Artistic Director | Deborah Lundmark

Deborah Lundmark

Co-Founder, Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer

Deborah Lundmark has created more than 40 works for her company. These include collaborations with the Danny Grossman Dance Company and blues artists Thompson Egbo-Egbo and Jerome Godboo. From her Street Songs (1980) to Salients (2023), Lundmark has impressed audiences and critics alike with the power, precision and artistry of her unique company. She has commissioned over one hundred works from a who’s who of Canadian choreographers including David Earle, Carol Anderson, Tedd Robinson, Santee Smith and from abroad, Colin Connor, Sidra Bell, Kevin Wynn, Roderick George, Jennifer Archibald and Alexander Whitley. Her company won Toronto Arts Foundation’s prestigious Arts for Youth Award and has been critically acclaimed as “a national treasure… numbered among the ranks of Toronto’s top dance companies” by The Globe and Mail. Her dancers have gone on to perform with many of the world’s leading companies including the Limón Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Doug Varone and Dancers, Gallim Dance, Company Wayne McGregor and Skanes Dansteater, among many others.

​

Photo by Gary Ray Rush

Michael deConinck Smith

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Michael deConinck Smith has directed the staging of over three hundred CCDT productions including five appearances at the Canada Dance Festival. He conceived and produced CCDT’s acclaimed collaboration with the Toronto Boys Choir and the Hanson Singers, the original WINTERSONG – dances for a sacred season, now a three-decade-old tradition. In 1990, Michael led CCDT’s first international tour to the People’s Republic of China, and the following year the premiere of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, featuring commissions by ten leading choreographers, realized one of his long-cherished dreams. From 1997 to 2000 he planned CCDT’s extensive tours of Northern Ontario, and in 2002 led the company’s return to Southeast Asia with performances in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1994, Michael oversaw the purchase and renovation of CCDT’s 509 Dance studios, now an intergenerational crossroads for Canadian dance. Since 1997, Michael has led his company’s Ontario Arts Access program introducing more than 350,000 young people to contemporary dance. He led CCDT’s Scotland tour to the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival and, his touring highlight, managed the Company’s inaugural appearances at the storied Joyce Theater in New York City as part of the José Limón Company’s International Dance Festival in celebration of their 70th Anniversary.​

​

Photo by Gary Ray Rush

Ryan Lee

Co-Rehearsal Director

Ryan Lee graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such companies as Human Body Expression, ProArteDanza, Toronto Dance Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Anandam Dancetheatre, inDANCE, The Chimera Project, Frog in Hand and TOES for Dance. Much of this work included creating pieces for the stage and mentoring emerging artists.  Ryan holds a faculty position at Centennial College, teaching Contemporary and Partnering courses and has been a lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University since 2020. He has been commissioned to make choreographic works by ProArteDanza, Anandam DanceTheatre, TMU, Dance Arts Institute, George Brown College, Branksome College, The Emerging Artist Intensive, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Cawthra Park, Etobicoke School for the Arts and Rosedale Heights School for the Arts. Ryan’s work has been presented at festivals such as Dance Ontario Dance Weekend, SummerWorks and dance:made in canada.​

Dana MacDonald

Co-Rehearsal Director

Dana MacDonald is a Dora nominated mover and collaborator based out of Tkaronto, (Treaty 13 Territory) Ontario. A 2018 Graduate from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) with a BFA in fine Arts – Dance. She has had the privilege to work and train with many international and Toronto based companies including but not limited to Hubbard Street Dance, Transcendance projects, Alysa Pires Dance projects, Kylie Thompson Creative and CHUTHIS. Dancer, rehearsal director, choreographer; First and foremost Dana considers herself a lover of stories.

Helen Cox

Accelerated Training Program Director

Helen Cox, M.A. is Director of the Accelerated Training Program at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre and a faculty member, guiding the training and development of young dancers. She began her teaching career in the United Kingdom with institutions including Royal Ballet School, Royal Opera & Ballet, Rambert School, the ISTD, Trinity Laban, and Central School of Ballet. Since relocating to Canada in 2022, Helen has taught at Alberta Ballet School and served on the Board of Directors for Dancers’ Studio West. She is also in her third year as a Rambert Grades Ambassador for Canada.

Vera Kvarcakova and Jérémy Galdeano

Co-Choreographers

Vera Kvarcakova and Jérémy Galdeano have formed a dynamic choreographic duo since 2019. Their creation DOMA was highly successful, being included in the mixed program Parlami d'Amore by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montreal, Canada) in May 2019, and has been selected for prestigious events such as the DAC 2019 Carte Blanche in Montreal and the Noverre-Young Choreographers' Evening at the Stuttgart Ballet. The duo was a finalist in the Hannover International Choreographic Competition 2020 and was invited to HANGARTFEST in Italy. Their work was also selected for the Future Dance Festival 92Y in New York, where they presented DOMA at the Joyce Theater as part of the Martha Graham Company season. Their short film DOMA won Best Dance Video at Rio WebFest 2019 and was honored as Best Dance Short Film at the Queen Palm International Film Festival 2020. Their creation ZABA, created during the 2020 lockdown, was selected for the Festival Interfaccia Digitale. They also co-created Solo pour Trois for the Grands Ballets Canadiens gala. In June 2021, their creation FOMO was presented at the Mannheim National Theatre in Germany and at the Quartiers Danses Festival in Montreal, where it was awarded Best Performance (Prix du meilleur spectacle en salle).

​

kvarcakovagaldeano.com

Roderick George

Choreographer

Roderick George was born and raised in Houston, Texas. he spent his formative years' training at Ben Stevenson's Houston Ballet Academy, The Alvin Ailey School, and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). George was a bronze winner of the Youth American Grand Prix in 2005 and a YoungArts Winner and Presidential Scholar of the Arts in 2003. He has danced for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Basel Ballet/Theater Basel, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and The Forsythe Company. He has performed the work of choreographers such as Marie Chouinard, Peeping Tom, Jorma Elo, Jacopo Godani, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Iiri Kylian, Sharon Eyal, Ohan Naharin, Benoit Swan-Pouffer, and Richard Wherlock. George founded kNoname Artist in 2015 in Berlin, Germany, and has relocated the company to NYC. George was recently named a YoungArts Fellow 2021-2022, Mertz Gilmore Foundation Dancer Award 2023, and Jacob's Pillow 2024 Inaugral Fitzpatrick Award. 

​

knonameartist.org

​

Photo by Jubal Battisti

Nicole Caruana

Choreographer

Nicole Caruana is a freelance dance artist from Buffalo, New York and is an alumna of the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College under the direction of Nelly Van Bommel. Nicole has trained formally with the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, London Contemporary Dance School, The School at the American Dance Festival, Arts Umbrella, and has studied Gaga intensively alongside Batsheva Dance Company in Israel. She’s had the opportunity to perform the works of some of her mentors including Ohad Naharin, Saar and Lee Harari, and Doug Varone. 

As a freelance choreographer, Nicole has received commissions to create new works for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Ballet X of Philadelphia. Her company, UANA DANS was established as Nicole’s creative home and outlet to share choreographies at home and abroad. Her work Arba was awarded first prize at The International competition for choreographers in Hanover, Germany. Since the company’s inception, they have been invited to perform in Germany, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Sweden, New York and Texas. 

Nicole is the recipient of The Technos College International Prize for her efforts in cultural ambassadorship abroad. Together with fellow Purchase alumni Taylor Railton and Mercedez Mize, Nicole is a co-founder of traveling workshop and choreographic platform “The Herd.”

nicolecaruana.com

Peter Chu

Choreographer

Peter Chu trained at Dussich Dance Studio before earning a BFA from The Juilliard School. Peter has performed with Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot, EZdanza, Aszure Barton and Artists, and Celine Dion's “A New Day”. He has been commissioned by Ballet Augsburg, Backhaus Dance, Charlotte Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Cirque du Soleil, DART Dance Company, Gibney Dance Company, Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Kansas City Ballet, MØN Festival, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. He also has been Rehearsal Director for Nederlands Dans Theater 2 and Guest Rehearsal Director for NDT1. His accolades include the 2010 A.C.E. Capezio Award and the 2008 Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival choreographer award. He is a Choreographic Mentor for the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellows and the Upsurge Dance Festival. In 2008, Peter founded chuthis. where, as the director of his chuthis. Perspectives program and co-director of Creating WAVES with Jess Hendricks, he continues to push the physical boundaries of dance.

​

www.peterchuthis.net/

​​

Arun Srinivasan

Lighting Designer

Arun Srinivasan trained at York University earning a Specialized Honours B.F.A.  Dance collaborators have included Robert Desrosiers, Peter Chin, Danny Grossman, COBA, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Tiger Princess Dance Projects, The National Ballet School & ProArteDanza.  He has been the resident designer for CCDT since 2002.  Theatre credits include The Stratford Festival, Factory Theatre, The Canadian Stage Co., The Globe Theatre, The World Stage Theatre Festival, fu-GEN, Cahoots Theatre Projects, k’Now Theatre & Buddies In Bad Times Theatre.  His career has garnered him 8 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Outstanding Lighting Design in theatre and dance. Currently, he is designing projects for Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre, Pleiades Theatre and The Art of Time Ensemble.  Arun has taught lighting design at York University, Ryerson University, the University of Waterloo and mentorship at The National Theatre School.  Productions have taken him to Ukraine, Malaysia, Singapore, India, China and across North America.

Krista Dowson

Resident Costume Designer

Krista Dowson learned to sew at her parents’ dining room table during her 14-year tenure as a ballerina with the National Ballet of Canada. From the stage to behind the scenes, this self-taught costumier enjoys making spandex look beautiful and the challenge of turning 2-dimensional designs into 3-dimensional apparel. Dowson has had the privilege of designing and building costumes for ProArteDanza, the National Ballet of Canada, the Hillside Beach Club in Turkey, Casa Loma’s Legends of Horror, CCDT, and Hit & Run Dance Productions in addition to a number of independent artists locally and internationally.

Charlotte Carbone

Resident Costume Designer

Charlotte “Char” Carbone (BDes, MFA) is a disabled queer Asian adoptee artist, designer, and dancer based in Toronto. Their 10+ years of industry expertise include costume design for TV/film/stage, community arts programming for visual arts, and dance performance in the styles of punking-waacking and hands performance (voguing). Credits include projects with The Bentway, Toronto Dance Theatre, CanAsian Dance, The Canadian Dance Assembly, and CBC Arts. In addition, they have been awarded many grants from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts, as an individual artist and as the disability justice arts group Sixth Sense Collective. Overlapping with this professional work, Char is deeply embedded with the arts communities of Toronto Waacking and the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance. In the ballroom community, they are honored to be Godmother Chardonnay of the Iconic House of Juicy Couture.

www.charcarbone.com

A.J. Morra

Production Stage Manager

Based in Toronto, A.J. Morra is a graduate of the Technical Theatre Program at Toronto Metropolitan University, and has enjoyed an active career as a Technical Director, Production Manager, and Stage Manager for contemporary dance, circus, and theatre. Selected credits include three seasons with Toronto Dance Theatre, and assorted projects with ProArte Danza, Dreamwalker Dance Company, Groundling Theatre Company, Holla Jazz, Zero Gravity Circus,  Soundstreams, and Signal Theatre.