreography, dancing and actions/acts. My performance works often involve the use of found or formed objects, texts, images, sound and/or other media. I am curious about relationships and resonance among the worlds of art, science and nature and in exploring how these worlds feed back and forth in mythical, mysterious, elusive and sometimes obvious ways.

Troy is from the Kainai Nation in Southern Alberta. He has worked as an actor, dancer, choreographer, director, dramaturg and instructor but is primarily an artist in movement, choreography and staging, mostly creating his own works which have been presented nationally and internationally including Iitahpoyii; They Shoot Buffalo, Don't They?; Dancing the Universe in Flux; Pulse; and Static. Troy was one of the original visionaries and founding artists of the ground breaking Making Treaty 7 theatrical event. He is co-director for the young people's theatre version of Making Treaty 7 titled We Are All Treaty People which has been nominated for a Dora Award in the Best Production, Theatre for Young Audience Division. Recently he has worked with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks; The Prairie Dance Exchange, and the Groundbreaking Iinisikimm puppet project with the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppety. He has co-curated an exhibition called By Invitation Only: Dance, Confederation and Reconciliation for Dance Collection Danse. He has recently acted in Omari Newton's Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of, at the National Arts Centre and in Lemon Tree Creations, Why Not Theatre and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's production of Lilies. He has directed and dramaturged Omaagomaan by Waawaate Fobister which premiered in Winnipeg at the Gas Station Arts Centre in the fall of 2019 and will be presented by Theatre Passe Muraille and Native Earth Performing Arts in April 2020. He is currently working on Closet Freaks with Stage Left Productions, which will premiere its work at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in the Fall of 2020. Troy has taught movement for actor training and various dance and movement workshops and lectures at several institutions and festivals nationally and internationally including the Centre for Inidgenous Theatre; York University,; Quest Theatre; University of British Columbia Okanagan; Centre National de le Danse; The Talking Stick Festival; Canada Dance Festival; Dance In Vancouver; Dance Victoria; The Banff Centre for the Arts and Theatre Alberta (Rocky Mountain Lecture Series). His research has been presented at the American Library Association, American Theatre Association, Congress on Research of Dance, The Society of Dance History Scholars and has been featured in several publications.

Troy's current Performative Talk Series engages and discusses creating work with Indigenous and non-Indigenous resources, developing protocols involving communities, elders, language and ways of knowing in contemporary work. How do we engage without limits, yet protecting subject matter? 

In his twenty five year career as an artist Troy discusses his experience in the development of this relationship that was long being developed through interactive art building well before the Truth and Reconciliation Report and the 94 calls to action. He also speaks of his experiences as a First Nations artists collaborating and working with other First Nations artists of other tribes, and of how he uniquely engages in that process and its approach. 

Gary Varro is a curator, visual artist and designer based in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1996 he established and continues to curate Queer City Cinema Film Festival and Performatorium: Festival of Queer Performance and numerous tours of film programming throughout Canada, with ongoing freelance curation including programming for Pitos Waskochepayis presented by The Indigenous Peoples Artist Collective in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. As an artist, Gary has exhibited his installation and performance artwork nationally and internationally including: LIVE International Performance Art Biennale, Vancouver (2013); Distributed Intimacies Program, Banff Centre (2014); Rencontre internationale d'art performance de Québec, Quebec City (2014); 7a11d International Festival of Performance Art, Toronto (2014); Neutral Ground Contemporary Art Forum, Regina (2015); Venice International Performance Art Week (2017); and That's So Gay, Toronto (2018). In the film industry, Gary has worked an art director and production designer since 1997.

James Viveiros is a graduate of both the Grant MacEwan College Music Theatre and Dance Programs in Edmonton Alberta. He is a former company member of LA COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD (CMC) from the fall of 1999 to the summer of 2016. For the past seventeen years, James has performed in contemporary dance festivals around the world. He has also worked with HOP Martha Carter, Suzanne Miller and Alvin Pavio productions, Movement 7, The Brian Webb Dance Company, Edmonton Opera, The Citadel Theatre, Workshop West and Leave it to Jane Theatre. He has been seen in works by Tania Alvarado, Martha Carter, Tony Chong, Dominic Porte. In 2009 James was a recipient of a Gemini award (film and television) along side the other company members of CMC, for best performance in a Performing Arts Program or series for bODY_rEMIX/les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG, by CMC. In 2015, to 2017 he was awarded funding on two occasions from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec (CALQ) to become a certified Gaga teacher and studied in Tel Aviv, Israel, under the direction of Bosmat Nossan. He also works as a rehearsal director and choreographic assistant to Collective La Tresse. James's solo “MELT” ( a prefix for a prayer ) premiered in September 2017 in Montreal.

Born in Regina, Shannon grew up in Avonlea. She returned to Regina at 16 years of age and today she works with Catholic Family Services in home family support.

Trolls have been a part of Shannon's life since see was child. She received her first troll when she was 7 years old, which led to a collection of troll dolls in the hundreds. As a child she decorated her room with troll curtains, troll bedding, troll everything.

Shannon began CUTE N' CREATIVE 5 years ago, when she started transforming her troll carriers into tiny succulent gardens. Her 12 year old son, Miguel, often collaborates in her creative projects giving her creative ideas and helps out.

Her unique Trollosity Succulent Extravaganza combines her passions for gardening and trolls. She loves to make fairy gardens and creating and arranging in people's yards.

Shannon' trolls are for sale! for prices and more information you can contact her through www.instagram.com/cutencreative306.