Fondation

Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Currently based in Chicago, Fernandes’s projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. Always looking to create new spaces and new forms of agency, Fernandes’s projects take on hybrid forms: part ballet, part queer dance hall, part political protest… always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. Fernandes is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2007) and a recipient of a Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship (2014). In 2010, he was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award, and is the recipient of a prestigious 2017 Canada Council New Chapters grant. Fernandes is also the recipient of the Artadia Award (2019), a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020), and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (2019). His projects have been shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; MoMa, New York; the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and a great many others. He is currently Assistant Professor at Northwestern University and represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago. Recent and upcoming projects include performances and solo presentations at the Noguchi Museum, New York; Munch Art Museum, Oslo, Norway; The Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond; and The Girl’s Choir + Danish National Radio, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Hailing from the Greater Toronto Area, Justin de Luna (he/him) is a queer millennial, currently residing and working in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang, also known as Montréal. His artistic practice has been expressed within the avenues of making, collaborating, interpreting, choreographing and curating. His most recent activities include: co-curating Studio 303’s Queer Performance Camp alongside Winnie Ho, performing in Miracle’ing/Close to Me/Close to You by Sasha Kleinplatz at MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), and rehearsal direction for Radio III / ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ by Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Elisa Harkins, and Zoë Poluch.

Jennifer Nichols is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer, and director with over 20 years of professional stage and film experience. She is the founder of the renowned ballet fitness program, the Extension MethodTM, owner of the Extension Room, and Co-Artistic Director of the dance entertainment firm Hit & Run Dance Productions.

For stage, Nichols holds extensive choreography, performance, and direction credits with organizations such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Oregon Summer Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Against the Grain Theatre, Bicycle Opera, Canadian Art Song Project, Opera 5, FAWN Chamber Creative, and the Royal Conservatory of Music.

For television and film, Nichols holds Head Choreographer and Dance/Script consultant credits for the Netflix series, Tiny Pretty Things and was also choreographer for Reign (CW), Titans (DC Universe), Frankie Drake (CBC), Salvation (CBS), Mary Kills People (Global TV), Falling Water (USA Network), Transylvania (CW), Reacher (Amazon), and the feature film Barney’s Version (Serendipity Point Films). Her feature length directorial debut, Sweat, will premiere this spring.

Kunal Ranchod is a choreographer and graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University and L'École supérieure de ballet du Québec. His works have seen the likes of international stages, including countries like Canada, the United States, India, and Japan. He has choreographed various works for The National Ballet of Canada, The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Radio-Canada, The National Film Board of Canada, The Luminato Festival, Ballet Kelowna, Ballet Ouest de Montréal, and most recently, Toronto Metropolitan University. In 2017, Ranchod launched his own company, Compagnie Kunal Ranchod. The company has been fortunate to receive residencies and grants through the Canada Council for the Arts, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Danse à la Carte, L'École supérieure de ballet du Québec, and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Sophie Qin (she/they) originates from Ottawa, Ontario, where she began her diverse dance training with Linda Jamieson and Ellen Andrews. She danced in their annual production of The Nutcracker, and in 2017 participated in an installation work by Kristen Maurice and Justin de Bernardi in Costa Navarino, Greece. In 2018, Qin moved to New York City as a scholarship student at The Ailey School, and has since been fortunate to perform works by Frederick Earl Mosley, Alvin Ailey, Kyle Marshall, Amy Hall Garner, Jae Man Joo, Alan Lucien Øyen, James Viveiros, and Ballet Ouest de Montréal, among others. Qin currently dances for projects and creations within and around Montréal, and as a graduate from Herzing College’s 2D Animation program, freelances in animation and illustration—harkening back to her first inspiration, kinesthetic research.

Dora Mavor Moore Award winner, Anisa Tejpar (she/her) is originally from Toronto, and is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School. She has performed works by Guillaume Côté, Matjash Mrozewski, John Neumeier, Ginette Laurin, Mauro Astolfi, Peggy Baker, Robert Derosiers, Robert Glumbek, Roberto Campanella, D.A. Hoskins, James Kudelka, Christopher House, Hanna Kiel, and William Yong, and in companies such as Toronto Dance Theatre, Zata Omm, ProArteDanza, Against the Grain Theatre, and Human Body Expression.

Tejpar is Co-artistic Director of the dance entertainment firm Hit & Run Dance Productions, for which she has created works for artists and brands all over Canada including: Nike, The Rolling Stones, Puma, TIFF, Telus, Lupe Fiasco, Evergreen Brickworks, M.A.C. Cosmetics, and Casa Loma, amongst many others. Tejpar is the co-creator of Haunted Cinema, a live immersive drive-in experience. She is also the choreographer of the TV series Minority Report (Fox), co-choreographer of Barney’s Version (Serendipity Point Films), and co-choreographer of the video game, Far Cry: Primal and performed in the game as well.

Tejpar is Associate Producer with Côté Danse and serves as Creative Assistant in Guillaume Côté’s new creations and remounts. Tejpar is an Intimacy Professional working in film and television, and currently teaches Consent + Boundaries for Dancers at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Performance Program. She is one third of the Toronto-based, contemporary dance collective The Platform with Ryan Lee and Benjamin Landsberg.
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YUNG PAIN is inspired by the tension and release of subversive work. Expect an eclectic selection of dance music with a dose of discomfort.