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Karen Kaeja (she/her) is a Tkaronto born Ashkenazi. An award-winning performer, choreographer, project instigator and mentor, she is “The mastermind behind Porch View Dances” Toronto Star. Karen develops platforms for collaborative relationships between dancers, everyday people and the body. Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance with All
Karen Kaeja (she/her) is a Tkaronto born Ashkenazi. An award-winning performer, choreographer, project instigator and mentor, she is “The mastermind behind Porch View Dances” Toronto Star. Karen develops platforms for collaborative relationships between dancers, everyday people and the body. Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance with Allen Kaeja, she is in The Canadian Who’s Who and Dance in Canada Encylopedia. Her awards include the 2022 George Luscombe Mentorship Award, 2020 Dance Ontario Lifetime Achievement Award, CDA “I Love Dance” Community Award, and Paul D. Fleck Fellowship for Innovation. A finalist for the TAF Celebration of Cultural Life Award, the TAF Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement, NOW’s Best Local Choreographer and Best Dance Company, she is twice named one of NOW’s top 10 dance artists. A 7-time Dora Mavor Moore nominee, her work Crave received 4 Dora nominations, winning one. The heart of her research, choreography and critical writing for the past 30 years, concentrates on Touch, where the celebration of body memory as a living archive are in a continuous state of rebalancing. Commissioned and presented by performance series around the world, she collaborates and dances with many of Canada’s brilliant choreographers. www.kaeja.org
Nickeshia Garrick was born in Toronto, Ontario and has been performing since the tender age
of six. She received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and
Education), National Ballet School of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre and Simon Fraser
University. Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood
Nickeshia Garrick was born in Toronto, Ontario and has been performing since the tender age
of six. She received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and
Education), National Ballet School of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre and Simon Fraser
University. Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood Collegiate
Institute. Nickeshia has had the honour of training with Sean McLeod (New York) to achieve her
certification in Sean McLeod’s Reinforced Motor Function Technique®, RMF®. Her extensive
dance training includes Bakari E. Lindsay, Arsenio Andrade, Rob Kitsos, Peter Bingham, and
Christopher House. She has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, T.I.L.T Sound
and Motion, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen and the Newton
Moraes Dance Theatre, just to mention a few. Nickeshia has performed the Canadian National
Anthem at the Rogers Centre, was a commissioned artist for the 2010 Winter Olympics
(Vancouver) as part of the Push International Performing Arts Festival, has made appearances
in various art installations and shows for Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche (Toronto) and Fringe
Festival (Toronto), and was invited to perform at the Nafro Festival (Winnipeg) as a soloist and
part of a trio. Furthermore, Nickeshia has recently performed in No Womans Land created by
Roshanak Jaberi and mentored by Karen Kaeja, along with her 2019 Luminato debut as a soloist
and cast member in Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks.
Nickeshia holds her BFA at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), is a 2018 Dora Mavor Moore
Award winner for Outstanding Ensemble in Pool (no water), and is part of the upcoming
Rhubarb Festival for her choreographic debut as a solo artist in, To All My Past, Present, and
Future Lovers… I’m Sorry.
Aria Evans is a queer, Toronto-based, award winning interdisciplinary artist who’s practice spans dance; creation, performance and film. Aria draws on their multi-racial experiences as well as their BFA (2012) to capture meaningful social and cultural themes through their interactive art. With a large-scale vision, collaboration is the d
Aria Evans is a queer, Toronto-based, award winning interdisciplinary artist who’s practice spans dance; creation, performance and film. Aria draws on their multi-racial experiences as well as their BFA (2012) to capture meaningful social and cultural themes through their interactive art. With a large-scale vision, collaboration is the departure point to the work that Aria creates under their company POLITICAL MOVEMENT. Advocating for inclusion and the representation of diversity, Aria uses their artistic practice to question the ways we can coexist together. www.politicalmovement.ca
Allison Cummings is a performer/choreographer/art maker, who operates under the umbrella name Sore for Punching You.
She is based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been presented at venues and festivals across Canada since 1996 including The Theatre Centre, Hysteria, Edgy Women/Montreal, Toronto Dance Theatre’s ‘Four at the Winch’, SummerWo
Allison Cummings is a performer/choreographer/art maker, who operates under the umbrella name Sore for Punching You.
She is based in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been presented at venues and festivals across Canada since 1996 including The Theatre Centre, Hysteria, Edgy Women/Montreal, Toronto Dance Theatre’s ‘Four at the Winch’, SummerWorks, M:ST Performative Art Festival, 7a -11d, Canada Dance Festival, Fluid Festival, Moving Pictures Festival and Trinity Square Video, Older and Reckless, School of the Toronto DanceTheatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Porchview Dances, Bright Nights (Citadel et Cie) among many more.
She has produced her own multidisciplinary full length works, Quiver ’02, Clutch ’06, Devouring Lions ’09, Final Savage Land ’13 and Exhale ’18
SHARON DIGENOVA is a Production Stage Manager and award- winning Lighting
Designer, who began her career in a Broadway touring house - working in all aspects of
technical theatre, on numerous Tony Award winning productions. Throughout her
career, She has worked in many capacities in a multitude of disciplines – designing for
dance, theatre, m
SHARON DIGENOVA is a Production Stage Manager and award- winning Lighting
Designer, who began her career in a Broadway touring house - working in all aspects of
technical theatre, on numerous Tony Award winning productions. Throughout her
career, She has worked in many capacities in a multitude of disciplines – designing for
dance, theatre, multi-media, circus and freak shows, as well as stage managing music
venues, producing dance, running her own venue, and touring internationally to over
350 cities (several times over) in more than 30 countries throughout North & South
America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Far East. She has collaborated with scores of
National artists, ranging from The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Canada’s internationally
acclaimed Holy Body Tattoo to Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes. She has also Lit
numerous international artists including multi award winning dancer Patricia Guerrero
and Flamenco master, Joaquin Grilo and Production Managed numerous festivals
including, the IABD Conference and Showcase (International Association of Blacks in
Dance), and...Toronto’s International Tap Festival. Sharon also spends much of her year
volunteering with animals in need. Her Company Holly’s Hope, has been producing fund
raising events to bring awareness to, and raise funds for animals since 2012.
Christina Litt Belch is a composer, contemporary dance artist, choreographer, musician,
and teacher based in Toronto, Ontario. She has trained at various renowned schools in
Canada and the United States such as the Alberta Ballet School and The School of
Toronto Dance Theatre. Christina has worked as both a composer and performer for
dance: m
Christina Litt Belch is a composer, contemporary dance artist, choreographer, musician,
and teacher based in Toronto, Ontario. She has trained at various renowned schools in
Canada and the United States such as the Alberta Ballet School and The School of
Toronto Dance Theatre. Christina has worked as both a composer and performer for
dance: made in canada - inTO focus, Battery Dance Festival, Expect Theatre’s Beats +
Intentions, and the SummerWorks Performance Festival. As well, she has presented her
work at the Festival de Danse Contemporaine de Sherbrooke and has worked as a
rehearsal director at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre for a piece choreographed by
Pulga Muchochoma. Christina is now a collaborator with Kaeja d’Dance, PulgaDance,
and ZahraMoves. In 2020 she founded Litt Dance Collective, which aims to create
holistic works by melding musical and choreographic research.
Dance Takes Berlin
Tara began her dance career with The National Ballet of Canada after graduating from the National Ballet School. She then danced for The Alberta Ballet and was a celebrated Principal dancer for Canada's Ballet Jorgen for 16 years. Bengt Jörgen created many lead roles in full length ballets for Tara including Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Anastasia, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. She had the opportunity to guest perform internationally with The Hong Kong Ballet, The Ohio Ballet, Banff Festival Ballet and The Miami Hispanic International Ballet Festival. She has worked with many of Canada's most sought after choreographers including Gioconda Barbuto, Roberto Campanella, Allison Cummings, Robert Desrosiers, Robert Glumbek, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Malgorzata Nowacka-May, Crystal Pite, Kathleen Rea, and Wen Wei Wang. Tara was featured in Michael Greyeyes short dance film 'Seven Seconds" and also featured in the award winning dance film 'Old Country' by Allen Kaeja. Since moving to Kitchener and having her second child, Tara has been teaching and coaching young dancers, choreographing, and performing as a freelance artists.
Over the course of the pandemic Tara created and presented a full evening of dance funded by The Region Of Waterloo Arts Fund which featured original work by David Earle, Allen Kaeja, and Nickeshia Garrick. These sold out performances of "Dance Takes Berlin" presented at The Registry Theatre November 5th and 6th 2021 were a huge success.
In partnership with Pat The Dog Theatre Creation Tara has launched a movement creation series aimed towards developing new ways of creation for all artists as well as demystifying dance and its creative process. Tara is an Associate Artist with Pat The Dog Theatre. She has completed two successful dance residencies with The Registry Theatre in July 2021 funded by Ontario Presents, and July 2022 supported by The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.
Canada Council for The Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund have supported Dust and Soul Dance Projects next evening of original dance for the Waterloo region scheduled for June 16th and 17th 2023 at The Registry Theatre.
Photo by Laura McBride
PROSPECTS
February 23rs 2023
7:30 pm at The Art Gallery of Hamilton
This unique evening of dance produced by Aeris Korper Contemporary Dance offers audience members a chance to view new works in process by four choreographers. Each work is in different stages of development and the evening showcases beautifully diverse dance styles. Audience is encouraged to give feedback and share their perspectives on each work. This is a wonderful way for the community to develop a deeper understanding of dance. Tara is thrilled to be showing her new work "Brittle Stars" in the upcoming PROSPECTS on Feb 23rd. To read more about this special evening and for choreographers blogs on creative process please visit www.aeriskorper.com
To reserve your FREE tickets RSVP here at the Eventbrite.
FEMME FOLKS FESTIVAL
March 8th to 20th
run by Artistic Director of Pat The Dog Theatre Lisa O'Connell
This is a festival celebrating femme creators. Check out this years line up at www.femmefolksfest.ca
Tara is thrilled to be choreographer for Witches in the Woods created by Amy Neufeld. "A delightful, heart-warming telling of the classic Grimms’ with contemporary resonances, Witches in the Woods is a clever new take on the tale. Premiere production of a locally created, original Theatre for Young Audience play. For our times and for all people. All ages."
for tickets please visit www.femmefolksfest.ca
The mandate of DAS Dance Projects is to create and present professional dance performances for the Waterloo region. Our goal is to present exciting, original, and relevant dance performances as well as build a deeper understanding for the art of dance for our growing community. We are excited to be an integral part of the arts ecology here in Kitchener/ Waterloo.
Nickeshia Garrick is a settler on the stolen land of Tkaronto and has performed on this land for over 25 years. They are unapologetically a Black, Queer Artist, who believes in the healing power of breath through raw emotion and movement. Nickeshia received their dance training at the Carousel Dance Centre (Kitchener), the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), the National Ballet School of Canada (Tkaronto), Toronto Dance Theatre (Tkaronto), and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver).
Nickeshia is a Dora Mavor Moore-winning and multi-nominated artist who holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University. In addition to her performance endeavours, Nickeshia teaches Movement to TV/Film Actors at the Toronto Film School.
Photo by Kevin Jones
Aya found a love for dance at age five and started her training with the Alberta Ballet School in Edmonton. She later joined the professional programme with intensive focus on ballet, modern, jazz and pointe. She moved to the Edmonton School of Ballet for her graduating year where she danced many leads in their junior performing company. Upon graduating, Aya joined Ballet North and toured Alberta, B.C. and Russia. A year later, Aya moved to Jonquière, Quebec, where she started teaching ballet, pointe, variation and modern at L'École de Danse Le Prisme Culturel. In 1996 she joined Ballet Jörgen Canada as a soloist, where she stayed for the next twelve years, touring all over Canada and the United States and working with many of Canada's most sought after choreographers. Since 2008, Aya has been teaching mostly ballet and pointe at various studios. With her extensive professional stage experience, Aya excels at getting dancers to findfreedom in their movement in order to awaken their inner artistry, while maintaining a strong technical base.
Amanda is a passionate actor/dancer/singer rooted in Kitchener Waterloo. As a resident, she was actively involved in community theatre by sharing her expertise and energy with young people in schools and non-profit organizations. Amanda Damaren is a graduate of the Eastwood Collegiate Integrated Arts Program under the direction of Janis Price. She graduated with an Arts diploma majoring in Dance as well as an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Eastwood Collegiate provided Amanda with a foundation for dance, theatre and vocal training as well as opportunities to perform lead roles such as Jan in the musical Grease, as well as dance along side professional modern companies including Ballet Jorgen, Toronto Dance Theatre and David Earle. Amanda recently lived in Vancouver BC where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Simon Fraser University. Amanda is highly trained and has worked with numerous choreographers such as: Rob Kitsos, Judith Garay, Chengxin Wei, Megan Walker-Straight and Leslie Telford. Amanda has an extraordinary vision for improvisation, collaboration and creation.
Kate Kamo McHugh is a multidisciplinary theatre artist from Kitchener, Ontario. She is interested in artistically exploring concepts such as migration, belonging and the intersection of art and care. Recent highlights include an artist residency at the National Arts Centre, presenting a solo piece at IMPACT 21 Theatre Festival, and performing with Cosmic Fishing Theatre. In 2021 Kate was honoured to co-facilitate a movement based workshop for the Newcomer Youth Program in partnership with MT Space and the YMCA. Currently Kate is working on her show Twenty Grains of Rice: Seeds of Reclamation, an exploration of her Japanese Canadian identity - cultural loss, retention and creation. She holds a BFA from Toronto Metropolitan University in Theatre Performance Dance.
Michael has danced competitively for over a decade and loves all styles of dance – He has performed everything from jazz in a music video, to hip-hop at world championships, to taking the RAD solo seal exam. Currently I study Mathematics/Teaching at the University of Waterloo and compete as part of the UW Dance Company. Michael is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with and learn from professional dancers as he continues to pursue his dreams.
Marina Simonović is currently a third year at University of Waterloo studying mathematics with a major in financial analysis and risk management. She is an executive member and choreographer on the UW Dance Company competitive team, and is a teacher at Carousel Dance Centre, where she danced growing up. Marina has completed her RAD Advanced 2 Ballet exam, and has attended summer intensives across Canada and in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Marina is also a co-founder of Rhapsody Dance Project, a dance collective for young adult dancers in KW.
A fierce advocate for regional theatre artists, Lisa O’Connell (she/her) is the founding Artistic Director of Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, a catalyst for New Works of Theatre and producer of PlaySmelter Northern New Works Festival (Sudbury) and Femme Folks Fest (Waterloo Region). Artists receiving dramaturgy by O’Connell have received and/or been nominated for the Governor-Generals Award (Drama), RBC Tarragon Playwright Award, the Carol Bolt Award, RBC Directors Award, among others. Work created at PTD has been presented across Canada and the UK. O’Connell is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently an Award of Excellence by the Creative City Network of Canada for her work building creative ecologies. O’Connell divides her time between her artistic homes in Waterloo, ON and Sudbury, ON.
Dancers Preston McBain and Tara Butler
Movement Based Creation for Non-Dancers
This is an outreach series to educate and inspire our audiences. No dance experience is necessary. Participants will learn how dance is created and have the opportunity to create their own movement pieces. Our first movement workshop at The Registry Theatre in October 2021 was hugely successful.
NEW WORKSHOP DATE!!!!! JUNE 12th 2023 in Partnership with The REGISTRY Theatre. Please email tarabutlerdance@gmail.com for more information and to reserve your spot! For non dancers and dancers alike, this is a special opportunity to learn, move, breath, connect and create in a theatre setting.
Pre-Professional Choreographic Workshops
This series is meant to bridge the gap for dance students on the precipice of their professional career. Dancers will have the opportunity to be part of the creative process and work
with choreographers active in the field of dance. 3 day or 1 week session options. Please email tarabutlerdance@gmail.com to book a workshop for your students. Stay tuned for new dates for open workshops 2023
Movement Based Professional Development
This is geared toward artists of any genres who are interested in widening their methods of creation. Through movement, participants will create personal work and develop new
skills to conjure creative flow in their own disciplines. This workshop series is run in partnership with Pat The Dog
Theatre Creation. Stay tuned for upcoming 2023 dates.
Das Dance Projects acknowledges that we are located on the Haldimand Tract, land promised to Six Nations, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. We are on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral Confederacy), Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. We honour this land and the indigenous people who have lived on it and cared for it for thousands of years.
We love our patrons, so feel free to drop us a line.
Dust and Soul Dance
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