Cynthia Ashperger - Michael Chekhov Technique
Dr. Cynthia Ashperger is the Director of the acting Program at Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto, and one of Canada's leading authorities on MCT, teaching the technique the world over.
Peggy Baker is one of Canada's most outstanding and influential dance artists. A founding member of Dancemakers (1974), she toured internationally with Lar Lubovitch's New York company throughout the 1980s, and joined Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris for the inaugural season of their White Oak Dance Project, subsequently forging important creative relationships with pianist Andrew Burashko, and choreographers James Kudelka, Paul-André Fortier, and Doug Varone. Since 1990 she has created and commissioned dances through her Toronto-based Peggy Baker Dance Projects, appearing at major dance venues and festivals across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and South East Asia. Among her many awards are the 2010 Carsen Prize, the Order of Canada, the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary, the TAC's Margo Bindhardt Award, five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts. Ms Baker is Artist-in-Residence at Canada's National Ballet School.
Quinn Bauriedel is a co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company. Since 1995, Quinn has been one of the leading artists with the company, co-creating nearly all of the company's 25 original works of theatre and touring them to venues and festivals in Brazil, Germany, Scotland, England, Romania, Poland, Peru, Italy, Ukraine, Lithuania and Ireland, among others. Quinn received an Outstanding Direction Barrymore Award nomination for Welcome To Yuba City, which was nominated for 6 Barrymores including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Overall Production. Quinn was a Henry Luce Fellow in Bali, Indonesia in 2000-2001 where he served on the faculty of the State College of Indonesian Arts and studied Balinese dance, mask work and music. In 2002, he was named a Pew Fellow in Performance Art. In 2007, he received one of 6 national Fox Foundation Actor Fellowships and in 2010 he became a USA Fellow. Quinn is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Ecole Jacques Lecoq.
Nova Bhattacharya - Bharatanatyam and Beyond
Celebrated as a dance innovator, Nova Bhattacharya's powerful and humanistic dance works have been described as "a contemporary expression of the Bharatanatyam form … and more" (Vancouver Sun). She began her career as a dancer with the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company and as an independent artist worked with a number of companies including Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Kaeja d'Dance and Peggy Baker Dance Proejcts. Eager to explore the scope for innovation within bharatanatyam and seeking to create works that utilize classical vocabulary in a contemporary aesthetic, Bhattacharya began choreographing in 1997. "A choreographer of fierce intelligence and integrity with a delightfully wicked sense of humour" (The Dance Current), her work has been commissioned by Danceworks, Canada Dance Festival, Cahoots Theatre, Dusk Dances and many others. An acclaimed teacher, Bhattacharya has conducted workshops and masterclasses from coast to coast in Canada as well as in Germany and Japan. In 2007 she founded Ipsita Nova Dance Projects.
Daniel Brooks - Physicalizing Thought
The Artistic Director of Necessary Angel since 2003, Daniel Brooks has worked as a director, writer, actor, producer, and teacher. Some of his creations include Red Tape and 86: An Autopsy (with Don McKellar and Tracy Wright); The Lorca Play, House, Here Lies Henry, Monster, Cul-de-sac, and most recently, This Is What Happens Next (all with Daniel MacIvor); The Noam Chomsky Lectures and Insomnia (with Guillermo Verdecchia); Bigger Than Jesus and HardSell (with Rick Miller); The Good Life and The Eco Show. His work as a director includes John Mighton's Possible Worlds and Half Life, Goethe's Faust, Beckett's Endgame, Pinter's Betrayal, The Drowsy Chaperone, and most recently a stage adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero. He was the first Baille Fellow at Soulpepper and is currently an associate artist there. He was the first recipient of the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for directing. His work has traveled across Canada and around the world.
Noah Drew - Fitzmaurice Voicework
An all-terrain theatre artist from Vancouver, Canada, Noah has worked across North America as an actor, composer/sound designer and voice teacher. In addition to being a Certified Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework (one of only two in Canada), Noah has studied a broad range of vocal training techniques including: Linklater, Lessac, Roy Hart, Bel Canto, Grotowski/Barba and the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. He holds an MFA in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and both a BFA in Theatre and a BA in Music Composition/English Literature from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. Noah's recent projects have included work with Bard on the Beach (Vancouver), the Arts Club (Vancouver), Little Swan Pictures (Philadelphia/Bellingham), Theatre Tribe (Los Angeles), White Pines Productions (Philadelphia) and the National Arts Centre of Canada. Noah's sound designs and music for theatre and dance have been performed on three continents, and have been honored with six Jessie Awards (plus 13 additional nominations), and a nomination for the Siminovitch Prize. Find out more about Noah's work and activities at www.noahdrew.com.
Michael Greyeyes - Viewpoints & Suzuki Technique
Michael Greyeyes is an actor, choreographer, director and educator. In 2008 he directed and choreographed the first Cree opera, Pimooteewin (The Journey), with music by Melissa Hui and libretto by Tomson Highway for Soundstreams Canada. He has directed Daniel David Moses' Almighty Voice and his Wife for Native Earth Performing Arts and just completed directing The River, a new play for Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse. He is an Associate Professor in the Theatre department at York University. His short film, Seven Seconds premiered at the 2010 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto and just screened at the Dawson City International Short Film Festival in the Yukon. Prior to his work in theatre, Michael danced for Canada's National Ballet, and was a soloist for the Feld Ballet in New York City. He is currently developing a new work, from thine eyes, for Signal Theatre and Native Earth to premiere in September at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto.
