MORNING SESSIONS DTRC Welcome & Intro

“Break the Ice” with Afro-Cuban Warm-upMeet Your Mentors - Interdisciplinary Artist Panel

Meet your Support Network - Networking Lunch

MEET YOUR MENTORS - INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST PANEL

CAROLINE LIFFMANN - MODERATOR

Caroline Liffmann is a Vancouver-based contemporary performance maker, choreographer and improviser who collaborates on short works for the stage, the screen, and all manner of public places. Her practice is influenced by over 20 years of dance and movement training, including contemporary dance, improvisation, and multi-disciplinary collaboration, and she holds an undergraduate degree

in Philosophy from McMaster University. Caroline graduated from Vancouver’s MainDance in 2003, and was honourably mentioned for the Holy Body Tattoo

BC Emerging Dance Artist Award in 2004 & 2005. Her dance theatre work has been presented at BC festivals and series such as Dancing on the Edge, the ROMP! Festival of

Independent Dance, with Light Box at Dances for a Small Stage, and with Nervous System System at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival’s Club PuSh. She has facilitated community-based dance projects and performances with MovEnt, Joe Ink, the Roundhouse Community Dancers and Made in BC – Dance on Tour, and works with children, youth and families at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

“BREAK THE ICE” WITH AFRO-CUBAN WARM-UP

ARASSAY REYES - OKODANZA / OKODANCE COMPANY

Arassay grew up in the heart of Havana, Cuba’s capital city. When she was twelve years old, she auditioned and was accepted into the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Arte (National School of Art) Over the next six years, she not only worked to complete her regular high school education, but she trained rigorously with the best teachers in the country in modern, contemporary, Latin, Afro Cuban, as well as artistic movement, and choreography. She was an outstanding student, and

immediately upon graduation, she won a place with the Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (National Contemporary Company of Cuba).

She came to Canada in 2008 and quickly became a top dancer, becoming a finalist in the first season So You Think You Can Dance Canada! She’s worked with prestigius choreographer such as ;Paul Becker, Mia Michaels,Luther Brown, Blake McGrath, Gustavo Vargas, to mention a few. She’s recently Launch her Afro-Contemporary Company Okodanza and her new Dance School Oko Dance Vancouver. Arassay is an intuitive and dedicated dance coach and teacher; she is a creative and unique choreographer; and as a performer, there is simply no one else like her.

For Arassay, dance is her life: the physical, emotional, and spiritual expression of her body and soul. What a great way to start the day!

MELISSA PANTON - DA COSTA TALENT MANAGEMENT

Melissa Panton has established a solid reputation in Canada’s artisitic community. Her knowledge and passion for the performing arts has led to a diverse career spanning from performance, instruction, adjudicating and choreography, to casting, event management, and most recently, talent management. Melissa’s professional career enabled her to travel extensively across the world to perform, work and train, eventually landing her back in her hometown of Vancouver, BC.

Some of Melissa’s performance highlights include feature films Repo! The Genetic Opera, Grey Gardens, Silent Hill, White Chicks, Shall We Dance, and Cheetah Girls. She

had the opportunity to dance alongside Michael Buble, Shaggy, Grandmaster Flash, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, the Wayan brothers, and Hillary Duff on stage and screen. Always a teacher at heart, Melissa has provided instruction for Skate Canada, George Brown College, OIP Dance Centre in Toronto, and Harbour Dance in Vancouver, as well as numerous community dance studios and national summer school programs. She was the choreographer for the CFL’s BC Lions Dance Team turning pompoms into dance steps, and has had extensive experience working with several professional dance teams.

One of Melissa’s proudest accomplishments was joining the team at da Costa Talent Management in 2007 where she began by scouting the talented youths in the Toronto dance industry. Upon moving back to Vancouver, she opened her own branch of da Costa Talent Management, where she took on the role of principal agent and has worked hard to build it into one of Canada’s top agencies for the triple threat performer.

JULIA TAFFE - AERIOSA DANCE SOCIETY

Winner of the 2012 Canadian Dance Assembly ILD Innovation Award, Julia is the artistic director of Aeriosa, a Vancouver-based company specializing in aerial dance site works using rope and harness safety systems. She has developed her practice of choreography in collaboration with contemporary and traditional dancers, local and international peers, mountain safety specialists, filmmakers projection designers and spatial music composers. Julia has created dance performances

for locations such as Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish BC, Taipei City Hall, Cirque du Soleil Montreal Headquarters, Vancouver Library Square, The Banff Centre,

Scotiabank Dance Centre and Toronto’s new 58-storey L Tower Building.

Born in Toronto and raised in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Yukon, Julia trained at Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Toronto Dance Theatre. She worked as a contemporary company member with Dance Collective and Ruth Cansfield Dance in Winnipeg. Later she performed on buildings around the world as a company member and guest artist with Amelia Rudolph’s Bandaloop. As a complement to her dance career Julia attained Association of Canadian Mountain Guides Rock Guide certification in 1997.

Julia thrives by connecting to nature. When she is not on the road with Aeriosa she lives in Tofino where she is developing a community arts practice and building partnerships to facilitate dance making in the forest canopy.

MEET YOUR MENTORS cont...

NATALIE GAN - HONG KONG EXILE

Natalie Tin Yin Gan is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in physical theatre performance and choreography. She is based in Vancouver with a double degree in Contemporary Dance and International Studies from Simon Fraser University. Natalie continued her studies for two seasons with pre-professional company Modus Operandi under the mentorship of Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond,

as well as on scholarship at EDAM Dance with Peter Bingham. During her training, she has had the honour of working with Wen Wei Wang, 605 Collective, Serge

Bennethan, Amy O’Neal, Rob Kitsos, and other respected professionals in North America. She toured with Mascall Dance in 2009 and 2012, and apprenticed with

MACHiNENOiSY Dance Theatre in 2013.

Natalie actively pursues opportunities outside of dance contexts, seeking to hone a well-rounded, politically-informed, and rigorous approach to art-making. Her choreography has been presented in several local festivals and venues, including Dancing on the Edge Festival, Dance Allsorts, Hive: The New Bees, and Project CPR at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Her most recent work, NINEEIGHT, will be returning to Toronto for the CanAsian International Dance Festival this Spring. Natalie has received numerous Vancouver residencies, awarded to honour her contributions to community arts engagement. She is currently working with Boca del Lupo Theatre as their

MEET YOUR MENTORS cont...

DARIO DINUZZI - BALLET BC

Dario is originally from Italy, a permanent resident of Canada, and currently an independent dance artist based in Vancouver. Before his career as a professional dancer, he was performing as a juggler and flamespitter in southern Italy.

Dario has twelve years of experience working as a professional dancer for contemporary ballet companies, including Aterballetto (Reggio Emilia), Les Grands

Ballets Canadiens (Montreal), and Ballet BC (Vancouver). During these years he had the opportunity to work with incredible artists coming from diverse cultures and each

of them has left some strong mark in his dancing and understanding of movement. To name a few: Gioconda Barbuto, SergeBennathan, Mauro Bigonzetti, Aszure Burton, Stijn Cellis, Jacopo Godani, Jiri Kylian, Johan Inger, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Walter Matteini, Emily Molnar, Kevin O’Day, Medhi Walerski… among others. His passion for movement has inspired him to continually investigate, explore and express himself through the language of dance . In 2007 he choreographed his first short piece and since then he has continued to cultivate and enrich his creative side.

Since his move to Vancouver in 2010 he developed skills as a ballet teacher and coach. He has currently taught at national and international level including: Ballet BC, ArtsUmbrella, Modus Operandi, (Vancouver, BC), Ballet Preljocaj(France), Ballet Basel (Switzerland), Ballet Mannheim (Germany), SUNY (Purchase, NY).

He was recently appointed as Artist in Residence with Ballet BC and as board member of the CADA/West.

JESSICA WADSWORTH - CADA/West

Jessica Wadsworth has been engaged in cultural management for the last 11 years. Based in Vancouver, she has organized and overseen events, tours and exhibitions all over the world—including Germany, Greece, Croatia and North America. She has an overview of culture in a few different regions in the world, particularly an understanding of how culture is managed. She has worked in visual arts, theatre and dance, as well as in labour and the green industry.

“GET THE GIG!” MARKETING TIPS TO KICKSTART YOUR DANCE CAREER

EMMA LANCASTER - COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL

Emma Lancaster is a senior communications professional with 20 years’ experience in project management, marketing, event production, writing, editing, and media relations. Her responsibilities have included strategic communications planning; new media content and architecture development; tactical marketing planning and execution; public and media liaison; and fundraising. Clients past and present include DanceHouse, The Arts Club Theatre Company,

the PuSh Festival, Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Vancouver Opera, UBC Opera Ensemble, The UBC School of Music, Boca del Lupo Theatre, LeftRight Minds, NOW Orchestra, Electric Company

Theatre, Music in the Morning, BC Dairy Foundation, and Molson Canada, to name a few. In addition to her work with Lancaster Communications, she is a faculty member at Capilano University, where she teaches Marketing and Media Relations and various other things in the Arts and Entertainment Management program. In her spare time, she knits quite a bit. (If you do too, feel free to friend her on Ravelry. She’s DameEmma.)

AFTERNOON SESSIONS

“BUILDING RESILIENCE FOR DANCE” PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGYKRISTEN BARNES - PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGIST

Kirsten had been working as a mental performance consultant for 15 years. She graduated from University of Victoria in 1993 and then completed a PhD in sport psychology at University of Bristol, England in 1998. Kirsten competed for Canada in rowing in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. She is a double Olympic Gold Medallist from the 1992 Games and World Champion in 1991 at the Rowing World Championships in both the 4- and 8+.

Kirsten has returned to Vancouver after 14 years in the UK. In the UK she worked as a sport psychology consultant as well as for Lane4 Management Group in business leadership and performance consultancy

from 1997-2007. She has provided sport psychology support for England Squash, England Rugby Football Union for Women, British Triathlon, Badminton Association of England and worked with several national team athletes from a variety of sports. Kirsten was one of two sport psychologists at the British Olympic Association Holding Camp in Australia prior to the 2000 Sydney Games. She was a member English Institute of Sport Board and later the National Lead for Sport Psychology for the Institute. She has also been the sport psychology consultant to the Commonwealth Games Council for England, providing support to the headquarters staff, team management and athletes in preparation for and during the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. At the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, Kirsten is the Lead for Mental Performance. She worked with Rowing, Swimming and Cycling through the 2012 Olympics and continues to provide support to the National Team programs and individual athletes working towards Sochi and Rio Olympic Games.

“CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS 101”