Stream of Dance

Stream of Dance Festival

Live Dance Works by Jolene Bailie, Margie Gillis, Mohitdeep Khatra,
Connie Moker Wernikowski, Edward Poitras, Robin Poitras, Anna Protsiou.
Featuring over 30 prairie artists.
Special Thanks to the Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers.

TICKETS:
Single Ticket Adult $20 / Children & Seniors $15
Double Show Special $30 / Triple Show Special $45

VENUE:
University Theatre, UofR 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina

In keeping with University of Regina Covid-19 policy mask-wearing is optional in the theatre.

Festival Program

Show 1: Thursday, June 9th at 7:30 pm

1. Open Soul of the Prairie (10 mins)

Choreography: Margie Gillis
Performer: Tessa Rae

2. Letter to a Galaxy (14 mins)

Choreography: Connie Moker Wernikowski
Performers: Krista Solheim, Katrina Currie and Tara Solheim
Music: Garry Wasyliw

3. Retangled (20 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Performers: Anastasia Evsigneeva and Anna Protsiou

4. Covid Sonata (6 mins)

Choreography: Jolene Bailie
Performer: Andrés Jiménez Mejía

5. Moving Waters (3 mins)

Performer: Mohitdeep Khatra

6. Quadriga 22 (20 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Rehearsal Director Faye Thomson C.M.
Performers: Reymark Capacete, Gabriela García Ortiz, Juanita Garzón Parra, DJ Green, Aileen Holzrichter, Andrés Jiménez Mejía, Ellice Kynman, Gabby Lawrence, Anne Neudorf, Caitlin Sarna, Ariadna Schulz, Natalie Sluis, Alexis Taylor, Arena Mann-Baxter, Brooke Hess, Megan Henderson, Anastasia Evsigneeva, Anna Protsiou, Johanna Bundon, Tessa Rae, Krista Solheim and
I-Ying Wu

Show 2: Friday, June 10th Matinée at 1:30 pm

1. Metamers (10 mins)

Choreography/Performer: Anna Protsiou

2. Itcush Study (15 mins)

Choreography: Connie Moker Wernikowski
Performers: Caitlin Coflin, Ashley Johnson, Michelle Korpan, Roxanne Korpan and I-Ying Wu
Music: Bryn Besse

3. Flowers (20 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Performer: Krista Solheim

4. Covid Sonata (6 mins)

Choreography: Jolene Bailie
Performer: Andrés Jiménez Mejía

5. Retangled (20 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Performers: Anastasia Evsigneeva and Anna Protsiou

Show 3: Friday, June 10th at 7:30 pm

1. This (10 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Performer: Krista Solheim

2. Itcush Study (15 mins)

Choreography: Connie Moker Wernikowski
Performers: Caitlin Coflin, Ashley Johnson, Michelle Korpan, Roxanne Korpan and I-Ying Wu
Music: Bryn Besse

3. Open Soul of the Prairie (10 mins)

Choreography: Margie Gillis
Performer: Tessa Rae

4. Metamers (10 mins)

Choreography/Performer: Anna Protsiou

5. Infinite Geometry (3 mins)

Performer: Mohitdeep Khatra

6. Quadriga 22 (20 mins)

Choreography: Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras
Rehearsal Director Faye Thomson C.M.
Performers: Reymark Capacete, Gabriela García Ortiz, Juanita Garzón Parra, DJ Green, Aileen Holzrichter, Andrés Jiménez Mejía, Ellice Kynman, Gabby Lawrence, Anne Neudorf, Caitlin Sarna, Ariadna Schulz, Natalie Sluis, Alexis Taylor, Arena Mann-Baxter, Brooke Hess, Megan Henderson, Anastasia Evsigneeva, Anna Protsiou, Johanna Bundon, Tessa Rae, Krista Solheim
and I-Ying Wu

About the works

Itcush Study is a choreographic study which is informed by Itcush Method movement concepts and incorporates sequences from Itcush into Dance created by Amelia Itcush. More information about Amelia’s work may be found at www.ameliaItcush.com

Infinite Geometry is an interpretation of tutting style which is inspired from Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Letter to a Galaxy is inspired by the wonder of the universe and the wonder of our human bodies, both of which are made of the same elements. As Joni Mitchell sang at Woodstock and science has continued to prove “We are stardust”.

Metamers is a choreographic solo that transcends the viewer from the inner depths of the human body to outer space. Metamerism is the perceived matching of colors that actually reflect different wavelengths but appear the same under certain lighting conditions. Colors that match under some lights but not others are called metamers. Our perception of the world is often based on many illusions and what we choose to see through our own experiences that can shift drastically from one human to the other or under different circumstances. When the brain communicates the information by sending signals down the spine nothing is without questions, curiosity; What do you see? What do you hear? Maybe it has nothing to do with what you think. Is it the birth of a new idea or a new version of me?

Open Soul of the Prairie
“Tessa was born in the Prairies. She and I began to discuss how landscape affects the soul. How the gift of any human being can be the gift of the nature that they grow up in. The soul yearns for a vast horizon. The wind across the Prairies is as fluid and rolling as the wind over the ocean. The waves of yielding, resilient wheat and prairie grasses. The clarity of prairie cold and the penetrating warmth of the prairie sun. With the earth under your feet, you live in the sky. You can feel the expanse of your own soul, the expanse of your uniqueness and the humility of your place in the grandeur of the world. This is the gift this dance embodies. This is the gift this dancer offers.” ~Margie Gillis

Re-Tangled
Over the past 3 years, Edward Poitras and I have greatly enjoyed working with Anastasia and Anna. Through an ongoing mentorship process and their commissioning of new work from us, we determined to create Re-Tangled, in response to and as a remixing of their duet dance and dance on film creation entitled TANGLED.
Our process has been intermittent and realized through the intensity and lockdowns of COVID. There have been many sources of research and inspiration and we have worked through every season from the deep freeze of prairie winter to the blazing heat of prairie summer and with the wonderful seasonal transformations between.
Travel between our respective homes has been a part of the process and through this back and forth like the mysterious tumbleweed, with uncertain origins and unknown destinations we began one day with Anna and Anastasia entangled on the floor of New Dance Horizons studio to Théâtre Cercle Molière, in Winnipeg where this version of Re-Tangled ends with a complete separation of their bodies moving in concentric circles to opposite directions.
We are grateful for the rich research we’ve shared and to collaborators: Chiyoko Szlavnics for her brilliant composition Gradients Of Detail, to Derek Tomilin for making the set pieces, to Hugh Conacher for Lighting Design and to Farley Chatto for costumes. And to Anastasia and Anna for their curious, persistent, generous and creative movement.
“Imagine a human body rebuilt in the alchemy of something which is not from the body, but is from the landscape, from the world.” Brazilian artist known simply and sonorously as Tunga.

Lighting Design

Dorrie Deutschendorf, Lighting Designer
Dorrie is a rarity in the world of theatre and dance. For over 25 years she has been a Lighting Designer, Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Teacher, Stage Manager and Theatre Technician. Having worked on productions from both sides of the stage has allowed her to produce unique and supportive visions for over 30 dance artists and directors in the Edmonton area including Usha Gupta and Kate Ryan. This upcoming season, Dorrie will continue to support live performance as Technical Director/Lighting Designer and Stage Manager for the Brian Webb Dance Company and Ballet Edmonton.

School of Contemporary Dancers

The Professional Program of The School of Contemporary Dancers

Under the direction of Odette Heyn C.M. and Faye Thomson C.M., The School of Contemporary Dancers is recognized as a leading national centre for professional contemporary dance training in Canada. The School’s Professional Program is renowned across the country for the excellence of its training methods and high calibre of its students and graduates.

Read more on schoolofcontemporarydancers.ca.

Choreographers & Performers

Photo by Kristen Sawatsky

Jolene Bailie is a choreographer, director and producer of contemporary dance. Her work reflects on humanness, soul and identity to express a deeply human experience that is honest, complex and thorough.

Read more on www.winnipegscontemporarydancers.ca.

Bryn Besse is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, and composer from Regina, SK. An experienced songwriter accompanist, Bryn offers a unique style that draws blues, rock, country, roots, and jazz language together to complement and enhance each song on its own terms. His comfort with many genres and instruments has carried him across Canada, Scotland, and England, from festival stages in Haida Gwaii to backyards in St. John’s, NL, with bars, clubs, cafés, living rooms, and concert halls in between. In addition to his performing experience, Bryn produced Danielle Knibbe’s 2019 album The Ribcage & The Heart, co-produced The Marwills’ 2018 album A Mother’s Worry, and has a long list of recording session credits. He has performed with Jeffery Straker, Danielle Knibbe, The Marwills, Colleen Brown, Major Love, Jenie Thai, David Newberry, Skye Wallace, and VISSIA. He is a graduate of Grant MacEwan University and Humber College, where he received the Ted Quinlan Guitar Award in 2015 and the Sennheiser Music Scholarship in 2016.

Photo by Michael Bell

Johanna Bundon is an independent artist whose practice includes dance, theatre, independent production, curation, and arts advocacy. She is currently an Artistic Associate with Curtain Razors (Regina).

Johanna is a graduate of LADMMI: Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de Montréal (2005), Globe Theatre’s Actor Conservatory (2008), University of Regina - BA in Arts & Culture (2013), San Diego 4 Feldenkrais Professional Training Program (2020).

Her performance work has been presented by New Dance Horizons, Globe Theatre Sandbox Series, through Western Canada on the Prairie Dance Circuit, and as a part of the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene. Her most recent work is Untitled Peter Tripp Project (August 2021) created alongside Lee Henderson & Jayden Pfeifer, presented by Curtain Razors.

Caitlin Coflin is a dancer, dance teacher, and Somatic Movement Educator (SME) in Regina, SK. Caitlin completed her post-secondary training in Winnipeg, MB and received her BA Honours in Dance from the University of Winnipeg in affiliation with the Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers. Since returning to Regina in 2010 she has been a member of the teaching staff at Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan and teaches through New Dance Horizons’ Dance Core classes. In 2020, Caitlin completed her training to become a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst and Somatic Practitioner (CMA-SP). Caitlin was introduced to the Itcush Method as a child while taking modern classes at Youth Ballet with Elaine Hanson. She continued her studies with Amelia Itcush, Ashley Johnson, and Kana Nemoto and since 2018, has immersed herself in all aspects of the training, having regular private Mitzvah sessions as well as taking classes and workshops in the Itcush Method and Itcush into Dance. Caitlin has danced professionally with Robin Poitras' company Rouge-Gorge and with Connie Moker Wernikowski, and has been giving many opportunities to present her own work through New Dance Horizons.

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.

Photo by Leif Norman

Anastasia Evsigneeva is a contemporary dance and circus artist of Russian origin. In 2019 she graduated from the School of Contemporary Dancers and University of Winnipeg with a BA Honors in Dance. Her dance training is enhanced by somatic practices, intense contortion, hand balancing and partner acrobatics. Anastasia is currently in the Artistic Residency with New Dance Horizons and under mentorship with Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras.

In August 2019 she started learning a silk dance technique under Robin Poitras’ guidance. Being inspired by working with Robin, she created a choreographic duet titled TANGLED in collaboration with Anna Protsiou which has developed into the idea of creating a short dance film in Summer/Fall 2020. Anastasia is currently in a creation process for her first self-produced show co-directed with Anna. The production got support from Canada Council for the Arts and will take place in Winnipeg, on June 3 & 4, 2022.

Read more about the artist-in-residence Anastasia.

Photo by Desdemona Burgin

Margie Gillis has been at the forefront of modern dance for more than 47 years. Internationally acclaimed, Margie is one of the most influential Canadian choreographers/dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Read more on margiegillis.org

Ashley Johnson is a dance artist and Registered Somatic Movement Educator trained in group facilitation and hands on bodywork as a teacher of the Mitzvah Technique/Itcush Method and Continuum Movement. Upon completing a diploma in Dance from Grant MacEwan College and a BA in Dance from University of Calgary Ashley spent ten years apprenticing with movement pioneers from around North America. She trained extensively with her two primary mentors Amelia Itcush and Emilie Conrad until their passing in 2011 and 2014. As a dance artist and educator, Ashley creates interdisciplinary site specific creations that blend embodiment practice with creative process. She is currently based out of Regina, SK where she teaches and performs independently and with New Dance Horizons.
www.constantlyseekingsoftness.ca

Brooke Hess (she/her) is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Brooke has a close relationship with the School of Contemporary Dancers, and began classes in their general program, followed by in the Junior Professional Program, which was followed by the Senior Professional Program. Brooke is a 2021 Graduate of the School of Contemporary dancers. She has worked professionally with dance artists such as Robin Poitras, Casmiro Nhussi, Paula Blair, and Stephanie Ballard. Brooke has also worked as a choreographer for Juno award winning producer Danny Schur.

Mohitdeep Khatra

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 and 2019 to 2020. Michelle was first introduced to Itcush Method/Mitzvah Technique and other somatic work through her dance training as a youth. She has been actively training with Itcush Method/Mitzvah Technique teachers and practitioners Ashley Johnson, Kana Nemoto, and Kathy Morgan since 2014. Michelle’s somatic practice has also included study of Fitzmaurice Voicework and Feldenkrais Method. As a performer and student Michelle 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 Dance and Blueprint series. Michelle is also a practicing lawyer and academic enthusiast. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Regina, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge.

Roxanne Korpan is a dance artist from Regina, Saskatchewan. Formerly based in Toronto, she has been an artistic collaborator with Body Stories (Candice Irwin) for the past five years, with which she has performed in Art is Hard’s Crapshoot (Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto), the Alberta Dance Festival (Calgary), Dancefest at Nextfest (Edmonton), and Dance Matters’ Into the Fire (Toronto). With The Garage (Toronto), she has performed at Ontario Dance Weekend and studio showings. Roxanne also performed and co-choreographed the film Blade & Silk with Corynne Bisson and Raine Kearns, screened at New Blue Festival (Toronto), FORM (Vancouver), and 40 NORTH Dance Film Festival (San Diego). In Regina, Roxanne has performed with New Dance Horizons, Rouge-gorge (Robin Poitras), Regina’s Globe Theatre, and the Creative City Centre’s Killjoy Club. Roxanne’s artistic practice is grounded in her background in classical and contemporary dance; body-based voicework; and Mitzvah Technique and Itcush Method somatic movement, which she has trained in since she was a youth with teachers Elaine Hanson, Ashley Johnson, and Kana Nemoto.

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.

Photo by Leif Norman

Anna Protsiou is a contemporary dance artist and circus artist specializing in contortion based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated from the School of Contemporary Dancers’ Professional Program in 2018 and has since been performing as a dancer and a contortionist. Some of her performing highlights as a dancer include works by Odette Heyn, Stephanie Ballard, Peter Quanz, Harold Rhéaume and Le fils d'Adrien danse as well as, in Ilse Torres and Roberto Mosqueda in Mexico. Anna’s recently created TANGLED, in collaboration with Anastasia Evsigneeva. Together they have created two versions; a live performance piece as well as TANGLED the film. She is extremely excited to be under the direction and mentorship of Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras and an artist in residence with New Dance Horizons since July 2020; and she looks forward to all the opportunities to arise in the future. Anna is currently working on co-directing and creating for the show Moving Roots that will take place in Winnipeg in June 2022.

Read more about artist-in-residence Anna.

Photo by Francesca Chudnoff

Hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan Tessa Kuz is a dance artist and teacher. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ryerson University majoring in Performance Dance. Throughout her time in Toronto, she performed in work by Canadian choreographers James Kudelka, Heidi Strauss, Kate Hilliard, Marie-Josée Chartier and Louis Laberge-Cote.

Krista Solheim is an independent dance artist and movement teacher based in Regina, SK. She received her early dance training at the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, then completed a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University in 1998. In 2014, she became STOTT PILATES® certified instructor. Over the past 20 years, Krista has pursued an independent creative and performative dance practice. As choreographer, Krista has been active in developing her voice as a soloist. As performer, she has worked with a range of choreographers from across Canada. Since 2017, Krista has been working with New Dance Horizons (NDH) Creation Base, NDH/ Rouge-gorge; dancing in the creations of Robin Poitras and Edward Poitras.

Photo by Joe Zhanghi

Tara Dawn Solheim works across genres, her original creations integrate poetry and melody in a cappella performance. Tara Dawn spent a year in the UK and later five years in Japan where she performed extensively and wrote for a number of music groups. Since returning to Saskatchewan, Tara Dawn has continued to create new work through residencies at The Banff Centre, St. Peter’s Abbey and Wallace Stegner House. Her experiences have led her to explore the physicality of the voice.

I-Ying Wu is an improvisation practitioner and researcher. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Northampton, UK in 2014 and completed her postdoctoral research at the Improvisation Studies Centre based in the Faculty of Media, Art and Performance, University of Regina during 2016-2017. Her PhD practice-led research employed a Daoist understanding of qi to develop a system of improvisational movement. Informed by ancient texts on Chinese traditional qigong and Daoist philosophy, her improvisation practice focuses on subtle awareness of the very moment when an improvisational phenomenon emerges.