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Ontario Chapter
The Ontario Chapter was provincially incorporated in January 1995 with a mandate to:
- Improve the financial status, and the physical and social working conditions of all independent and company affiliated dance artists in Canada.
- Provide a forum for increased communications and exchange between members and to encourage collaboration between professional arts organizations, provincial, national and international.
- Promote and assist the development of dance as an art form.
- Elevate the status of dance artists in society.
Scope
The Ontario Chapter can serve professional dance artists who live in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec (in partnership with Regroupement québécois de la danse), Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island.
Location
The Ontario Chapter is located within the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 400 in downtown Toronto. Office hours are currently Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. Members are advised to call ahead for an appointment.
Board of Directors
Message from Sasha Ivanochko, Chair
"My energy for advocacy comes from my desire to elevate forms of contemporary dance in Canada. Right now, dance artists work with so few resources; we battle poverty, isolation and lack of profile in the greater community.
Despite this, good work gets made, sometimes. For me, that's not good enough. In order to make intelligent, sophisticated art, we need to be resilient and powerful in our daily lives and practise.This is only possible if we have proper health care, access to affordable professional development, a decent salary, and the courage to step forward and speak up for these basic things and more.
CADA is a voice for these causes. By sitting on the Ontario Chapter Board of Directors, I want to help create a more vibrant and healthy community."
Sasha Ivanochko is a Toronto based dancer, teacher and choreographer. An intense and intuitive performer, she has charmed audiences and critics with her explosive physicality and dramatic presence. "Sasha Ivanochko is so damned expressive, you could sell tickets to watch her cross the street." NOW, June 2005. She has performed with Toronto Dance Theatre, Michael Trent, Tedd Robinson, Peter Chin, Peggy Baker, and Coleman Lemieux and Compagnie, among others. Her intimate and detailed choreography has been presented across Canada and in Japan. In 2005, Ivanochko created her company blackandblue dance projects and upcoming projects include Canadian performances of her latest piece Heaven and a new self-solo.
Miss. Ivanochko was elected in 2006/07.
Jennifer lynn Dick (Vice-Chair) is an independent dance artist, choreographer and teacher. She was with Desrosiers Dance Theatre (DDT) from 1989 – 1997 creating and performing many roles in the company repertoire and touring internationally. As a dance artist, Jennifer has also worked with a variety of choreographers including Anne Ditchburn, Meneka Thakkar, Joan Philips, Terrill Maquire, Marie-Josee Dubois, Roberto Campanella and Michelle Silagy. She is currently a member of Claudia Moore’s MoonHorse Dance Theatre. Jennifer’s choreographic works have been presented at DanceWorks, Dancers for Life Vancouver, fFIDA, the New Dance Festival St. John’s, the National Art Gallery Ottawa, and with Desrosiers Dance Theatre. Jennifer is a member of CADA, the CDA and the DTRC.
Ms. Dick was elected in 2003/04.
Nova Bhattacharya (Treasurer) has trained with some of bharatanatyam’s most esteemed teachers including Menaka Thakkar, Kalanidhi Narayan and Kitappa Pillai. For eleven years she toured with Menaka Thakkar & Company as a soloist and company member. In 1997, after an eight year career in the investment industry, she returned to the world of dance, working at Dance Umbrella of Ontario as Adminstrator, Artists’ Services. In 1999 she fully committed to her dance career and since that time this gifted interpreter has appeared with a number of companies while building an exceptional body of work, ranging from full length classical recitals in the bharatanatyam style, to powerful contemporary works. Her role in the dance community extends into advocacy through her ongoing work as a writer, speaker and consultant. Her clients have included CADA, Candance Network, Coleman Lemiuex & Company, Dusk Dances, Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, McIntyre International Arts Management, ProArteDanza and Sampradaya Dance Creations. She has given keynote addresses and is regularly invited to speak on behalf on independent artists and the dance and arts community. She was instrumental in the creation of the draft document implemented by numerous dance companies in response to the Toronto Arts Council’s Anti-Racism, Access and Equity Policy and served as the Chair of the RBC Dominion Securities Employment Systems Review Committee. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of Sinha Dance and Peggy Baker Dance Projects. Currently she is the Treasurer of CADA and is on the Dora Mavor Moore jury for dance.
Ms. Bhattacharya was elected in 2006/07.
Directors in Alphabetical Order
Kate Alton is an acclaimed award winning Canadian dancer and choreographer who has performed on stages around the globe. She is a former member of Toronto Dance Theatre and is Artistic Director of her own company, Crooked Figure Dances. Her work has been presented across Canada and in Europe. Most recently her work was seen on stage at the Factory Theatre in Toronto and at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa in the Volcano/Crooked Figure Dances co-production The Four Horsemen Project, which garnered four Dora Awards including Best Production, Best New Play, and Best Direction by Kate Alton and Ross Manson.
Ms. Alton was elected in 2007/08.
Lara Bernstein is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher who lives in Toronto, Canada. During the past decade she has worked independently, as a company member and as artistic director and founder of Lightning Strike Art Productions since 2005. Lara is committed to building and strengthening relationships between individuals in the dance community as well as advocating for their financial, emotional and physical well-being.
Ms. Bernstein was elected in 2005/06.
Bridget Cauthery is a researcher, lecturer, writer and arts consultant based in Toronto, Canada. She holds a Masters degree in dance from York University where her work was nominated for a university thesis award, and recently completed her doctorate at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom. She has presented her research at international conferences in Canada, the United States and Europe and has been published by Canadian Dance Studies, Culture & Tradition and Ethnologies. Ms. Cauthery is active in the contemporary dance community as a regular contributor to The Dance Current, as a moderator for both Harbourfront Centre’s and the Canada Dance Festival’s “dance talks,” as a juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, as a member of the board of directors for hum dancsoundart (Susanna Hood) and has been working as Company Manager for seven seasons with Toronto Dance Theatre.
Ms. Cauthery was elected in 2007/08.
Born and raised in Toronto, Kate Holden is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and Etobicoke School of the Arts. Concurrent with her professional training, she performed frequently with PBJ Dance and Gabby Kamino. A member of the Danny Grossman Dance Company from 2001-2003, Kate has recently been splitting her time between Montreal and Toronto; interpreting the works of many esteemed Canadian choreographers, including Peggy Baker, Robert Desrosiers, David Earle, Sylvain Emard, Sasha Ivanochko, James Kudelka, Michael Trent, Andrea Nann, and Yvonne Ng. In 2005, she was the winner of Le Grand Prix de l’Excellence and Le Coup de Coeur; at the Mondor Challenge, in Trois Rivieres Quebec for her interpretation of Roberto Campanella’s Flotsam and Jetsam. Most recently, she was invited to join the Dancemakers team. Kate is also Co-Artistic Director of firstthingsfirst productions with Kate Franklin. The company made its successful debut in January of 2007 with a sold out run of Namesake.
Ms. Holden was elected in 2004/05.
Lucy Rupert is a dancer/choreographer and theatre performer. She runs Blue Ceiling dance, and frequently works with the critically acclaimed physical theatre company Theatre Rusticle. Lucy's choreography, noted for her ferocious and fragile performance, has been seen across Canada and in New York, and Germany. Lucy has worked with choreographers Andrea Nann, Viv Moore, Susan Kendal and Tina Fushell, among others. Recent and ongoing projects include collaborations with actor Matthew Romantini, choreographer Kyle Abraham, and singer-songwriter Sarah Slean, and Theatre Rusticle's stunning show April 14, 1912. Lucy is also an arts administrator, currently working for DanceWorks and Puppetmongers Theatre. Lucy has a Masters degree in History, a Double B.A. in Dance and Music.
Ms. Rupert was elected in 2006/07.
Created on Canada's west coast, Matt Waldie trained at both Sinclair Academy of Performing Arts and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. On stage, he has performed works by Kate Alton, Nova Bhattacharya, D.A. Hoskins, Christopher House, Sasha Ivanochko, Brendan Jensen, Louis Laberge-Côté, Laurence Lemieux, Arabella Martin, Jorden Morris, Bruce Monk, Andrea Nann, Kathleen Rea, and Heather Schiller. Mr. Waldie has also performed in dance films created by Alana Elmer, ELD Films, Boundless Entertainment, and Discovery Dance.
Mr. Waldie was elected in 2007/08.
Ann-Marie Williams holds a BFA in Theatre-Dance from Ryerson Polytechnic University, and an MA in Dance from York University. Program Manager for the CanDance Network of Dance Presenters and the Dance Ontario Association, Ann-Marie has also worked for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, York University’s Department of Dance, Goldsmiths College, University of London. A fully certified teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance, Ann-Marie has taught and developed curriculum for dance studios and schools across Toronto, and for the Toronto District School Board and City of Toronto. She has performed at fFIDA, At the Wreaking Ball, and other independent productions and is a member of The Society for Canadian Dance Studies.
Ms. Williams was elected in 2006/07.
Staff
Elizabeth Chitty, Executive Director Elizabeth Chitty joined CADA-ON in mid-March 2008. She has over 30 years experience as an arts professional and has directed arts service organizations at the national and regional level. She comes to CADA-ON from the St. Catharines and Area Arts Council where she was the first Executive Director, developing and delivering Artistic and Education Programs amongst other responsibilities. She has worked in policy development or arts management in artist-run centres and provincial and municipal governments and wrote the municipal cultural policy for the City of St. Catharines in collaboration with a volunteer Steering Committee. As a consultant, her clients included numerous arts organizations, Niagara Regional Native Centre, Ontario Arts Council and universities. She studied mediation and facilitation in the early and mid-1990s, acquiring a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution and undertaking some undergraduate work in Peace and Conflict Studies at University of Waterloo. She taught Creative Process at The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre from 1991-2007 where she instituted the Choreographic Workshops and developed a pedagogy influenced by her work as a facilitator. She has many published texts, most recently in Caught in the Act: Canadian Women in Performance 1970-90, published by YYZ Editions in 2004. In this book she has three texts including the essay, Asserting Our Bodies, which discusses an important era in dance and performance art history. The book also includes essays on her own work. She was amongst the earliest graduates of the Dance Department of York University and has received numerous awards and honours including one of the first Chalmers Fellowships and the 2006 YWCA Niagara Woman of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture. She continues an interdisciplinary artistic practice and last performed major work at Tangente danse contemporain in Montreal in 2004. More recently she has produced a constructed photograph, led a Soundwalk and is working on two installations. Her artistic work can be seen at elizabethchitty.ca and at ccca.ca. Elizabeth lives in St. Catharines and has a daughter studying at Ryerson University. |
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Past-Chair
Louis Laberge-Côté is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer and teacher. A graduate of both L'École de Danse de Québèc and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Louis became a member of TDT in 1999. Louis is also a very active independent dance artist, touring North America, Europe, and Asia and is co-founder of 3M Dances. He has appeared with CORPUS, The Chimera Project, Danny Grossman Dance Company and DNA Theatre, and has performed works by Serge Bennathan, Peter Chin, Maxine Heppner, Sasha Ivanochko, Allen Kaeja, Santee Smith, Michael Trent, and Yvonne Ng, among others. Louis has taught for numerous schools and studios across the country and his choreography has been presented in many venues across Canada. |
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Legal Counsel
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