Stream of Dance Festival
​Artist Bios and Credits

SOD#4      Prairie Currents C

ELOISE  |​ Jeanette Kotowich 

​Eloise is a character-derived dance performance choreographed, written and performed by Jeanette Kotowich, which brings insight to the practice of honouring traditional territory. Eloise invites the audience to witness and participate in protocol with sincerity, hilarity, and gratitude. Through paralleling the irreverent against reverence, the performance experience is a provocation, asking the question "How do we give thanks?" Eloise is honouring, the inner terrain of the body, the ties to land and experience that we carry with us from where we have come, and the physical land on which we currently stand.
We are all of our relations.

Jeanette Kotowich | Photo credit: Yvonne Chew

Jeanette Kotowich is a Vancouver based professional contemporary Aboriginal dance artist and choreographer. She holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, BC. Currently, she is creating a full-length, innovative solo performance, collaboratively directed with Maroi artist, Charles Koroneho (Te Toki Haruru), and has worked with Vancouver based dance artists Deanna Peters (Mutable Subject), and Su Feh Lee (Battery Opera). Jeanette creates work as an independent dance artist & choreographer; she is a seasonal dance artist with Dancers of Damelahamid, Raven Spirit Dance, and V’ni Dansi. Jeanette co-ordinates for the annual Coastal First Nations Dance Festival, is a member of the Full Circle First Nations Performing Arts Ensemble, the Indigenous Performing Art Alliance & a founding board member/secretary for Savage Society. Honoring her Cree Métis heritage (originally from Saskatchewan) as a source of inspiration and reference point in her work, Jeanette is passionate about investigating a blend of contemporary and Indigenous practices.

​Previous Performances: Raven Spirit Dance IndigeDIV, Dance in Vancouver ñ November 2017, Gold Saucer Fundraiser for Mutable Subject, NEW RAW  ñ Vancouver ñ August 2016 
Acknowledgements: I would like to acknowledge each person who has offered his or her support as a mentor or ëoutside eyeí in the creation of Eloise. In working order, thank you to Sharon Brass, Deanna Peters, Michelle Olson, Charles Koroneho, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Carlos Rivera MartÌnez, Margaret Grenier, Jack Gray, and DÂkot-ta Alcantara-camacho.
Project Support: Raven Spirit Dance, The Dance Centre, Talking Stick Festival
Image Credit: Chris Randle

TRAILS  | ​Misty Wensel 

Misty Wensel is a co- founder, dancer and choreographer with Regina based FadaDance Troupe. Dancing with this trio informs her creative spirit, while affording her the opportunity to create inquisitive & intuitive works of contemporary dance.
Misty, a University of Regina graduate with a B. Ed (Dance), has been sharing her craft with students and peers for two decades. In 2004, Misty established FadaDance, a contemporary dance school, the first of its kind in Regina, SK. Since then, she has had the opportunity to train and inspire dancers of all ages, while creating a platform for her troupe and her students that is truly unique. Misty’s work with FadaDance Troupe and youth company has taken her to stages across Canada, and as far as Jamaica, Brazil, Taiwan, & Denmark. As a solo artist, Misty has become recognized for her ability to fuse Kathak into an original breed of contemporary work. In 2018 Misty toured this body of Pathak-Influenced work throughout India in a new collaboration- Finite with Joanna de Souza of Chhandam Toronto.
Misty is excited to present Trails her new solo work which fuses elements of contemporary dance, songwriting, music production, and theatre.

Photo credit: Jocelyn Tanner

Trails
At the head of a trail, this beaten down path where many have walked before.
The lens shrinks and the repetition of steps becomes a song.
The lens broadens and the vast prairie soundscape unfolds.
The cadence of feet stepping, visions of a congested dance floor.
Tracks gathering at a meeting point, bodies brought together by shifting winds.
Snapping sparks, a call to return home.

These are just the songs that follow the seeker into the wild.

​Costume Design & Creation: Lisa Wickland

Music Credits:
Music Production: Orion Paradis
Vocals: Kacy Lee Anderson
Matt Good - Passenger
​Wolf Willow - Calexibeisel I&II, River Bends, Sleds I&II
Kevin Redfield - Tear Stained Eyes
Hector Plimmer - Shiver (Sarathy Korwar Remix)

whatever they sing  | ​Connie Moker Wernikowski

may my heart always be open to little 
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know   
                                                    ee cummings

​Choreography: Connie Moker Wernikowski
Dancers: Katrina Currie, Michelle Korpan, Carleigh Macdonald, Natasha Molnar-Fluter
Music: Takahiro Kido, with additional sound design by Garry Wasyliw
Poetry: ee cummings
Vocal Coach: Traci Foster
Costume Assistance: Colleen Molnar
Special Thanks: Robin Poitras and New Dance Horizons; Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan; Saskatchewan Arts Board for supporting the creation of whatever they sing.

Connie Moker Wernikowski | Photo credit: Richard Avram

Loops and Crinkles | ​Connie Moker Wernikowski 

A contemporary dance film, choreographed by Connie Moker Wernikowski with direction, cinematography and editing by Larry J. Bauman. The film celebrates family and the intrinsic human spirit that moves us to dance at all ages. Loops and Crinkles was originally created for the Healthy Dancer Canada Conference in September 2016.  It was performed again presented by New Dance Horizons in April 2017.
Dancers: Connie Moker Wernikowski, Katrina Currie, Evelyn Currie, Elle Wernikowski

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Larry J. Bauman is an award winning Saskatchewan filmmaker whose drama, documentary and performing arts productions have screened in countries around the world. He has acted as adjudicator, speaker and workshop presenter at several regional and national festival events and recently co-developed and instructed the University of Saskatchewan media production course Creating for the 21st Century Screen.
 
“Over the past few years I’ve been able to move towards working with dancers, playwrights, actors, authors on projects that reflect my own interest in the screen-as-canvas for realizing personal vision, experimentation, exploration and discovery. I’ve directed pieces ranging from Saskatchewan micro-budget dance works to feature dramas and documentary series, and recently created a two-hour multi-screen video environment for a theatre production in Barcelona. In each instance I’ve been able to evolve my own visual aesthetic while working with artists who have strong and sophisticated visions of their own. This is the realm in which I’m most comfortable. It is never predicable, never safe, but always rewarding.” 
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Michelle Korpan is a contemporary dance artist from Regina, Saskatchewan. She studied with Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan for over a decade, was a member of the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan from 2002 to 2012, and was part of the Youth Ballet teaching staff from 2011 to 2014. She has worked with many dance, performance, voice, and visual artists, and has performed in numerous dance festivals, community events, and performances throughout Saskatchewan. In recent years Michelle has performed with Robin Poitras’ Rouge-gorge company, in works by Connie Moker Wernikowski and by Caitlin Coflin, and in a collaborative project with Caitlin Coflin and Roxanne Korpan as part of New Dance Horizons’ House of Danceand Blueprint series. Michelle will be performing in New Dance Horizon's Stream of Dance Festival this spring. Michelle completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in religious studies at the University of Regina in 2013 and graduated from the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan this spring. She has returned to Regina to work as a student at law at the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan this year and is excited to again be teaching with Youth Ballet.

Carliegh Macdonald, while a member of the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, Carleigh performed  in Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, and  Aberdeen, Scotland. Since graduating from the school, Carleigh has participated in  projects with local artists including Connie Moker Wernikowski’s New Dance Horizons show, Sixty Forty (2014); Johanna Bundon’s Globe Theatre Sandbox Series production of Rael’s Journey (2015); as well as works by Caitlin Coflin, Johanna Bundon, and Bee Pallomina in NDH’s Stream of Dance Festival (2016). She performed in Connie Moker Wernikowski’s Our Mandelas in NDH’s Stream of Dance Festival, the Secret Garden Tour, and as part of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s For the Love of Dance (2016). Most recent collaborations include works with Connie Moker Wernikowski, Toronto’s Karen Rose, and the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan. Carleigh is currently finishing her BA in English at the University of Regina, as well as an instructor of ballet and modern dance at Youth Ballet and Contemporary Dance of Saskatchewan.

Natasha Molnar-Fluter has performed in the Secret Garden Tour 2017, 2016, 2015; the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s For the Love of Dance 2016; Stream of Dance Festival: New Works Regina 2016; The Blanket Folding Project 2016; Rael’s Journey 2015; Sixty/Forty: Recent Works by Connie Moker Wernikowski 2014. She is a former member of the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, which provided the opportunity to perform throughout Saskatchewan, Edmonton and Scotland, and most recently as an alumnus in their 2017 Dance Me a Song. Natasha is currently finishing her BSc in Mathematics at the University of Regina.

Connie Moker Wernikowski holds an Honours BA in Dance from York University and an M.Ed from the University of Regina. She was Artistic Director of Youth Ballet and Contemporary Dance of Saskatchewan (YBCS) from 1994 to 2009. Her long career, centred in Regina, has included work as a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer. She moved to Regina in 1975 to be a company member of Regina Modern Dance Works. She has also toured through Canada as an independent soloist. She has been guest choreographer for several dance and theatre companies including Corps Bara Dance Theatre in Calgary. Her work, A Secret Society, was performed at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival Gala in Aberdeen Scotland, August 2013. In recent years Connie has produced several new works often presented by New Dance Horizons. Connie has diversified into teaching yoga as well as dance, and owns Big Fish Yoga in Regina.

Katrina Currie graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School in 1997. She went on to apprentice with the National Ballet of Canada in 1997/1998. With Guillaume Cote, Katrina performed the Swan Lake Pas De Deux at Canada’s Governor General Awards in honour of Karen Kain in November 1997. After a decision to move into the world of contemporary dance, Katrina attended the School of Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and was named an honorary graduate of their professional program in spring 1999.  She went on to dance with Ruth Cansfield Dance, which was a renowned Winnipeg contemporary dance company. Katrina has danced the work of several renowned choreographers including John Neumeier, Rudy Van Dantzig, Ruth Cansfield and Brent Lott. She studied dance in Germany and Vienna. Katrina now lives in Regina with her husband and four young children and works as an Occupational Therapist for Prairie Valley Schools.

​Evelyn Currie, Katrina’s daughter, Connie’s granddaughter,  is currently 8 years old and a grade 3 student at St. Kateri School in Regina.  She studies ballet, modern dance and jazz dance at Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan.  Evelyn loves to dance and sing and spend time with friends.
Elle Wernikowski, Connie’s granddaughter, Katrina’s niece is currently 7 years old and a grade 2 student at St. Kateri School in Regina.  She studies ballet and modern dance at Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan.  Elle loves to dance and sing and is especially talented at making visual art. She and her cousin Evelyn are best friends.