X (DIX)

Guillaume Côté - Choreographer

Guillaume Côté is a native of Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec. He studied at Canada’s National Ballet School and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1999. He quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2004. Since then, Mr. Côté has danced most of the major classical roles with the National Ballet of Canada and has been the leading male figure of the company. He has had several lead roles created on him notably the role of Romeo in Alexei Ratmansky’s new Romeo and Juliet, Prince Charming in James Kudelka’s Cinderella, and the role of Gene Kelly in Derek Deane’s production of Strictly Gershwin, for the English National Ballet. He has also worked closely with such dance icons as Roland Petit, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon and Crystal Pite. As a guest artist, Mr. Côté has danced with The Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, English National Ballet, the Mikhailosky Theater of St-Petersburg, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Berlin’s Staatsoper, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Stuttgart Ballet, Hamburg Ballett, the Alberta Ballet, Verona Opera and the South African Ballet Theater. Mr. Côté has also performed in numerous international galas. 

In 2012 he launched with fellow dancer Etienne Lavigne Anymotion Productions, with the mandate to produce high quality independent dance works and events on stage and on film. In 2013, in addition to his position as a Principal Dancer, Mr. Côté assumed the role of Choreographic Associate with The National Ballet of Canada and today eight of his works are part of the company’s repertoire. In 2012, his work Enkeli won the Audience Choice Award for Best Choreography at The Tenth International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize. That same year, his work for ProArteDanza, Fractals: a pattern of chaos, was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography. In 2013, his work Being and Nothingness entered The National Ballet of Canada’s repertoire and after its initial success, the work was extended and presented in 2015 and again in 2019 during an international tour ending in Russia. Mr. Côté’s first full-length ballet, Le Petit Prince, was presented during the National Ballet’s 2016 season in front of sold-out houses. In 2017, Mr. Côté was chosen to participate in the National Arts Centre’s landmark Encount3rs commission, which combined the talents of three choreographers with those of three Canadian composers. His work Dark Angels, set to music by Kevin Lau, performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, was thus presented on one of the country’s most prestigious stages. In 2018, Mr. Côté created Frame by Frame, in collaboration with renowned director Robert Lepage. Inspired by the life and work of filmmaker Norman McLaren, Frame by Frame was presented at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. Created in 2019, his independent multimedia work Crypto toured nationally for 20 performances. 

In 2014, Mr. Côté was named the Artistic Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, the largest summer dance festival in the country.  In 2021, Guillaume Côté founded his own company, Côté Danse, focused on the multidisciplinary creation of innovative works with the mission of making dance seen and experienced differently. In the summer of 2021, he created

X (Dix), presented at the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur and then at the Fall for Dance North in Toronto. Also in 2021, he created Touch with Thomas Payette, an immersive multidisciplinary work that was presented 83 times in Toronto to sold-out houses. Guillaume Côté’s career has been marked by numerous awards and recognitions, including the médaille de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec for his work in the arts in 2011. In 2021, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, the highest distinction awarded by the Quebec government.

Etienne Lavigne - Producer

A native of Montréal, Québec, Etienne Lavigne trained at l'École supérieure de ballet du Québec, San Francisco Ballet School and the National Ballet of Cuba. He joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1997 where he rose through the ranks and was promoted to First Soloist in 2007 and to Principal Character Artist in 2015.  He danced a number of lead roles with the company and after more than 1500 performances in front of 3 million people, he retired from his full-time position at The National Ballet of Canada in 2017.  He was then named Guest Principal Character Artist, and it is in this capacity that he occasionally returns to the stage with the company.

During his dance career, M. Lavigne studied business management at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson) and took an active role in the administrative side of dance.  Since 2009, he has managed many of the leading dancers in Canada and in 2013, he created with Guillaume Côté, Anymotion Productions with the mandate of producing dance on stage and on film. They also created together Côté Danse where Mr. Lavigne has produced over a dozen different works on stage and on film in many Canadian cities.

In 2016, he was named Executive Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, the largest summer dance festival in Canada. Since the beginning of his tenure, the Festival has experienced a remarkable revival, doubling its ticket sales and its visibility.  In 2020 FASS received the Prix Opus for Specialized Presenter of the year in Quebec and in 2022, it received the Prix Ambassadeur des Laurentides at the Grands Prix de la Culture.

In 2009, Mr. Lavigne was awarded the David Tory Award which recognizes leadership, honesty and integrity in his work.  Mr. Lavigne is a Board member of REFRAIN, representing artistic Festivals in Quebec as well as a Board member of the Foundation of the École Supérieure de ballet du Québec.

Son Lux – Music

From the start, Son Lux has operated as something akin to a sonic test kitchen. The Academy Award® and BAFTA-nominated band strives to question deeply held assumptions about how music is made and reconstruct it from a molecular level. What began as a solo project for founder Ryan Lott expanded in 2014, thanks to a kinship with Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia too strong to ignore. The trio strengthened their chemistry and honed their collective intuition while creating, releasing, and touring six recordings, including Brighter Wounds (2018) and triple album Tomorrows (2021). The result is a carefully cultivated musical language rooted in curiosity and balancing opposites that largely eschews genre and structural conventions. And yet, the band remains audibly indebted to iconoclastic artists in soul, hip-hop, and experimental improvisation who themselves carved new paths forward. Distilling these varied influences, Son Lux searches for equilibrium of raw emotional intimacy and meticulous electronic constructions. Son Lux has most recently scored the Daniels film for A24, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). The full score album features new collaborations with Mitski, David Byrne, Randy Newman, and Moses Sumney, among others.

Yso South - Costume Designer

Originally from Vientiane (Laos), Yso South has chosen Montreal as their adopted city. Their passion for fashion design, theatre, film, visual arts, art direction and all forms of contemporary creation guides their desire to apply their talents to each of these fields. In addition to their own designs, Yso South has worked as a stylist for several national magazines, editorials and advertising campaigns. Their experience also allows them to provide independent consulting services in the fashion industry. Their talents have been called upon by the contemporary dance, theatre, music, film and visual arts communities, including Brigitte Haentjens (Sibyllines), Guy Maddin, Lhasa, Patrick Watson, Le Cirque du Soleil, Louise Lecavalier, BJM Danse, Caroline Monnet, Folio Montréal, Clyde Henry Productions, Sailor Productions and the Biennale de Montréal.

Simon Rossiter - Lighting Designer

Simon Rossiter is a Toronto-based lighting designer who occasionally designs sets. He has created more than 250 original creations, including works for the Ballett am Rhein; Citadel + Company; the National Ballet of Canada; Soulpepper Theatre Company; Sudbury Theatre Centre; Théâtre français de Toronto; New Brunswick Theatre; Toronto Dance Theatre; and he is the Design Director of Fall for Dance North. Past collaborations with Côté Danse include Crypto, and Touch. Simon is the recipient of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards and six nominations for Outstanding Lighting Design and was twice shortlisted for the Pauline McGibbon Award from the Ontario Arts Council. Simon is also a sales agent for Associated Designers of Canada, IATSE Local ADC659.

Anisa Tejpar - Creative Assistant + Rehearsal Director

Dora Mavor Moore Award winner, Anisa Tejpar 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 Inc. (www.hitandrun.ca), 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 pilot choreographer of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report 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 currently teaches Consent + Boundaries for Dancers at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Performance Program and is one third of the Toronto-based, contemporary dance collective The Platform with Ryan Lee and Benjamin Landsberg.

Tejpar is an Intimacy Coordinator and Director, and her focus is dance, and dancers having worked with The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC, and several films and episodics. 

Tejpar is a current member of the Board of Directors of Canada’s National Ballet School, and on the Performance Program Advisory Committee for St. Lawrence College. She has also worked extensively with Dancing with Parkinson’s and served as choreographer and director for their Intergenerational Dance Project connecting youth and seniors through dance.

Jean-Hugues Rochette - Technical Director / Stage Manager

Jean-Hugues Rochette has spent the last 50 years dedicated to dance. Firstly, as a dance performer for 17 years with various companies such as: Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Les Ballets de Montréal, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theater, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. Jean-Hugues then became a company coordinator, client service coordinator and tour manager with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In 2002 he joined La La La Human Steps for 10 years as stage manager, tour director, rehearsal director, and production director. Currently Jean-Hugues is freelance for different projects in dance with a multitude of positions, such as tour director for Jean-Pierre Perrault and executive coordinator for les Sortilèges, and is a stage manager and technical director for organizations such as: Ballet Ouest de Montréal, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, École supérieure de ballet du Québec, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Danse à la Carte, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur and Côté Danse.

Natasha Poon Woo - Dancer

Natasha Poon Woo began training and performing with Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) in her hometown of Toronto. She then studied at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, performing the works of Pam Tanowitz, Twyla Tharp, and Doug Varone before graduating summa cum laude with a BFA and the President’s Award for Achievement. Natasha is a frequent performer with Rock Bottom Movement and Côté Danse, and has worked with Conny Janssen Danst, Kevin Wynn Collection, BoucharDanse, The Dietrich Group, Roderick George, Benjamin Landsberg, Ryan Lee, Gadfly, Little Pear Garden, and Hit & Run Dance Productions, among others. She is a Dora Award-winning performer with Rock Bottom for its acclaimed production, hollow mountain.

Natasha was previously the Associate Artistic Director of CCDT and the company’s Rehearsal Director. She has also directed rehearsals for artists including Hanna Kiel, Roderick George and Rodney Diverlus. Natasha is a passionate and sought-after dance educator specializing in Limón-based modern technique and is a certified instructor of C-I TrainingTM (conditioning-with-imagery), trained and mentored by Donna Krasnow.

Martha Hart - Dancer

Martha Hart is a freelance dance artist, choreographer and educator based in Toronto. She is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School, as well as training at the Palucca Schule Dresden, l’École supérieure de ballet du Québec, and Arts Umbrella Dance in Vancouver. After an engagement with the Dresden Semperoper Ballet in Germany, she returned to Canada and has since worked with esteemed companies and artists such as Côté Danse (Guillaume Côté), iskwē, Nicole Von Arx, Human Body Expression (Hanna Kiel), TranscenDance Project (Julia Cratchley), Ace Dance Theatre, The Garage, Hit & Run Dance Productions, Mascall Dance, Broadbent Sisters, Project20 (Donald Sales) in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto. From 2015-2016 she toured Mexico, Spain, and Italy as a member of the Metamorphosis Dance Collective directed by Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich and has since organized and produced Metamorphosis Method Workshops in Toronto.

In 2020, she founded the company hART dance to act as a collaborative umbrella for her choreographic endeavours. Her work has been featured at Stackt Market for Nuit Blanche, New Blue Dance Festival, in the short film Oasis (Canadian Film Centre) and most recently she choreographed a music video for Canadian singer Jessie Reyez. She continues to educate and coach dancers of all ages across the GTA and is passionate about sharing dance as a visceral experience to a wide variety of audiences.

Willem Sadler - Dancer

Willem Sadler is a street style and contemporary dancer/creator based in Toronto, Ontario. Willem has had the opportunity to perform and show his own work Internationally, most recently in New York City. As a young dancer and performer his drive has always come from his love for movement performance and his connection to music. Following many years solely training in street styles, he expanded his training in this artform, beginning to train in a multitude of styles. Willem defines himself as a versatile dancer/creator and strives to squash the separation of “styles” and present dance as movement without restrictions.  Throughout his career Willem has performed and collaborated with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mirvish Productions, Little Pear Garden, Artists in Motion, Dusk Dances, Dance Collection Danse, Zata OMM, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, ProArteDanza and Côté Danse. He has also performed works by Jennifer Archibalt, Guillaume Côté, Colin Connor, William Yong, Robert Lepage and many more. Willem also has a focus in choreography, having presented works at 1234 Dance Arts, Fever After Dark, RAW Artists Canada and Rosedale Heights School of the Arts. Willem has most notably performed his new work “Soullessly Flying” at the 42nd annual Battery Dance Festival (NYC). Willem is grateful to have the opportunity to express freely as an artist and hopes to share joy and bring light to every viewer's day.

Kelly Shaw - Dancer

Kelly Shaw is a BFA honours graduate from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Dance program, and recipient of the University’s 2018 Jack McAllister award. She is a Tkarón:to/Toronto-based free-lance Dance artist who currently collaborates and performs with Human Body Expression, Guillaume Côté (Côté Danse), Transcendance Project, ProArteDanza and Alysa Pires Dance Projects. She has previously performed with Citadel + Compagnie (Tori Mehaffey choreography), Echo Chamber Choir, for Dance Ontario Weekend, Toronto Fringe Festival, Hit and Run Dance Productions and was a 2010 and 2018 Dora Mavor Moore nominee. 

Additionally, Kelly has toured internationally to perform as a part of New Dance Festival in (Daejeon) Korea, ACE Dance Awards in New York City, as well as Festival International de DansEncore and Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur in Quebec. In fall 2022, she was rehearsal directing in Germany for Ballett Hagen and is a sought-after dance educator and choreographer across North America. Kelly is also a Pilates and Barre instructor, and most recently certified as a holistic life coach, offering work in the realm of somatic healing and mindfulness.

Evan Webb - Dancer

Evan Webb (they/them) hails from Calgary Alberta and is currently based in Toronto Ontario. They attended Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in the Performance Dance program. At TMU Evan had the opportunity to work with William Yong, Anne Plamondon, Peggy Baker, Jera Wolfe, and Dylan Crossman in the repertoire of Merce Cunningham. Outside of academia, Evan has worked with Jera Wolfe, Louis Laberge Côté, Guillaume Côté, and Nicole Von Arx. Evan is well versed in various movement practices and visual art forms, lending to a desire to naturally perform authentically and idiosyncratically in all aspects of movement expression. With a love for anthropology and philosophy Evan holds fascination for the ways in which people interact with each other, often allowing experiences from their own life to inform their creative inspiration. Evan is a company member of ProArteDanza under the direction of Roberto Campanella, where they have worked with Naishi Wang, Leslie Telford, and Syreeta Hector. While holding focus on physical interpretation of dance art, Evan values a multidisciplinary approach to performing; they have assumed a lead role in an original play written by Sadie Epstein-Fine. Experiences of being othered as a gender non-conforming member of the LGBTQ+ community has given them a unique perspective and influenced their artistic values. They continue to research gender, sexuality, and politics in their own art practice.