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- digital programme -

SpringSong 2023

We are thrilled and delighted to be welcoming you to SpringSong, sharing the beautiful work of the Young Apprentices and Core Apprentices in the theatre with all of you. As the leaves and trees around us bloom and dance, we are reminded of the growth of the remarkable young artists we work with. It is a complete joy to be sharing their accomplishments and discoveries with all of you today. 

 

A dance performance is a special exchange where we share our hearts and minds through expressive movement together. Through hard work, practice, curiosity, and a bit of fun; we come together to perform live works of art that hope to capture the big thoughts and feelings there are no words to express. We are so immensely proud of these dancers and excited to witness these ephemeral moments of dance magic on stage with all of you!

 

Many thanks to Deborah Lundmark and Michael deConinck Smith, and all of the artists and staff at CCDT for continuing to support and foster our work. We are very grateful for all of you. We also thank you, our audience, for your support and for being here with us today. Enjoy the show!

 

With warm hearts and gratitude,

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Megan Nadain, Core Apprentice Program Director

& Jane-Alison McKinney, Young Apprentice Program Director
 

Spark of the Storm (2022)

Choreography: Jane-Alison Mckinney

Music: Henrik Schwarz & Alma Quartet Amsterdam

Dancers: Young Apprentices

 

On strength, resilience and being together.

 

"Thank you to the dancers for the incredible ways you have grown within this work."

Playful Variations (1993)

Choreography: Deborah Lundmark

Music: Tchaikovsky (played by Mischa Maisky, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli)

Dancers: Core Apprentices

Many Tomorrows Ago (Premiere)

Choreography: Megan Nadain (in collaboration with the dancers)

Music: Modest Mouse (with arrangements & covers by Rachel Boyd, Modal Mouse & Violet Harris)

Dancers: Young Apprentices

 

"Sparked by the desire to dance to this music so close to my heart I found myself listening to “Float On” and thinking a lot about things my then 102-year-old Papa had said about what he believed to be the secret to his long life: forgiveness. “Forgive everyone so you never have to carry any of that heaviness with you through life.” As a concentration camp survivor that is no small feat. During our creation process last summer, my Papa passed away, so this piece grew into a heartfelt tribute to him. The dancers and I spoke about holding anger and negativity and then the feeling of letting it go, so I invite you to see if there is anything you find yourself carrying around that is no longer serving you and perhaps to let it go, in honour of the king of forgiveness, Joe Knypstra, my Papa."

High Tide (2012)

Choreography: Jordana Deveau

Music: Lhasa de Sala

Dancers: Core Apprentices

 

"High Tide was created to honour the strength, perseverance, courage, and memory of my grandmother, Edith Galdy, whose style, stories, and photographs provide me and my work with endless inspiration."

~intermission~

we will be ready (2022)

Choreography: Megan Nadain 

Music: Anoice

Dancers: Core Apprentices

 

Sometimes clawing for control only creates more chaos. Together we found great strength in supporting, allowing and letting go.

Les Petits Monstres (Premiere)

Choreography: Jane-Alison McKinney

Music: Henrik Schwarz & Bugge Wesseltoft - DUOII

Dancers: Young Apprentices

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A serious dance for serious people... but in all seriousness, it's about the power of being yourself.

Of Being Us (Premiere)

Choreography: Megan Nadain (in collaboration with the dancers)

Music: The King's Singers (U2), Das Mörtal, New Order

Dancers: Core Apprentices

 

Examining, sharing and celebrating the quirks and oddities of growing up and being us. Living in the joy of the uncomfortable; the beauty of the awkward. And finding connection in the togetherness and inevitability of it all.

 

"This is happening. I am here... I can see it. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

SpringSong

Artist Biographies

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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, the Toronto Children's Chorus and Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and blues artists Thompson Egbo-Egbo and Jerome Godboo. From her Street Songs (1980) to Dancing Day (1989), Precipice (2010) and Alien Grace (2018), Ms. 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 Ofilio Sinbadinho and from abroad, Colin Connor, Sidra Bell, Kevin Wynn (USA) and Alexander Whitley (UK). Her company has 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 José Limón Dance Company whose recent 70th anniversary CCDT helped to celebrate with performances of José Limón’s The Winged at New York City's Joyce Theater.

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Photo by Gary Ray Rush

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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. In 1988 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, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, Malaysia. In 1994, Michael oversaw the purchase and renovation of CCDT’s 509 DANCE studios, now an intergenerational crossroads for Canadian dance. For fifteen years Michael has led his company’s Ontario Community Residencies Program introducing more than 300,000 young people to contemporary dance in theatres throughout Ontario. Most recently, he produced CCDT’s Scotland tour to the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival followed by the company’s inaugural appearances at the storied Joyce Theater in New York City as part of the José Limón Dance Company’s International Dance Festival in celebration of their 70th Anniversary.

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Photo by Gary Ray Rush

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Megan Nadain

Core Apprentice Director & Choreographer

Megan Nadain (she/her) is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer and dance educator originally from North Vancouver, BC. She is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre where she the recipient of the The Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant. She is a company member with Dancetheatre David Earle and has worked independently with Darryl Tracy, Nicole Nigro, inDANCE, Toronto Heritage Dance and Miranda Abbott.


She has the pleasure of being on faculty at The School of Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre and directing CCDT’s Core Apprentice Program. She is also a faculty member at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre teaching in The Professional Program and The General School. She has also taugth at The National Ballet of Canada InStuio program, York University and facilitates the dance programs at several secondary schools in Toronto. Two projects that she has been involved with recently and that she is exceptionally passionate about are Bridging Generations Through Dance with Dancing with Parkinson’s and Moving together: Choreographic mappings of children with diverse dis/abilities and their neurological responses to a dance-play event with Coralee McLaren.

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Photo by Dancetheatre David Earle

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Jane-Alison McKinney

Young Apprentice Director & Choreographer

Jane-Alison McKinney, originally from New Brunswick, is a dancer, choreographer, producer, and teacher. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, she has performed the works of a variety of contemporary dance artists in Canada and Internationally. In 2016, she was awarded a Metcalf Foundation Internship Grant in Artistic Direction with adelheid under the mentorship of Heidi Strauss, whose close mentorship has played a profound impact on Jane-Alison’s artistic development. She has also worked with adelheid as a dancer, emerging choreographer, and producer. Jane Alison’s choreography has been supported nationally by a variety of festivals and residencies; most recently her solo work ‘There she was’ was presented by Tangente in Montreal. Jane-Alison has also taught classes and workshops across Canada for organizations such as The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, the Good Women Dance Collective, Jamii, Quinte Ballet School, and the National Ballet of Canada (amongst others). She continues to be inspired by the remarkable artists she works with as Director of the Young Apprentice Program at CCDT.

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Photo Courtney Gallery

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Jordana Deveau

Choreographer

Independent dance artist, gardener & seed saver Jordana Deveau (she/her) is a first generation settler based out of Tkaronto, Canada who works as an interpreter, producer, educator, administrator, rehearsal director and project coordinator. She is Co-Artistic Director of JDdance, a multifaceted dance theatre collective that
she co-founded with Jesse Dell in 2009. Jordana is the co-author with Donna Krasnow, Ph.D., of ”C-I Training: Conditioning with Imagery for Dancers”. She has trained in Toronto, Guelph, Vancouver, New York and Vienna, and performed in the U.S., Europe and across Canada interpreting works by notable choreographers including Carol Anderson, Julia Aplin, Peggy Baker, Sidra Bell, David Earle, Sylvain Émard, Kate Franklin, Margie Gillis, Louis Laberge-Côté, Andrea Nann, Roger Sinha, Holly Small, Santee Smith, and Gerry Trentham.

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Photo by Gary Ray Rush

Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre presents

SpringSong

2022/2023 Season

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CCDT and the School of CCDT Founders & Directors

Deborah Lundmark & Michael deConinck Smith

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Director, Core Apprentice Program

Megan Nadain

 

Director, Young Apprentice Program

Jane-Alison McKinney

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Core Apprentice Dancers

Martine Chen, Melina Christopoulos, Tallis Coleman, Calia Hill, Elisabeth Ranger, Nayanne Rayner, Maxine Robert, Mia Vogel-Alexiou, Alice Whyte-Lewis

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Young Apprentice Dancers

Lucky Bai, Avielle Cole-Kim, Maya Greenwood, Violet Harris, Olivia Langley, B Lee, Kate Li, Serena McGinley, Alexis Perritt, Eve Pittendreigh, Annabeth Seedhouse

 

Apprentice Program Accompanists

Raphael Roter, Stich Wynston

 

Manager, School of CCDT

Kathryn Fallowfield

 

Director, Marketing & Outreach

Natasha Jorge-Moore

Thank you

Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre is profoundly grateful for the generous support from the friends and family of our aspiring artists. It is thanks to donations from people like you that we are able to foster artistic growth within these young dancers, both in the studio and live onstage. 

Thank you to our CCDT Board of Directors

 

Gerry Maddison, President/Chairperson

Philip Akin, Vice-President/Vice Chairperson

Tom Sheppard, Secretary/Treasurer

Paula Prociuk Blacklock, Officer

and a special thank you to our individual contributors

Dawnne Nightingale-Amey
Ashley & Mark Dela Cruz
Kristina & Patrick Feanny
David & Pramilda Seto
Laura Ziemba & Kevin Lee
Erin & Jason Vandenberg
Maggie Su
Maria Christopoulos
Anne-Sophie Ramette & Thomas Robert
Anna Manuel & Jason Lee

Sonya Teece & Andy Soter

Karen & Jeffrey Seedhouse
Jennifer Zhang
Angela Cole & Alex Kim
Tara Norton & Bruce Greenwood
Susanna Chwang & Kevin Harris
Sarah Jane Burton & Scott Langley
Emilie & Jim McGinley
Tae Hee Kim & James Perritt
Farah Ali & Cale Pittendreigh
Ying Xu & Leo Li
Kaija Vogel & Vassilios Alexiou

Julie Yip

Rubina Khan & Thomas Tyson
Iolanda Aiello & Rocco Chiappetta
Bernie & Tony Costa
Karen & Chris Fritz
Michael Bellissimo & Christine LeBlanc
Sharon Whyte & Andrew Lewis
Coralee McLaren
Marcela Quintana & Sean Hill
Jennifer Rayner
Vivian Wong

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(416) 924-5657 | development@ccdt.org

509 Parliament St, Toronto, ON M4X 1P3, Canada

Charitable Number: 119218816RR0001

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Photo by David Hou from A Sonata of Shadows by Hanna Kiel

©2024 by Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre

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