Allies and Friends (May)

His second album Ray of Hope was released on Windcatcher Records in 2017 and was nominated for Best World Music Album of the Year in 16th annual Independent Music Award in NYC. His debut album Sound of Silence was released in 2012 and received warm critical acclaim. Born in Iran, Sina started learning Santur at the age seven from his father, Master Javad Bathaie and studied Persian classical repertoire (Radif) with the instrument Oud. He later studied Composition and Orchestration for Films at Berklee College of Music and has scored movies such as  The Horse Latitudes, Un royaume déménage, Ameno and Mr Settled Immigrant 

She who loved the folklore dances of Iran, tried to collect,  document, and perform these great cultural treasures through research,  travel, and learning from prominent and genuine masters. Her goal is to  train a new generation of dance enthusiasts who can show the beauty of  original Iranian dances through international performances. Ultimately, relying on her creativity and artistic experiences, Anoheh always seeks new combinations and ideas in the field of modern art and fusion performances. 

While based in Trinidad until 2019, Jillia was a international touring dancer for major soca bands Machel Montano and Kes the Band for 12 years, Stage Manager for the National Theatre Arts Company of Trinidad and Tobago and led a Children’s Theatre Camp catering to over 300 children for 3 years under the auspices of the Patrons of the Arts Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago. She also worked in film, featured in numerous music videos and video ads, was nominated for Best Crossover Artist by the Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Music Awards (2017) and released her Debut album ‘Black Cinderella’ in December 2019. Since moving to Toronto in 2020 she has worked with not only KasheDance and Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) but also as a dance artist with Kaeja d’Dance, Wind in the Leaves Collective (WITL), Jumblies Theatre, Luminato, Hart House at University of Toronto, Sensorium at York University and Etobicoke School of the Arts and Kinetic Dance (Halifax, NS). You can find her most recent digital works in “In Case of Emergency” Kaeja d’ Dance (dance artist), ‘Searching for Eastman Series’ – WITL (dance artist), ‘Covid Creations Film’ – WITL (Production Manager), and ‘Konversations Series’ – KasheDance (Project Coordinator). 

Francis has trained in intensives with Riley Sims, Heidi Strauss, Hanna Kiel and Bonnie Kim and in 2020 were the recipient of an internship with Social Growl Dance. They most recently performed in Aria Evans site-specific work “For Sale”, at Colborne Lodge, and in Ana Groppler’s work “SOLOsupport” in Night/Shift at the Citadel. 

Groppler has worked with numerous artists including Kaeja d’Dance, Social Growl Dance, Signal Theatre, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Political Movement,wind in the leaves collective, Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects, Toronto Heritage Dance, Nancy Latoszewski, and Fiona Griffiths. Groppler has performed her own work in shows with Dance Matters, Nextfest, and the Parahumans. She toured across Mexico with Kaeja d’Dance in 2016, traveled to Berlin with Social Growl Dance in June 2018 and is currently working with Lara Kramer Danse in a 3 year residency at Dancemakers. 

Her perspective is decidedly feminist, philosophical, socially conscious and emphatically Canadian. Her roots in Canada’s rural prairies inspire recurring themes of connection to land, environment, belonging, identity and place. Her work has been presented across Canada and the US, in collaboration with some of Canada’s most celebrated artists including Marie-Josée Chartier, Lorna Crozier, David Earle, Don McKay, Susie Burpee, Sylvain Émard and Michael Greyeyes. She has been an invited resident artist at many leading arts institutions including Banff Centre, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Saskatoon’s Remai Modern and with Dark by Five at the Gros Morne Summer Music Festival. Shannon is the recipient of the Jack McAllister Award for accomplishment in dance, the recipient of a 2019 Chalmers Arts Fellowship and a twice-shortlisted finalist for the prestigious KM Hunter Award. Her most recent work World After Dark was nominated for a 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Award.

www.shannonlitzenberger.com

Her most recent books are de book of Joseph (Mawenzi House, June 2022), part of her New Testament trilogy in Jamaican patwa, and A Fierce Green Place: New and Collected Poems (New Directions, May, 2022). She has published numerous textbooks, nine collections of poetry, five children’s books, a short story collection (Pink Icing), a novel (Red Jacket), and, with her late husband, Martin, a reference work (Culture and Customs of Jamaica). Mordecai is represented by Transatlantic Literary Agency. Her poetry is archived at https://mordecai.citl.mun.ca.

Currently, dancing with the Lua Shayenne Dance Company Aisha has worked with choreographers and companies such as Arsenio Andrade, C.O.B.A (Collective Of Black Artist), Garth Fagan, Aria Evans and KasheDance to name a few. Aisha has performed in Obeah Opera for the Luminato festival, the Carifesta XIV festival in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2020 she Choreographed her first inaugural solo called Abandonment and is currently working on remounting this work for 2023-2024.

Mr. Ormsby was featured in more than 17 of the company’s choreographed works many of which toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He has also presented a paper on Dance in the Diaspora at the 1st Biannual Conference, Visualizing / Performing Africa at Ohio University and has conducted for three years an intensive dance workshop in Grenada as well as a master class in Vancouver, British Columbia and substitute teacher at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, ON and served as a Juror on the Ontario Arts Council in the Dance Section. In addition to producing a production Love ‘n Movement, he has self published a photography book “Dance Through Life” and is the Dance Writer for Expose Entertainment Magazine, written for the Dance Current Magazine and was recently commissioned to write a paper for the Canada Dance Festival 2009. In Toronto, Mr. Ormsby has performed with Ballet Creole and was also the Associate Artistic Director of Caribbean Folk Performers. He has worked with Canboulay Dance Theatre, Up from the Roots Entertainment, Menaka Thakur, Caribbean Dance Theatre and Dance Caribe Performing Company. Kevin has served as choreographer at Scarborough Caribbean Youth Dance Ensemble from 1994-1998 and co-founded the Lester B.Pearson Collegiate Dance Troupe. In April 2008, Mr. Ormsby launched his company, KASHEDANCE. 

She’s been part of festivals across the Americas, such as Night Shift 2020 Presented by the Citadel & Compaigne, Fall for Dance North’s Open Studio, The Rhubarb Festival, DanceWeekend Ontario, Aluna Theatre’s Panamerican Routes Festival, Panamania’15, 12th Bienal de la Habana, Vanguardia Dance Projects, International Dance Meeting in Guantanamo, CounterPulse Performing Diaspora in San Francisco. Performing works by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Jaberi Dance Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Victoria Mata, Aria Evans, Alejandro Ronceria, and Arsenio Andrade, to name a few.. She is currently a residency artist at Aluna Theatre incubating her choreographic development. She’s choreographed for Trey Anthony’s How Black Mothers Say I love You and recently is developing her solo “nudoDESnudo”. Her passion for social justice is the driving force for creation in Irma’s choreographic and performance work.