Pilot Episodes
An Experimental Lab

Tavia Christina is a multi-hyphenate artist. They embrace their ethereal nature as a driving force in both their artistic expression and research. Their work touches genres between dance, theatre and performance art. As the Artistic Director of Near & Far Projects, their choreographic research and development are informed by improvisation, voice work, and a deep connection with their surrounding ecology. Their practice is based in somatic movement, improvisation, and spiritual endurance.

Sze-Yang Ade-Lam is a queer asian nonbinary dancer, martial artist, actor, advocate, and community developer. They share stories for love, liberation, representation & empowerment, as an independent artist, and as part of @illnanadcdc. Since 2011 Sze-Yang has created more accessible affirming dance education and performance opportunities for QT2SBIPOC communities, advocated for change in the arts, is the force behind the Dora Mavor Moore Awards shift to gender neutral categories, and was the recipient of the Dirt Underneath Actors’ Space: Artistic Resident Programme.

Lukas Malkowski(he/they) is a CODA(Child of Deaf Adult), performance maker and Aquarius based between Canada/Germany. He has performed in John Wick 4, CTM Festival(Berlin), Babylon Berlin, Rodeo Festival(Munich), FestivalTransAmérique(Montreal), and the Schrittmacher Festival(Holland). Lukas’s work is shaped by the embodiment of physics, voice, and Sign. He’s choreographed ambient sets, music videos, and films for Sam Slater(Joker OST), LBT, and 7th Plain(Luke Slater). Flowmentum: his teaching practice, is driven by social dialogue and physics embodiments through sight and touch. He’s taught and performed at festivals/companies/schools in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Berlin, Kassel, Munich, Slovakia, and Mexico City. Since attaining his BFA in Dance Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, he’s worked with Naishi Wang, Ceren Oran, Toronto Dance Theatre, Wang Ramirez, Staatsballett Berlin, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Jasmine Ellis, Diane Borsato, Adelheid, Kate Hilliard, Mocean Dance, and Deaf Spectrum.

Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Canadian dancer, choreographer, and instructor born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. After being accepted into the regional arts program at St. Roch Secondary School, Kwasi was able to expand his knowledge training in various styles that include ballet, jazz, hip hop, and modern and traditional African dance. Kwasi’s professional credits include the Pan-American Games, Lua Shayenne Dance Company’s Kira, The Path | La Voie, Esie Mensah Creations, the Raptors half-time show, and more.

danielle Mackenzie Long, a queer emerging interdisciplinary artist, resides on the stolen and unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations. They seek to use new media/film to liberate gender non-conforming dance artists to create work that surpasses gendered bodies through various means of visual presentation and audience access. Currently their creative practice is being expanded through engagements with Vanessa Goodman, Shion Skye Carter, Festival of Recorded Movement, and Co.ERASGA. Occasionally danielle studies Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia with the aspiration to infiltrate and challenge the academic world by navigating it with an emphasis on curiosity, refusal, and rest.

Blessyl Buan is a multigenerational, multidisciplinary artist whose expressions span from healing, visual and dance arts. Since 2005 she built a chiropractic practice for performing artists and has four decades of performance experience. Her choreography re-weaves Philippine diasporic narratives through the interplay of natural objects and the land, while reconciling with the biopsychosocial impacts of colonization and assimilation. This work informs her motherhood to her four children and influences future generations to embody authentic expression.

Rodney Diverlus is a Haitian-Canadian multi-hyphenate artist and artivist who uses the body & voice as sites to host movement, text, and protest. His work samples from the realms of contemporary and afrikanic movement & dance practices, physical theatre, mass mobilization, and public arts-based interventions. A vagabond, his work presents, at times flaunts emergent representations of blackness, and weaves in ancestral, diasporic, and queer narratives of life and freedom.

He has created and interpreted works at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Stratford Festival, SummerWorks Festival, Irie Music Festival, Canadian Opera Company, and Tableau d’Hôte Theatre, and KasheDance. Rodney is the recipient of the 2019 Canadian Stage Award for Direction and a 2019 Montreal English Theatre Choreography Award nominee.

Beyond his artistic practice, he moonlights as a community activator and writer. He is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter – Canada and co-creator of Wildseed Centre for Art & Activism.

Bradley Eng is an emerging choreographer and interpreter based in Toronto and Montreal. Bradley has worked as an interpreter and trampoline coach for the project R(e)bound choreographed by Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, (Montreal Danse, 2018). He is currently working for Compagnie Virginie Brunelle as an interpreter for her creation, Les Corps Avales.

Bradley is developing a movement methodology called “Break Even”, researching new possibilities of contact dance by deconstructing the foundations of Latin ballroom partnering to enhance communication to allow greater movement capacities for dancers to explore and create choreography. Bradley’s movement is influenced by multiple practices including gymnastics, breakdance, contemporary, martial arts, and Latin ballroom which affects his choreography, interpretations, and teachings.

He continues to search for new movement inspirations to challenge and further his growth as a movement artist.

I am Canadian born, Queer, Filipino/a/x diasporic creator based in Vancouver, BC. The work I create questions my fascination with identity, traditions, clothing and the influence of pop culture in a globalising society. My experience in a multitude of rooms as a dancer, choreographer and community leader – has lent me the opportunity to see the discrepancy of privilege in society, and hope to shift this narrative in my work. I believe the body is powerful and important in communicating these ideas, and we should support the bodies autonomy/agency, political values, and ancestral legacy. For more about me, please visit www.ralphescamillan.com

Celia Green is a queer and genderqueer performer, performance creator, and choreographer working at the intersection of dance and theatre. Their growth and learning as an artist has been greatly shaped by training at The Paprika Festival, the AMY Project, La Pocha Nostra, and the P.A.R.T.S summerschool in contemporary dance. Their solo show, Wah Wah Wah, had its premiere at SummerWorks in 2019, where they received the Theatre Centre Emerging Artist Award. Celia was recently involved as a choreographer in Adelheid Dance’s 2021 iteration of re:research. Currently, they are developing a new performance work called SOWWY. Celia is also a birthworker.

Syreeta Hector is a dance artist and educator in Toronto, Ontario. As a highly accomplished performer, Syreeta has worked for internationally recognized companies like Adelheid Dance Projects, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Political Movement, and Toronto Dance Theatre. She is a proud graduate of The National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and has achieved her Master of Arts in Dance Studies from York University.

Her work called “Black Ballerina” focuses on the dualities within ones identity, along with Syreeta’s blackness and indigeneity in relationship to classical ballet. The development of the full length version of “Black Ballerina” is taking place through the support of the Citadel+ Compagnie, Canadian Stage, and the Kaaitheater. Syreeta is currently one of the Luminato Artists in Residence for the 2020-2021 season.

Winnie Ho is an interdisciplinary dance artist and curator who was born in Hong Kong and currently lives in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Her work focuses on pleasure, play, and also around her queer and Chinese diasporic identities.  Her passion in working in experimental and DIY structure and spaces has led her to create immersive installations and performances in various festivals in Europe and North America. She was the recipient of the 2017 Danceweb Scholarship Program at Impulstanz Festival in Vienna. Furthermore, from 2020-2023, Winnie has been the co-curator with Justin De Luna for Studio 303’s programming of Queer Performance Camp Festival, which is also supported by Theatre LaChapelle and the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels). Her latest solo work aWokening, was premiered in September 2022 and presented by Danse-cité, Montreal.

“What colour will you not dye your hair? “is a common question that the young artiste often gets asked. Unapologetically black, gifted and multifaceted, she is the walking definition of living life like there is no box.

At a tender age in her native land sweet Jam Dung (Jamaica) was where her talents were first discovered. She was born with art in her blood. Constantly being around cousins, other family and friends who danced, sang, acted, modelled, played instruments and painted are roots that she will never forget as they have been apart of shaping the young artistic woman she is today. She has entered competitions in musical genres of Soca, Contemporary, Dancehall, Kumina, other African Folk-dance forms.

She furthered her training of being a versatile dancer after moving to Canada in 2011.

Kelly-Ann manages to do all her artistic training while being inspired by three peculiar women who boldly stood on their beliefs and shaped the world, which further pushed Kelly-Ann to give birth to two multifaceted platforms ERN (Esther. Ruth. Naomi) In Motion and Dance With ERN. Her first platform showcases numerous self directed and collaborative modelling/artistic and lifestyle projects with artists from across the globe. Her second platform, Dance With ERN displays how she breaths and holds the heart of rhythm through workshops, performances, collaborations and dance pieces. She has received performance opportunities with artistes, Active member of the TKBA (Toronto kiki ballroom alliance) within the Supreme Kiki House of Christian Siriano, choreographed for artistes such as Baby Cham, directed dance projects, appeared in music videos, worked in productions behind the scenes and on stage with Urbani Toronto as well as model in fashion shows.

She is an eccentric trailblazer who plans to make positive impact and leave her mark on the world while pursuing and achieving through faith her dream career of artistic direction. This is Kelly-Ann Johnson.

Instagram: @erninmotion

KINAJ is a cross-genre dance collective created and led by Kin Nguien and AJ Velasco. Since 2020, KINAJ’s mission has been to bridge gaps between various art disciplines such as dance, film, photography and music through the art of collaboration and knowledge exchange. They create cross-genre dance work that fuses street styles and contemporary dance with improvisation and partnering techniques. Guided by storytelling, they continue to challenge the status quo with their witty and relatable performance while speaking on various social issues pertinent to the present times.

Instagram: @kinaj.co

Jennifer Laiwint (she/her) is a Tkaronto based interdisciplinary artist and DJ, also known as Hadara. Her practice is grounded in a collaborative approach with a focus on merging the worlds of contemporary and nightclub dance forms, experimental sound and video art. Jennifer’s current work is guided by a curiosity about what can be heard in the body during transformative states, and how dance can mediate connections between physical rhythms, electronic music and psycho-spiritual practices. She developed work at the Banff Centre and NARS Foundation in New York and has presented in galleries and festivals such as Xpace, the Art Gallery of Mississauga and SummerWorks. In 2020, Jennifer was accepted into the Dancemakers Peer Learning Network and the DOC Breakthrough Program to develop new projects in the fields of dance and documentary film. She recently participated in the TO Community Love-In “Practice Lab” series and presented new video work for Long Winter Television and the plumb gallery. Jennifer is a board member at Pleasure Dome, where she recently curated “Measures of Motion,” a program of experimental dance films. Jennifer is currently an MFA candidate in the department of Film at York University.

Victoria Mackenzie/VicVersa is a Montréal-based independent dance artist. Her main areas of focus are performance, pedagogy, facilitation, and event co-ordination. Vic has been dancing since early childhood and has since practiced and performed various styles in various arenas. She is an amalgam of classical training, b-girl-ism, and nightclub free form.  She has performed, taught, and battled locally and internationally. She is a member of FRGMNT, a recently formed group of multidisciplinary artists based in Montréal. Her connections with the street dance and club scene are an essential part of her life. Her approach considers musical emphasis, expression of self and catharsis above all else.

Instagram: @vicversavic

Chenise Mitchell is a Jazzer; a performing artist driven by rhythm and social connection. With 17 years of professional experience, Chenise has toured Turtle Island, appeared in commercials, concerts, music videos, and created and collaborated for festivals, musicals and plays. For Chenise, Jazz is joy, healing, connection and belonging. Chenise is passionate about emphasizing the revolutionary nature and Black origins of Jazz and this rhythm and connection is infused in her education, creation and performances.

Instagram: @spinalrhythmjazz

Collette “Coco” Murray is a dance educator and cultural arts programmer. Her performance background ranged in Caribbean Folk, traditional West African and other diasporic dance styles. Her artistry includes performance, teaching, arts education, mentorship, research, and writing. This award- winning artist is recognized as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women honouree in 2020 and the 2019 recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Community Arts Award. Murray pursues a PhD in Dance Studies at York University. Along with Miss Coco Murray, her mobile, dance education business, Murray also is the Artistic Director of Coco Collective offering culturally-responsive projects connecting participants to African and Caribbean arts.

zac is Sylv Myst.

Sylv Myst is AIRWITCH.
Sylv Myst has been FIREWITCH.
Sylv Myst has also been WATERWITCH.
Sylv Myst in time shall be EARTHWITCH.

AIRWITCH is the SENSING DANCE.
FIREWITCH was the FEELING DANCE.
WATERWITCH was the THINKING DANCE.
EARTHWITCH shall be the BEING DANCE.

circumstances have required Sylv Myst to keep secrets about AIRWITCH.
secrets can be sensed.
this is where the dance begins.

zac as Sylv Myst is practicing dance as an exploration of corporeal witchcraft.
these particular dances are expressions of the mythology of Sylv Myst.
the myths spawned from the tragicomic (& mundane) life experiences of zac.
zac is curious about the mystic potential of timespace and neo-atavistic performance.
all is offered forth with the intent to instigate and venerate Shadow Goddexx energy.

Atri Nundy started learning Bharatanatyam at Sampradaya Dance Academy under her teacher Lata Pada at the age of 4. After completing her arangetram in 2005, she continues to work as a teacher at the Academy and as a Company dancer and choreographer at Sampradaya Dance Creations.

While training in Bharatanatyam, Atri was fortunate enough to be able to train in various dance forms. This combination has given her the interest to explore beyond the traditional realms of Bharatanatyam. She has had the opportunity to work with Nova Bhattacharya at NovaDance and Brandy Leary at Anandam Dancetheatre. Currently, she is focusing on creating her first ensemble choreography, Mindful Chatter. It is a piece commissioned by Anandam Dancetheatre and supported by the Toronto Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.

Camille Rojas (b. 1993 Toronto; lives and works in Toronto) is a multidisciplinary artist working with film, photography and dance. Her work uses movement as the primary vehicle to dissect ideas and emotions, most of which address experiences of gender, race and class within life and the art institution. Using her own presence in her work – sometimes through a persona – offers the opportunity to delve deeper within various concepts whether it is by herself or as part of an ensemble. She received her BFA in Photography Studies at Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts (2017) and has recently exhibited her work at Gallery 44, Gallery TPW, Critical Distance Centre for Curators, Erin Stump Projects and Ryerson image Centre.

Angela Schubot is from Berlin, choreographer, dancer, researcher and bodyworker/healer, with roots in Peru and Toronto, works since 2009 with Jared Gradinger, creating works on the debordering of the body and plant consciousness. She develops methods of “Radical Softness” and “Flow Work” and is certified practitioner of perceptive pedagogy and fascia therapy/Method Danis Bois. Since 2012 her artistic practice has been researching and developing methods and possibilities to acknowledge non-human principles and beings and to interact with them. These practices include solo works, a.o. the trilogy “Körper ohne Macht” (body without power) 2015, and long term research works, a.o MOSSBELLY in collaboration with Shelley Etkin, developing “bodies of multiplicity” in deep communion with plant nature.

Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane is a queer half-Korean artist. Holding a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College, Eilish feels equal parts dancer and choreographer. She has notably performed in works by Bill T. Jones, Nova Bhattacharya, and Nicole von Arx. Her choreography has been presented by Peggy Baker, Aeris Körper, George Brown, and Hamilton Fringe, with support from the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Eilish’s work plays with theatricality, rigour, and humour – finding fascination in human adversity and connection.

Instagram: @eilishsc

Multi-award nominated, winner and loser, creator b solomon is of mixed Anishinaabe and Irish heritage, born in Shebahonaning on the North Channel of Lake Huron. As a creator his multidisciplinary work is raw, challenging and full of spirit. His commissions (dance, visual & media arts) have been presented and toured across Turtle Island and abroad. With social advocacy at the core, he is passionate about helping people relearn the nature of their ancient bodies, and take back the space those bodies occupy. More at: electricmoose.ca

Tyra Temple-Smith was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She is a multi-disciplinary artist working with sculpture, video, illustration, and dance. In 2018, Temple-Smith graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. In 2019, she participated in the Counter Technique intensive in Montreal. She went on to produce a show titled Fuse alongside peers, Olivia Arcangeli and Sasha Speed; with a commissioned piece by Katherine Semchuk. Temple-Smith also performed in a work titled (In)Sight choreographed by Nina Milanovski in her show What Comes Next in 2019, going on to have an iteration in Milanovski’s video journey How did we get here? that premiered July 31, 2021. She has assisted in the Young Dancers’ Program, as well as assisting teaching classes with WeDance at the National Ballet School of Canada.