Karissa Fyrrar is a queer Toronto-based movement artist working in choreography, performance, and video. She is a creative producer of rePLAY rapid response art alongside Kevin Wong and Alex Rand, and the artistic director of Polynomials. Fyrrar has danced across Canada and Europe, working with artists including Will Kwan, Jens Van Daele/Burning Bridges, Kari Pederson, Jessie Garon/Vazari Dance Projects, Jenn Edwards, Sara Coffin, and Sarah Chase. Fyrrar holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University, where she had the opportunity to study West African dance and music in Ghana. She has also trained in Gaga, Axis Syllabus, and Cunningham Technique – including teacher training at the former Merce Cunningham School in New York City. Fyrrar was the recipient of a 2012 Emerging Artist Scholarship at Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation and has presented her work as part of Dance Matters, 60 x 60 Dance, the Lab Cab Festival, Fresh Blood, Series 8:08, Nuit Rose, New Blue Emerging Dance Festival, Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival, and The Toronto Fringe Festival, where NOW magazine called her “one to watch.” When she’s not making art, Fyrrar is making teenagers wince as a high-school math teacher, and secretly mining them for movement inspiration.
Marley M. Rosen is a Canadian composer, performer, and producer. Born and raised in Ottawa, they proved themself a wunderkind in the noise scene before graduating from Carleton University with a BFA in Film Studies and Music. Rosen performs live electronic music and creates original work for audio-visual disciplines, focusing on the convergence of emotional and cerebral listening, and the role of technological mediation between artist and spectator. Collaborators include filmmakers Illya Klymkiw and Andre Rehal (Toronto), sound artist Antoine Bedard (Montreal) and visual artist Amir Aziz (Vancouver). Over the past decade, Rosen’s instrumental performances have appeared at Mutek (Montreal), Igloofest (Montreal), and Low Indigo (Vancouver), and they are now performing as Ada Vale, a hybrid pop music and experimental theatre project. They have created music for film and web content throughout the Toronto arts community, and are currently focused on expanding the narrative of Ada Vale into the multi-disciplinary variety show Voddville, presented in conjunction with Polynomials.
A Toronto-based dancer and performer, Jen Hum has a multifaceted background that has touched on all forms of dance and stage performance. In addition to performing her own work, she has worked with a diverse collection of individuals and groups including Redsnow Collective, Polynomials Body Theatre, J9 Dance Projects, Alias Dance Projects, Anandam Dance Theatre, and Tapestry New Opera Works. Her initial dance exposures were heavily influenced by performing Asian inspired original full length productions as a company member of Xing Dance Theatre. She is always excited about what future artistic investigations will bring and is always stoked when working with the lively bunch that make up Polynomials.
Marlowe Porter is a Toronto based dance artist, choreographer and teacher. She received her BFA in contemporary dance at York University and a Dance Studies Diploma at George Brown College. Since graduating she has had the pleasure of working with some amazing artists such as Kathleen Rea and Ida Meftahi, Jennifer Dallas, and David Earle, and is also a member of The Garage with Hannah Kiel. In 2012 she received the Dancemakers Emerging Artist Scholarship award. After doing some creative discovery in Europe for a year, attending workshops such as ImpulsTanz, Marlowe has been focusing on choreography. She has performed and choreographed works for the Chimera Project’s Fresh Blood, 60×60, Rivoli Cabaret, and Nuit Blanche. She is continuing to develop her unique vision as an artist in both performance and choreography.
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Sarah Reid was a member of Citie Ballet, a pre-professional performing company, under the direction of François Chevennement from 2006-2009. In 2012 Sarah graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT) where she had the honour of working with many well known choreographers including Peggy Baker, Serge Bennathan, Anna Blewchamp Valerie Calam, Allison Cummings, Sharon B. Moore, Christopher House, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Julia Sasso, Roger Sinha, Darryl Tracy, Gerry Trentham, and William Yong. In 2010 she performed in the Intersection Project: Performance #1, an initiative that aims to highlight the presence of artists in urban landscapes. In May 2014, Sarah curated her first show, An Evening of Art 1.0, an annual show consisting of short solos or duets by contemporary dancers from Toronto. Most recently she co-curated, and produced A Home for [_____]. This event challenges artists from every discipline to create site specific works within a home, aiming to bridge the gap between visual and performative arts while broadening each artist’s audience base.
Lauren Runions is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in Toronto, and a graduate of the Performance Dance Studies program at George Brown College. She has most recently performed with Polynomials Body Theatre, Alysa Pires Dance Projects, Parahumans, Lydia Zimmer + Dancers (Halifax) and Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet. Lauren continues to find her creative passion for choreography, making works for George Brown College and Cadence Ballet and youth companies at Kingston School of Dance, The School of Cadence Ballet, Kalos and Carousel Dance Centre. Lauren has participated in residencies including The Living Room Series, Connection Dance Works: PERSPECTIVE, The Roundtable Residency and Dancemakers: Plug & Play. She is also the artistic director of I/O Movement, an emerging contemporary dance project joining body and site.
Jenn Edwards is a contemporary dance artist based in Toronto. Born in Vancouver, she fell in love with movement through competitive figure skating. In 2010 Jenn completed a BFA in contemporary dance from Simon Fraser University, and co-founded a small collective called Triadic Dance Works. Edwards toured with Vienna’s Flowmotion Dance Company across Europe, The Middle East and Mexico, and has showcased her choreography at Fusion Festival (Berlin), 12 Minutes Max, Gold Saucer Studio, Vines Art Festival, To.Be.Announced and the Calgary Fringe Festival. Choreographic residencies include The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, SFU Woodwards, Mascall Dance’s BLOOM series and Garage Performing Arts Centre (Corfu, Greece). Most recently, Jenn has returned to her figure skating roots in a creative process with Le Patin Libre in Montreal.
Originally from Alberta, Willard Gillard was trained at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Dance credits include Sky Gilbert’s I Have Aids, Brokeback Mountain with Ang Lee and Everyday Oppressions with Melissa Major. Under the stage name Dew Lily, he has performed multiple burlesque and cabaret performances with Les Coquettes Cabaret, Skin Tight Outta Sight and is an original member of Canada’s premiere all-male burlesque troupe Boylesque TO.
Rufi O. Rodriguez is one of the few artists in the world qualified in both Contemporary and Latin Ballroom dance. His competitive and performative career spans over 18 years and has ferried him across Canada, U.S.A., and Poland. Hailing from Calgary, AB, Rodriguez is currently finishing a Master’s degree in Dance at York University where he compares disparate versions of the cha cha cha as a means of exploring authenticity in cultural, personal, and performed contexts. Rodriguez gratefully acknowledges the influence of prominent Canadian artists Melissa Monteros, Wojciech Mochniej, and Davida Monk on his artistic practice. Under their choreographic leadership, Rodriguez successfully performed in seven major Contemporary dance works and two tours in the past four seasons.
Other artists who have touched our work include Jessie Garon, Joey Eddy, Brian Postalian, Robyn Breen, and Primitive Replica (Henry Mak & Sean Dunnigan)