Alex Elliott (she/her) Choreographer + Dancer for CONDUCT + Choreographer of Ellipsis 2.0

Dasha Plett (she/her) Composer/Sound Designer + Co-Creator of CONDUCT

Ali Robson (she/they) Movement Dramaturge

Brenda McLean (she/her) Costume Designer + Set Designer

Max Mummery (they/them) Lighting Designer

Jillian Groening (they/she) Artistic Advisor

Neilla Hawley (they/them) Dancer/Collaborator

Justine Erickson (she/her) Dancer/Collaborator

 

COLLABORATOR BIOS:

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Cultivated by chaos and the ever-evolving lattice of community, Neilla Hawley belongs to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Treaty One Territory. As a dance artist and human, they embrace and channel the vast offerings of queerness and exist within the impact of their settler ancestors.  Neilla's most recent work includes performing Darryl Tracy’s quietly rooting for the storm alongside Rebecca Sawdon in the Sawdon Dance production of Threshold (June 2022) and co-creating and performing Experimental Dance Lab, a Red Hot Tears production presented by The Manitoba Museum (March 2022). Neilla is a former Artist-In-Residence for Young Lungs Dance Exchange Research Series in 2020 and choreographer of independent works for Cluster Festival, YLDE, and Winnipeg Fringe Festival’s 2021 Winter Series. 

 

Ali Robson is a dance artist, parent and lifelong learner who is curious about collaborating across disciplines, in different communities and creating work with and for people of all ages. She has worked as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, rehearsal director, movement coach and collaborator since 2004. Ali has performed with companies such as, EDAM Dance, TRIP dance company, and Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. Ali is a collective member of Weather Parade Dance Theatre with Natasha Torres-Garner, and together they produce intergenerational performances in public and artistic spaces. Ali has instructed movement courses at the University of Winnipeg and has taught creative movement and improvisation classes for children and adults throughout Winnipeg and across Canada. She recently completed a degree in Urban and Inner City Studies and is pursuing a Masters in Adult Education and Community Development.

 

Dasha Plett is a Winnipeg-based artist working with performance, writing, and media. Her work has been shown by Cluster Festival, Art Holm, Nuit Blanche, Young Lungs Dance Exchange, WNDX Festival of the Moving Image. As a sound designer and composer she has collaborated with the Stratford Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Cercle Molière, Theatre Projects Manitoba, OneTrunk Theatre, Frances Koncan, Waawaate Fobister, Debbie Patterson, and Alexandra Elliott. Dasha is also one half of We Quit Theatre, a performance collective with Gislina Patterson that has presented their work at Buddies in Bad Times, SummerWorks, PushOFF, Stratfest@Home, Théâtre Catapulte, OFFTA, and LOMAA. Follow Dasha on Instagram @dashafmfmfm.

 

Justine Erickson is a Winnipeg based dancer, and a proud member of the Red River Metis Nation. She graduated from the School of Contemporary Dancers, and completed her BA Honours majoring in Dance at the University of Winnipeg. She has performed with companies such as Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, NAfro Dance Productions in Winnipeg, and New Dance Horizons in Regina. With two of her sisters, she is a member of The Eriksson Collective; in 2022 they co-created four short dance films exploring Metis family roots and the absences of material culture through museum collections in Scotland. Justine is passionate about the power of storytelling in dance.

 

Brenda is a theatre designer, creator, and director working on Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, MB. Recent design work includes the set and costume design of “Antigone” with Sick and Twisted Theatre and AA Battery; costume design on “None of This is Happening” with Theatre Projects Manitoba; costume design on “Bad Parent” with Prairie Theatre Exchange, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, and Soulpepper. Her costume design with Andy Moro on “The War Being Waged” was shown at PTE and Stratford Digital theatre. Last summer, Brenda co-created and co-directed “Bike and Circuses” with Daina Leitold and Green Kids Inc. Previously, she co-directed and co-choreographed “Love and Information” with Ali Robson as a digital presentation. Brenda received an Evie Award for Outstanding Set and Costume Design on “Deserter” with Moving Target Theatre. Brenda is thrilled to be working in dance again and with this incredible group of talented artists. 

Max Mummery, lighting designer.

Jillian Groening is a dance artist, writer, and arts worker who is drawn to questions around embodiment, documentation, and the moving image. They are the Distribution Manager for the Winnipeg Film Group, Co-Director of Young Lungs Dance Exchange, and sit on the board of VUCAVU – a streaming and research platform for Canadian Independent film, video, and media art. Jillian’s work has been exhibited at A Space Gallery (Toronto) and  WNDX - Festival of Moving Image (Winnipeg). Their writing has been commissioned through Blinkers Art and Project Space, Platform Centre for Photographic & Digital Arts, and Martha Street Studio. Jillian also cohosts feminist horror film podcast and presents screenings through Bikini Drive In with their work wife, Olivia Norquay. Jillian holds a BA(Hons) in Dance from the School of Contemporary Dancers in affiliation with the University of Winnipeg and a Masters in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University, where their SSHRC-funded research considers performer autonomy through embodied process of re-writing choreographic inscription.

 

After performing her own work in New York, Alex Elliott and Hurricane Sandy came face to face. Physically demanding and emotionally charged, her work made it back to her hometown of Winnipeg and beyond. Her dances have been produced in New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Halifax. Alex thanks Tedd Robinson for his ecstasy charged commission Logarian Rhapsody. She is the Director of Art Holm, a multidisciplinary performance series in Winnipeg that showcases talented performing artists.