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

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

Megan Nadain

Core Apprentice Director & Choreographer

Megan Nadain, a native of North Vancouver, British Columbia, is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer and dance educator. She is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, for which she received scholarships from the School, the Hnatyshyn Foundation and the BC Arts Council. She is a company member with Dancetheatre David Earle, and has worked independently with Darryl Tracy, inDANCE, Toronto Heritage Dance and Event Horizon Dance. In the summer of 2014, she performed with Dancetheatre David Earle in Dusseldorf, Germany at the tanzmesse dance festival. 

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In addition to directing the Core Apprentices, she is also an active teacher at the School of Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre. She is on faculty at  The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and she facilities workshops in several of Toronto’s independent schools. As a choreographer, her work has been presented across Canada.

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Photo by Dancetheatre David Earle

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

Nicole Nigro

Choreographer

Nicole Nigro is an international dance|theatre artist. Nigro is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (CA), holds an Honours BFA from York University (CA), a Diploma in Dance Teaching Studies with The Royal Academy of Dance (UK), and an MFA with Accademia dell’Arte (IT) and Mississippi University for Women (US). She has had the privilege of interpreting as a guest artist with Anandam Dancetheatre, Broken Jump Theatre, The Danny Grossman Dance Company, Divadlo Continuo, Dance Theatre David Earle, Peggy Baker Dance Projects for Nuit Blanche, Die Wolke Art Group, Diyar Dance Theatre and several independent choreographers. Her work has been presented in Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East. She was a longtime faculty member at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s General School and Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT), as well as the Artistic Director of CCDT’s Core Apprentice Company. Nigro is a member of Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists and the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. She has been a residency artist at Ponderosa (DE); Artscape (CA); Earthdance (US); La Macina di San Cresci (IT); Kulturfactory (IT); and Švestkovy Dvur (CZ). In June of 2016, Nigro relocated to Europe to pursue an MFA in Physical Theatre at Accademia dell'Arte. The 2.5-year graduate program took place in Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic. 

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Photo by Faith Sullivan