2013 KEYNOTE PANELS & WORKSHOPS KEYNOTE ADDRESS - MICHAEL CALDWELL Michael Caldwell is a Toronto-based choreographer/performer. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, he has interpreted roles for many of Canada’s esteemed dance creators and companies, including Peggy Baker, Sylvie Bouchard, Danny Grossman, Guillaume Côté, Maxine Heppner, Sasha Ivanoch- ko, James Kudelka, Tedd Robinson, Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie, Corpus Dance Projects, Dusk Dances, and Kahawi Dance Theatre, among others, and has performed across Canada and the United States, in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Michael was an interpreter at Le Group Dance Lab, studying with the iconic Peter Boneham. He has also initiated a solo-commissioning project, performing in the work of established choreographers – Conrad Alexandrowicz, Danny Grossman, and Karen Jamieson. Michael is quickly emerging as a skilled, and critically acclaimed choreographer. His recent works include: Ash Unravel, an acclaimed solo based on his journey to Vietnam, The Horologium, a whimsical group piece created for Dusk Dances, Boogie Back, a community work for non-dancers in Porch View Dances, and Mary, a dynamic new solo for Stéphanie Tremblay Abudo. With a bachelor’s degree in film and art history from Syracuse University, Michael seeks to incorporate cinematic sensibilities in all his work. Upcoming, Michael will begin creation on a new group choreography, based on loneliness and isolation. Michael’s teaching experience varies from professional level contemporary technique classes to inten- sive workshops for youth, the elderly, and the disabled. He has taught at various locations in Toronto, and across Ontario. He currently sits on the board of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, is the chair of the Canadian Alli- ance of Dance Artists - Ontario Chapter, and is a Metcalf Foundation Performing Arts Intern for Moon- horse Dance Theatre/Claudia Moore, specifically for Older & Reckless. Photo: Kristy Kennedy. Panel - DANCE OUTSIDE THE BOX Where does dance happen? You may be surprised by the answers these panellists give as they talk about dance work in projects that bust boundaries. Hear from three unique artists—JoDee Allen (breakdance), Marie-Josée Chartier (contemporary dance) and Brandy Leary (aerial dance)—about their experiences creating and performing outside conventional dance productions. Each of these artists has a story to tell about bringing their dance training to performance situations that are collaborative and inventive. This is dance performance—but maybe not like you’ve imagined it. This panel will be moderated by Michael Trent. The panel discussion will be followed by a short Q & A. JoDee Allen (BFA Contemporary Dance, Concordia) is a professional dancer, choreographer and B-girl. JoDee is also a founding member and co-artistic director of the dance company, Solid State Breakdance (2000 - present). She is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Concordia University exploring Gesture Based Video Games. In her research, JoDee is exploring the immersive and expressive potential of gesture based digital gaming, and the potential these games have to draw the participant into a simultaneously emotional and corporeal experience. She is especially interested in the shifting regions of social game play, street culture and how these practices coalesce around perception of self, connection to a group, response to the environment, and personal expression. Marie-Josée Chartier is a multi-faceted artist who moves easily between the worlds of dance, music, opera and multi-media in the roles of choreographer, performer, director, vocalist or teacher. Her choreographic works are greatly influenced by contemporary visual art, music and literature in terms of concept, composition and dynamic structure and have been presented in Canada, Europe and Latin America. In 2003, Marie-Josée Chartier founded Chartier Danse in order to support her creative activities. Acclaimed large scale productions came to life such as Red Brick, Contes pour enfants pas sages, Screaming Popes and Bas-Reliefs. Ms. Chartier has received choreographic commissions from solo artists and Canadian dance companies. She is the recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award, nine Dora Mavor Moore Awards nominations winning among others a Dora for fifty-one pieces of silver and two Doras for And by the way Miss and most recently the multi-disciplinary dance artist award from the Young Centre for the perform- ing arts. She choreographs and directs contemporary music, multi-media and opera productions for companies such as Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, Gryphon Trio and L’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal with ongoing national and international touring. She is increasingly active as artistic advisor, mentor or director for several established and/or upcoming dance artists. She continues to perform on international and national stages; she is also a regular guest teacher in training centres and universities in Canada and Latin America in modern dance, voice exploration and improvisation. Photo: Don Dixon. Panel - DANCE OUTSIDE THE BOX continued... Brandy Leary creates contemporary performance works from dance based entry points through cross-genre and poly-cultural perspectives exploring the intersection of traditional and contemporary performing practices and potential structures for horizontal collaboration in the artistic process. Brandy holds a BA Honours in Theatre with a specialization in Direction and Asian Theatre from York University’s Theatre Program. She has lived between Canada and India for the past 14 years training, collaborating and creating in the traditional Indian performing languages of Seraikella and Mayurbhanj Chhau (dance), Kalarippayattu (martial art) and Rope Mallakhamb (aerial rope). In Canada she works with western approaches to aerial rope work and the bridge discipline of Axis Syllabus to support choreographic creations that are interested in site specific/spatial activation explorations and audience/performance relationships. She has been the resident choreographer at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto since 2010 where she is creating her Precipice Project cycle of site activation choreographies that will span through to 2013 and she is an Associated Artist with IMPACT (Indian Martial and Performance Art Collective of Toronto) teach- ing youth Indian dance and martial arts in priority neighborhoods accross the GTA. She founded Anan- dam Dancetheatre as an umbrella structure for her performance projects and is its Artistic Director. (www.anandam.ca) Her work has been presented in Toronto, New York, Gatineau, Ottawa, Winnipeg, New Delhi, Calcutta and Ahemnabad. Dora-nominated dance artist Michael Trent is the Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Toronto’s Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation, one of Canada’s leading contemporary dance companies and a centre for research and development in new dance practices. The organization’s creations, pre- senting and professional development projects are contemporary, cross- disciplinary and collaborative in nature. In a career spanning over 25 years, Trent’s body of work has been seen across Canada at the National Arts Centre, l’Agora de la danse, the Canada Dance Fes- tival and the Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver. Prior to coming to Dancemakers, Trent was the founding Artistic Director of the empty collective. Since its inception in 2000, the empty collective produced The Memory Show (2001) and invisible borders (2004), with works by Trent, Sarah Chase, Laurence Lemieux, Louise Bédard and Doug Varone. As a performer, Trent has danced for some of Canada’s most respected creators including Louise Bédard, Martin Bélanger, Sarah Chase, David Earle, Sylvain Émard, Ame Henderson, Christopher House, Sasha Iva- nochko, Laurence Lemieux, Antonija Livingstone, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Dominique Porte and Julia Sasso. He has taught across Canada and in Holland and was the co-recipient of the 2004 K.M. Hunter Artists Award in dance. Panel - BEYOND PERFORMANCE Did you know? Your training can take you to some unusual places… hear from dance artists who have turned their fine arts education into unexpected careers. A dance education offers so much more than just performance skills. It provides you with a perspective on dance, and a vocabulary to communicate that perspective. These panellists have careers that go beyond performance, to encompass teaching dance (Tina Nicolaidis), writing about dance (Lindsay Zier-Vogel), and producing multidisciplinary work (Sky Fairchild-Waller). Find out how each of these panellists has used their dance training to help build a multi-faceted career. This panel will be moderated by Kevin Ormsby. The panel discussion will be followed by a short Q & A. Tina Nicolaidis is the co-founder and Artistic Director of City Dance Corps, one of Toronto’s leading dance schools that just celebrated its tenth year of business. She has been featured in numerous television shows and magazines including, Much Music, Fashion Magazine, Maclean’s, National Post, CBC’s “Living in Toronto”, Rogers “Toronto Living”, Elle Magazine, and CH TV to name a few. She has been a dance judge for international level Latin dance competitions and American reality TV shows such as Instant Beauty Pageant. As a dance advocate, she produces and sponsors an annual charity showcase, “Talent Defined” which features Toronto’s up and coming dance companies and choreographers. Tina also gained recognition for training lead actor Jake Simons for his role as the