Fall 2014

Fall 2014
(VIP Dance Convention, The Pulse on Tour Announcements, DFD Show Dates, The Underground Dance Centre, Monsters of Hip Hop Atlanta, "Lost It To Trying" Video Shoot)

The fall months have turned out to be full of exciting dance opportunities. I've attended a few conventions and took part in an amazing video shoot with my friend Juliette Irons. Here's what I've been up to:



VIP Dance Events

Last year I attended one day of the VIP Dance Event in Toronto. I had so much fun dancing at the workshop that with the new Faculty additions for the 2014 Tour, I knew I'd like to attend again.

I travelled to Ottawa - the second tour stop of VIP Dance Convention in September. The Faculty for the weekend consisted of Ian Eastwood, Chaz Buzan, Marty Kudelka, Tessandra Chavez, Nico Archambault and Blake McGrath. The classes were awesome and I was honoured to be asked to assist classes for the weekend!

We had two classes with each Faculty member over the course of the weekend.

I loved Chaz's combos…they were so full out and who doesn't love a deep second! These photos were taken from his "Free The Animal" combo - one of my favourites I've ever danced with him.






Chaz pointed out an exciting trend with contemporary dancers being front and centre in entertainment industry projects with videos like Sia's "Chandelier", Madonna's "Secret Project Revolution" and Beyonce's "On The Run Tour".

Classes with Marty Kudelka are a departure from hip hop choreography that requires you to hit accents hard. He is so smooth and to do his choreography well requires you to be clean, un-rushed and finish every movement. Even the most subtle accents can be just as exciting as a hard accent in his choreography.

We learned two different combos but both had signature Marty moves. You could imagine what it's like to be onstage performing for Justin Timberlake, dancing choreography by Marty.

I was excited to assist Tessandra Chavez again - I miss her approach to teaching. She demands everyone dance to their own potentiality and she never wants you to mark. She believes "you are never good enough to mark" and that your muscle memory and how you execute choreography are directly related to how you rehearse in class. I love how she pulls more effort from a class and the growth from the start to finish of a class is very noticeable.

She is a choreographer who likes clean, technical dancers who work hard in class. We danced to "Gimme Love" and it was a fun combo. I can't wait to dance with her again! Good Luck to Tessandra as she ventures across the pond to work on X-Factor UK!

And who doesn't love class with Ian Eastwood?

I'm a fan of Ian's - not in a fan-girl way but rather I'm in awe of his unique style of movement. The way he tells stories with his gestures and articulates his movement - each count is so clean and precise. Because of this, it can be challenging for dancers to get his choreography in just one class. Despite the challenges, everyone loves a class with Ian - he has a dry sense of humour which makes class fun and he genuinely loves when he sees dancers imitate his movement the way he wants it executed.

He explained he listens to music for days before he starts any choreography - a cue I'll take so that I'll intimately know the music and can connect with it on a deeper level.

I took my first ever class with Nico Archambault  - the winner of SYTYCD Canada Season 1. He is a busy choreographer in Canada, former Pulse Elite Protege and I loved his class.

We did a contemporary combo with lots of lunges, floor work and challenging poses. There were moments that required strong musicality, strength and fluidity. Nico encouraged everyone to let their own essence come through his choreography - that although there was an expectation to execute the choreography, there was no right or wrong way to do it if you let "you" shine through.

In Blake McGrath's classes, we did contemporary the first day and jazz funk the second day. Both combos required you to travel and dance the choreography full out.

On Saturday evening, a Gala was held in an effort to raise funds and awareness for The Children's Wish Foundation. We listened to a Father tell the story of his 11-year old daughter who was diagnosed and treated for Ovarian Cancer at age 11. It was a heart-wrenching story but thankfully she has recovered and was granted her wish to travel to California and meet the character artists at Dreamworks Animation. I forget sometimes how fortunate I am to have a healthy, capable body that withstands the rigour I demand of it. It was a reminder of how blessed I am to be healthy and how fortunate I am to dance. Thank you to organizations like Children's Wish Foundation that exist to enhance kids lives and to VIP for fundraising on their behalf. I know I left the evening with hope and gratitude.

All Photo credits: Yonard Sambo


The Pulse On Tour Alumni

On October 1, The Pulse On Tour made several announcements adding new Faculty members and Guest Artists to their already stellar line up of Choreographers! I can barely contain my excitement! Can't wait to take classes with Tucker Barkley, Jillian Meyers, Erica Sobol, Meg Law, Kayla Radmonski and Chaz Buzan!

The Pulse on Tour really is a special experience. The Pulse has been a wonderful influence in my dance life and I'm honoured to have been an Elite Protege and proud Alumni. Brian Friedman gave the Alumni a once in a lifetime opportunity to dance in the New York City Gala in an Alumni Piece choreographed by Rhapsody James. Half the alumni from the past ten years of The Elite Protege program were able to participate in the performance. It was a really fun number, I loved my custom-made Alumni Jersey with my name and Elite year on it, and dancing in front of the Pulse Faculty who were just as excited to see us dance as we were to perform. The Pulse is proud of their Protege Program for the opportunities it facilitates for dancers, I hope you can make it to a tour city and experience it for yourself. Check out the Gala Alumni piece:



Dana Foglia Dance Company - "Vatic"

I really hope I'll be in Los Angeles to catch Dana Foglia's newest production "Vatic". Based on my mentorship experience with her and the DFD Company; it will be nothing short of amazing!

Tickets are now on sale - be sure to get yours for one of the performances November 14-16th at the El Portal Theatre. For information, visit www.danafogliadance.com.

The Underground Dance Centre

The Underground is a new studio in downtown Toronto offering beginner, intermediate and advanced level classes for dancers. I love the options for Contemporary classes through the week with choreographers Jade Whitney, Faye Rauw and Guest classes with artists such as Tatiana Parker, Hani Abaza and Chris Stewe. The Underground has an easy on-line method of reserving class space and it's a really supportive environment to dance in. Congratulations to Leon Blackwood on his new venture!




Monsters of Hip Hop - Atlanta

I attended my first city as an Alumni and had so much fun! For the first time in history, the Monsters Faculty and Show Alumni hit the stage together for a performance they created just for Atlanta. The closing number featured Tabitha and Napoleon Dumo, Kevin Maher, Rhapsody James, Laura Edwards and Sean Bankhead plus Alumni Robert Green, Dylan Cheek, Angelo Saunders, Ramone Wilkinson, Jarred Jenkins and myself. We danced to Chonique Sneed's new single called "Let It Go" available in itunes!

I also took part in my first ever Industry Class at MOHH. This class is for 18+ and in the span of an hour and a half, Kevin Maher created a video with the participants. He taught us about formations and the importance of eye contact with the camera.

Monsters is an action packed weekend with a bonus class on Friday evenings, classes Saturday and Sunday with awesome faculty and performance opportunities on Saturday evening. Proceeds from the Showcase benefit "Monsters on the Move" Foundation. The highlight of every Monsters showcase though is the Parents Battle...you'll be awe what some of the parents can do!

Check out www.monstersofhiphop.com for information on their tour cities!

It's always fun to see friends at conventions including Jentry and my little cousin Hadley who came to watch me dance.

Juliette Irons - "Lost It to Trying" Concept Video

On a recent trip to LA, I was fortunate to participate in a concept video created, directed and edited by the extremely talented Juliette Irons.  We met and danced in a white-box studio in downtown Los Angeles - covering ourselves in white baking flour and white makeup on our faces.  Under Juliette's direction, we improved, jumped around, threw flour at each other and created "pictures' that Juliette had in her mind while she filmed in slow motion format. What she created and edited is nothing short of amazing! I was honoured to dance with Ryan Spencer, Jason Gorman, Kelly Browning, Kenzie McClure, Jordan Johnson and Jesse Johnson. And props to the camera man Julian Juarez!



Juliette describes the video "about passing through after death, and a metaphoric presentation of resisting what life presents us with". Congratulations to Juliette on this amazing video!