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Nikolaos Markakis was first introduced to dance at the Cretan Association of Toronto Knossos, where he studied Cretan Folkloric dance. He was introduced to western styles of dance in high school and followed his passion of movement to York University where he completed his BFA in 2013. Post his undergraduate degree, he has performed and choreographed with Half Second Echo and performed for; Susie Burpee, Valerie Calam, Marie-Josee Chartier, Alison Daley, David Earle, Hanna Keil, Shannon Litzenberger, Tracey Norman and Peter Randazzo. Nikolaos recently completed his MFA at York University where he researched the possibility of hybrid choreography between Cretan Folkloric and Contemporary dance practices. His main objective is to use his two embodied dance recourses in his creative practice to allow an organic approach, and a cultivating environment for his two worlds of dance to live in his choreography. Recently Nikolaos has been appointed to the Board of Directors of CADA-ON.

Evadne Kelly is a dance artist and scholar with a PhD in Dance Studies from York University, an MA in Anthropology from McMaster University, and an Hon. BA in Women Studies, Equity Studies, and Anthropology from University of Toronto. She has presented and published on topics relevant to the fields of anthropology and dance studies with a focus on the political and social dimensions of trans-locally performed dance traditions. Publications of her research can be found in Pacific Arts Journal, The Dance Current, Performance Matters, and Fiji Times. Dr. Kelly was an invited participant of the 2015 Mellon funded Dance Studies summer seminar at Northwestern University, where she developed her book manuscript, Dancing Spirit, Love, and War: Expressing the Trans-Local Realities of Contemporary Fiji, currently under contract with University of Wisconsin Press. Research for her book received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral award and builds on her 20 years of professional experience as a company member, teacher, and rehearsal director for celebrated choreographer, David Earle.

Dr. Kelly continues to work in (and advocate for) diverse areas of dance research. In 2016, she co-organized The Other “D”: locating ‘D’ance in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies in Canada, at University of Toronto. In 2017, she co-convened the World Dance Alliance Global Summit at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, which critically engaged the social, political, and therapeutic aspects of community-engaged dance. Most recently, Dr. Kelly was under contract with the Canadian Museum of History, researching and writing about popular dances of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

A “Masterful choreographer” (Globe and Mail), Keiko Kitano is an independent dance artist with a unique style influenced by her study of Butoh and Japanese dance. She has been a guest artist at numerous festivals, has worked with many artists in Tokyo and abroad. In 2001, she co-founded The Tokyo Dance Collective along with multimedia artist Rick Thomson and composer TAMURAN Music, with the aim of unifying dance, music and multimedia by creating new interactive pieces for dance, media, and music.

A resident of Toronto since 2003, Keiko has collaborated with many local artists such as Parmela Attariwara, Aki Takahashi, Nagata-Shachu, Rick Thomson and others, as well as international artists such as TAMURAN Music and costume designer Shingo Tokihiro. Her choreography has been presented at various venues and festivals. As a dancer, she has worked with many local choreographers including Holly Small, Sashar Zarif, Susan Cash, Maxine Heppner, Viv Moore, and Emily Cheung.

Keiko always enjoys working with artists from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds yet with similar sensibilities. Her interests are in forms of Japanese dance and Butoh both for study and dance  creation. She holds a Master’s degree in Dance, was a full-time faculty for the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education (Dance Major 1991 – 2003) teaching Modern Dance Technique, Improvisation and other various disciplines associated with modern dance. Since 2006, Keiko has been a part-time faculty for the Department of Dance at York University and continues to create and perform around the Toronto area.

She has been excited to be a part of Toronto’s “First Impression Campaign” and looks forward to her upcoming projects in March 2011  with her new solo piece for the Green Tea Collective, a group she co-founded.

Academic Specialty: Performance, Contemporary/Modern Dance

Personal website

Julia Sasso is a choreographer, teacher, mentor, performer and the Artistic Director of Julia Sasso dances. She began dancing in 1960 in Detroit, Michigan where she trained with Cecchetti ballet master, Rose Marie Floyd. In her teens she was a scholarship student at the American Dance Center (Joffrey Ballet, NYC) and an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet (NYC). Sasso attended York University’s Dance program from 1974-1976. Throughout her professional career she has developed her artistry through ongoing training in the Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT), Improvisation, Authentic Movement, theatre, voice, Pilates, ballet and contemporary dance techniques. 

Sasso performed internationally with Toronto’s Dancemakers (1984-2000) and was Assistant Artistic Director and principal company teacher for a dozen years. She was a featured performer in original works and repertoire by Carol Anderson, Serge Bennathan, Anna Blewchamp, Christopher House, James Kudelka, Bill James, Lar Lubovitch, Tom Stroud and Doug Varone, among others. Sasso has appeared as a guest artist with Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Toronto Dance Theatre, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and in the work of choreographers, Conrad Alexandrowicz, Sarah Chase, Murray Darroch, Sasha Ivanochko and Claudia Moore among others.

Sasso has created extensively for the concert stage, for theatre, feature film and television. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented throughout Canada, in the United States and abroad by Harbourfront Centre, Canada Dance Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre, Dancemakers, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and DanceWorks, among others. Feature film credits (choreography) include Boy Meets Girl (1998) and The Life Before This (1999). Film treatments of her pieces have been screened on television and at film festivals worldwide. Sasso has created works for all of Canada’s recognized Professional Training Programs (PTPs) in contemporary dance and countless works for The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s PTP. Independently and as Artistic Director of Julia Sasso dances, Sasso has created, produced and presented five full evening length dance works. NOW magazine nominated Sasso Toronto’s BEST CHOREOGRAHER in 2013 and 2014.

Highly regarded as a teacher of contemporary dance techniques, Sasso has taught internationally at distinguished learning centres including UCLA, Cornell University, Canada Dance Festival, Le Groupe Dance Lab, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Dancemakers, Volcano Conservatory, Canada’s National Ballet School, Régroupement Québécois de la Danse (RQD), Ryerson and Simon Fraser Universities; in Budapest, Mexico, England, Wales, Scotland, Austria and Germany. An internationally Certified Teacher of the Skinner Releasing Technique™, Sasso is a core faculty member (since 1995) in the School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s PTP and (since 2006) teaches in the Department of Dance at York University.

Sasso has received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Chalmers Foundation, Laidlaw Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, John McKellar Foundation, Dancers’ Transition Resource Centre (DTRC), Skinner Releasing Institute, York University, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet PTP, Joffrey Ballet, Harkness Ballet and The Cecchetti Council of America.

Sasso is currently engaged as Artistic Associate with Forcier/Norman (DanceWorks/NextSteps) and as a creative collaborator/performer with Sore for Punching You/Allison Cummings.

Julia Sasso is recognized as “one of the foremost dance artists in the country.” – The Dance Current

An established choreographer, performer, master teacher and artistic mentor, Julia Sasso began dancing in 1960 in Detroit (USA) where she trained with Cecchetti ballet master, Rose Marie Floyd. In her teens she was a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet School (NYC) and an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet (NYC). Her artistry has been shaped by curiosity, investigation and investment and continues to evolve through ongoing training in the Skinner Releasing Technique™, Improvisation, Authentic Movement, theatre, voice, Pilates, ballet and contemporary movement techniques.

Sasso performed internationally with Toronto’s Dancemakers (1984-2000) and was the company’s Assistant Artistic Director and principal teacher for a dozen years. She was a featured performer in original works and repertoire by Carol Anderson, Serge Bennathan, Christopher House, James Kudelka, Bill James, Lar Lubovitch, Jean-Pierre Perreault and Doug Varone among others. She has appeared as a guest artist with the companies of Toronto Dance Theatre, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, blackandblue dance projects and the Contemporary Civic Ballet (USA) among others and in the work of notable independent choreographers including Sarah Chase, Murray Darroch and Claudia Moore. “one of perhaps a dozen contemporary modern dancers in Canada who is simply breathtaking in motion.” –The Ottawa Citizen.

Sasso continues to perform in the works of others as well as her own, and has choreographed extensively for the concert stage as well as for feature film, theatre and television. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented throughout Canada, in the United States and abroad by Harbourfront Centre, the Canada Dance Festival, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, DanceWorks, Dancing on the Edge, Toronto Dance Theatre, Dancemakers, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, Workshop Foundation and Monika Laszlo (Hungary), Gearshifting Performance Works, Crooked Figure Dances, Four Chambers Dance Projects, HOWDARESHE productions, Contemporary Civic Ballet, du Maurier World Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Theatre Centre, Factory Theatre, Dancers for Life, Peterborough New Dance and Edward Day Gallery among others. Her contribution to professional theatre and concert dance has been acknowledged with eight Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations. Sasso has created choreography for all of Canada’s professional contemporary dance training programs and since 1995 she has created numerous pieces for The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s PTP where she is a faculty member.

SPORTING LIFE was commissioned by the CanDance Network in 1995 and was presented in Ottawa and Toronto. In 1998, Sasso was the Canadian commissioned by the PanAmerican New Creation series (a series of international co-productions between Canada, Mexico and the United States) and created MAA for a company of interpreters from all three countries. Co-commissioned by Harbourfront Centre, the Canada Dance Festival and nightswimming in 2002, Beauty was Harbourfront Centre’s first dance commission in more than a decade. Sasso has collaborated on a number of projects with the developmental theatre company nightswimming including Brian Quirt’s stage adaptation of Jane Urquhart’s, The Whirlpool (2000), Beauty (2003), Andrew Massingham’s award winning solo show Rough House (2005) and the betrayal project (2006).

She created choreography for the Volcano/Art of Time Ensemble’s award winning production of Mauricio Kaegel’s,Variété in 2004. In 2005 she trained and coached the company and created movement for Peter Hinton’s acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada. In 2009 Sasso choreographed and directed Túl a folyón (Beyond the River). An international co-production between Hungary, Slovakia, Canada and Czech Republic, the full-evening length work for two dancers and an actor premiered at Hungary’s National Dance Theatre (Budapest) and in Bratislava, Slovakia later that year. Sasso created choreography for the feature films, Boy Meets Girl (1998) and The Life Before This (1999). Film treatments of her pieces SPORTING LIFE, DUST, SCHMERZEN (IN THE HOTHOUSE) and It was like this have been screened on television and at film festivals world wide. She created choreography for the hit HBO television series, Queer as Folk.

Julia Sasso dances was established and incorporated (as THE DANCE CREATION GROUP) in 2000 as a project-to-project based company. Finding the incorporated company model cumbersome it was dissolved in 2006 following the creation and presentation of the company’s two highly acclaimed full-evening length productions, Beauty (2003) and the betrayal project (2006). As an independent artist Sasso continues to choreograph and direct commissioned work, self-generated and collaborative movement based projects.

Highly regarded as a teacher of contemporary dance techniques, Sasso has taught at distinguished learning centres worldwide. She is a faculty member of York University’s Department of Dance where she has designed and delivered courses in Composition, Choreography, Improvisation, Repertory and Contemporary Dance Techniques at both the Graduate and Undergraduate levels. She is also a faculty member of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Professional Training Program.  Sasso is an internationally Certified Teacher of the Skinner Releasing Technique™(SRT) and one of Canada’s few active certified facilitators. She has regularly and in recent years increasingly taken on the role of dramaturg, mentor, outside eye, facilitator and rehearsal director for myriad artistic projects.

Sasso’s work has been recognized and honoured with awards, grants, scholarships and bursaries from among others, the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Chalmers Foundation, Laidlaw Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, John McKellar Foundation, Dancers’ Transition Resource Centre, Skinner Releasing Institute, York University, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Program, Joffrey Ballet School, Harkness Ballet and The Cecchetti Council of America. Her biography is included in Who’s Who of Canadian Women (U of T Press Inc.).

An active participant in the local, national and international dance communities Sasso is a member of CADA/CDA, DTRC, Dance Ontario, Toronto Arts Coalition, SCDS and SDHS. She served as co-chair of the Dancers for Life Organizing Committee, has served on numerous boards, juries and advisory committees and lends mentorship and support to countless dance related initiatives.

Areas of Academic Specialty: Repertory, Contemporary/Modern Dance

Personal Website

 

Biography – Lisa Sandlos, PhD, MA, CMA, EMA

Dr. Lisa Sandlos has been a faculty member at York University since 1998, teaching in the Department of Dance, the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and the Faculty of Education.

Dr. Sandlos holds a PhD in Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies and an MA in Dance at York. She is qualified as a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) through the Laban Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) in New York and as an Expressive Movement Analyst (EMA) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). These certifications equip her to work with a diverse range of students in educational or coaching contexts.

Building on her doctoral thesis, a main trajectory of Dr. Sandlos’ research focuses on the sexualization of young female dancers and the impacts of this trend on dance education, public perceptions of dance, and girls’ psychological and social development. Another branch of her work is accomplished through Soma-City, an organization that uses interdisciplinary methods of research and teaching to explore topics at the intersection of human movement and landscape design.

An enthusiastic presenter of her academic research and the various embodied movement/dance modalities that she practices, Dr. Sandlos has been invited to share her expertise at various conferences, festivals, and educational and training programs in international locations including Theatrum Mundi in Paris, France; The University of El Paso, Texas (UTEP); The University of California Polytechnic, Pomona; The University of the West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados; The University of Porto, Portugal; and Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA) in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on her extensive experience in facilitating inclusive, community-based dance, she is the co-director of two eco-somatic arts education projects: Global Water Dances (Hillsburgh, ON chapter) and Sonic Kinesthetic Forest.

Together with her husband, Dave, children, Maya and Zachary, and dog, Elsa, Dr. Sandlos enjoys dancing, playing music, and living close to nature at their home near Erin, Ontario, Canada.

John Ottmann’s career as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, rehearsal director and artistic director has spanned 27 years. He has garnered a reputation as a highly versatile, powerful dance artist,  choreographer and inspiring mentor known for pushing and crossing the boundaries of ballet and contemporary dance. As a performer Ottmann danced with several companies including the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC, Mascall Dance, Fortier Danse Créations, Holy Body Tattoo and co-founded the collective, Quorum.

As the Artistic Director of the Quinte Ballet School of Canada he implemented his progressive approach to teaching and mentoring. Ottmann has also taught and/or rehearsal directed for organizations including: Cirque du Soleil (“ZAIA”), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, BJM Danse, La La La Human Steps, Coleman Lemieux Company, Compangnie Marie Chouinard, O Vertigo Danse, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Toronto Dance Theater, Ballet BC, Dutch National Ballet, Transformation Danse, Vancouver Ballet Society, Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts, Main Dance Bridging Program, Simon Fraser University, LADMMI.

Ottmann has created over 20 choreographies. His work has been shown at The Canada Dance Festival, the Vancouver International Dance Festival, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Danse Cité –Traces Interprétes, The Fringe Festival Montreal, Dancing on the Edge Festival, and the National Ballet of Canada choreographic workshop.

Newly transplanted to Toronto, Ottmann is a course director at York University and rehearsal director for Coleman Lemieux Company.

Area of Academic Specialty: Ballet Technique

Tracey Norman is an independent dance artist based in Toronto with a focus on creating interdisciplinary work. She splits her time between choreographing, teaching, interpreting and facilitating dance. Tracey’s choreography has been commissioned and presented by many Canadian organizations including, DanceWorks, Dance Ontario, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, York Dance Ensemble, the Season Finale of Series 8:08, Dance Matters and Kinetic Studio. Her work has been described as “refreshing and original” (the Globe and Mail).

Tracey has recently performed in works by independent choreographers, Susan Lee, Meagan O’Shea and Darcey Callison. She received her MFA in Choreography & Dramaturgy from York University and is currently a part-time faculty member in York’s Dance Department, teaching Dance Composition and Modern Technique. Tracey works as an outside eye to several artists, teaches dance at studios in Toronto, and teaches creative process workshops in public schools. She worked for Series 8:08 from 2006-12 as Alternative Technique Class Program Manager and Program Assistant and served on the board for the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists from 2008-11.

Areas of Academic Specialty: Dance Composition; Modern Technique

Personal Website