Meet the Performers in Moving Parts by Denise Fujiwara

Sylvie Bouchard is originally from Montréal and began her training there before moving to Toronto in 1983, to study at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She subsequently joined Toronto Dance Theatre in 1985 and performed nationally and internationally with them for five years in works by Peter Randazzo, Trish Beatty, David Earle and Christopher House. Bouchard has also performed with Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Kaeja d’Dance, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and Dancemakers and has had the pleasure to work for many choreographers including: Tedd Robinson, Denise Fujiwara, Susie Burpee, Roger Sinha, Peggy Baker, Serge Bennathan, Marie-Josée Chartier, Louis-Martin Charest, Gerry Trentham, Santee Smith and Sashar Zarif. In 1997, Bouchard formed the company CORPUS with artistic partner David Danzon. Until 2008, she co-created and performed in eight works through CORPUS, touring nationally and internationally in theatre venues, outdoor venues and in schools through Prologue for the Performing Arts. She also co-choreographed and starred in the popular children’s TV Series Four Square on Treehouse TV.

In 1993, Sylvie Bouchard created Dusk Dances, a festival that presents dance in public parks. Dusk Dances grew under the artistic direction of Bouchard and Danzon and through CORPUS, until Bouchard became sole Festival Director in 2008. Throughout her artistic career, Sylvie Bouchard has continued to forge original concepts in both the creation and the presentation of dance. In 2009, she formed BoucharDanse, a company that serves as an umbrella for her artistic endeavours: www.bouchardanse.com.

As a performer, Sylvie Bouchard was recently part of the cast of Moving parts (choreographed by Denise Fujiwara), presented in DanceWorks’ special 40th anniversary program in November 2017, and in Dusk Dances in 2019. Bouchard was part of Eunoia (choreographed by Denise Fujiwara), which premiered at World Stage (Harbourfront Centre) in 2014 and toured (2015 and 2019) in St. John’s, Calgary, Whitehorse, Halifax, Guelph, Kitchener and St-Catharines. In 2013, Bouchard performed femme assise, a solo created by Marie-Josée Chartier, in Older & Reckless. She was part of the cast of Apocalypsis, a Luminato production directed by Lemi Ponifasio, which premiered at the Bluma Appel Theatre in June 2015. Bouchard performed in The Art of Peace, created by Gerry Trentham, which premiered at Fort York in November 2015, and in Trees (from the series The Bush), also created by Trentham, which premiered in October 2018. Bouchard is the recipient of the 2009 K.M. Hunter Artist Award for dance, and she has training in trauma-informed therapy.

Michael Mortley graduated from the university of Trinidad and Tobago in 2015. He attended Beijing Dance Academy from 2015 to 2016. When he first arrived in Canada, he worked with KasheDance and performed in Re: Imagining TPM in April 2018. He also worked with Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) at The Gathering in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Michael has had the pleasure of working for Wind In the Leaves Collective on the Searching for Eastman project as a dancer and collaborator in the creation of that full length work. He worked with Ronald Taylor Dance on a project entitled Psychosis in June 2019 and then again in October 2019 for Rendezvous with Madness festival as a dancer and costume designer. Michael travelled to Winnipeg and New Brunswick respectively to perform in NAFRO Dance Presents: Moving Inspirations Dance Festival with KasheDance and Impact Festival by Atlantic Ballet with Wind In the Leaves collective. Michael is a photographer for Ronald Taylor Dance, as well as other noted dance companies. He does social media and administrative work as well.

Mayumi Lashbrook is a Japanese Canadian settler in Tkaronto who seeks to expose, challenge, and rectify systems of oppression by creating innovative, introspective and inclusive dance theatre. She sees embodiment as at the crux of world making, providing alternatives to unconscious thought, consumerism and oppression. She strives to increase connection, visibility and diversity in the Canadian arts landscape through on- and off-stage initiatives. Her primary practices span performance, choreography, education, creative production and Artistic Direction. Mayumi is the Co-Artistic Director of Hamilton based Aeris Körper, mentee of Denise Fujiwara of Fujiwara Dance Inventions, and practitioner of Dreamwalker Dance’s Conscious Bodies methodology. Mayumi contributes as a creative voice through both choreography and production of healthy ecologies for dance to be made in. Her different roles are all-encompassing and overlapping. This enables her to approach projects and communities with knowledge, openness, and curiosity.

Brodie Stevenson comes from the village of Wuikinuxv on British Columbia’s central coast and now calls Toronto his home. As a dancer Stevenson began his career at Toronto Dance Theatre under the direction of Christopher House and has since worked with a diverse range of choreographers and companies in the contemporary dance milieu. As a choreographer, his interests are centred around the rigorous practices of collaboration and collective decision making. Stevenson has been creating and performing as part of the award-winning trio, Throwdown Collective, since 2008. He is a Dora Award winning performer with The Dietrich Group as well as a recipient for outstanding choreography with Throwdown Collective.

Jen Hum is a Toronto based independent dancer, creator and performer and uses her multifaceted background to create performances that seek to challenge and question the status quo. She is constantly searching for the meaning in things and ways of communicating these findings through her art. Her curiosity has resulted in solo projects and the opportunity to work with a diverse collection of individuals and groups including Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Returning River Collective, Redsnow Collective, Polynomials Dance, J9 Dance Projects, Alias Dance Projects, Anandam Dance Theatre, and Xing Dance Theatre. She has performed in Dance: Made in Canada, Dusk Dances, Dance Matters, Toronto Fringe Festival, The Reel Asian Film Festival, Nuit Blanche and the Guelph Jazz Festival. She has trained locally and abroad is always excited about what future artistic investigations will bring.

Lucy Rupert is a dancer, choreographer, art-science researcher, and environmentalist. She is the founder of Blue Ceiling dance and a freelance performer with many Canadian choreographers and companies including Fujiwara Dance Inventions, Theatre Rusticle, Chartier Danse, Nova Dance, hART dance and Anandman Dance among many others. Her work has been presented throughout Canada and in New York and Germany and she recently returned from the Ucross Foundation’s international artist residency program in Wyoming. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Inaugural Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Awards, and received an Audience choice award at the 2017 dance: made in Canada festival. Lucy has a double BA in Dance and Music, an MA in History and is currently studying philosophy through Oxford University. She lives in a magical neighbourhood full of coyotes and old trees in Toronto/Tkaronto.