Co-Directors Julia Carr and Meghan Goodman:
Meghan Goodman graduated from the Etobicoke School of the Arts high school in Toronto as a dance major with a love for maths and sciences. From there she went on to study dance at Simon Fraser University where she graduated with a BFA, as a dance major and mathematics minor.
Meghan has choreographed and instructed dance for the adult recreational stART Dance Company, the talented pre-professional dancers at the Richmond Academy of Dance, and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Meghan received a 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teaching certification from Flow Yoga in 2006. In April 2013 Meghan completed the Level 2 Iyengar Yoga certification program under the guidance of training teacher Louie Ettling, with granting assistance from the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. She teaches Iyengar yoga classes and workshops throughout Vancouver.
Meghan has been actively performing, choreographing and teaching in Vancouver for the past decade. She has had the privilege of working for choreographers Hanna Kiel, Lydia Wagerer, Justine Chambers, Sara Coffin, Jennifer Clarke, Kat Single-Dain, Desiree Dunbar, Monica Strehlke, Alvin Tolentino, Peter Chin, Julia Taffe, Michelle Olson, Amelia Rudolph and Rob Kitsos. In 2013 Meghan danced in the Vancouver Opera’s productions of The Magic Flute and Tea: A Mirror of Soul. Meghan has shown her own work at venues such as Dances for a Small Stage, 12 Minutes Max, Bloom, the Moberly Arts and Culture Centre, NextFest, In the House Festival, BC Buds, ANU, Brief Encounters, and the Powell Street Festival. Meghan joined Aeriosa Dance Society in 2009, and had been performing regularly with the company since then, expanding her artistic skills and practice through aerial dance. Her experience creating interdisciplinary site-specific work with the Society for Public Spontaneity in 2006/07, led Meghan to join the Body Narratives Collective (BNC) in 2008. www.meghangoodman.wordpress.com
Julia Carr began her intensive movement training at Arts Umbrella, in 1996, when she became a member of their youth dance company under the directorship of Artemis Gordon. She now holds a B.Sc. Biology from Acadia University, an MA in Dance Performance from the University of Limerick (Ireland), received the Vancouver Foundation’s 2004/2005 Advanced
Arts Study Award to attend the Ballet BC Mentor Program, and was hired to apprentice with EDAM Dance for their 2007/2008 season. At the end of 2007, Carr became a founding member of the Body Narratives Collective (BNC).
Julia is an active member in BC’s dance community. She has been a CADA/BC board member and fundraiser, a steering committee member for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre’s BC office, worked as Production Assistant for Mascall Dance’s “Bloom Series”, as Assistant to the Artistic and Executive Director at MainDance, and more recently as Assistant Artistic Director for Dancestreams Youth Dance Company based on Vancouver Island.
Julia Carr works regularly as a dance interpreter for Aeriosa Dance Society, Raven Spirit Dance, and Compaigni V’ni Dansi, and has also performed professional works by choreographers Peter Bingham, Jennifer Clarke, Sara Coffin, Henry Daniel, Caroline Liffmann, Kathleen McDonagh, and Kathryn Ricketts. Julia is equally as proficient at dancing in a studio or theatre as she is at dancing suspended from heights, on vertical surfaces, in the woods, on the beach, public parks, urban spaces, and art galleries.
As a choreographer, Carr has made dances for unusual sites such as tidal flats, wetlands, gardens and living rooms as well as dances for stage performed by Dancestreams Youth Dance Company, Ballet BC Mentors, and independent dance artist Brigid MacAuley. A woman with diverse interests beyond dance, Julia has concurrently pursued her passion for photography. She has been in charge of two separate university photography societies, and is currently working to complete a certificate program in photography from Langara College.
Collaborators:
Jess Ames was born and raised in small town, Terrace, BC. She started her professional dance training in 2009 with the Arts Umbrella Professional Dance Program in Vancouver, BC, under the artistic direction of Artemis Gordon. Jess holds a Dance Diploma attained from Vancouver Community College in which she graduated from in 2012. Since her schooling she has danced on stage as an apprentice for “Noord Nederlandse Dans” a contemporary dance company in The Netherlands with Stephen Shropshire in 2012, “The Response” a contemporary dance company in Vancouver BC with Amber Funk Barton in 2013, “ProArteDanza” a ballet contemporary dance company in Toronto ON, with Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek in 2014, and “The Lovers Cabaret“ a multi dance style company in Vancouver, BC with Vanessa Young and Ashley Sweett in 2015. Currently, Jess is a dancer with “Body Narratives Collective” with Meghan Goodman and Julia Carr in Vancouver, BC.
Erin Lequereux has relocated to the Vancouver dance community from Calgary, as an independent dance artist.She has received her B.A. in Contemporary Dance from the University of Calgary with an emphasis in Choreography and Performance and a specialization in Ballet from the School of Alberta Ballet.Since then, Miss Lequereux has completed the Limon Professional Studies Program in New York City and has performed the works of Pamela Tzeng, La Caravan Dance Theatre, Corps Bara Dance theatre and Helen Husak, among others.More recently, Miss Lequereux has had the opportunity to work with Body Narratives Collective in the development of and with various choreographers in their processes for Bloom showings.Currently, she is working on her first solo project.
Eowynn Penny-Huguet is a 3rd year dance major at Simon Fraser University. Eowynn is a contemporary dance artist currently doing her BFA in Fine arts at Simon Fraser University. While completing her contemporary dance degree she has trained with, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Summer Intensive 2013, Arts Umbrella’s Summer Intensive 2015, and has been a scholarship student for 605 Collectives Winter 2015 Intensive. She has had the opportunity to take part in performance groups through Harbour Dance Center, as well as competing for Team Canada Dance in Germany with Danielle Gardner and Joshua Beamish. Eowynn has performed in SFU’s repertoire shows from 2013-2015 and had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Rob Kitsos, Lesley Telford, Judith Garay, Gioconda Barbuda, Vanessa Goodman, Katie DeVries, Sarah Chase, Heather Myers, Crystal Pite and Kid Pivot. Eowynn is very excited to be dancing with Body Narratives Collective for the Premier of Ties That Bind.
Photo by Yvonne Chew
Susan Kania is originally from BC and has worked as a performing dance artist since 2005. She has had the good fortune of working with established choreographers such as Jennifer Mascall and Lola Mclaughlin as well as collaborating with other independent artists and collectives in Vancouver and Edmonton. She is grateful to have dance as a means of expression in her life and is fascinated with the way the body moves and functions. She is currently working towards becoming a certified Pilates instructor.
Phil Thomson, MFA (aka phonal) is a Vancouver- based creator of electronic music. His music has been released on labels around the world, broadcast on CBC, and heard in concert in Canada, the US and abroad. His works have been commissioned by such organizations as Vancouver New Music and CFRO Vancouver Co-operative Radio. He has written music for dance by several prominent Vancouver choreographers, including Sara Coffin, James Gnam, Meghan Goodman and Jennifer Clarke. His writings have been published online and by Cambridge University Press, and he assisted with the technical editing of a recent book on the programming language SuperCollider.
Phil is a member of the digital eco-art group known as Loco Moto Art Collective. With Meghan Goodman and Igor Santizo, he is a founding member of IMP Collective. In early 2014, he was artist in residence with Vancouver Parks Board at West Point Grey Community Centre / Aberthau.
A Tehran native currently residing in Vancouver, Arash Khakpour is a graduate of Out Innerspace’s training program, Modus Operandi. He participated in The Ignite Mentorship program at The Cultch, completed the EDAM scholarship and Mascall Dance’s choreographic project “Bloom” with collaborator Kelly McInnes. Arash has had the privilege of performing with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Battery Opera, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, The 605 Collective, Full Performing Bodies and Marta Marta Productions. His work has been presented at Dancing on the Edge, Art for Impact, Dances for a small stage 28, BC BUDS, Dance Allsorts and Vancouver Biennale Festival.
Chu-Lynne Ng’s stage debut was in Hong Kong as the Virgin Mary in Nativity Scene. Since then she has traveled Montreal to Palestine doing improvisational Playback Theater, performed with a troupe of Chinese migrant workers for two years in Beijing, mucked around in some Blackbox shows, the Hive and Illuminares festivals, and directed A few plays. She is currently dealing with her theater problem at SFU.
Emily Neufeld is recent graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design. A visual artist who is particularly keen on sculpture, Emily also loves to design and build sets, community gardens, and anything else that melds function, theme and community. She loves to collaborate with artists of other disciplines — especially the free spirits she finds in the theatre and dance worlds. The last set she created was for [Monitoring] A Doll’s House, a celebrated MFA performance at SFU last year.
Matthew D. Simmons is a voice actor and improviser from New Westminster. When he isn’t recording at his home studio he can usually be found onstage at Second Storey Theatre in Port Coquitlam. He is the creator and host of the Improvised Vinyl Cafe and is currently studying audio engineering in Vancouver.
Hana Hermanek was born into a Czech family and raise on Haida Gwaii where she developed an appreciation for theater, culture, nature, and music. She completed a B.Sc. in Biology and Spanish at UVIC and travelled across BC, Ecuador, and the Maritimes teaching Environmental Education. She has lived in Vancouver for the past 3 years where she continues to find creative ways to connect youth with the environment. During her free time she loves noodling on her flute with her jazz quartet “Hint of Lime” and playing Capoeira.
Lina Fitzner is the woman behind Ruby Dear Thrifting. Shopping thrift and supplying for artists, events, home decor and the like.
Twitter: @rubydearthrift
Instagram: @rubydearthrifting
Email: rubydear.thrift@gmail.com
C.R. Avery is a unique, raw and dynamic performer. His genius lies in many genres – blues, hip-hop, spoken word and rock & roll. He is a one-man band, but one for this generation; with the rare ability to sing poetic verse while beatboxing simultaneously while pounding the piano and adding harmonica like a plot twist. A multi-talented front man for his Legal Tender String Quartet; a crazed lead singer/harp player for his rock & roll band The Special Interest Group; a lyrical dynamo & the musical backbone of the spoken word trio Tons of Fun University. For more information – http://www.cravery.com
Andrew Haw is a multimedia designer who’s work varies between beaming pixelated light against a wall, to lecturing to students in an excessively animated fashion and occasionally includes carving strange shapes out of cork. Most recently he has worked with the likes of Art for Impact, The Body Narratives Collective and Triadic Dance Works. More info at andrewh.ca
Daniel Simmons is a composer from New Westminster BC. A graduate of the Simon Fraser University Music program, his works have been performed at Sonic Boom and the Big Ideas Festival during the Vancouver Biennale. Most recently he completed a fourth collaboration with theatre director Fay Nass as composer, sound designer, and sound operator for her piece ‘Aphotic Dream’.
Justin Aucoin, owner of Craft Cave Productions, is a mixing and mastering engineer with a Vancouver based studio. He has recorded several of Vancouver’s up and coming indie groups and is prominent in the Vancouver live theater scene.
Visit his website soon at www.craftcaveproductions.com
Even Oldridge recently completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering, with a focus on computational photography and computer vision. In the past he has worked as a professional photographer, and continues to explore this medium as an artistic practice. His artwork, including paintings, photography, and mixed media, has shown internationally at galleries and festivals. He has taught a number of core Engineering courses at the University of British Columbia, as well as an Interactive Arts & Design course at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Even currently works at the dating website PlentyofFish.com as a research developer / digital matchmaker.
Maggie Winston is a puppeteer/ community artist who involves individuals and communities to engage collectively in the creation of original puppet performances. Her work has featured at festivals and community centres in Vancouver and abroad. As Artistic Director of Lost & Found Puppet Co., her productions explore human relationships to objects such as stories about lost socks, giant junk monsters, larger-than-life invasive plant species, or grandma’s memories in her recycled quilt. http://lostandfoundpuppetco.com
photo by Eryne Donahue and Neil Fletcher
Alana Gerecke is a Vancouver-based dancer and scholar. She is a company member with EDAM Dance and a co-founder of the site-specific performance group, Behind Open Doors Arts Collective. Recently, she worked on battery opera’s Jessie Award nominated M/Hotel and toured to New York with Melanie Kuxdorf’s Burn & Dodge. A PhD Candidate at Simon Fraser University, Alana’s research – which is supported by a GCS SSHRC and a Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship – explores the spatial and social dynamics of urban site-based dance.
Siobhan Sloane-Seale grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She trained professionally with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, graduating in 1997. Siobhan moved to Vancouver to continue her training in contemporary dance at Simon Fraser University graduating in 2004. She began teaching dance in 2004 and started teaching yoga in 2010. In 2007/08 she worked as an apprentice with Peter Bingham. In 2007 Siobhan co-founded The Body Narratives Collective (BNC) formed in the winter of 2007. BNC worked with choreographer Rob Kitsos on Xenoglossy, a new work they commissioned with the assistance of the BC Arts Council. The collective also developed an original work called Tracing Traces which they performed at BC Buds Spring Arts Fair, The In the House Festival and The Anderson Street Space. In 2011 Siobhan left the collective to pursue other projects. She is currently collaborating on a series of dance film projects with Stacey Murchison.
photo by Claire French
Laura Hicks (CA/GE) is a dancer, performance maker, teacher, and Pilates trainer. Focusing on awareness and perception, movement patterning and intention, and tools relating to image, state, and voice; her work is inspired by a study, and love for improvisation and contact improvisation, functional anatomy, Bartenieff Fundamentals, physical theatre, and contemporary dance. Laura is a masters thesis candidate in Contemporary Dance Education with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. She continues to live and work between Berlin, Frankfurt, and Toronto.
Joanna Chapman-Smith is “the slinky-voiced Canadian whose arch acoustic musings and fondness for the accordion come laced with a hint of Parisian cafes and East European Klezmer music.” — Q Magazine.
Blending acoustic urban Canadiana with jazzy and European flavours, Joanna has a supple and finely-nuanced voice and writes with the ear of a poet. Her musical self-portrait is composed of an unusually large palette of moods and colours. Joanna has already toured many times around the world performing her music as well. In 2011 she won the 9th annual IMA songwriting award for Melodies in the ‘Best Acoustic Song’ category; being awarded a professional development grant by the Canada Council for the Arts, and beginning work on a new album titled, Love Me Deeply – scheduled for a 2013 release.
Body Narratives Collective 