Plug-N-Play Residencies

Arin Aronyk-Schell (she/they/he) is a co-founder of OVERSIZE.LOAD collective, known for blank space and Dance in a Day. Part-time lover with Toronto Love-in, freelance girly. Gemini, [redacted], funny, multidisciplinary, live laugh loving.

Juliette Coleman (She/Her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto. While attending The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (now Dance Arts Institute) she became actively involved in Toronto’s music scene, producing and curating multidisciplinary events and concerts under the name Not a Collective.  She continues this work as a freelance curator and producer and also works as an artist manager and booker for independent artists and for Toronto record label, Tibet Street Records. In 2020 she began studying film direction under Oscar nominated Director Barbara Willis-Sweete and now works as a freelance filmmaker. She is in the process of finishing a short independent film shot on Super 8 in the Scotland Highlands. As a dance artist, Juliette has recently been working with Naishi Wang and is co-creating a multidisciplinary work with collaborator Arin Aronyk-Schell.

Anna Vauquier, Léa Boudreault, and Julianna Bryson are dancer-creators based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. As graduates of École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, it is the close artistic and relational bond built during the course of their education that guides their collaboration. United by their deep and playful intimacy with their own physicality, voice, and imagination, the trio weaves together their individualities to create a shared artistic world. Collectively, they are invigorated by the rigour of movement and believe in the body’s capacity to preserve and transmit stories. In their search to honour these story-impulses, the authenticity of presence becomes integral. As such, they aspire to infuse this interpretative force in their physical experience. They are guided by the question: how do we foster a space where body and imagination collide; where the blurring of our reality leads way to another, where we become creatures at the edge of imagination.

Emily Duckett (she/they) is a Black, queer, dance artist residing in Tkaronto. They’re artistic expression is profoundly influenced by they’re intersecting identities. Emily’s practice is based on the belief that creating and manipulating art is a communal endeavor. Focusing on the idea that dance is a vehicle for de-socialization, leaving deeply embedded societal constraints behind and instead existing whole heartily in the body. Since graduating from York University with a BFA in Dance and a Specialized Honor in performance and choreography in 2022, Emily has collaborated with esteemed companies such as Mocean Dance, The Garage, Wind in the Leaves Collective, Kinetic Studio and ProArteDanza. At present, their artistic exploration centers on themes of unity, chaos, visceral instincts, pleasure, paradoxes, and risk taking. 

Justin Fraser (he/they) is a queer French Canadian dancer from Chelmsford, Ontario, on the traditional territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. With 14 years of training, Fraser began with Denise Vitali and the Sudbury earthdancers, later studying at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. There, they trained in Graham technique, ballet, contemporary dance, and improvisation, collaborating with choreographers like Peggy Baker, Christopher House, and Susie Burpee. Currently developing SHAPESHIFT, a project exploring queer and gender identity, under Heidi Strauss’s mentorship, Fraser’s work is supported by the OAC and artist residencies.
This summer, Fraser taught creative movement at Camp Firefly, empowering queer and trans youth to connect with their bodies and self-expression. Known as drag artist Ophelia Manson, Fraser was named Church-Wellesley Village’s Best Drag Performer of 2023 and produces an inclusive open stage cabaret. Blending dance, drag, and queer culture, Fraser’s work fosters spaces of diversity, empowerment, and community connection.

Lux Gow-Habrich (星尘) is an interdisciplinary visual artist of mixed, second-generation Chinese and German heritage. They blend gestural, craft and creative community practices to redefine our understanding of art and cultural praxis as sacred remedial forces that can deeply transform and mend. Lux’s interest in the body as archive, cultural objects and commemorative practices weave together complex diasporic experiences of loss and belonging, and embodied hybridization in blood and spirit – to unearth individual and collective untold stories and legacies of disabled, queer grief and empowerment. Committed to developing inclusive creative platforms, and reimagining cultural futures, Lux’s body-based practice is an expression rooted in relational and access dreaming.

Born in Vancouver, Lia Grainger began her flamenco dance training in 2002, studying with renowned local maestros Oscar Nieto and Kasandra “La China.” She cut her teeth performing at local flamenco tablao Kino Cafe and with Vancouver’s Mozaico Flamenco Dance Theatre, before relocating to Toronto and then Seville, Spain, to devote herself full-time to flamenco dance. From 2015 to 2019, Lia lived and trained full-time in Spain, first in Seville and later in Madrid, returning home with her ensemble, Fin de Fiesta Flamenco, to perform at festivals and arts centres across Canada. In 2019, the ensemble completed a 40-show tour of Canada and France. Lia was one of six North American flamenco dancers selected to compete in the 2017 CERTAMEN USA, a competition that takes place annually at Lincoln Center in New York City. In 2019, Lia founded Flamencolía Dance Company in Toronto. The company’s first major work “La Forastera,” was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Peformance by an Individual. 

Flamencolia.com

Emily Gualtieri is a two-time Dora Award-nominated choreographer and dance artist based in Montreal. She co-founded PARTS+LABOUR in 2011 with David Albert-Toth, creating works like In Mixed Company and La chute, which toured across Canada and earned multiple awards. Emily’s choreography has been featured in festivals across Canada, the US, and Europe. She has led and participated in residencies in Montreal, Toronto, Banff, Halifax, Berlin, Vienna, and Italy. Her independent works include À la prochaine (2013), Re:Pairing (2015), and Stealing Fire (2016), a commission for Mocean Dance. In 2017, she premiered La vie attend with Danse-Cité, and in 2021, Efer, at Danse Danse which won the Prix RIDEAU. Emily also directed the solo À bout de bras (2022) for David, which pre-premiered at the Atlantic Dance Festival and before premiering at Agora de la danse in Montreal and then Vancouver. Alongside their creative work, Emily and David teach and have been guest faculty at UQAM and Concordia University’s Dance Departments.

sarah koekkoek is an ecology-focused multidisciplinary artist working with movement, dance, flora and biomaterials from Tkarón:to (Toronto). Her research examines movement as a language that can help cultivate greater understanding and compassion within our relationship to self, others and the earth. Often her movements are generated by nurturing the reciprocal relationships of humans, and humans with more-than-humans, through embodied offerings such as dance, text and flora collaborations. Since 2017 sarah’s work has been exploring our punctured relationship and existence within the abused and exploited natural world, developing a physical expression of emotions surrounding climate change and the anthropocene. Most recently sarah has completed her MA in Art & Ecology at Goldsmiths University in London England. 

Juolin Lee is a Taiwanese-Canadian dance artist who is fascinated by the transformative power of the arts. She feels fortunate to live on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Juolin’s understandings of dance were influenced by her training in Modus Operandi, and further expended by her engagement with artists and companies she greatly admirers in the Vancouver dance community, such as The Biting School, Hong Kong Exile, Co.Erasga, Odd Meridian Arts, and Battery Opera. Through openness and curiosity, Juolin wishes to continuously unpack her idea of self and her relationship with the world.

juolin.com

Nivi Samudrala is an early-career Bharatanatyam dancer, educator, and innovator whose work bridges classical Indian dance, science and technology, and improvisational theater. Trained in the Pandanallur style, she combines the rigour of Bharatanatyam with imaginative storytelling and interdisciplinary exploration. Her improv theater training infuses her performances with spontaneity, vulnerability, and interactive energy.
With a PhD in physical sciences from Yale, Nivi has designed and taught courses such as Physics of Music and Materials Science of Art, uncovering rich connections between science and art. As a creative technologist, she leverages AI to push the boundaries of performance and theater.
Drawing on her lived experiences across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Nivi embraces Bharatanatyam as a medium for cross-cultural dialogue, crafting work that explores universal themes of rhythm, identity, and shared human emotion to connect with diverse audiences.

Maya Santos O’Keefe (she/her) is a contemporary dance artist and choreographer of Filipino and settler heritage based in Tkaronto/Toronto. She is a graduate of the Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) and Central Memorial’s Performing and Visual Arts Program. As an emerging artist, Maya is interested in using movement and the human body as mediums to create work focused on vivid and impactful visuals. She has presented her work at The Garage (2023), The Meaningful Movement’s Gathering (2024) and the Woodland Farm Artist Residency (2024). Currently, her practice focuses on the sculptural potential of the human body and the integration of heightened emotions, exploring themes of whimsy, anxiety, and accumulation. Her work also incorporates her studies in visual art, hip hop, contemporary dance, and modern dance.

Mark Reinhart is a multidisciplinary artist, mover, educator, and instigator.  His practice is grounded in queerness, and the curiosity for intersectional and phenomenological ways of seeing and being in the world, and wondering about places beyond.  His works seeks to identify moments for agility and change, hover in space, find colour and rhythm where they are perhaps not expected, and activate private and public spaces to animate their quiet physical and social infrastructures.

Instagram: @markreinhart

Kass Prus (they/them) is a multidisciplinary performance creator, producer, and movement therapist based out of Tkaronto. A 2nd generation Ukrainian-Canadian settler, Kass was born into a home immersed in ancestral traditions, dance, music, art, and resistance to imperialism. As a trans non-binary and multiply disabled artist, Kass uses contemporary performance to queer and crip Slavic ethnography and folk arts practices. They also work with groups and clients doing tailored movement therapy and holistic coaching.

Instagram: @city_folk_dance

Krista Newey is a dancer/performer/comedian/choreographer hybrid. She holds a BFA in Dance from Toronto Metropolitan University. Krista uses her experiences in dance to explore performance art that pushes the boundaries of traditional dance ideals. Her creative platform, Fatal Shapes, is her canvas for crafting dynamic, bold, and abstract physical theatre work that embraces all forms of expression. Krista’s artistic ethos is a vibrant fusion of absurdity, comedy, and tragedy, all woven together to create stories that are an amplified reflection of the human experience.

Instagram: @k_newz and @fatalshapes

Mayumi Lashbrook is a Japanese Canadian settler who seeks to expose, challenge, and rectify systems of oppression by creating innovative, introspective and inclusive dance theatre. She sees embodiment as at the crux of world making, creating opportunity for conscientious action. Her primary practices span performance, choreography, and education. Mayumi is the Artistic Director of Aeris Körper, mentee of Denise Fujiwara of Fujiwara Dance Inventions and has choreographed for Dusk Dances, Guelph Dance, and CanAsian Dance.

Instagram: @mayumi.movement

Nyda Kwasowsky a freelance dance artist, interpreter, performer and emerging choreographer based out of Tsi Tkaronto.‘This body has the role of remembering, dance as the action that collects us.’ Her work centers around loss, grief and belonging in racialized diasporic experience. Studied in trauma informed practices and somatics, she scores multidisciplinary improvisational and experimental explorations. Her most recent explorations look at the intersections of movement and cultural materiality.

Instagram: @de_adyn

Brigita Gedgaudas is an emerging, interdisciplinary, trans*, and diasporic-Lithuanian artist working in so-called Toronto. Embracing indeterminacy and multiplicity, Brigita engages with in-betweenness as they explore contradictory experiences of gender identity and cultural heritage through experimental realms of dance and digital worldbuilding. Brigita’s practice is highly influenced by his engagement in the queer street dance style, W*acking, the performance collective, PriXm, and the Lithuanian folk dance group, Ginta.

Instagram: @de.brii

Emily Duckett (she/they) is a Black, queer, dance artist residing in the region originally known as Tkaronto. Her artistic expression is profoundly influenced by her intersecting identities. Since graduating from York University with a BFA in Dance and a Specialized Honor in performance and choreography in 2022, Emily has had the opportunity to work with esteemed companies such as Mocean Dance, Buddies in Bad Time Theater, and ProArteDanza. At present, their artistic exploration centers on themes of unity, controlled chaos, visceral instincts, pleasure, paradoxes, and risk taking.

Katie Couchie is an Anishinaabekwe Oji-Cree dance artist from Nipissing First Nation, now based in Tkaronto. Katie has worked with companies and choreographers including Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Human Body Expressions, Alejandro Ronceria, Christine Friday, Peggy Baker, and Jera Wolfe. She has performed at events including the FODAR Dance Festival (2023), Governor General’s Performance Awards (2023), APTN’s Indigenous Day Live (2022) and for film projects including The Nature of Things (2021), CBC Gem’s New Monuments (2021) and the Toronto Fringe Festival (2021). Most recently, Katie received a Dora nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble for the production of Homelands with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre.

Instagram: @katiecouchie

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.

Instagram: @tavschristina

Jocelyne Cajamarca is a non-binary latinx artist based in Toronto who shares their unique skills and expertise as a professional dancer, teacher, ballroom performer in the Canadian Ballroom Scene, also known as Jaws. Jaws continues to further their craft by discovering new ways to merge their foundation in streetdance with ballroom, continuously learning about other dance styles, history and culture. They are highly dedicated and focused on uplifting and prioritizing queer bipoc artists, curating new explorative work, and engaging with the community through workshops, outreach, and support.

Instagram: @purrrrrrrr_____

lo bil (she-her) is a Toronto-based second-generation-settler and queer performance artist who experiments with making once-performed risky-heart performances involving spontaneous utterance, impulse-based scores and inter-relational proposals with audience. lo has performed 7a*11d, AGO First Thursdays, Luminato online, Rhubarb!, Summerworks, Fringe, Nuit Blanche, Duration & Dialogue, p.s. We Are All Here, LADA DIY (UK), Pi*llOry and at academic conferences in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Chicago, Mexico City, Vienna and Amsterdam.  lo is a Kathy Acker award recipient.

Instagram: @mywildarchive

I am Natasha “Courage” Bacchus, I am former 3 times DeafOlympican Sprinter. Since 2019, I have participated as an actress for “The Black Drum”, “The Two Natasha’s”, “21 Black Futures”, TV film Season 4 Netflix “The Corner”. I have participated as an art collaborator with numerous theatre and film productions in Canada as an interdisciplinary visual artist, art accessibility consultant, and activist for IBPOC Deaf art community and expanding IBPOC Deaf artists representation.

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.

Instagram: @kwasi.obeng

Cody Berry-Ottertail, (ojibway/settler heritage) is a two-spirit dance artist from Lac La Croix, First Nation based in Toronto. Cody is a graduate from Conteur Academy and trained with Apolonia Velasquez after his studies. He’s had the opportunity to perform works by Frog in Hand Dance Theatre, Larchaud Dance Projects, Jera Wolfe, and Christine Friday. Choreographically he has presented works for Fall For Dance North, New Blue Dance Festival, Artworx TO, and Ayimach Horizons. Cody is also the recipient of the 2019 Metcalf Performing Arts Protoge Prize for choreography.

Instagram: @codyberry.o

Akash Inbakumar is an interdisciplinary artist, primarily working in textiles, based in Tkaronto. Their practice explores personal racialized queer narratives and material kinship, grounded in craft methodology. Inbakumar graduated from OCAD University in 2020 and has since completed a residency at Xpace Cultural Center and is currently starting their second year of the Harbourfront Center: Craft and Design residency. They have shown work at Patel Brown, Harbourfront Center, Xpace, and Artscape Gibraltar Point.

Instagram: @akashinbakumar

Mary-Dora (they/them) is a queer, neurodivergent, multi-disciplinary artist, careworker and settler based in Tkaronto. They show up in their communities as a dance artist, birth/postpartum doula, somatic movement facilitator, organizer, peer supporter and writer. Through their own experiences of transforming trauma and embracing gender fluid expressions, they explore the intersections of individual and collective healing. MD engages with healing arts and body-centered practices for a more liveable future and as a method for surviving in late-stage capitalism. Check out their work and offerings at www.somaticpractice.ca 💫

Instagram: @crystalwhispurr and @somaticpractice 

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 and influence on future generations navigating the embodiment of living beyond repression.

Instagram: @drblessyl and @buankissed

Same As Sister (S.A.S.) is an award-winning performance collective founded in 2013 by Canadian-American choreographers, Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi. Based in NYC and Toronto, S.A.S. was initiated to make experimental narrative performance accessible to a diverse audience through collaborative and interdisciplinary practices. Their commissions have been presented internationally at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance; Base: Experimental Arts + Space; Archaeological Museum of Messenia; Danspace Project; Centre d’Art Marnay Art Centre; BRIC Arts | Media House; and New York Live Arts, among other venues. S.A.S.’s recent commission, “This is NOT a Remount”, was nominated for a TAPA 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (Dance). They were an Alternate and Finalist for the Jerome Foundation’s 2021-22 and 2019-20 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (Dance), and are the recipients of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ 2022 and 2017 Emergency Grant (Dance); Queens Council on the Arts’ 2020 Queens Arts Fund New Work Grant (Multi-Discipline); and a New York Foundation for the Arts’ 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship (Choreography).

Website: sameassister.com