allies and friends (November)

Upon graduating at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre they travelled to Mexico for a residency with La Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán. Since then, she has worked with Frog in Hand, Human Body Expression, Kaeja d’Dance, Peggy Baker, the Citadel + Compagnie, the Wind in the Leaves Collective, and Tiger Princess Dance Projects.

Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood Collegiate Institute. Nickeshia has had the honour of working with Sean McLeod (New York) to achieve her certification in Sean McLeod’s Reinforced Motor Function Technique®, RMF®, Davy Bisaro (Vancouver), to achieve her Personal Training, Pilates Mat Level 1 and 2 certifications, and Allen Kaeja (Toronto), to achieve her Kaeja Elevations Level 1.  Her extensive dance training includes Bakari E. Lindsay, Arsenio Andrade, Rob Kitsos, Peter Bingham, and Christopher House. She has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, T.I.L.T Sound and Motion, Jaberi Dance Theatre, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen and the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, just to mention a few. Nickeshia has performed the Canadian National Anthem at the Rogers Centre, was a commissioned artist for the 2010 Winter Olympics (Vancouver) as part of the Push International Performing Arts Festival, has made appearances in various art installations and shows for Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche (Toronto) and Fringe Festival (Toronto), and was invited to perform at the Nafro Festival (Winnipeg) as a soloist and part of a trio. Furthermore, Nickeshia holds her BFA at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), is a 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for Best Ensemble in Pool (no water), and is currently working on the second iteration of her solo show, To All My Past, Present, and Future Lovers… I’m Sorry. 

Mata’s sensibility to inclusion and border stories is due to her eclectic upbringing in three continents before the age of fifteen. Mata’s intimate, dynamic and visceral aesthetic is rooted in traditional Venezuelan dance genres reframed through contemporary expressions. Intersectional, multi-framed community arts and the abolishment of violence against women are some of Mata’s passion. She has intricately weaved these themes in her MFA in Contemporary Choreography and is the foundation for some of her recognitions such as being a recipient of the Metcalf Foundation, a finalist of the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award and 7 Dora nominations. Mata deeply believes in the arts as a core and tangible mode of sustaining and transforming the paradigms of oppressive tropes to populate a sphere of discourse, play, exploration and possibility.

Irma has been immersed into her choreographic practice and development; through mentorships and dance residencies for emerging choreographers with Dance Makers through their Peer Learning Network Program, Toronto Dance Theatre’s Emerging Voices Program, George Brown Dance, and as of late with Aluna Theatre. Her artistic mission is embodying cultural, social-political and migrant narratives of oppressed communities. As a daughter of refugee, her passion for social justice, human rights, and political art making, is the driving force for creation in Irma’s choreographic and performance work. In 2017, she premiered a new work in progress “Desconocida” at Aluna Theatre’s Caminos Festival – New Works in Progress by Latin American artists in dance and theatre, which was one of the groundbreaking creative moments that set her choreographic journey. Most recently she has presented a new solo in process, “nudoDESnudo”; which at its developed stage has had the honour to present in Austin, Texas, El Salvador and in Toronto through Citadel + Compagnie’s Night Shift 2020.  
 
https://www.irmavillafuerte.com/