Jul 2, 2018

Who's Who at SunDance 2018

We have exceptional faculty joining us for this year's SunDance summer intensive from all over Canada and the world. These teachers are certainly experts in their field with extensive performance experience and education informing what they bring to the studio. We are excited to welcome them to SunDance 2018!

Read on to find out more about our 2018 faculty and what classes they will be teaching during the three-week intensive.

Maureen Eastick

Ballet & Pointe - Programs A & B (week 1)

Maureen Eastick is the founder and former/Artistic Director of Pacific Dance Centre. She has had a distinguished career as a dance educator. Since Pacific Dance Centre opened its doors in 1978, Mrs. Eastick has trained countless dancers, many who have subsequently earned renowen in their professional careers as dance artists, teachers and choreographers throughout North America and Europe.

She has enjoyed many opportunities to share her passion for ballet. For fourteen years, Mrs. Eastick was a ballet pedagogue in the Dance Training Department at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Believing so strongly in the value of this program, she created the Maureen Eastick Endownment Fund, enabling many gifted young dancers to further their studies at that remarkable institution.

Mrs. Eastick holds a BFA from the University of Victoria and has Life Member Status with the Royal Academy of Dance. She is a regular guest teaching and adjudicator throughout Canada, and was awarded the Dance Victoria Chrystal Award in recognition of a lifetime of contributing to the dance community. 2018 is Maureen's first summer instructing ballet at SunDance.

Clare Merchant Andreou

Ballet & Pointe - Programs A & B (weeks 2 &3)

Clare Merchant Andreou is a fully qualified ballet teacher and Registered teacher of the RAD. Clare began her professional studies at the age of 9 when she gained a place at a full-time arts school- The Arts Educational School, now named Tring Park School of Performing Arts. At 16 she continued her studies at the Royal Ballet School where she graduated and at 19 embarked on a teaching career. Clare decided she wanted to gain experience working overseas and had a teaching post in the Canary Islands and then a position in Limasol, Cyprus. Upon meeting her future husband, Clare decided to settle in Cyprus and took over the Nicosia Academy of Dance in 1991, renaming it Dance Works School of Ballet. In 1994 Clare was invited to become a Grades Examiner and Tutor for the Royal Academy of Dance and in 2004 also became a Dual Examiner. In the meantime she gained a B. Phil (Hons) degree in Ballet and Contextual Studies from Durham University. In January 2016 Clare was appointed as a SOLO SEAL EXAMINER of the RAD.

Clare was on the founding committee of the Lefkosia Youth Ballet in 1999 as well as more recently The DanceHouse Lefkosia- both of which she is still actively involved. Clare has choreographed for numerous performances of the Anglo Cypriot Theatre (ACT) over more than 20 years, as well as professional theatre for THOC and Theatro ENA. Clare previously instructed ballet at SunDance 2016 and returns for a second summer on faculty this year.

Carmen Cairns

Ballet & Character – Program C

Flamenco – Program B

Photo by Gary Ray Rush

Born in England, Ms. Cairns (nee Duncan) began her training at the Arts Educational School, Tring continuing on to the Royal Ballet School, London to gain her teaching qualifications. From there she has proceeded to teach internationally, and can now be found teaching courses for the Royal Academy of Dance across Canada and the USA.

Residing in Toronto, Ms. Cairns is the Associate Artistic Director of the School of Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, where she has taught ballet since 2007. Her passion and dedication to her art form is driven by the students who cross her path, and her wish to see them reach their potential.

For the past 10 years Ms. Cairns has taught at SunDance, and she is also honoured to teach the Benesh Notation course at Canada’s National Ballet School for the Teacher Training Program.

Daniel Fetecua Soto

Modern Technique - Programs A & B

Modern Repertoire - Program A

Photo by YLvisuals

Daniel Fetecua Soto, a native of Bogotá, Colombia holds a BFA from Folkwang-Hochschule. Germany, and has appeared as a guest artist in Pina Bausch’s masterpieces Rite of Spring and Tannhauser. Fetecua has also worked with La Fura Dels Baus, Kuo Chu Wu and won a salsa award in the European Salsa Championship in 2004. He is founder and artistic director of Pajarillo Pinta’o, a dance company that combines Colombian Folklore and Modern Dance, based in New York and Germany. He is currently guest choreographer and Board member of ID studio Theatre, a not-for-profit organization led by German Jaramillo. In spring 2008 he was commissioned to create a new work by Dancing in the Streets with funding from Harlem Stage. Fetecua was a member of the Limón Dance Company from 2006 – 2016. This is his first time teaching at SunDance.

Natasha Poon Woo

Modern Technique & Modern Repertoire - Program C

Photo by Francesca Chudnoff

Natasha Poon Woo grew up in Toronto and trained at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, SUNY Purchase, and the Rotterdam Dance Academy. She earned a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase in 2012, graduating summa cum laude with the President’s Award for Achievement. As a performer Natasha has toured Holland and Switzerland with Conny Janssen Danst, completed a residency at the Beijing Dance Academy in China with The Kevin Wynn Collection, and performed the works of such esteemed American choreographers as Twyla Tharp, Doug Varone, and Pam Tanowitz. She has worked with Toronto companies Benjamin Landsberg Dance Projects, Gadfly, Little Pear Garden Dance Company, and Hit & Run Dance Productions, among others. Also a dancer with Rock Bottom Movement, she was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance – Ensemble in the company’s production of MANICPIXIEDREAMGIRLS.

Natasha is currently Rehearsal Director for CCDT's Company and additionally directs rehearsals for many other dance artists throughout the GTA including Human Body Expression (Hanna Kiel, Artistic Director). She is a Limón Modern and C-I Training™ (Level 1) teacher at CCDT, a regular guest teacher at The Conteur Academy, a founding member of The Garage collective, and an instructor of the Extension Method™.

Having attended seven and assisted five SunDances since 2000, Natasha is thrilled to have been teaching Program C Modern classes since 2016.

Julia Cosentino

Jazz – Program B & C

Originally from Toronto, ON, Julia received her BFA Honors Degree in Dance from York University in 2012. Since graduating, Julia has had the pleasure of training, collaborating, and performing with companies including Jasmyn Fyffe Dance, Rock Bottom Movement, Frog In Hand, Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, ProArteDanza, Hit and Run Dance Productions, Lady Luck Productions, and emiMOTION. Julia is a founding member of The Garage, a Toronto dance collective established in 2013 to provide emerging artists with the opportunity to share, learn, research and develop different skills and ideas. She has appeared on three seasons of the TV series “Reign”, and is a certified instructor of the Extension Method. In 2015, she performed in The Alberta Dance Festival in a work created by Rodney Diverlus, and in the Fluid Festival. Julia is a current member of Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary, Alberta. Julia joins the SunDance faculty for the first time in 2018.

Colleen Snell

Improvisation & Composition - Program A

Modern Repertoire - Program B

Colleen Snell is a dance artist thrilled by collaboration and collective creation. She has devised and performed multidisciplinary work with musicians, spoken word poets, actors, fight directors, visual artists/designers, martial artists and artists of diverse cultural backgrounds between the ages of 6-60. Colleen trained in Toronto (Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre), at EDCM in Montreal and in London, England, where she completed a Masters Degree in Contemporary Dance with Distinction at the London Contemporary Dance School. She is an artistic associate with TOES for Dance. Performance highlights include the Hillside Inside Festival, where Colleen performed with Canadian bands Hey Rosetta and Stars, Mississauga Waterfront Festival (2013-15), the Off the Wall project (2014, 2015, Living Arts Centre), Nuit Blanche Toronto (2014), Night/Shift Waterloo (2013-15), Art Gallery of Ontario’s Massive Party (2013), Guelph Dance Festival (2015-16) and Mississauga’s PanAm Games opening ceremonies. Colleen is a certified advanced actor-combatant with Fight Directors Canada, a writer with the Dance Current, and a selected participant in the National Ballet of Canada’s Emerging Dance Critics program. Colleen was delighted to be an e-choreographer with Springboard Danse (2015) and the Banff Centre's Choreographic Gesture Program (2016).

A past SunDance student in her years training with CCDT, this summer is Colleen's first time on the SunDance faculty.

Lindsay Storms

Progressing Ballet Technique - All Programs

Lindsay has spent well over a decade educating dancers in studios across Southern Ontario, specializing in a wide range of styles including Modern, Jazz, Ballet & Hip Hop. Lindsay began her dancing career in Toronto, continuing her studies in RAD Ballet, and ISTD Modern & Jazz, upon relocation to the Peterborough area. After many years of study Lindsay received her Licentiate status in the Modern Theatre branch of the ISTD, and was awarded the RAD's Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies. Most recently Lindsay has received certification in the revolutionary new training program for dancers, Progressing Ballet Technique, and is looking forward to returning to SunDance and sharing her passion for the program with everyone.