Dancemakers - Staff

ARTISTIC STAFF

Artistic Director - Michael Trent (email)
Interpreters - Robert Abubo, Lori Duncan, Kate Hilliard, Kate Holden, Steeve Paquet
Associate Director - Bonnie Kim (email)
Resident Dramaturge | Animateur - Jacob Zimmer (email)
Accompanist - Jeff Wilson

TECHNICAL & ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Producing Director - Jeanne Holmes
Administrative Co-ordinator - Caitlin McKee

Click here for contact information

CONTRACT STAFF

Publicity and Public Relations - Kim Blackwell, Blackwell Communications
Photographer - David Hou
Accounts Manager - Heather Young
Computer Administrator - Eddie Kastrau

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair: Clive Veroni
Co-chairs: Sarah MacLachlin and Fanny Ghorayeb,
Secretary: Valerie Lockerbie
Members: Philip Sung, Ed Darayni

Biographies:

	Robert Abubois enjoying his second season with Dancemakers and Michael Trent. Prior Dancemakers, Rob worked with Le Groupe Dance Lab from 1994 to 2006. Under artistic director Peter Boneham, Abubo participated as an interpreter, choreographer and monitor in an average of eight new creative processes a season. As an independent dancer he has worked with Tedd Robinson, Sylvain Emard, Lynda Gaudreau, Shannon Cooney, Bill James, Luc Dunberry and Heidi Stauss. Abubo’s own choreographic works have been presented by the Canada Dance Festival, Tangente and Dancer’s Studio West. Abubo graduated from David Moroni’s class of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School's professional division. [return to top]
	Kate Hilliard began her preparation for a professional career in dance at the Quinte Ballet School in Belleville, Ontario where she completed eight years of classical ballet training. She then moved to the School of Dance in Ottawa to attend the Professional Training Program in Modern Dance. During her time in Ottawa she trained with Peter Boneham at Le Groupe Dance Lab and performed with the company in 2003. Hilliard was one of six emerging artists in Canada selected to work with Paul-André Fortier in his creation Risque, which toured extensively for three years. She performed in Sylvie Desrosier’s Flots, at the 2006 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa and has worked with Berlin’s Tino Sehgal, performing his Kiss at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Hilliard has been a full time company member of Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation in Toronto under the directorship of Michael Trent since 2006. Hilliard’s choreographic projects have enabled her to be mentored by established Canadian artists: Yvonne Coutts, Heidi Strauss, Bonnie Kim, Michael Trent, Hélène Blackburn, Peter Boneham and Margie Gillis. She has participated in several choreographic labs at Dancemakers. Kate was thrilled to creating once again with MAD AIR (Movement and Dance Artists in Residency) and a group of talented actors affiliated with The Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Her new work, While We Were Waiting opened in New York City in July 2009 and will travel to Vancouver in 2010. In August, Kate returned to Canada to begin a new project for Toronto’s Open Air Collective (OAC). Ms. Hilliard is also pleased to announce the opening of her production The Brutes, a work for six Montreal dancers created with dramaturge Corrine Donly from the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University. Kate has recently produced her work Beside Me in Toronto and for high schools across Ontario. Other works by Ms. Hilliard have been presented in Guelph, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto and New York City. [return to top]
	A member of Dancemakers since 2007, Kate Holden is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and the Etobicoke School of the Arts. Concurrent with her professional training, she performed frequently with PBJ Dance and Gabby Kamino. An award winning dancer, Kate has performed extensively across Canada and Europe interpreting the works of many esteemed choreographers; including Peggy Baker, Roberto Campanella, Robert Desrosiers, David Earle, Sylvain Emard, Robert Glumbek, Sasha Ivanochko, James Kudelka, Michael Trent, Andrea Nann, and Yvonne Ng. She has also been a company dancer with The Danny Grossman Dance Company. Kate is a member of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, and was on the board of directors from 2003 - 2008. Kate is Co-Artistic Director of firstthingsfirst productions with fellow dance artist Kate Franklin, which was formed to commission and produce the works of independent Canadian choreographers. [return to top]
	Lori Duncan is a Toronto-based dance artist and a graduate of the Ryerson University Theatre/Dance Program. From 2005-09, she was a company member of Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa under the direction of Peter Boneham, where she worked with numerous choreographers from Canada and abroad. Lori has also danced with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary (2001-03) and was a founding member of the Raw Gloss Dance Collective performing in works by Serge Bennathan, Robert Abubo and Helen Husak. In 2009, Lori had the pleasure of performing in works by Tedd Robinson, Susie Burpee and Sasha Ivanochko, and of participating in the research and creation of Susanna Hood’s upcoming Bacon project. Lori is very excited to be joining the Dancemakers crew this season. [return to top]
	Bonnie Kim (Associate Director) began dancing at Claude Watson School for the Arts and continued training at Toronto Dance Theatre. Throughout her career, she has performed with an impressive array of companies and independent artists including the Randy Glynn Dance Project, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, Nightwood Theatre, Autumn Leaf Performance, Bill James, Marie-Josée Chartier, Linda C. Smith, Peter Chin and Claudia Moore. As a performer, Bonnie has been recognized with multiple Dora Award nominations for Outstanding Performance Ensemble and was named one of Toronto's top 5 dancers by Eye Weekly in 1995. She is also the recipient of numerous grants for training, choreography, writing and film studies. In 2003, Bonnie joined Dancemakers as Rehearsal Director and was named Associate Director in 2008. In addition to teaching, coaching and facilitating creative process, she is also a freelance writer with a Magazine Publishing certificate from Ryerson University. Her writing has been published in The Dance Current, Eye Weekly, Toronto Star and Toronto Life magazine. Bonnie has been a juror for the Canada Council, Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils, Dora and Gemini Awards, and serves on the Steering Committee for the On The Move dance conference and the Board of Directors for the Actors’ Fund of Canada. [return to top]
	Steeve Paquet was born in St-Raymond-de-Portneuf, in Quebec, where he discovered a passion for movement through the practice of karate. Dance revealed itself as his calling when he was accepted into Montreal’s L’École Supérieure de danse du Québec. He brought his new skills to a greater level when he joined Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Canada’s only professionnal jazz dance company. Prior to Trent’s arrival, Steeve performed in Serge Bennathan’s Tziganes, Remains and Absences along with Julia Aplin’s Ick, and Susanna Hood’s Loveloathing. Independently, Steeve is active as a dancer, choreographer and actor. The Bravofact Fictional Dance Party, which Steeve choreographed and starred in, opened the Dance Camera West Dance Film Festival in L.A. and was an official selection of the World Wide Short Film Festival in Toronto. Further to his work in film, Steeve was invited to perform German choreographer, Tino Seghal’s Kiss at the MoMA museum in New York City in 2008 [return to top]
	Jeff Wilson (Accompanist) A member of Maza Meze, Jeff also co-leads what he calls a new world music project known as The Liquidaires. Jeff can also be found playing guitar, harmonica, comet, and singing with old-tyme country group The Jeremiahs. He regularly writes music for all of these ensembles. Jeff has played with The Altim Yildiz Orkestar, Wind May Do Damage, free improvisational group the Anti-Gravity Janitors, klezmer band Hu-Tsa-Tsa and various other pop and world music bands. Jeff is in demand as a percussionist for modern dance classes in Toronto, playing regularly at York University, Dancemakers, Toronto Dance Theatre, and others. He has written original music for a number of dance pieces by Toronto dancer Meagan O’Shea, and has performed in various pieces by some of Toronto’s most promising choreographers. [return to top]
	Jacob Zimmer (Dramaturge) is a dramaturge, director, writer and performer. His work has shown in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, St John’s, Saint John and Montreal. He is the artistic director of Small Wooden Shoe (2001 -), has an on-going dramaturgical collaboration with choreographer Ame Henderson/Public Recordings and was a co-director of HUB 14 (2005-09). Jacob’s writing has been published in Canadian Theatre Review (Issues 119, 126) and C Magazine. He also has worked as a dramaturge for theatre makers Dustin Harvey and the One Reed Theatre Ensemble. Jacob studied at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. In 2004 he was a technical intern with The Wooster Group and studied Viewpoints, Suzuki and Composition with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in New York. dancemakers.blogspot.com \| smallwoodenshoe.org [return to top]