Natasha Redwood-Scribe (she/her) is an Ojibwe Indigenous artist living in Vancouver, Canada.
Natasha has always been interested in art, being inspired as a young child by her father’s art practice and the animated movie Barbie’s Rapunzel. This interest developed as she grew older, and Natasha began painting professionally in 2020 under her mentor, Lisa Wolfin.

Primarily working in the Ojibwe style known as Woodland Art, Natasha explores themes of the self in connection with her heritage. Through her work, she hopes to share and highlight parts of herself and her culture with others. She hopes that with her art, other Indigenous youth can be inspired and find their voice through art.

An example of Natasha’s work being exhibited professionally is at Art Vancouver 2022 and 2023, an international art fair held annually at the Vancouver Convention Center. These were her first large-scale exhibitions, and since then Natasha has been involved in Vancouver’s Art Downtown, Granville Promenade, and Art @Bentall Gallery.

Natasha is currently attending the renowned Canadian art school, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she hopes to develop her skills and explore new ways to connect with and showcase her artistic perspective and cultural heritage.

Simon Mazziotti (he/him) is a Gen-Z, lefty, triple aquarius, queer movement artist located in Tkaronto/Toronto. Graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Dance program in 2021 (formerly Ryerson University). He most recently performed in a new work, Ojalá by Sofía Ontiveros at Citadel + Compagnie’s Dance Mix 2023. Hmm...What’s This? by Renee Smith presented by Peggy Baker Dance Projects, and Semi-Precious: Semaphore, a work by Justine Chambers presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Simon is finding fulfillment through training with a diverse range of facilitators including Marion Castaillet in Berlin at the notorious B12 workshop. At this stage in his career, Simon is interested in testing the physical and mental limits of the body through contemporary movement and exploring new ways of approaching creation. Simon is inspired by working with other artists who engage in the act of creating community and supporting anti-oppression practices.

Reece Caldwell (he/they) is a Toronto based emerging contemporary LGBTQ+ dance artist. Originating in Peterborough ON, Reece is currently interested in contemporary performance, collaboration, choreography, and improvisation, with a growing love for floor work, partnering, and multimedia creation. Being a graduate of York University’s BFA dance program specializing in performance and choreography, Reece has been able to study under professional dance artists including Syreeta Hector, Susan Lee, and Tracey Norman.

Most recently Reece has performed in i’ll clean out my bowl choreographed by Katie Adam’s Gossage at the MoCA, while also performing in the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival (UNFURL) and grateful to have traveled to Berlin this past summer to a b12 floorwork intensive with Marion Castaillet. With a growing tool- box Reece is excited to create and cultivate collaborative works looking forward to the future as an emerging-artist with values closely focused and aligned with equity, community, and inclusivity.

Tavia Christina is a multi-hyphenate artist who embraces their ethereal nature as a driving force in both artistic expression and research. Tavia’s work blends genres between dance, theatre and performance art. As Artistic Director of Near & Far Projects, their choreographic research and development is informed by improvisation, voice work, and a deep connection with surrounding ecology. Their practice is based in somatic movement and spiritual endurance. They have a background in western contemporary dance training from Toronto Metropolitan University as well as curation, acting, poetry, and film.

They have been a resident artist at the Toronto Dance Theatre in 2023-2024, Toronto Heliconian Club 2019-2022, and Naked State 2018. Their film works screened at the Dance Ontario Festival 2024, Guelph Dance Festival (Guelph, ON), Mile Zero Dance Festival (Edmonton, AB) and New Blue Dance Festival (Toronto, ON). As a choreographer, they have presented work at The Museum (Hamilton,ON), Toronto Fringe Festival, The Citadel, Long Winter and Dance Makers. As a freelance dance artist, they have had the privilege of working with artists such as Chimera Dance Theatre, Kéïta Fournier Pelletier, Aria Evans, and Willi Dorner.

Katie Adams-Gossage (she/her) is committed to a holistic dance philosophy, and consequently centres education, performance, process, relationships, and social context in equal measure.
As an interpreter, Katie puts emotional and physical intelligence at the forefront of her contributions. Notable choreographers and presenters for whom she has danced include adelheid dance projects, Toronto Dance Theatre, Pulga Muchochoma, Half Light Dance Project, KINAJ, Colleen Snell, Darryl Tracy, and Renee Smith for Peggy Baker Dance Projects. She recently toured Maxine Heppner’s Nine Bronze Pieces in southern Italy and is currently dancing in new works by Heidi Strauss and Tavia Christina.

Katie’s artistry is underscored by her time at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, where she was recognized with the Kathryn Ash Scholarship and the Leslie Wood Leadership Award. Upon graduation, she received the Winchester Prize for choreographic distinction. Since then, her choreographic work has been presented by SummerWorks and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Katie is eager to engage in dance pedagogy, and works routinely as class demonstrator to Peggy Baker, Rosemary James, Pat Miner, and Darryl Tracy at Dance Arts Institute, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Canada’s National Ballet School. She leads improvisational classes in Toronto’s professional dance community and adult contemporary classes at Dance Arts Institute.

Eleanor van Veen is a second generation settler, contemporary-based mover, collaborator, creator, teacher, pilates instructor, coffee-enthusiast, and music-lover in Tkarón:to (Treaty 13 Territory). Growing up on U’nama'kik/Cape Breton Island, she danced competitively and played many sports. Since her childhood, she’s felt a fundamental need to move and be moved, which influences her ever-flowing-and-feeling practices.

Eleanor has performed works by Alysa Pires, Hanna Kiel, Lesley Telford, Meghann Michalsky, Metamorphosis Dance, Naishi Wang, Nicole von Arx, Roberto Campanella, Robert Glumbek, Susana Pous, and Syreeta Hector, and has worked/toured with Human Body Expression, Near & Far Projects, ProArteDanza, Project InTandem, and The Chimera Project. Reaching across Canada, she has performed at artsPlace Canmore, Chutzpah!, Jubilee Auditorium with the Edmonton Opera, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, Stream of Dance Festival, and The Toronto Fringe Festival. She is a 2020 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble.

As a creator, she has shared her work independently and collaboratively at FODAR's Market Dances 2021, Woodland Farm Artist Residency 2022, Kinetic’s Open Studio Series 2023, and Art & Water’s Dockside Dance 2023. As a contemporary floor-work instructor, her passion for movement has brought her to Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, The Fifth, Studio North, The Dance Institute, and many more.

Maya Santos O’Keefe (she/her) is a contemporary dance artist and choreographer of Filipino and settler heritage based in Tkaronto/Toronto. As an emerging artist, she is interested in using movement and bodies as a medium to create work focused on vivid and impactful visuals. She views choreography as a multifaceted art form, aiming to blend dance, theatre and visual art.

Growing up in Calgary, Alberta, Maya trained in multiple disciplines, including ballet, breaking, contemporary, hip hop, jazz and modern. She is a graduate of Central Memorial’s Performing and Visual Arts Program (2018) and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (2023), receiving the Dance Innovator Award and multiple bursaries and scholarships. Throughout her training, she has had the opportunity to work with various established choreographers including Kate Alton, Peggy Baker, Tilman O’Donnell, Pulga Muchochoma, Julia Sasso, Sharon Moore, and Karen Kaeja.

Following graduation, Maya has had the opportunity to share her work with The Garage in 2023 and performed in the 2023 Sherbrooke Festival of Contemporary Dance with Litt Dance Collective.

Holly Small has participated in the grass roots development of the Dance community as performer, choreographer, dramaturg, writer and educator for more than 40 years. She has instigated dozens of interdisciplinary projects which have been performed throughout Canada, the US, Ireland, the UK, Europe and Asia.  She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, a Chalmers Fellowship, Canada Council Millennium Award, Paula Citron Award, UCLA Woman of the Year Award, four Dora Mavor Moore nominations and numerous arts council grants.  

She was a Professor of Dance at York University in Toronto for 29 years where she taught studio and theory courses at graduate and undergraduate levels and directed the York Dance Ensemble through 15 seasons. Recent projects include Our Mother Who Art Missing, a multi-disciplinary work-in-progress inspired by the work of Irish poet Doireann Ni Ghriofa; Haunted, a short film created with director Nika Belianina and composer John Oswald; Nora Rosenthal’s film Nine Easy Dances in which she plays “herself” and “Joan of Arc”; and Rover, an upcoming collaboration with composer Robert Stevenson.  Her ongoing dramaturgy work with artists in Contemporary Dance, Flamenco, Synchronized Skating and Celtic music inspires and expands her own creative horizons.

John Oswald
Governor General's Media Arts Laureate, Ars Electronica and Untitled Arts Award winner, Marshall McLuhan Fellow, inductee into the CBC Alternative Walk of Fame, composer in residence in various countries, originator of the music genre plunderphonics, Oswald ranked third in a list of the most internationally influential Canadian musicians, tied with Celine Dion.
Beginning in the early ’80’s he created soundtracks for dozens of choreographers, including, Bill T Jones, Margie Gillis, James Kudelka and Holly Small up until 1995, when he presented as his retirement concert new choreographies commissioned from two dozen of his favourite collaborators, each set to an interlocking fragment of a score with a mysterious history. He has since worked with dancers on rare but very special occasions.  
In recent decades he has created Stillnessence, an evolving light fresco portrait of hundreds of life-size individuals,  Art and Drinks, a bar/gallery which specialized in time-based images, the Watchbook dynamic e-reader app, a performance for 1000 strings, and the orchestra score b9, a condensation of all nine Beethoven symphonies into half an hour.
He also continues to regularly improvise music on the alto sax and dance on the floor.
music: https://pfony.bandcamp.com
visuals: https://6q.com/obs/
videos: https://www.youtube.com/@plunderphonics

Jessica Runge
Award-winning dance artist and educator Jessica Runge has performed to critical acclaim across Canada and internationally. Jessica’s work as a choreographer and interpreter investigates the way movement has meaning for audiences, and has been praised as “physical genius” and “lyricism incarnate.” She is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Award; was nominated for a 2023 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize; and has received multiple Dora nominations.

Jessica has enjoyed a long and rewarding artistic relationship with choreographer, teacher, dramaturg Holly Small. In addition, she has originated roles in works by many other notable Canadian choreographers, including Peggy Baker, Peter Chin, Christopher House, and Tedd Robinson; dancing extensively as independent artist as well as in the major Canadian dance companies Toronto Dance Theatre and Le Groupe Dance Lab, and in Theatre Direct’s work for young audiences.

Jessica serves as adjunct faculty at York University, runs her own children’s creative movement program at Artscape Youngplace in Toronto, and is a Resident Artist at the Intergalactic Arts Collective Studio. Jessica holds a B. A. (University of Toronto) and received her professional training at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre.
www.jessicarunge.com

Oriah Wiersma is a dance artist, actor, and CranioSacral therapist, living and creating in Toronto. Her artistic practice is process led and physically responsive in the mediums of movement, sound, photography, and film. She has recently toured her new solo isn’t this where to Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta. For this project she took on a new challenge and created the choreography and sound design in tandem.

Oriah collaborates regularly with bands and musicians for live performances and music videos. She is currently working on a music video for the band ZINNIA, filming, editing, and dancing in the project.