SHIAMAK Toronto is Ontario’s premier Bollywood dance academy teaching Shiamak’s signature Bollywood Jazz, Bolly Hop, Bolly Ada, Semi Classical, Bhangra Swag and many other dance styles kids, pre-teens and adults at several locations across the GTA. The SHIAMAK Toronto Dance Team is the most soughtafter team of Bollywood and Indo Jazz dancers and have performed some of the most prestigious events including the IIFA Awards, Just for Laughs, MOSAIC Festival and many others.

Esie Mensah (she/her) is an artist whose creative footprint extends into many genres, disciplines and regions. As a dancer, choreographer, director, educator and public speaker, Mensah's mastery of storytelling is as diverse as her experience. From working with megastars like Rihanna, Drake and Arcade Fire to historic brands like Coca-Cola, TIFF and the Toronto Raptors, this powerful woman shows no sign of slowing down. She was a featured speaker at TEDx Toronto 2019, where she spoke about her experience as a dark-skinned dancer and the process of creating her Dora-nominated production Shades. Her short film, A Revolution of Love, opened Toronto History Museum’s ongoing Awakenings initiative to decolonize historic spaces. More recently, Esie announced the world premiere of her newest short film, TESSEL, co-commissioned by Fall For Dance North and Harbourfront Centre. TESSEL is a national call of healing supported by 21 dance organizations from across Canada, streaming online at www.tessel.film

Naomi Martin is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Southern Ontario. Dance and culture have always been an important part of her life. She is a Fancy Shawl dancer which is a popular dance at First Nations powwows. Naomi joined her first professional Native Dance Company in 1996 touring across Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Norway, Austria, Korea and China. She won the World Smoke Dance Championship in 2006 and 2007 at the Schemitzun Festival of Green Corn in Connecticut. With her husband, Naomi opened Tribal Vision Dance in 2009 and have been touring ever since. She has taken on a new role of Indigenous dance instructor in the Commercial Dance program at Centennial College.

Independent Dance Artist Ryan Lee graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Emily Molnar, Guillaume Côté, Kevin O’Day, Stephen Pier, D.A. Hoskins, Darryl Tracy, Sharon B Moore, Julia Sasso and Menaka Thakkar. Ryan has worked for such companies as Human Body Expression, ProArteDanza, Toronto Dance Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Anandam Dancetheatre, inDANCE, Larchaud Dance Project, Transcendance, The Chimera Project and TOES for Dance. Ryan has toured internationally and has been nominated for Dora Mavor Moore awards for outstanding ensemble performance.

Throughout his career, Shavar Blackwood’s passion for dance has allowed him to take his ideas of the HipHop culture to the next level by fusing it with different forms of dance such as Contemporary, House, Popping and Krump. These principles have allowed him to work with many outstanding choreographers such as Luther Brown, Mandy Moore, Sean Cheeseman and Bill T Jones. A sought out choreographer, Shavar is currently the head coach of the Toronto Raptors official dance team, the North Side Crew. For Shavar, dance is not just an art form but also a way of life.

Carmen Romero is a leading and award-winning established flamenco dance artist whose experience in performance, education, production and adjudication, affirms her position in the national and international dance scene. “She belongs to the history of flamenco than few can attest to” Dance International. She coached Latin Popstar Shakira in 2010 and in 2000, Carmen represented Canada at the 9th Annual Certamen de Coreogrfia de Danza Espanola y Flamencoin Madrid and at the International Castanet Festival in Girona, Spain in 2014. Carmen breaks down barriers and explores the paths less travelled creating dance that is passionate and relevant.

Artistic Director of KasheDance, Kevin A. Ormsby has performed with companies in Canada, USA and the Caribbean. Recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch – Staunton Award and TAC Cultural Leaders Fellow, he has been a Guest Artist at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts - University of the West Indies (Mona), University of Wisconsin, Madison and Northwestern University. Kevin's research and creative practice exists in a space of constant interrogation and navigation of Caribbean cultural nuances towards a methodology of understanding space in creation, research and presentation.

Fang Wang completed both her undergrad and master programs at the Beijing Dance Academy, specializing in choreography. In the past decade she has devoted her efforts to the teaching and choreography of Han Tang classical dance (Han dynasty and Tang dynasty). She has authored and published many textbooks in related subjects. Her curriculum and courses at the Bejing Dance Academy garnered awards for national excellence. Fang was part of the planning and production of several full length dance dramas and theatre productions.

Ballet Folklorico Puro Mexico is a Mexican dance company founded in May 2003 by Melissa Lowry and is currently directed by Jezreel Vazquez. The company is supported by a great board of directors that contribute to the growth of the organization. During its 18 years as a non-for-profit organization, Puro Mexico has grown exponentially thanks to the passion and dedication of each one of its members. They work tirelessly to promote Mexican folklore by committing to bring their best work forward with pride and professionalism to every audience.

Ballet Folklorico Puro Mexico is highly regarded by the Mexican community in Toronto. The organization keeps striving to promote Mexican cultural diversity in Canada by creating a space in which Mexican immigrants, as well as Canadian-born Mexicans, can reconnect with their roots.

Ashley Perez is a Teacher, Dancer and Choreographer. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Mix Mix Dance Collective. Mix Mix has completed an Artist Residency at York Woods Library, showcased work at Fall For Dance North (2017) and Contemporaneity 3.0 (2019) and represented Canada at the Jeux de la Francophonie (2017) in Abidjan. Ashley’s talent was awarded the 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance, Ensemble in the Dance Division for Floor’d presented by Holla Jazz in 2018. Ashley continues to teach street dances with her enterprise, class and is currently working on her MA in Dance at York University.

Alyssa Martin is a choreographer and director blurring the lines of theatre, dance and comedy from a place of mischief. She most often creates with Rock Bottom Movement, the company she founded alongside friends. Creating work that sneaks into the dance, theatre, film and musical theatre realms has allowed Alyssa the opportunity to create and collaborate with work at Toronto Dance Theatre, Stratford Festival, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, George Brown and X University among others. She tries to approach what she shares with a pressure-free-toss-the-noodles-on-the-wall energy.

Naomi Martin is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Southern Ontario. Dance and culture have always been an important part of her life. She is a Fancy Shawl dancer which is a popular dance at First Nations powwows. Naomi joined her first professional Native Dance Company in 1996 touring across Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Norway, Austria, Korea and China. She won the World Smoke Dance Championship in 2006 and 2007 at the Schemitzun Festival of Green Corn in Connecticut. With her husband, Naomi opened Tribal Vision Dance in 2009 and have been touring ever since. She has taken on a new role of Indigenous dance instructor in the Commercial Dance program at Centennial College.