Nien-Tzu Weng is a Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary dance artist and lighting designer, based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She aims to build bridges between disciplines, pursuing an experimental approach to performance and spatial design. Curious about the relationship between movement and new media practices, Nien-Tzu Weng plays with the space between reality and fantasy, where presence and image build multiple, overlapping conceptions of time. She has presented her work at Node Digital Festival (Frankfurt), Biennale Némo (Paris), Ars Electronica (Linz), Les Percéides (Percé), SummerWorks (Toronto), 1-act SHIFT Theatre (Vancouver) as well as the OFFTA festival, Elektra, Akousma, Tangente, La Chapelle, and Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI).

When we talk about dance performances, we can tend to talk about them as the vehicle of a message or a theme. “Aboutness” can point us away from the dance and towards a subject or a political issue “out there”, in the world beyond the theatre. But aboutness can also be a feeling, a flavour, a vague supposition that inheres in the dance itself. How does dance create a feeling of topicality? What norms, forms, and genres does it lean on to do so? And where do we arrive if we work on honing just that—the form and feeling of a topical dance—without settling on one particular topic or message?

Erin Hill is a dance artist and writer. She works with her body and life as a site of experimentation. Taking ecological and animal entities as dance partners—horses, clouds, water, the sun—she invites their constraints and their teachings to guide her work, moving towards alternative chronotopes and perceptual regimes. Erin is an ardent collaborator with many playful and engaged artists, such as Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Charlie Prince, Camille Lacelle-Wilsey, and Nina Vroemen (Horizon Factory). She received a Masters from DAS Theatre in 2018 (Amsterdam). She lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

Maria Kefirova is a dance artist. She makes performances, installations, and videos. She performs, writes, does research, and gives artistic advice. Maria investigates the body as an interface between internal and external realities. Through choreography, she builds spaces for the movement of attention, thought, and energy. Her work has been presented in Canada, the US, Europe, and Mexico. Maria’s practice has been nourished through collaborations with Miguel Melgarez, Jean-Francois Laporte, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Katie Ward, Paul Chambers, Florence Figols, Brice Noeser, Johan Deschuymer, and Diego Gil. Maria is a graduate of DAS Theatre (Amsterdam) and lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

Simone Provencher is a multi-instrumentalist and experimental improviser. She first made a name for herself in the post-punk band VICTIME. In 2021, she began recording as a solo artist, releasing Mesures (with Elyze Venne-Deshaies and Olivier Fairfield) and Album (with Olivier Fairfield). Simone aims for complex electro-acoustic music, anchored in an artificial, synthetic paradigm. In concert, she improvises using homemade circuits and a variety of assorted gizmos. In her media art project Regard sur, she works on the sonification of video signals using custom-made synthesisers. She lives in Hull, Québec.

Timothy Thomasson is an artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. His work questions the ways moving images are produced and consumed within historic and contemporary contexts, particularly examining the effects computer generated images have on society, culture, and perception. He works primarily with computer animation, and utilises real-time computer graphics technologies in many of his works to create continually generative environments and systems. Timothy Thomasson’s work has been shown in galleries and festivals in Canada and internationally.

Passionate about lighting, Karine Gauthier has designed for several choreographers, including Dana Michel, Nicolas Cantin, Gerard X Reyes, Sasha Kleinplatz, Sasha Ivanochko, Véronica Mélis, Florence Figols, Erin Flynn, Marie-Claude Rodrigue, José Gagnon, Maria Kefirova, Emmanuelle Calvé, Suzanne Miller & Allan Paivio, Blanca Arrietta, the BBT Company, The Choreographers, Frédéric Marrier, George Stamos, Caroline Laurin Beaucage, and Martin Messier. She has been technical director for George Stamos, Clara Furey, Estelle Clareton, Suzanne Miller & Allan Paivio, Jean-Sébastien Lourdais, Sylvain Émard Danse, Parbleux, as well as Montréal Danse. Karine would like to continue on this luminous path for a long time.

Nien-Tzu Weng is a Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary dance artist and lighting designer, based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She aims to build bridges between disciplines, pursuing an experimental approach to performance and spatial design. Curious about the relationship between movement and new media practices, Nien-Tzu Weng plays with the space between reality and fantasy, where presence and image build multiple, overlapping conceptions of time. She has presented her work at Node Digital Festival (Frankfurt), Biennale Némo (Paris), Ars Electronica (Linz), Les Percéides (Percé), SummerWorks (Toronto), 1-act SHIFT Theatre (Vancouver) as well as the OFFTA festival, Elektra, Akousma, Tangente, La Chapelle, and Montréal, arts interculturels (MAI).

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ is a Nehiyaw Isko artist from the Bigstone Cree Nation. She currently resides in Amiskwaciy Waskahikan, also known as Edmonton, Alberta. Cheyenne graduated from Emily Carr University with her BFA in Visual Arts in 2019. Her work often explores history, knowledge, and traditional practices. Through the use of her body and language, she speaks to the past, present, and future. Cheyenne’s work is rooted in the strength to feel, express, and heal. Bringing her ancestors with her, she moves through installation, photography, video, sound, and performance art.

Jontae McCrory, originally from Detroit, Michigan, started their training at Western Michigan University at the age of 19. In 2017, McCrory attended the year-long Dancers Course with BalletBoyz in London, England. Throughout their training, they have had the privilege of learning works by Kyle Abraham, James Gregg, Frank Chaves, and Azure Barton. As a filmmaker and choreographer, Jontae McCrory has seen their works featured in the 2017 American College Dance Association Gala Concert, the Chéries-Chéris-Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, and BBC Network London. Jontae McCrory has been working with the contemporary dance company RUBBERBAND since 2018 and performing as a guest artist with Decidedly Jazz Dance Company since 2020. Currently, Jontae McCrory collaborates with Andrea Peña & Artists as a freelance artist in Montréal.

Chrystal Tam (she/her) is a performer and creator from Ottawa, who has trained in multiple dance genres, with a BFA in Performance Dance from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, formerly Ryerson University). She has performed in concerts and music videos for artists such as Andy Lau, Sammi Cheng, and Hins Cheung in Hong Kong. Chrystal has also worked with Willi Dorner in the art project Bodies in Urban Spaces, with Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schaiber, and Shamel Pitts in A Gathering, a dance film presented in Fall For Dance North’s 2020 programme. She has created and performed work for TMU in Choreographic Film Festival, Dances, and Enchoreo. During her time at TMU, she has had the opportunity to work with multiple choreographers, including Andrea Nann, Angela Blumberg, Alyssa Martin/Rock Bottom Movement, and Tara Pillon. Chrystal was selected to work with artistic director Natasha Powell of Holla Jazz in a residency in partnership with Fall For Dance North and the Orillia Centre for Arts and Culture in 2021. Most recently, Chrystal worked in Hong Kong with Larkin Poynton in Sammi Cheng’s You & Mi 2023 concert (postponed to 2024) and in DaCo 2023 (Toronto) by Angela Blumberg as a dancer working with choreographer Kayla Jeanson.

Aurora Torok (she/her/by name) is a queer and hard-of-hearing (using hearing aids) multidisciplinary artist currently living in Tio’tia:ke (Montréal). Her experience in the live arts has primarily been in theatre since graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada in Production Design and Technical Arts, as well as from Concordia University with a BFA in Specialization in Design for the Theatre. Other disciplines include contemporary dance, outdoor art installations, comedy, and visual arts. Aurora was nominated for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre by the METAs in 2022.

Courtney Taticek is a Toronto-based artist of Chinese, Czech and Austrian descent originally from Ottawa. Courtney has trained in a wide variety of styles, such as ballet, jazz, acrobatics, contemporary, modern, tap, and hip hop. She identifies herself as an artist, dancer, and choreographer. Courtney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ryerson University’s Performance: Dance program, class of 2021. She is also the 2021 recipient of the Pamela Hacket Award for excellence in dance. During her training at Ryerson University, Courtney has also explored other creative avenues, such as film and acting.