ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS BIOS

​A versatile artist, whose talents transcend the boundaries of dance, music, opera and multi-media, Marie-Josée moves easily between her roles as choreographer, performer, director, vocalist and teacher. Her pieces have been presented at festivals and by dance companies across Canada, Europe and Latin America. Her work was the subject of documentary films presented on television and film festivals. In 2003, she founded Chartier Danse to create a cornerstone for large scale productions and partnerships in Canada and abroad. Since 2004, Marie-Josée directs/stages opera, dance and multi-media productions that tour nationally and internationally. Collaborations include: BoucharDanse, Gryphon Trio, Queen of Puddings, Tapestry Opera, Arraymusic, Theaturtle and l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal. Awards include: Jacqueline Lemieux Prize (2015); K.M. Hunter Artist Award (2001), 9 Dora Mavor Moore nominations; recipient for fifty-one pieces of silver for Dancemakers (2002) and two Doras with the collective URGE for And by the way Miss (2005). www.mariejoseechartier.com, www.chartierdanse.com

Angie Cheng is a Montreal-based dance artist. Collaborative creation processes ground her ongoing research in performance; investigating the liminal space between creative process and performance event, between spectator and performer. The embodied and specific understandings that arise from these investigations shape her current questions and engagements both in her own work and with others. She has also been actively engaged in the dance community in the conversations of inclusivity, diversity and accessibility. It’s not just what we make as artists but how. She is committed to practicing consent, respect and accessibility: care in how we are together in all that she is engaged in.

Gabriel Cropley is a Toronto-based lighting designer and three-time Dora Mavor Moore award nominee. Recent credits include Call to Earth for NAfro Dance (Winnipeg), inTOfocus for Dance: Made in Canada/Fait au Canada, Eating bones and Licking bread for Dancemakers, Undaunted for RAW Taiko Drummers, Congruence 2 for BoucharDanse & lbs/sq”, and Million Dollar Quartet for Capitol Theatre Port Hope. Gabriel has had the privilege of collaborating with Alias Dance Projects, Ballet Creole, Expect Theatre, TOES for Dance, Bicycle Opera, CanAsian Dance, dreamwalker dance, Angela Blumberg, Simcoe Contemporary Dancers, Avinoam Silverman Dance, Little Pear Garden Dance Company, Toronto Heritage Dance, Korean Dance Studies Society of Canada, Festival of the Sound, Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, Danny Grossman, Theatre Gargantua, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Sampradaya Dance Creations, Hamilton Children’s Choir, Tracey Norman, Forcier StageWorks, Soulpepper Global Cabaret, Ritmo Flamenco, Teatron Theatre, JDdance, Tribal Crackling Wind, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. http://gabrielcropley.ca

Native of Montreal, Anne-Marie Donovan’s creative work includes Maanomaa, My Brother (Blue Bird Theatre Collective), Frankenstein’s Ghosts (Inter Arts Matrix), The Last 15 Seconds (MT Space) and Sounding Rituals (Open Ears Festival). Anne-Marie is currently working on the co-creation of a trilogy of theatre works based on Phaedra called, Phaedra Echoes: Phaedra 101, Les racines de la rage and Dear Euripides (Inter Arts Matrix). Directing credits include Lord Sword by DW Campbell (IAM), the opera Ghost Tango, by Tim Brady and Douglas Burnett (Vocalypse), and Giiwedin, a First Nations opera by Spy Dénommé-Welch and Catherine Magowan (Opera Laurier). In 2007, Anne-Marie founded Inter Arts Matrix and served as its artistic director until 2014. She is former artistic director of NUMUS Concerts and a recipient of the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award at University of Waterloo where she taught in the Theatre and Performance Program from 1993-2014.  www.annemariedonovan.ca

André du Toit is a lighting designer for live performance based in Toronto. His designs have received three Dora Mavor Moore Awards and a Toronto Theatre Critics Award. Recent designs include Prince Hamlet (Why Not Theatre); R+J (Stratford Festival of Canada); Getting Married, The Orchard (Shaw Festival); Now You See Her, Mouthpiece (Quote Unquote Collective); The Cave, Le Grand Continental (Luminato); Jerusalem(Outside the March/Company Theatre); Animal Farm, A Delicate Balance, Vimy, The 39 Steps, (Soulpepper); This Was the World, Guarded Girls, Harlem Duet (Tarragon Theatre); Italian Mime Suicide, Paolozzapedia, The Double(Bad New Days); Oraltorio (Obsidian/Soulpepper); Love and Information (Canadian Stage); The Assholes, As I Lay Dying (Theatre Smith-Gilmour); and on air (Adelheid).

Bio to come

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator whose work has appeared in various Canadian and international publications. Her collection What if red ran out (Goose Lane Editions, 2008) was shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and won the 2009 Gerald Lampert award for best first book. Her book translations include Martine Delvaux’s White Out, Stéphane Martelly’s Little Girl Gazelle, and Marie-Claire Blais’s Songs for Angel. Her translations of David Clerson’s first novel, Brothers, and of A Cemetery for Bees, by Alina Dumitrescu, were shortlisted for Governor General’s Awards.

​Meet Melanie, a Toronto-based stage manager and production manager qui passe son temps switching back and forth de l’anglais to French. With over 10 years of stage management experience, her credits include: Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, Théâtre la Catapulte, Sheatre, BoucharDanse, Dusk Dances, Théâtre français de Toronto, Perchance Theatre, Pride Toronto, the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the ceremonies at the 2017 Invictus Games and the 2015 PanAm and ParapanAm Games. In her career, she has worked extensively with Théâtre français de Toronto, not only as a stage manager, but also as a production manager and surtitle creator. Melanie is also an entrepreneur and life skills coach. She creates and facilitates online courses, school workshops, and private coaching which are all available through www.lifeskillswithmel.com. Her signature Big Sister-style approach resonates with young adults looking to get the judgement-free support they deserve, so they can step into independent life with confidence. www.renaissancewomanhood.com

Emerson Kafarowski (she/they) is an emerging Lighting Designer and Multidisciplinary Artistbased in Tkaronto, Canada. A graduate of the Toronto Metropolitan University Performance Production + Design program, they’ve worked on performances and workshops in a variety of genres, including dance, theatre, opera, and live music. Dedicated to life-long learning, Emersongravitates towards projects that explore the richness and complexity of diverse human experiences, in which important stories and voices of the past and present are uplifted. She hashad the pleasure of working with and designing for many inspiring artists and companies, including BoucharDanse, Citadel + Compagnie, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Fall ForDance North Festival, MOCA Toronto, Naishi Wang, Red Sky Performance, and SoulpepperTheatre Company. Other projects include EMRSN x EOS, an open-source project designed to bring financially accessible and portable lighting control devices to emerging artists, companies, and site-specific performances.

Bio to come

Born in Singapore, Jareth is a stage designer now based in Toronto by way of Calgary. He has a love for new work that examines identity politics, culture, and heritage. In addition to his artistic practice, he is a member of The Howland Company, as well as a stagecraft instructor at York University. He believes strongly in mentorship, and creating opportunities for upcoming generations of designers. Select design credits: The Wolves (Howland & Crows Theatre), Casimir and Caroline, The Home Project (Howland); Ring of Fire (Citadel Theatre); Serving Elizabeth (WCT); Iphigenia and The Furies (Saga Collectif); Chautauqua (Pearle Harbour).

Patrick Lynn (they/them) is a queer performance professional originally from Fredericton, NB. They moved to Toronto in 2017 to pursue their BFA, Performance: Production at TMU. Patrick primarily works as a stage manager and production manager for theatre and dance, in both French and English. They have been fortunate enough to work with such companies as Aluna Theatre, ARC, Balancing on the Edge, Modern Times Stage Company, Talk is Free Theatre, Théâtre français de Toronto, TranscenDance Project, Victoria Mata Productions, and The WeeFestival of Arts and Culture, among others. 

Rodrigo Michelangeli is a Canadian-Venezuelan filmmaker based in Toronto. He is the co-writer, cinematographer and producer of the feature film LA SOLEDAD (Jorge Thielen Armand, 2016), which premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival and helmed the same roles in his sophomore feature LA FORTALEZA (2020) which premiered in the Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. Rodrigo obtained a BFA in Film Production from Toronto’s York University. As a Cinematographer he has worked in several projects including the hybrid documentary ‘Leftover,’ which won the 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Award; Rodrigo also produced Mo Scarpelli's third feature film "El Father Plays Himself" which premiered in Visions du Réel 2020 and won its Jury Special Mention. He’s an alumnus of RIDM's Talent Lab, Hot Docs Accelerators Program, Venice Biennale College, BAL and the Berlinale Talents Camera Studio.

Bio to come

Noireaut is an eclectic musician. He composes for cinema, theatre and dance. He has recorded numerous jazz concerts and piano recitals for radio and television (Radio Canada, Bravo, TV5) and directed musically several of Radio Canada’s galas, including an award winning homage to Gilles Vigneault. As a singer-songwriter, Noireaut received the SOCAN Grand Prize in 1995. His song recitals and jazz concerts have toured nationally and internationally. Some of his compositions for poems by Victor Hugo and Rimbaud were launched in France in albums in 2007 and 2015. He collaborated with singer Renée Claude on an album celebrating Léo Ferré, which won the prestigious Charles Cros Academy Award (France), 1997. He has composed the music and is part of the performing casts of several of Lina Cruz’s works. He is a 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Award recipient and a 2017 nominee (Outstanding Sound Design/Composition).

Ed Pien is a Canadian artist based in Toronto. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, he immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eleven. Pien has shown extensively, both nationally and internationally, in venues that include the Drawing Centre, NYC: the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Canadian Culture Centre in Paris; The Goethe Institute in Berlin; The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria;  Musée des beaux arts, Montreal; Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal; Songzhuang Art Centre, Beijing; the National Art Gallery of Canada; as well as Oboro. He has participated in the 2000 and 2002 Montreal Biennales; the 18th Edition of the Sydney Biennale, “Oh Canada”, at MASS MoCA. His work is collected widely and includes FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; The National Art Gallery of Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario; Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal. Musée des beaux arts, Montreal; Mendel Art Gallery; Weatherspoon Art Museum, University Of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina; as well as other institutions and private collections.  www.edpien.com

Native from Atholville (New Brunswick) and living in Toronto, Jeff Soucy is a bilingual stage manager with a creative and performance background, always willing to have productions benefit from his numerous talents and skills. Since transitioning backstage in 2019, he has also served as associate director, dramaturg, casting assistant, script supervisor, translator for surtitles, fight captain, and more. He is the recipient of the Governor General’s Academic Medal and the Triple Threat Award from Randolph College where he studied acting, voice and dance. Favourite stage management credits include: Le club des éphémères (TfT), très loin (BoucharDanse) She Visits, Pal Joey (TIFT), La bulle (Corpus) and Heroine (TNB). His philosophy for making each performance count: “Someone in the audience might be witnessing the magic of live art for the first or the last time.”

Jesse Stewart is an award-winning composer, percussionist, and artist. He has performed and recorded with musical luminaries including Pauline Oliveros, Hamid Drake, William Parker, Joe Mcphee, David Mott, Stretch Orchestra, Michael Snow, and many others. He has been widely commissioned as a composer and artist. He is a professor of music in Carleton University’s School for Studies in Art and Culture and an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts program at the University of Ottawa. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honours including the 2012 Juno award for “Instrumental Album of the Year,” and the Order of Ottawa.

Phil Strong was an award winning sound designer and composer based in Toronto - working in film, dance, theatre, audio plays, musical performance and art installation. A long-time collaborator with BoucharDanse, Phil also composed major commissions for artistic directors Christoper House, Denise Fujiwara, Matjash Mrowzewski, Moze Mossanen, and Karen & Allen Kaeja - amongst others. He assisted artists John Oswald and Heather Nicol in the creation of some of their masterworks and also designed sound and music for installations by Sara Angelucci, Su Rynard, Kent Monkman and Ed Burtynsky. Phil had a hand in producing numerous music albums and film soundtracks and he sang in the Georgian vocal ensemble, Darbazi. Phil passed away on December 2, 2022. www.phil-strong.com 

William Yong is a multi-faceted artist, choreographer, performer, designer and director for theatre and film. He is currently the artistic director of Zata Omm and W Zento Production. William graduated from the London Contemporary Dance School in U.K. His dissertation for his Master's Degree study was in the subject of dance films. He completed his MA with distinction validated by the University of Kent in Canterbury. William's professional career spans over twenty-eight years. He has performed in 75 cities within 15 countries. The award-winning director has created more than one hundred original works worldwide. William and his works received ten-time Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations. William was a Dora Mavor Moore Award winner and the winner of “I love dance/J’aime la danse” Award for Innovation. His film works were the winners of 'Best Cinematography' at Venice Shorts Film Awards and winner of 'Award of Excellence' at One-Reeler Short Film Competition.

Taylor Young (they/them) is a Toronto-based Stage Manager and Production Manager, originally from Calgary, AB. They hold a BFA from TMU in Performance Production. They have worked with companies such as Kaeja d’Dance, Nova Dance, ProArteDanza, School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Citadel + Compagnie, DopoLavoro Teatrale, Toronto Dance Theatre, Rock Bottom Movement, Fall for Dance North, etc.