PERFORMERS

Dancer, improviser, teacher and choreographer, Marc Boivin begins his dance career at Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Ottawa under the directorship of Peter Boneham and in 1985 joins Ginette Laurin and her newly formed company O Vertigo Danse. Since 1991 he has worked as an independent dancer, performing among others for Louise Bédard, Mélanie Demers, Sylvain Émard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Tedd Robinson and Catherine Tardif. Affiliated with L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal since 1987 Boivin regularly guest teaches and choreographs in schools and professional organizations across Canada. He has been president of Espace Perreault – Transmissions chorégraphiques since 2006, president of the RQD (Regroupement québécois de la danse) from 2010 to 2014 and sat on the board of the Montreal Arts Council from 2005 to 2010. He is the recipient of the Canada Council’s Jacqueline-Lemieux prize (1999) and the Dora Mavor Moore award (2014) for interpretation, in Mélanie Demers’ WOULD, alongside Kate Holden.

Sierra Chin Sawdy is an independent dance artist and arts educator based in Tkaronto. Since graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University’s BFA Dance program, she has had the opportunity to work and perform with Alysa Pires Dance Projects, BoucharDanse, Brodie Stevenson, Citadel + Compagnie, Dancetheatre, David Earle, Dusk Dances, Emma Kerson, Hanna Kiel, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Aria Evans/Political Movement, Tiger Princess Dance Projects, and Toronto Heritage Dance. She has toured throughout Canada, China, Europe, Mexico and the UAE. To further develop her abilities, Sierra has trained across Canada, the United States, Israel, and Italy, working and creating with world-renowned artists.

Sully Malaeb Proulx (he/they) is a French Canadian-Lebanese freelance dance artist based in Toronto. An alum of the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, London Contemporary Dance School, and Springboard Danse Montréal, Sully has had the utter privilege of performing works, locally and abroad, by artists from near and far. They are thrilled to be working with Sylvie and BoucharDanse on this newest iteration of très loin. 

Raised in Vancouver and based in Toronto, Raelyn is a woman of mixed race Plains Cree from Saskatchewan and settler heritage. In 2017 Raelyn had the pleasure to work with Aria Evans, Artistic director of Political Movement where she performed Voice Of A Nation, commissioned by the Toronto Concert Orchestra. In 2019 Raelyn had the honour to work with Michael Greyeyes, Santee Smith and Reneltta Arluk at The Banff Centre for Performing Arts. Reconnecting with her Indigenous roots, Raelyn performed as a dancer at the 2018 Indspire Awards along with Santee Smith, the founding artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. She has recently completed the 2021-22 tour of the production The Mush Hole with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. In 2022, Raelyn got to work under the direction of Sylvie Bouchard, Artistic Director of BoucharDanse in the Dance & Design residency at the Orillia Opera House. She is a recipient of the 2020 Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble for The Mush Hole. Following her passion, she is a dedicated dance artist who wishes to continue her inspiration for others.

Michael Mortley graduated from the university of Trinidad and Tobago in 2015. He attended Beijing Dance Academy from 2015 to 2016. When he first arrived in Canada, he worked with KasheDance and performed in Re: Imagining TPM in April 2018. He also worked with Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) at The Gathering in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Michael has had the pleasure of working for Wind In the Leaves Collective on the Searching for Eastman project as a dancer and collaborator in the creation of that full length work. He worked with Ronald Taylor Dance on a project entitled Psychosis in June 2019 and then again in October 2019 for Rendezvous with Madness festival as a dancer and costume designer. Michael travelled to Winnipeg and New Brunswick respectively to perform in NAFRO Dance Presents: Moving Inspirations Dance Festival with KasheDance and Impact Festival by Atlantic Ballet with Wind In the Leaves collective. Michael is a photographer for Ronald Taylor Dance, as well as other noted dance companies. He does social media and administrative work as well.

Pulga Muchochoma was born in Mozambique where his dance career and training began with Montes Namuli Dance Company. In 2006 he came to Toronto with the company for the International AIDS Conference. He later stayed in Toronto to study at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. In 2009 he joined the company (TDT) under Artist Director Christopher House where he worked for 11 seasons with the company. During his time with TDT he had the pleasure of working and collaborating with alot of well known local and international choreographers.  He is a co-founder of 3+ Collective and he’s also the creator and founder of Pulga Dance which focuses on self solo creations and traditional African Dances since 2015.  www.pulgadance.com

Gerry Trentham's (he/they/their) life-long dedication to the art of performance has created their own cannon of over 40 original works for stage and screen, garnered international performance acclaim, international film awards, numerous Toronto Dora awards/nominations, originated roles in works of some of Canada’s most renowned choreographers (most recently as cast/voice director in Denise Fujiwara's hit EUNOIA), and invited international directing, choreographic, teaching and mentoring opportunities on four continents and within major performance training programs in Canada and the United States. Their art and teaching focuses on the transdisciplinary - a voice/body’s range and depth of presence within installed art environments. With a lifetime of inter-arts dance/voice practice, an MFA in theatre, a graduate diploma in Voice and Speech Teaching from York University, 25 years as research faculty of the acclaimed National Voice Intensive (now the Moving Voice Institute) and six years with Denise Fujiwara in their new frontier of training, Butoh/Voice, they have sustained and connected a performance career still fluid into a fifth decade.