Willem Sadler is a street styles and contemporary based artist from Toronto, Ontario. Willem has had the opportunity to perform and show his work internationally, most recently in New York City. Willem defines himself as a versatile dancer/creator and strives to squash the separation of ‘styles’ in hopes to present dance as movement without restrictions. Throughout his career Willem has performed and collaborated with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mirvish, Dusk Dances, CCDT, Dance Collection Danse, Zata OMM, ProArteDanza and Côté Danse. He has also performed works by Jennifer Archibalt, Guillaume Côté, Colin Connor, William Yong and Robert Lepage. In his commercial dance career he has performed for the Pan American Games, Roots Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart, Artists in Motion Dance Company and has taught at Toronto’s leading studios such as Run The Flex and StudioNorth Toronto. Willem has most notably performed in Côté Danse’s X(Dix) as part of the 20th Fall For Dance Festival at the New York City Center. Willem is grateful to have the opportunity to express freely as an artist and contribute towards enriching the Toronto dance community.

Jianna Neufeld (she/her) is a queer, Tkaronto-based, dance and theatre artist, who was born and raised at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway. She is a graduate of the Victoria Academy of Ballet (2017), and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (2020), where she was honoured co-valedictorian and the two-time recipient of the Walker Wood Bursary. She also holds a BFA Hons. in Choreography/Performance from York University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2023. Neufeld is currently working as an independent artist across Turtle Island, having performed for Frog in Hand, Adrian de Leeuw, Caroline Bentley, Dave Wilson, Newton Moraes, The Bentway Conservancy, and Maria Isabel Salgado, among others. In addition to performing, Neufeld is passionate about the outdoors and works as an outdoor educator and wilderness guide for youth in and around the GTA.

Aya Belsheim found a love for dance at age five and started her training with the Alberta Ballet School in Edmonton. She later joined the professional programme with intensive focus on ballet, modern, jazz and pointe. She moved to the Edmonton School of Ballet for her graduating year where she danced many leads in their junior performing company. Upon graduating, Aya joined Ballet North and toured Alberta, B.C. and Russia. A year later, Aya moved to Jonquière, Quebec, where she started teaching ballet, pointe, variation and modern at L’École de Danse Le Prisme Culturel. In 1996 she joined Ballet Jörgen Canada in Toronto, where she stayed for the next twelve years, touring all over Canada and the United States. Since retiring from her dance career in 2008, Aya has been teaching mostly ballet and pointe at various studios. With her extensive professional stage experience, Aya excels at getting dancers to find freedom in their movement in order to awaken their inner artistry, while maintaining a strong technical base. In 2022 Aya gently came out of retirement to continue pursuing her love of movement in a project based freelance capacity.

Kate Kamo McHugh is a dance and theatre artist from the Region of Waterloo. She is interested in artistically exploring concepts such as migration, belonging and the intersection of art and care – all themes she feels intimately connected to in her everyday life. Highlights for Kate over the past year include working with Dancemakers and CanAsian Dance, acting in a workshop of Julie Tamiko Manning’s new play Mizushōbai (Tableau D’Hôte Theatre), and dancing with Tara Butler’s company Dust and Soul Dance. Currently she is working on her own show 20 Grains of Rice, an exploration of Japanese Canadian identity – cultural loss, retention and creation. Kate holds a BFA from Toronto Metropolitan University in Theatre Performance Dance.  

Edgardo Moreno has been commissioned for projects in Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Sweden, Argentina, England and USA. He has written scores for films produced by CBC, Bravo, City TV, NFB, OMNI, Ontario Arts Council, History Channel, TVO. He has worked extensively with contemporary dance choreographers creating sound design and musical scores. He is presently working in creating video and live sound pieces that are part of his Fireflyproject. Hi Film Double Exposure has screened in various film festival across Canada and South America. Edgardo has completed and LP of Electro-Acoustic pieces entitled ‘El Piano De Raquel’. He has worked with indigenous contemporary dance choreographers and artists including Penny Couchie, Alejandro Ronceria, Rulan Tangen, Muranko Starr, Carlos Rivera, Sara Roque, Clayton Windatt, Justyn Manyfingers, Tasha Faye Evans

Viktoria Kamenyiczki embarked on her dancing journey at a young age, driven by her passion for movement and expression through the art of dance. Viktoria began her training at Carousel Dance Centre and attended Eastwood Collegiate Institute for the Integrated Arts Program, performing in countless Eastwood shows. She was the Local Participant Rehearsal Director in Kitchener/Waterloo for the 2023 CBJ Nutcracker at Centre in The Square. Viktoria also competed at competitions where she triumphed with a pointe solo, winning special judges award’s, such as Pretty Port de Bras at Dance Canada Competition and Full of Grace at Luv2dance Competition. Viktoria won first place with her fusion solo Stubborn Spark at Dancefest. She continues to “spread the joy found in dance.”

Tara Butler is the Artistic Director of Dust and Soul Dance, established in November 2021. Dust and Soul Dance is committed to offering yearly professional and original contemporary dance performances for the Waterloo region. We have created and presented two enthusiastically received evenings of dance at The Registry Theatre. “Dance Takes Berlin” November 2021 and “PRECARIOUS” June 2023 supported by Canada Council for The Arts, Ontario Arts Council and The Region Of Waterloo Arts Fund. We have established ongoing dance/movement workshops to educate and build our audiences for dance. After completing the first iteration of her new work “It Falls With The Rain” with 6 dancers, composer Edgardo Moreno and dramaturg Lisa O’Connell funded by Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council she is thrilled to have the opportunity to present the work as part of Femme Folks Fest 2024.

Tara began her career with The National Ballet of Canada, danced for The Alberta Ballet for 2 years before she joined Canada Ballet Jorgen where she was a celebrated Principal Dancer for 16 years. She has guest performed and taught internationally and is passionate about sharing her artistry and knowledge.