Board of Directors: Who's Who at Dance Ontario

Dance Ontario Board members are active across their sector.

Catherine Carpenko

Chair
Catherine Carpenko has been involved in the dance and arts community in Ontario as teacher, choreographer, performer, producer, administrator and coach/consultant for over 20 years. She holds a BFA in Dance from York and a M.A. in Education and Psychology.

Samara Thompson

(Vice Chair)
Samara Thompson is an independent choreographer and dance educator, specializing in the integration of computer technology with contemporary dance. She has presented her choreography across Canada and was the recipient of the 2004 Paula Citron Award. Thompson began her dance career in Alberta, trained in Canada and the United States with many notable artists, and went on to graduate with her MA and Honours BFA in Dance from York University. She currently teaches at York University and is also a co-host on the Toronto radio show Evi-Dance.

Peter Ryan

(Past Chair)
Peter Ryan is fluently bilingual and has been involved in theatre and dance across North America and Europe as a teacher, performer and writer since 1975. He has taught and performed across North America and Europe and was a founding member of EDAM, Vancouver's innovative dance and music collective. Currently, he teaches in the Theatre Department at the University of Ottawa, trains dancers and actors in improvisation for performance in Ottawa and Athens, Greece and teaches public classes in Improvisation at Ottawa's Dance Network. Peter also works extensively in the schools, teaching dance and movement. He has served on the board of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, and was a member of the Arts Advisory Committee to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Allison Cummings

(Treasurer)
Allison Cummings is a performer/choreographer based in Toronto where she has worked as an actor or dancer for Hammerhead, Tanya Crowder. D.A. Hoskins, Michael Trent, The Four Chambers Dance Project, DNA Theatre, Nation of Aslan, Hope Terry and Kate Alton among others. Her choreography has been shown at Summerworks, fFIDA, Rhubarb Festival, 7a-11d Performance Art Festival, Before During After Festival, Hysteria, and was featured as part of the 2002 seasons residency program at the Theatre Centre. She was the 2000 recipient of The Toronto Emerging Artist Award in Dance.

Jennifer Watkins

(Secretary)
Jennifer Watkings holds a B.F.A. degree from York University with special honours in dance. Following graduation she continued her dance training at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre as well as exploring other modern and jazz styles in Toronto and New York City. She has served in administrative capacities for the Danny Grossman Dance Company, the Young Audience Division for R.H. Entertainments, Dance Umbrella of Ontario, Theatre Direct and CADA, as well as Interim Grants Officer for the Toronto Arts Council. She received a Harold Award in 2000, worked with Moving Pictures Festival, and currently works with the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Co. and Arabesque Dance.

Emily Cheung

Emily Cheung received her B.F.A., B.Ed. and M.A. from York University. She is the Artistic Director of Little Pear Garden Collective, a company that promotes high calibre Chinese performing arts. Emily Cheung is an educator, performer, curator and choreographer. Emily has performed world-wide including United States of America, Hong Kong, India, and China. Recent works include Ghost Story, a Chinese Contemporary dance with the use of long sleeves; The Road, a collaboration with Rina Singha commissioned by the Harbourfront Centre and Within…, a first Sino-Indo collaboration with Hari Krishnan. She is now working on a new work, The Phantom Rose, with Gary de Matas. Emily has performed with inDANCE since 2004.

Jacque Foesier

L.I.S.T.D., C.S.B., was director of the Koffler Centre of the Arts School of Dance from 1958-September 2002. He is director of the Etobicoke School of Dance, a former Chair of Dance Ontario, and past President of the Ontario Branch of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association (CDTA).

Jade Jager Clark

is a studio owner and artistic director of Jade's Hip-Hop Academy Performance Company. She has served as a judge at dance and talent competitions and as a jury member for the Ontario Arts Council. Jade works with Dance Educators of Canada to ensure that misrepresentation of hip hop dance at competitions is minimized leading to a better understanding of the form. She created the SolPro (Solo Professional Perogram) funded by the OAC advancing selected dancers training and preparing for a career in the dance industry. Jade has won several dance and business related awards including a City of Brampton's Arts Acclaim Award (for her work in dance as well as representing Canada at the World Hip Hop Championships in 2006), Humber College School of Business Dean's Award and a recent Honorable Mention at the Zonta's Women of Achievement Awards 2008.

Debbie Kapp

has been teaching Dance at L. B. Pearson School for the Arts, London, Ontario for the past 16 years. L. B. Pearson is an Arts Enriched school, where students from ages 8 to 14 study and learn through all the Arts. She is a graduate of York University's Dance Program (1979)and previously taught ballet and Creative Dance at the Thornhill School of Ballet. Debra has been writing Dance curriculum for the Thames Valley District School Board for 12 years and regularly presents workshops for teachers on how to teach Dance in the school setting. She is the Producer and Artistic Director of the show "Art Harvest", an annual showcase of Dance Education programs in Southwestern Ontario. As a member of the National Dance Educator's Organization, Debra travels throughout the United States and Canada participating in conferences, workshops and Master Classes. She won an Award of Excellence in 2005 from the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America for the innovative and creative programming of the presentation "Resilience in the Face of Trouble and Despair". Debra is a co-founder of The London Alliance of Dance Educators, an organization whose mission is to bring together studio dancers and school dance program dancers for Master Classes and performances.

Kaylynne (Kate) Lowe

has taught Dance/Drama to primary and junior classes for 19 years. She has directed and choreographed over 20 school musicals, coached school dance teams and initiated an annual dance festival on International Dance Day

Kate Nankervis

graduated from York University Dance Dept in 2008. She is an emerging dance artist with a strong connection to the emerging community. She is artistic director of AX-S Dance, a company that presents contemporary dance works, as well as facilitating workshops in Northern Ontario as a means of making dance more accessible to smaller communities. She is an active participant of the Toronto Community Love In, an arts advocacy group for emerging artists working towards altrernative training, building a progressive healthy dance environment for all dance artists at various stages of their careers.Kate is a co-host for the dance radio show Evi-Dance and a team member of MERGE, a zine for emerging dance artists.

Yasmina Ramzy

On the Dance Ontario Board since 1996, Yasmina Ramzy is founder and Artistic Director of Arabesque Dance Company, Orchestra, Academy, Boutique and Agency. She has toured extensively as a soloist and with Arabesque Dance Company, teaching workshops and performing internationally since 1981. Yasmina's Instructional DVD series sell world wide and she has many dance articles published internationally. She is responsible for presenting over 15 different dance related events each year in Toronto as well as founding Dancenet and Gypsy, both culture specific educational events. Yasmina initiated the 1st International Bellydance Conference of Canada in 2007.

Frances Shakov

With an arts administration career that spans over 25 years, Frances was appointed as Ballet Jörgen Canada's first General Manager in August 2008. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of Small Theatre Administration Facility (STAF), providing a wide range of administration services for the independent theatre community. As the founding Executive Director of Regent Park School of Music, she put the organization on the map as Toronto's foremost independent non-profit community music school. Frances has worked in senior management for such prestigious cultural organisations as the Canadian Opera Company where she was the Director of Marketing and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as Director of Marketing & Communications. She has marketed several tours, including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra's first North American tour, and she was the UK Marketing Liaison for the Bournemouth Symphony's first US tour. Frances taught under-graduate theatre administration at the University of Ottawa and has given many grant writing, budgeting and marketing workshops. Currently, she also sits on the Board of Theatre Smith-Gilmour..

Rina Singha

came to Canada in the mid-1960s. Originally from Calcutta (India), she trained in Kathak under the legendary guru, Shambhu Maharaj of Lucknow (Northern India). A professional soloist since 1961, Ms. Singha has danced throughout India, Europe, North America and Asia, earning wide acclaim for the purity of her technique and the contemporary wisdom and beauty of her interpretive powers. Ms. Singha has choreographed both traditional and experimental dance works, using Kathak to explore societal and environmental issues. She specializes in the interpretation of Western Biblical stories and is recognized internationally as a leader in Christian dance. Founder of the Rina Singha Kathak Institute (Toronto), and a leading Canadian dance ethnologist, educator and author, she holds an M.A. (Geography) and an M.Ed. (Arts Education), and has developed dance-based educational programmes for the deaf and for cross-cultural understanding. She is a recipient of awards and honours from UNESCO, duMaurier Arts Award (1994), Dance Ontario (1991), Raag-Mala Performing Arts of Canada (1992), Hindu Federation of Canada, Bharatiya Kala Kendra (New Delhi Award for Significant Contribution in the Field of Dance), the Government of India, and the Title Award for Excellence in Teaching Kathak (1984) by the Federation of Indo-Canadians.

Dave Wilson

has been dancing for over 40 years and has founded or co-founded several modern dance companies that have performed in Canada, the USA and overseas, such as Australia and Sweden. His present companies are - Parahumans Dance Theatre, Dream Dancers, Hamilton Dance Company and McMaster Dancers. He is an Associate Professor in Kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton and directs the Centre for Dance which offers over 30 recreational dance classes to the campus and city communities. He has an M.A. from York University and is presently a Ph.D candidate at the University of Leeds in England. Dave's primary interests in dance are: dance community; the leadership development of young professional dancers; dance and the internet; improvisation; text and interdisciplinary performance; dance as a spiritual practice. He can be reached at dcwilson@mcmaster.ca

Sashar Zarif

Originally from Azerbaijan, Sashar Zarif is an acclaimed dancer, choreographer and teacher who has studied many dance forms. Artistic Director of Sashar Zarif Dance Company, he was a member of the Azerbaijan State Joshgoon Dance Ensemble, and received the title "Artist for People of Azerbaijan". A Chalmers Award recipient, he is the founder of Dancers For Peace and recipient (with Holly Small) of the Paula Citron Award for the Best New Choreography at fFIDA for his presentation of a work commissions by Dance Ontario.