With Tina Fushell - Dancer Transition Resource Centre

2015 KEYNOTE
PANELS & WORKSHOPS
KEYNOTE ADDRESS - TINA FUSHELL
Dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, Tina Fushell, lives and works
in Toronto where she has been based since 1999. She is a graduate of
the Quinte Ballet School and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She
has collaborated with and originated roles in the works of numerous
choreographers including Rob Abubo, Valerie Calam, Matjash Mrozewski,
Darryl Tracy, among others. Her work has been presented across Ontario
and the country, including performances in Porch View Dances, The Guelph
Contemporary Dance Festival and the Festival of New Dance. Most recently
Tina self-presented her first full length work Waving is Funny, collaborated and
performed in Ame Henderson (Public Recordings) rehearsal/performance at the
AGO and worked with Luke Garwood who is the 2014 artist in residence at the
Young Centre. Tina was Co-Artistic Director of Ambitious Enterprises (AE) with Kate Franklin from 2002 to
2012; together they produced the “At the Wrecking Ball” series. Co-produced The Violet Hour I with Lucy
Rupert and Rebecca Carney and recently co-produced the Sunday Night Series with Jesse Dell and Andrya
Duff.
DANCING WITH WORDS - MICHAEL TRENT
What is dance to you…and why do you do it? Can you describe yourself as a dancer? This workshop focuses
on how to communicate your personal dance practice and passions. It’s an interactive how-to that will
definitely spark conversation!
Michael Trent is a Toronto-based choreographer, performer, teacher and arts
community activist. In a career spanning 30 years, he has worked in these
various roles alongside such notable collaborators as Louise Bédard, Peter
Boneham, Sylvain Émard, k.g. Guttman, Ame Henderson, Christopher House,
Sasha Ivanochko, Benjamin Kamino, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Dominique Porte,
Julia Sasso, Doug Varone and Jacob Zimmer. Michael is a founding member
of the 8Days community.
Michael was the Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Toronto’s
Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation from 2006 to 2014. His work has
been seen across Canada at the National Arts Centre, Montreal’s l’Agora de la danse,
the Canada Dance Festival, the Dunn Theatre in Halifax and the Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver.
He frequently consults and collaborates with artists and arts organizations at the local and national levels
on issues including transition, curation, artistic assessment and training. Michael was the co-recipient of the
2004 K.M. Hunter Artists Award in dance. Photo: David Coleman.
Panel - A DAY IN THE LIFE
What is a typical day like for a professional dancer? Hear the answers from a diverse group of artists with distinct career paths. You may be surprised. You’ll definitely be inspired. This panel will be
moderated by Roshanak Jaberi.
Award winning choreographer Jasmyn Fyffe is described as “ a young artist
whose body of work is developing in a style all her own.” (Sway magazine –
Anya Wassenberg). Fyffe was the recipient of the 2013 Frankie Award (in
Montreal) for most outstanding choreography/choreographer for her 40
minute work “Pulse.”
Jasmyn has been commissioned by Dance Ontario, City Dance Corps youth
company, Early Haig Secondary School, Mayfield Secondary School, Martha
Hicks School of Ballet, Pivotal Motion Dance Theatre, York Memorial Collegiate
Institute, Wish Opera, Cawthra Park Secondary School, Obsidian Theatre and
more. She has produced four shows in Toronto, both independently and in
collaboration with other choreographers over the past five years. This past summer Fyffe participated in an
arts festival in Sinop Turkey called “Sinopale” where she created and performed a solo, and set choreography
on youth dancers.
As an independent dancer, Jasmyn has performed in the touring musical UMOJA , Nelly Furtado, Gadfly,
Hanna Kiel, Red Sky Performance, Artists in Motion, Dance Migration,’ K’aeja D’dance , KasheDance and
more. “Fyffe is an indisputably a talented performer and dancemaker,” Kathleen Smith, The Dance Current
Hollywood Jade is one of Toronto’s premier entertainment personalities!
Dancer, Choreographer, creative director, TV personality actor and host,
Hollywood Jade has been a consistence fixture on many levels in the
entertainment and dance world for almost a decade. Hollywood has
produced and choreographed internationally in Dubai, Mexico and Jamaica
and worked as an assistant Choreographer for artist such as Danity Kane, The
Dream and Snoop Dogg!
As a dancer he has performed with the likes of Kelis, Nelly Furtado, Timberland,
Hillary Duff, Marians Trench and Rihanna. Hollywood Jade has been featured in music
videos, award shows and movies like Save The Last Dance 2, Camp Rock 2 and the blockbuster hit Hairspray
and most recently the soon to be released Make Your Move by Director Duane Adler.
As a Choreographer he has worked with some of Canada’s premier female artist such as Divine Brown, Keshia
Chante and is currently working as Choreographer and Creative a director for Jully Black on her up coming
album and tour “Made In Canada”. As an innovator in Toronto ‘s dance community Hollywood Jade wanted
to continue to expand the industry and created a production called “Hollywood Presents Urbanesque” one
of Toronto’s most unique and sexy Urban dance productions. As Hollywood always says “success lies on the
other side of fear” and so he continues to push boundaries and move forward fearlessly!
Panel - A DAY IN THE LIFE continued...
Beth Despres graduated from York University with an honours BFA (Dance) in
2003 and is now a Toronto-based physiotherapist and independent dance
artist. Following graduation, she pursued a career in dance performance and
pedagogy. She has had the honour of working with choreographers Tracey
Norman, Denise Fujiwara, Hari Krishnan, Andrea Nann, and Jesse Dell, and is
a company member of Toronto’s inDANCE. In addition to being meticulously
trained in ballet and modern dance, Beth has studied Butoh, Flamenco, and
Bharatanatyam. Beth has also taught dance at the recreational, competitive,
high school and university levels. In 2008, Beth completed a Masters degree in
Physiotherapy (MScPT) at the University of Toronto and is now truly fortunate to be
enjoying parallel careers in health science and the arts.
Dedicated, Disciplined, and a passionate workaholic is the best way to define
Estelle Nicol. Born and raised in Toronto, she is the Co-Founder and Executive
Director of City Dance Corps, one of Toronto’s leading dance schools; currently
in its 12th year of business. She is a diverse and strong dancer with an
extensive background in dance and performance. She has trained in Ballet,
Jazz, Hip Hop, House, Afro-Cuban, Swing, Hustle, Salsa, and Argentine Tango.
She has worked professionally in the entertainment industry for over 20
years.
With a deep passion to innovate and constantly create, Estelle thrives on
applying her dance knowledge and experience towards her classes for everyone. In
2001, Estelle created her own conditioning technique classes; Ballet Boot Camp and Power Barre. She is also
recognized for her Salsa Tango Fusion style and has travelled nationally and internationally mentoring and
coaching dancers.
From class, to stage, to television, Estelle interprets her unique style and vision of her craft into unique works
of passion and beauty. Her trained eye makes for a tough mentor and coach as she catches everything! For
information on dance classes please visit www.citydancecorps.com
Roshanak Jaberi is an independent Iranian-Canadian performer,
choreographer, and arts programmer. Her choreographic work is theatrical
and politically charged, and is inspired by real stories and experiences of
women. She travels frequently for research and development, and has
presented her work to international audiences. Since 2010, she has been
an artist with the project Political Prisoners: The Art of Resistance at the
University of Toronto, and has previously been a panelist for: The Dance
Debates organized by the Toronto Arts Council, and Engaging Arts to
Represent Violence Against Women at the University of Toronto. She has also
been a juror on the Toronto Arts Council and has moderated at the Feminist Arts
Conference (FAC). Roshanak is a graduate of York University with an honours degree in
music, and is a former co-host of Evi-Dance Radio. She currently serves on the Canadian Dance Assembly
(CDA) Pluralism committee and is Associate Producer of Expect Theatre.
THE ART OF FINANCIAL WELLBEING
A lot of work in dance is contract-based. How do you balance your books when income is
inconsistent? Are you willing to take financial risks? If so, how far should you go? This workshop
will help you identify your priorities and incorporate those into a personal budget that meets your
needs.
For more than 25 years, Amanda Mills has been working with arts organizations
across Canada and with artists of all kinds to assist them in achieving
financial sanity. She has taught business management at the University
of Victoria and has prepared thousands of tax returns for writers, visual
artists, choreographers, actors, filmmakers, broadcasters, and creative
entrepreneurs. Ten years ago, bringing together her work on trauma, with
twenty years of business management, Mills founded Loose Change Financial
Therapy – the place where money and feelings meet. Mills has presented
Loose Change workshops for social workers, teachers, psychotherapists,
artists, anti-poverty activists, sex trade workers, women’s groups, and the general
public. She has been a guest on major Canadian radio and television broadcasts and
profiled in many major Canadian newspapers and periodicals. Mills is also a crisis counselor and co-wrote a
bestselling book on recovering from trauma. A tax professional and business manager, she is certified as a
financial counselor under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Mills is also currently completing a certificate
in mediation.
THE BUSINESS OF DANCE
Over your career, you may work with many different dance companies or collaborators. How will
you negotiate these jobs? Learn from this first-class team of presenters on the business aspects of
dance. They’ll discuss essentials such as fees, contracts, standards, grants, licenses and more.
Jennifer Bennett is the Managing Director at the Dance Umbrella of Ontario,
leading the organization in delivering tailored management services to
Ontario’s dance companies and independent artists. She began her career in
Arts Management and Production Administration in 2007 and has had the
privilege of working with companies such as Claudia Moore’s MOonhORsE
dance theatre, Break it Down Dance Initiatives and Gadfly; and independent
artists Holly Small, Sashar Zarif, Darcey Callison and Robert Glumbek. In 2011
Jennifer founded Motive Management Inc., a boutique project and production
administration company where she was honoured to work with Toronto-based
dance companies including Roberto Campanella’s ProArteDanza and Yvonne Ng’s
princess productions (tiger princess dance projects & dance: made in canada / fait au
canada). Jennifer sits on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (www. TAPA.
ca), and the Steering Committee for the on the MOVE Toronto Conference.
THE BUSINESS OF DANCE - continued...
Amelia Ehrhardt is an independent contemporary dance artist and administrator
based in Toronto. Amelia has worked in Adminstration alongside her artistic
career for the past six years. She has since worked with many organizations
in the Toronto Dance and Arts Communities such as Coleman Lemieux and
Compagnie, the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, The Artists’ Health Centre
Foundation, and Ballet Jörgen Canada.
Amelia has performed professionally in works by Carol Anderson, Susie
Burpee, Zeesy Powers, Julia Sasso, Menaka Thakkar, and Bluemouth Inc.
Her choreographic work is shown most frequently in artist-run centres and
contexts such as Double Double Land, the Toronto Dance Community Love-In’s ps:
We are All Here, A Month of Sundays, and others. She has also participated in Summerworks 2014 and the
Art Gallery of Ontario’s First Thursdays event.
Amelia holds an Honours BA in Dance Studies from York University and is a graduate of the Dance
Performance Studies program of George Brown Dance. Amelia has trained independently in Toronto,
Montreal, and Vienna at ImPulsTanz through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Amelia is a coArtistic Director of the Toronto Dance Community Love-In and the founder and curator of multidisciplinary
performance series Flowchart. Photo: Omer Yukseker.
Keith Davidson is involved in the day to day operations of the Equity office,
as well as supervising the Business Representative Department. Additionally,
Keith has negotiated and administered many of Equity’s agreements and
policies including the Alberta Ballet Agreement, Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Agreement, the National Ballet Agreement, the Canadian Dance Policy, the
Canadian Theatre Agreement, the Canadian Opera Agreement, the Opera
Agreement and the Vancouver Opera Agreement.
Ruth Leggett joined Equity as a Business Representative in April 2010 after
many years working as a technician in theatre and film/television. Ruth’s
primary responsibilities include the administration of Equity’s dance and
opera agreements and policies. Additionally, Ruth has participated in the
recent negotiation of the historic first agreement at Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens, as well as in the negotiations for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Agreement, the Alberta Ballet Agreement, the National Ballet of Canada
Agreement, the Vancouver Opera Agreement, the Canadian Opera Agreement,
and the Canadian Theatre Agreement.