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- Weekly Schedule
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Patrick Parson
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Mr. Parson, a native Trinidad and Tobago,
and a dancer and musician from the age of 10,
Patrick Parson draws much of his inspiration from the vibrant multicultural community that makes up the Caribbean.
Patrick spent his early years singing in choirs,
composing and singing calypsos, playing with steel orchestras,
dancing and drumming with community folk groups,
and studying ballet and modern dance at the Caribbean School of Dance and the Dance Academy of Trinidad and Tobago.
He was trained in the dance and drumming styles of Guinea and Senegal by Mor Thiam,
the Artist Director of Les Ballets Africans,
and in Canada graduated from the school of the Toronto Dance Theatre.
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Helen Jones
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Helen Jones began ballet classes in Swansea, Wales, and at age 10 was accepted at the Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduating, and attracted to a more contemporary esthetic, she began dancing at the newly formed London Contemporary Dance Theatre, with emerging choreographers including Richard Alston, and worked in London’s experimental theatre scene. In 1970 she was invited to join the Toronto Dance Theatre (artistic directors and founders Patricia Beatty, David Earle, and Peter Randazzo.) Helen was a featured artist with TDT in the 70s and again in the 80s. She also danced 2 seasons in Toronto with the company of Robert Desrosiers.
Helen was a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, under the direction of Martha Graham, and danced with the company on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera House, and extensively across America. As an independent artist she worked with choreographers in Toronto, Brussels, Rome, and New York City.
Helen taught at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance, and has taught Graham based technique in America, Canada, and Europe.
Currently Helen is on the faculty at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, York University Department of Dance, Ballet Creole, and Dancetheatre David Earle. She is the director of Artemesia Dance, a dance and arts programme for children in rural Grey Highlands.
Helen has a B.Sc. in Psychology (UT), a Diploma in Training and Development (OISE), and professional development studies include courses in pedagogy at the National Ballet School of Canada.
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Jose Angel Carret Morejon
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Dancer, Teacher, Choreographer and Artistic Director (CUBA), Guest Artist, CUBA
Jose (known as Carret) began his studies in the Matanzas province in Cuba. In 1989 he graduated from the Instituto de Arte and worked as a modern dance professor until 1991. From 1992 until 2000 he was principal dancer and choreographer with “Danza Espiral”, he toured to Spain and the Caribbean with this company .He received many important national awards as a dancer and choreographer and continued to choreograph for many other companies across Cuba, as well as for the student’s of Matanzas Provincial and National Ballet School, for their international competitions. These students are presently working at the National Ballet of Cuba. He received several medals from Asociacion Hermanos Saiz, as an honourable member for the 20th anniversary of the AHS.
In 2005, Jose Carret toured Canada as a guest dancer for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks from Calgary, AB. Jose and was a guest instructor and choreographer for Oakville School of Dance and The Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble Summer Intensive. Jose premiered “Dimension Cubana “in Toronto with Cosmopolitan Productions in 2009 and since April 2009, he is guest dancer with Ballet Creole. He is the Artistic Director of Danza Corpus, from Matanzas, Cuba .
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Nicola Pantin
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Nicola Pantin has been dancing, teaching and choreographing for various theatres and independent dance productions since 1990. She has taught extensively throughout Ontario in high schools (Highland JH, Windfields JH, Toronto French School, Wexford Collegiate, ESA), colleges (George Brown, Randolph Dance Academy,) and professional dance studios (Dance Teq, Toronto Dance Theatre, Ballet Creole, Metro Movement, Urban Studio Theatre) and has also acted as adjudicator and juror at dance festivals and high schools.
Her work with Spark Theatre’s “Romeo and Juliet Remixed” and LKTYP’s 2004 production of “Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang” garnered her Dora Mavor Moore awards for outstanding choreography in theatre. Her Stratford Festival credits include choreography for “Hamlet, Fuente Ovejuna, The Liar, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, The Glass Menagerie, The Count of Monte Cristo, Timon of Athens, The Donnelly’s Sticks and Stones, The Brothers Karamazov” as well as performance in The King and I.
Film credits in choreography include music videos for Big Toad Productions and Revolver films and ‘The Table Dance’ for Bravo/FACT ! She has also performed in Jenn Goodwin’s short dance films ‘Stuck’ and Big Chief Ballet. Nicola created and performed in Static for Spark Theatre at Harbourfront Centre and also choreographed LKTYP’s Seussical, Wizard of Oz and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Nicola’s latest projects include creating a new work with Andrew Massingham and choreography for Stratford’s As You Like It and The Tempest.
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Mercedes Bernardez
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Ballet Contemporary
Mercedes was born in Argentina, and graduated as a dance instructor in 1977 from Escuela Municipal de Danzas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Mercedes began her professional dance career in 1979-84 being Principal Dancer for Ballet Oficial de Cordoba, Argentina. She had a prolific international career as a dancer , teacher and choreographer and has worked beside many well-known dance artists and master teachers such as Ramona de Saa , Artistic Director of National Ballet of Cuba , Nina Novak , AD , Ballet Clasico de Camara de Caracas , Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Martin , Buenos Aires , Argentina , Ballet National Chileno, and 1stBallet Competition in Chile .
She moved to Canada to become the Artistic Director of Quinte Ballet School of Canada from 1987-2003 and later worked as Ballet Mistress for the Alberta Ballet. Ms Bernardez has worked as an assistant for Jean Grand Maitre , Artistic Director of the Alberta Ballet in his creation for the National Ballet of Cuba , 2006 “ Solitario”. She has performed character roles with Alberta Ballet and was Margie Gillis‘s assistant and repetitour for her creation for the Alberta Ballet’s “Rivers Without Bridges”. In August 2008, she was Guest Teacher at the Summer Programme for Richmond Academy of Dance and presently works as guest / resident teacher for Oakville School of Dance, teaches for Ballet Jorgen and Ballet Creole. Recent initiatives include a collaborating with the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble, Hamilton and teaching Latin Dance in Oakville for the Kerr Senior Recreation Centre.
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Consuelo Herrera
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Consuelo was born in Havana, Cuba
begining her dance career at 14 with folklore and cabaret groups. She has been dancing
with Grupo Raicis Profundas(Deep Roots) for more than 10 years as a soloist lead dancer
and singer touring Cuba, Central America and Europe. Having appeared in several films and
documentaries about dance in Cuba, she has also performed with the Havana Opera
in the Grand Teatro Habana and in Mexico. After touring Japan with Cuban National Cultural Spectacular,
Consuelo was brought to Canada by Jane Burnett and her "Spirits of Havana" project to the Planet Africa Party
of 1996 Toronto Film Festival and a tour of Canada and the U.S.
Since then, she has been teaching at Ballet Creole's Professional Traning Program and has been performing
with Ballet Creole since August 2003.
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Gabby Kamino
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Gabby is an independent dancer and choreographer.
Her works have been performed throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe.
She has presented two major works at Ffida to critical acclaim, and her show The Story, in collaboration with PBJ, was named one of the top ten dance events by NOW Magazine in 1998.
She has worked with Judy Jarvis, Til Thiele, Lawrence Gradus and Milton Myers.
In 1975, Gabby joined the faculty of the University of Waterloo as Lecturer and Artistic Director of the Repertory Dance Company
and also co-founded her own company Dance Plus Four. During this time,
she was a World Team Choreographer for the Canadian National Figure Skating Association and Olympic Competitors.
Gabby is a recipient of several awards, most recently from the City of Kitchener / Waterloo, and is creating works for Ballet Creole and PBJ Dance Projects.
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Debbie Wilson
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Debbie Wilson - Ms. Wilson's rich background as dancer, teacher and rehearsal director reflects a lifetime of work with some to the greatest artists of our time, a lifetime reflected in her resonant choreographic voice. Debbie Wilson is the Artistic Director and Founder of OMO Dance Company for which she has created a repertoire of critically acclaimed productions, including Aphrodite Unveiled, Raphael is whispering and Homo Office Sapiensis that in 2002 received a Dora Mavor Moore nomination for "Outstanding New Choreography". Wilson began her professional career with the Cincinnati Ballet Company at the age of 12 where she was promoted to soloist and rehearsal assistant. She has worked as dancer/rehearsal mistress for The American Dance Machine, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Howard Richard & Dancers and Ballet Jorgen. She has also worked for the Judith Marcuse Repertory Dance Company, the Randy Glynn Dance Project as well as many independent choreographers across Canada and the US.
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Gary De Matas
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Gary De Matas - Mr. Gary De Matas has been involved in dance scene for over past twenty-five years as a performer, teacher and choreographer. Gary’s formal dance training began at The Maracas Valley Combined Cultural Performers. He later studied with The Malick Folk Performers, The Caribbean School of Dancing and The Astor Johnson Repertory Dance Theatre Workshop in Trinidad and Tobago.He holds a M.A in Dance form York University. He had undertaken a major research paper into the Astor Johnson dance aesthetic and the Trinidad and Tobago male dancer, and was invited to present his research findings in June 2007 at the International Symposium of the Society of Dance History Scholars in Paris, France. Mr. De Matas has conducted a series of Master Classes on Afro-Caribbean Dance at the invitation of the South Dallas Dance Festival – Home at Last, Dallas, Texas, USA.
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