Femmes du Feu Creations is a not-for-profit organization with three primary missions: performance creation, education, and sector development in circus and dance in rural and urban communities in Ontario, prioritizing the Niagara region. Since its inception, Femmes du Feu Creations has been creating and presenting circus works, researching innovative ways to combine its contemporary dance and choreographic backgrounds with contemporary circus, with an ongoing vision for cross-discipline collaborations.

FdFC creates performance work through collaboration with artists across disciplines, combining contemporary circus/dance with artistic curiosity, risk and reflection.

Our mandate is to remove barriers, increase inclusiveness, and serve the circus and dance community by producing professional performance experiences and cultural activities, strengthening our local, regional and national community, inspiring and enhancing its well-being. We will do so by offering community tickets, employing accessibility practices whenever possible, including audio description, touch tours, and American Sign Language, and engaging specialist and community programming consultants.

Our mission is to engage and inspire through artistic activities in circus and dance across diverse audiences and artists for happier and healthier lives.

Shows, Projects and Events

IN THE FIRE

Concept by: Holly Treddenick
Creation by:  Holly Treddenick
Direction: Monica Dottor
Performer (s): Holly Treddenick
Original Score: John Gzowski
Choir: Opus 8
Costuming (smoke cape): Sara Torrie
Lighting Design: Peter Benedetti
Video Projection: Peter Benedetti
Set Design: Peter Benedetti
Apparatus Design and Build: Upstage Fabrication
Producing Partner: Theatre Gargantua
Administrative support: Dance Umbrella of Ontario
Marketing management & design: Kristina Dubois
Accessibility Consultant: Erin Ball
Memoir & Movement: Sara Porter
Past Collaborators
Choreographic Dramaturge: Sara Poole (CCAFT Residency collaborator)
Aerial coaching and dramaturgy: Angola Murdoch
Accessibility Consultant: Alex Bulmer
Costuming: Stacie Patterson
Performance History: CAFT 2018, Rhubarb Festival 2019, TOHU 2021, Alberta Circus Arts Festival 2022, The Bank Art House, Welland, ON, October 28 + 29*, 2022 (*accessible performance) , Kasser Alexander Theatre Montclair University, New Jersey, November 10, 11, 12, 13

…too often the empathetic storytelling, memory sharing, and sincere display of appreciation is left to a time when the person is no longer earthside to participate in the understanding of their life through the eyes of loved ones. For Holly Treddenick, Artistic Director of Femmes du Feu Creations, a not-for-profit arts organization, and co-owner of The Bank Art House in Welland, Ontario In the Fire is the opportunity to capture stories from her Father’s experience as a Firefighter, with his input.

The performance intends to share an understanding of firefighting with a wider audience – to appreciate and understand the work they offer – but also pay tribute to the influence Treddenick’s Father has had in her life.

Through the creation of set pieces, aerial dance, inventive apparatuses, a choir (Opus 8 from Toronto), and projection, In the Fire captures, re-interprets and shares important stories from Treddenick’s father, who is also the last living founder of the Winnipeg Firefighter Museum. During the 60 minute performance, all are invited into a reflective space to witness the evolution of a father/daughter relationship, to stir a sense of hopefulness in their own lives, and “light the fire”.

In the Fire was first embodied by Treddenick in 2018 as part of the Catalyst Program through CAFT, and has grown and developed in its storytelling and innovative use of aerial arts to become the show it is today. It has been generously supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Theatre Gargantua, MICC Commissioning Group at THOH and Peak Performances at Montclair State University.

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After our premier and run of sold-out shows in Welland with George in the audience, and in New York with George joining by phone, we were thrilled to have him be part of the shows to honor his life and service as a firefighter.

On December 2nd, 2022, 3 weeks after our run, George passed away suddenly at home. He was so proud of the work. We have decided to accept donations in his name towards remounting the show in Winnipeg. Donations can be made through our Canada Helps page. 

Montclair State University Project Page &
In The Fire Program

TWEET TWEET!

Produced by: Femmes du Feu 

Concept by: Lindsay Goodtimes and Holly Treddenick

Created & Choreographed by: Lindsay Goodtimes, Holly Treddenick & Monica Dottor 

Performed by: Lindsay Goodtimes and Holly Treddenick 

Directed by: Monica Dottor 

Apparatus Creation: Upstage Fabrication Inc 

Set Design: Kelsey Carriere 

Sound Design: Monica Dottor 

Lighting & Bird Watcher: Ian Goodtimes 

Costume: Tanis Sydney McArthur 

Performance History: Wee Fest, 2018 + 2019, Soulpepper 2018 + 2019, Digital Adaptation 2021, CAPACOA 2021, Canadian Children’s Festival circuit, Hamilton, Ottawa, Surrey, Winnipeg – May 11, 2022 – June 12, 2022

Upcoming Performance: First Ontario Performing Arts, Feb. 20, 2023

TWEET TWEET is a 25- minute contemporary circus duet performance experience for our youngest audience, age 0-3 years and their caregivers, and takes place in the round. The show takes place on a magical tree apparatus (built by Peter Benedetti and Kelsey Carrier), with 2 nests and 2 wood swing apparatuses hanging from the branches. The performers move from the nests, up into the aerial tree canopy, through the rope tree trunk, and on the floor. There is a large forest floor carpet that lies under the tree branches for the audience to sit and lie on. TWEET TWEET is directed by Monica Dottor.

 

Reviews of Tweet Tweet!

 

Lynn Slotkin & the Slotkin Letter

The Toronto Star

Generously supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. 

FLORA & FAUNA

Flora & Fauna is a new early years creation exploring themes of relationship and nature. Flora & Fauna is an invitation for the audience to let the magical forest come and greet them in this performative forest walk. 

Flora & Fauna is part installation, part performance, to create a rich outdoor performing arts experience for young audiences and their caregivers. This show is created to be presented outdoors, on a variety of terrains in summer or winter. 

 

Creative Team

Concept by: Holly Treddenick & Lindsay Goodtimes

Creation by: Holly Treddenick, Lindsay Goodtimes & Monica Dottor

Direction: Monica Dottor

Performer (s): Holly Treddenick, Lindsay Goodtimes

Sound Design: Monica Dottor and Rita Dottor

Original Composition: Rita Dottor

Set & Costuming: Tannis MacArthur

Photo Credit: Mark Zelinski

Videography: Jonah Atkins

Booking contact: Tara Bailiwick, bailiwick.biz@gmail.com 

Performance history: Premiere for 2022/23

Tour Date & Locations:

September 12: Welland, Scotland

September 13:  Archie Stouffer Elementary School, Toronto, ON presented by Razzamataz Kid Shows

September 14: Stuart Baker Elementary School, Minden, ON

September 15: Haliburton, ON

September 17: New Liskheard Fall Fair, Colbalt-Sault St.Marie presented by Pied Piper Kidshow

September 18: Community Theatre Centre, Sault St.Marie, presented by Over the Rainbow Children Series

September 21: Geraldton Highschool, Geraldton presented by Geraldton Childrens Entertainment Series

September 23: Centennial Park, Red Lake, Dryden presented by Red Lake Childrens Entertainment Series

September 24: New Prospect School, Dryden, ON presented by Dryden Childrens Delight Series

 

“Isn’t this what we want for our children? This immersion in the natural world, this feeling-at-oneness, these eyes sparkling with fire.”

– Child & Nature Alliance of Canada

 

Flora & Fauna began creation in Fall 2020. We are preparing a free-standing apparatus for an outdoor performance experience, maintaining awareness around Covid-19 and the new restrictions placed on the performing arts. We are approaching this creation process as an opportunity to create outside the box for these unknown times.

 

Femmes du Feu Creations is grateful to Theatre Gargantua, Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, the OAC Recommender Grants for Theatre Creators from Carousel Players and Young People’s Theatre, and the Canada Council for the Arts for the support of this project.

Flora & Fauna Fact Sheet

Belongings (Unpacking Welland)

Belongings (unpacking Welland) is a Welland-based community arts project produced by FdFC with Ruth Howard from Jumblies Theatre (Toronto). 

Niagara based professional artists will work with Welland residents of mixed ages, abilities, and backgrounds through art-making to explore and share personal and historical stories. 

Workshops will culminate in a week-long residency to shape the material generated into a closing public interactive installation and performance to be shared both in person and online.

Through this process, in whimsical and meaningful ways, we will discover, combine and juxtapose cultural perspectives (Indigenous, settler, newcomer, long-term and recent local residents). The final installation and performance will be determined by the process and the input of participants as well as artists. 

A Community Arts Project supported by The Ontario Arts Council

In partnership with Ruth Howard (Jumblies Theatre)

Participating Artists: Sara Lou Stuart, Kitsune Soleilo, Deanna Jones

Upcoming Session: February 9th at 7pm, 2023

CIRCUS ON THE CANAL

Premiere 2023
Circus on the Canal is a creative research project that was initiated by Canada Summer Games and Brock University VPR grants as a collaboration between Professor Karen Fricker and performance artist Holly Treddenick. The seed for this project was to explore the intersections between water sports and circus arts. The project has since developed into an exploration of our relationship to water, land and traditional mythologies of water tales.

 

Artists: Ashley Falkner, Emily Hughes, Kitsune Soleil, Charles Chipanga

Choreographer: Holly Treddenick

 

Funded by Brock University VPR Grants for research with Canada Summer Games 2022

Researcher: Karen Fricker

 

For the development, coming spring 2023

Funded by OAC and CCA 

 

Press & News on Circus on the Canal:

Canada Games Research: Spotlight on Karen Fricker by The Brock News

SPECIAL EVENTS

Canada Games August 2022

CIRCUS SESSIONS #6

June 6 – 11,2022

Circus Sessions 2022 in partnership Lab De Cirque

(TOHU, The Cultch, Femmes du Feu Creations)

 

Date: June 6 – 11, 2022

Where: The Bank Art House, Welland, Ontario

 

Project Description: 

Circus Sessions is a creative residency for circus artists and multidisciplinary artists who intersect with circus, originally conceived by Holly Treddenick and Lynanne Sparrow.

In this 6th iteration of Circus Sessions, we focus hyper local and hyper now with mentors and all artists from across Ontario. Alex Bulmer (Common Boots Theatre) and Angola Murdoch (LookUp Theatre) will guide artists through a week of exploration, play and collaboration focusing on telling our stories and working through the unique approach of “de-centralized vision” developed by Alex Bulmer.

CIRCUS SESSIONS PROGRAM 2022

2022 Participating Artists:

Sara Lou Stuart, Kaylie Kreatrix, Hayley Landry, Jordana Greenblatt, Erica Liu, Tanis MacArthur, Diana Lopez Soto, Hilary Wear, Thomas Vaccaro, Angola Murdoch

Classes and Workshops

CLASSES

Femmes du Feu offers private, semi-private and group instruction in aerial silks, single point trapeze, rope and conditioning & stretching. Workshops in silks or trapeze can also be added to any event as a fun and entertaining activity for guest.

For ongoing classes and workshops, visit our sister site CIRCUS IN THE TREES!

Locally in Toronto, Joanne Galligan will be teaching for Femmes Du Feu, offering Static Trapeze classes at Pursuit OCR.  Static Trapeze is a fun, dynamic apparatus that builds strength and aerial awareness.  Session classes and workshops available.

Aerial silks are a beautiful and exciting circus apparatus requiring strength and flexibility. Students will learn how to control their body in the air and move against gravity. These skills are learned with careful coaching through conditioning and play.

Regular classes, Family classes and Conditioning classes are available. There are no prerequisites and all levels welcome.

SENIOR CIRCUS CLASS

Senior Circus Class, The Grand Canal Retirement Residence, Welland ON.

WINTER CIRCUS CAMP - The Bank Art House

January 3 – January 6, 2023

Join us for a winter circus camp at The Bank Art House in downtown Welland. Participants will play games, learn circus skills, team building and build a sense of community. Activities will include aerial silks, trapeze, aerial hoop, juggling, basic acrobatics, tight wire and more. The week will end with an informal showing of the skills learned throughout the camp.
Femmes du Feu Creations is a circus and contemporary dance organization with more than 20 years of teaching and performance experience. Our mission is to engage and inspire through artistic activities in circus and dance across diverse audiences and artists for happier and healthier lives.
*Details*
– Age 7 – 16 years
– Camp will run Tuesday to Friday, 9am-4pm. Drop off at 8:45am, pick up at 4pm
– Students must bring a lunch, 2 snacks and water bottle
– $200/participant (20 spots available)
– End of camp show will be Friday January 6th at 3:30pm
For more information & registration please email holly@femmesdufeu.com.
Full payment required for registration.
All staff are double vaccinated.

Facebook Event Page

News and Press

Femme du Feu Creations Team

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Holly Treddenick

Artistic Director, Project Lead

Originally from Winnipeg, Holly moved to Toronto in 1995 to study at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre.

Holly has been dancing since she could walk, and has been in circus for more than 16 years.

Holly is artistic director and co-founder of Femmes du Feu (founded in 2003), under which she produces several sector development projects including Circus Sessions (since 2014), Aer Times (since 2010) and teaches workshops.

Through Femmes du Feu, Holly has been performing and creating new contemporary circus works and presenting them across Canada and the USA. She is passionate about community and art, both as a creator and interpreter. She believes art can inspire, educate, build community and catalyse transformation. Holly is also an osteopath (DOMP), and a mother of two beautiful girls.

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Lindsay Goodtimes

Artist, Collaborator, Co-Founder

Lindsay Goodtimes has been entertaining audiences for the past two decades. After graduating from Toronto Dance Theatre in 1998 she spent many years performing and choreographing in the US, Canada and abroad. Her travels took her to South East Asia where Lindsay trained at the Thai fire school.  It was there she was first introduced to the circus arts. Upon returning from her travels she was impassioned with a great desire to incorporate fire arts in dance, it was at that time that Lindsay co-founded Femmes Du Feu with Holly Treddenick as a vehicle to explore this fusion.  Lindsay was honoured to be a part of the Circus Orange team for many years and participated in their trade mark spectacle performances at JFL Montreal, Winterlude Ottawa and Cavalcade Toronto to name a few. She began her aerial training with Sabrina Pringle in 2006 and is thrilled with the new direction that Sabrina and Holly have guided FDF into.  A women of many interests, Lindsay has been a member of multiple bands over the years from Punk Rock to Kindie, Lindsay utilizes different types of performance mediums to explore human expression with the ultimate goal of entertainment.

Board of Directors

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Rachel Braithwaite

Vice - President

Rachel lives in Welland with her family. She works for the St Catharines Downtown Association supporting more than 500 small businesses through events, marketing, advocacy and more. She also sits on the Board for the Ontario Business Improvement Association.

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Missy Fishman

Treasurer

Melissa Fishman is a 2-Spirit Salish woman of the Thunderbird clan, raised in Tkranto with origins in Lillooet Valley First Nation in B.C.

Her work over the last decade has focused on access and supports for Indigenous communities, primarily through student outreach, recruitment and retention at the post secondary level. Sharing her passion for learning and seeking ways to overcome barriers to education and community connection within the local Indigenous communities.

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Jackie Houghton

Secretary

Circus has taken on an ever-expanding role in Jackie’s life for over a decade now. She has grown from a student learning to navigate the silks in a small Toronto studio and is now a more accomplished student and performer of various apparatus, including silks, lyra, and hula hoop. Several years ago Jackie realized that she could utilize her journalism background as a means to amplify the Ontario circus community here and abroad. Since, she has written about circus and provided circus critique for The Circus Diaries (UK), Circus Talk (USA), My Entertainment World (Canada), and of course, Femmes du Feu Creations (Canada). What once seemed a dream, is now an integral part of her personal and professional development that she hopes to continue to build on as a part of the Femmes du Feu team.

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Sabrina Pringle

Chair

Sabrina is a mover, creator, entrepreneur, and community maker. Her career has spanned performing, choreographing, rigging and teaching hundreds of students over the last 3 decades. Sabrina has worked with all sorts of people in hugely diverse scenarios. Choreographing within complex rigging, set, and site specific designs is an ongoing feature of her work. This range includes tall ships, tall buildings, sides of buildings, outdoor structures, circus tents, small winding intricate rooms…rarely a blank stage. Some highlighted past collaborators include The Caravan Stage Barge, Circus Orange, DNA Theatre, Company Blonde, and she was the co-artistic Director of Femmes Du Feu 2008-2012. Since 2013 Sabrina has spent much of her efforts on the creation of Circus In The Trees, a rural circus school in Southwestern Ontario.  

Artistic Collaborators

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Veronika Anissimova

Performer, Opus 8

Veronika Anissimova has been praised for her “lovely presence” (Berkshire Fine Arts) and “impressively quick and precise coloratura” (Ludwig van Toronto). Since taking part in Marilyn Horne’s The Song Continues series at Carnegie Hall in 2018, she has presented recitals for the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, the Linden Project, the Noon at Met series at the Metropolitan United Church, Music at Midday at St. James Cathedral, and others. This season she can be heard in recital as part of the Concerts @100 concert series and in Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Hart House Orchestra; she was among the 2022 Handel Aria Competition’s top 20, and was an Art of Song fellow with the 2021 Toronto Summer Music Festival. Veronika performed Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Hart House Orchestra as a winner of their 2019 Concerto Competition; select soloist credits include Despina cover for Brott Opera, Polluce in Cavalli’s Elena with the Toronto Consort, Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Peterborough Singers, and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the American Bach Soloists Academy. Winner of the 2014 National Gold Medal at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Veronika holds a MMus (2018) in historical voice performance and a BMus (Honours, 2016) in piano and Italian studies from the University of Toronto. www.veronika-anissimova.com

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Rebecca Claborn

Performer, Opus 8

Rebecca Claborn, Alto has recently sung with Pro Coro Canada, the Choir of St. James Cathedral, Cappella Nova Mundi, Tallis Scholars, Gabrieli Consort and the Theatre of Early Music, with whom she has recorded two discs. She holds music degrees from the Universities of New Hampshire and Alberta where she was the 2009 winner of the Alberta Baroque Ensemble Concerto Competition. She performs as a soloist all across Canada, with a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.  Away from singing, she succumbs to her indelible passion to master the clawhammer banjo.

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Lara Ebata

Artist, Collaborator

Lara has been a dancer for over 25 years. Her formative training began with ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance. An insatiable appetite for dance has led to studies in modern, jazz, Indian dance, Afro-Caribbean, hip hop, Latin ballroom, tap, fire dance, stilts, and various aerial apparatus. Since graduating from the York University Dance Program in 2000, Lara has performed across North America in festivals such as the Toronto Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists, Dusk Dances, the Toronto, Ottawa, London, & Hamilton Fringe Festivals, the Yonge St. Festival, Just for Laughs (Montreal & Toronto), Cavalcade of Lights, the Calgary Stampede, Wintercity, the Rhubarb Festival, and the Second City Late Night Cabaret. Lara has had the opportunity to work with Toronto circus companies such as Circus Orange, Femmes du Feu, A2D2, and Suspended Animation, and is co-artistic director of her own small fire dance company, Goodness Gracious…

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Jackie Houghton

Writer, Social Media Manager

Circus has taken on an ever-expanding role in Jackie’s life for over a decade now. She has grown from a student learning to navigate the silks in a small Toronto studio and is now a more accomplished student and performer of various apparatus, including silks, lyra, and hula hoop. Several years ago Jackie realized that she could utilize her journalism background as a means to amplify the Ontario circus community here and abroad. Since, she has written about circus and provided circus critique for The Circus Diaries (UK), Circus Talk (USA), My Entertainment World (Canada), and of course, Femmes du Feu Creations (Canada). What once seemed a dream, is now an integral part of her personal and professional development that she hopes to continue to build on as a part of the Femmes du Feu team.

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Sara Porter

Artistic Collaborator, Creative Coach, Dramaturge

Sara Porter is a contemporary choreographer, multi-disciplinary dancer, performer, writer, mentor and teacher based in Toronto. Creator of over 30 works since 1990, her one-woman show Sara does a Solo – about returning to dancing after having 3 kids – premiered in 2014 and toured Canada and internationally. Her work is feminist, theatrical, quirky and engages a wide audience. Sara’s dance writing has been published in print and online in Canada and the UK for 30 years. She has taught contemporary dance theory and practice at colleges and universities in Canada and Scotland and is currently developing a practice melding memoir & movement that she teaches in-person and online internationally. Her one-woman show Getting to know your fruit – investigating the potential of queer memoir – was CoVid cancelled and is being revisioned as a film.

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Peter Benedetti

Technical Director

With over 70,000 hours of experience working with clients such as Cirque du Soleil, The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, Veld, Burton Cummings, and Rock of Ages.

Peter has extensive expertise in turning even the wildest dreams into highly-detailed reality.

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Katy Clark

Performer, Opus 8

Soprano Katy Clark is a participant in the 2017-2018 Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency. She recently won second place in the prestigious Harold Haugh Light Opera Competition in Jackson, Michigan. As well as singing with Shoestring Opera in Toronto, Katy sings with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus, and has sung with Michigan Opera Theatre. Favourite opera credits include The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Cunegonde in Candide, and Madame Herz in The Impresario. She also has a deep passion for oratorio repertoire, and has sung as a soloist with the Elora Singers, the London Fanshawe Symphonic Chorus, the Detroit Medical Orchestra, and more. As a choral singer, Katy sings with the Elora Singers, and has sung with the Grammy winning University of Michigan Chamber Choir. Katy earned her Masters Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan. In addition to her work as a soloist and performer, Katy teaches private voice and piano lessons in Toronto.

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Jane Fingler

Performer, Opus 8

Jane Fingler is a Toronto-based soprano from Winnipeg who spends a lot of her time singing with other humans. She is a sought after chorister and soloist who has performed with groups including Tafelmusik, The Theatre of Early Music, The Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Choir 21, Ottawa Bach Choir, Elora Singers, and Winnipeg groups Canzona, Polycoro, Camerata Nova and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, She is also a member of the newly formed Toronto vocal quintet Diapente, who will be giving their first performance in Dec 2022. Although she has a passion for performing and learning about early music (M.MUS Historical Performance, U of T, current DMA student Historical Performance, U of T) she also has performed a wealth of contemporary choral music in the Winnipeg New Music and Groundswell Festivals, and recently with Choir 21 in Toronto. She is thrilled to be performing with Opus 8 and Femme de Feu creations! 

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Ruth Howard (Jumblies Theatre)

Project Co-lead, Co-Facilitator

Ruth Howard is an interdisciplinary artist, and the founding Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre + Arts: a company based in Toronto with an Ontario and Canada-wide reach, that makes art with, for and about people, places and the stories they hold. Ruth and Jumblies have created multi-year residencies in a series of Toronto neighbourhoods, resulting in large-scale productions and lasting Offshoots, as well as cross-country tours (Train of Thought and Four Lands), and many other collaborative community-engaged events, projects and productions. Ruth has worked across Canada and in the UK as a theatre designer, has taught at many universities, colleges and schools, mentored numerous emerging artists and organizations, and won awards and recognition for her work. Her most recent multi-year project with Jumblies is and Grounds for Goodness, a suite of short new works on the theme of ‘social goodness’.

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Tanis MacArthur

Costume Designer

Tanis Sydney MacArthur has been an independent costumier for performing artists for more than 25 years. She is also an interpretive dance artist, choreographer, aerialist, stilt walker, prop maker and large scale inflatable sculpture artist. Clients of note include Femmes du Feu, Hamilton Aerial Group, Aeris Korper, Fly With Me Aerial Dance, Steel the Sky Aerial Arts, Team T&J, Mabel Moon, Learie McNicolls, Red Betty Theatre, Aoucheva Dance Studio, Defining Movement Dance Company, Hamilton Dance Company, MacDancers, Parahumans, the Acromaniacs and Artword Theatre.  She executed wardrobe and creature design for the independent short film The Sail Tree by Radha Menon. She placed third nationally in the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards 1994 and regularly contributed original designs to Fashion Cares. She served as designer and key wardrobe for the film A Windigo Tale by Armand Garnet Ruffo.  She designed and built The Arctic Fox and Inspired by Icebergs, outdoor installations of multiple 16′ tall inflated sculptures in collaboration with Cobalt Connects.

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Sara Lou Routley

Workshop Facilitator

Sara Lou Routley is a flying acrobat who grew up in Niagara Falls.She has been Creative Director to her troupe Harmonic Shadow Circus since c.2016. Harmonic Shadow Circus is a collaborative low frequency doom ensemble that uses handmade costumes, sounds, and animal masks to play the role of shapeshifters across various multidisciplinary circus
productions. These creative works explore fungi, urban animals, folk history, and historical spaces. Sara Lou is also an oil painter, sewist, and musician who enjoys incorporating these handmade elements into her shows. Mobility is one of Sara Lou’s special interests, and she loves to share mobility with others at any level, whether it’s on the ground or in the air. She lives in Niagara with her partner and their husky.

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Alex Bulmer

Accessibility Consultant, Dramaturge

With 30 professional years across theatre, television, film, radio, and education, Alex Bulmer is dedicated to inclusive collaborative art practice, fuelled by a curiosity of the improbable and deeply informed by her experience of becoming blind. She is activated by obstacles, well exposed to the absurd, and embraces the disciplines of generosity, listening, time, and uncertainty within her artistic and personal life. Alex is currently part-time Artistic Director of Common Boots Theatre, co-founder and artistic director of Cripping The Stage with The British Council, and the lead curator of Brave 2021 Festival: CoMotion, an international disability arts festival produced by Harbourfront Centre.

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Monica Dottor

Artist, Collaborator, Director

Monica Dottor is a 10 time Dora Mavor Moore* award nominated artist in 5 different categories including Actor(3X), Choreographer(4X), Director (1X) and Costume Designer (1X) She’s a Dora winner with Matthew Mackenzie for Best Production of BEARS and a Dora winner For OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURED ROLE with The Penelopiad ensemble (Nightwood).)  DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER Credits: Beauty and the Beast (UofWindsor), A Blow in the Face (Nightwood), Big Love by Charles Mee at The University of Windsor, BEARS* (Punctuate Theatre/Alberta Aboriginal Arts, Theatre Centre, Factor, Belfry) THE OTHER (Pyretic/Company Blonde/TheatreFront/Soulpepper), The 94 Club (Crave Productions), The History of Drinking in Cavan (4th Line), MALARIA LULLABY (Company Blonde), TWEET TWEET (Femmes Du Feu/SOULPEPPER), Circus Sessions (Femmes Du Feu), Elemantal(Harbourfront Centre)

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Miranda Forbes

Administration and Producing, Dance Umbrella of Ontario

Miranda Forbes is an arts manager with a strong connection to the Toronto dance community. She graduated with honours from the Arts Administration and Cultural Management Program through Humber College and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance Dance from Ryerson University.

In 2017, she began her role of Manager of Producing and Administration at the Dance Umbrella of Ontario (DUO). She has been fortunate to provide administrative support for Ontario Dance/Circus Artists including, Christine Friday, Esie Mensah, Holly Treddenick, Bill Coleman, Holly Small, Lua Shayenne and Roshanak Jaberi. Prior to joining the DUO team, she was the Executive Director of the Mississauga Children’s Choir (MCC) and now sits on MCC’s Board of Directors.

She is delighted to play an active role in supporting the Ontario dance community.

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Emily Hughes

Artist, Collaborator

Emily Hughes is a multidisciplinary artist/creator using circus as a physical language to communicate through theatre, film, dance, visual art and installation. She is a classically trained actor, Pochinko clown, baby hand balancer, and has been performing as a professional aerialist for over 20 years. Parallel and intersecting with her solo work, she is also the co-Artistic Director of Hercinia Arts Collective, a non-profit performance company dedicated to collaboratively created circus through a multidisciplinary lens. For more of Emily’s work visit: emilyhughes.ca

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Bryan Martin

Performer, Opus 8

Bryan Martin, Bass has been active in the Toronto choral and early music scenes for 35 years. He holds degrees in conducting and musicology from the University of Toronto, and is a founding member of Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music. He has appeared on stage with Poculi Ludique Societas (medieval drama), Toronto Masque Theatre, and in November will be part of Soundstreams’ production of Two Odysseys, a double bill of indigenous-language operas (Cree and Sami). In his spare time Bryan works on audiovisual media preservation at the University of Toronto Music Library, where he is also a cataloguer and the resident technology and early music geek. He likes to unwind by producing recordings, most recently for the choir of St. James’ Cathedral. He can frequently be seen attempting to convince his long-suffering wife that he really needs to do [insert gig here].

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Kitsune Soleil

Workshop Facilitator

Kitsuné is a 2Spirit, Plains Cree (Nehiyaw), a multi-disciplinary artist residing on Treaty 3. They’re currently working on their first play called “H.E.R. Show,” which explores the dangers of social media and toxic relationships. They are managing ways to display it virtually as a work in progress through pandemic times. She’s constantly exploring themes around culture and balancing today’s digital world to intersect in that work. In addition, she continues to pursue theatre arts through writing and artist collaborations in safe distances and safe spaces in these trying times. As an imaginative soul, she likes to express herself through fashion and storytelling online through her socials and bringing light to indigenous issues.

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Robert Busiakiewicz

Performer, Opus 8

Robert studied at the Royal Academy of Music and King’s College London before being invited to the Yeomanry of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2013. Since then he completed a Masters in Music with a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Lord Mayor’s Prize for Composition and his works have featured on BBC Radio, London Festival of Contemporary Music and are recorded by Priory Records. He has performed across the globe in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, the Hermitage Theatre, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue and Bleinheim Palace. As well as being Director of Music at St. James Cathedral, he can frequently be found helping people move house (against his will), and shouting at traffic.

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Peter Drobac

Choir Director, Opus 8

Peter Drobac is a cantor and choir director in the Orthodox Church, and has curated the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series out of Trinity College Chapel for the past 12 years.

He has a BSc from UofT in molecular plant biology, and both an MDiv and MA in liturgical music from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in NY. This is his first stage role as a personification of smoke.

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Natalie Fullerton

Artist, Collaborator

Natalie Fullerton is a classically trained dancer who also holds a BFA in dance from York University. After completing her degree she discovered the circus arts and has never looked back. In addition to co-directing her own fire and aerial company, Goodness Gracious…, she has also performed across Canada, the USA, Europe and Asia with various companies and choreographers. Most recently she has been working with Circus Orange, Femmes du Feu, Les Coquettes and Lady Luck Productions on selected events including, Airship with Femmes du Feu as part of the 2011 Rhubarb Festival, City of Toronto Wintercity Festival 2010, Femmes du Feuʼs production Head First, winner of Toronto Fringe Festival 2009 Best of Fringe award and Patronʼs Pick, The Calgary Stampede 2008 and Just For Laughs 2006 (Montreal), 2007 (Toronto) with Circus Orange, as well as an ongoing residency at Revival with Les Coquettes.

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Diana Lopez-Soto

Artist, Collaborator

I am a mother, land caretaker and a Mexican/Canadian multidisciplinary artist (producer, director, choreographer, rigging designer, performer and visual artists) My work explores the relationships between ecology, body and performance art with a focus on process, decolonization and sustainability. I was born and raised in Mexico and hold a BFA from Emily Carr University. I have participated, exhibited, presented and performed my work in France, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, USA and Canada. I work in collaboration with other artisans, knowledge keepers, sculpture artists, dancers and riggers. I am a member of Vanguardia Dance Projects, work for Circus Orange and also collaborate with Ana Prada, Alejandro Ronceria, Femme Du Feu, Flying Solo, Hercinia Arts, Fly with Me and Look up Theatre.

www.dianalopezsoto.com

www.willowind.ca

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Angola Murdoch

Artist, Collaborator

Angola’s childhood was spent mostly upside down, dancing and doing gymnastics while growing up on her family farm in Grey County, Ontario. She has trained and performed in a multitude of movement disciplines including over fifteen years of capoeira, aerial circus and acrobatics.  Her strength is creating new aerial equipment that make sense in a theatrical setting. Angola is an international performer. Some highlights include: Cirque Pacifica (Maui), Waiting for Calder (Art Gallery of Ontario), Planet Power (HarbourKids, Toronto), Maravilla (Second City, Toronto), Granmercy Theatre (NYC), Command Performance (Europe), and Zip Zap Circus (South Africa). Angola has graduated from the National Circus School in Montreal where she obtained the highest level of coaching certification for circus arts.  She has taught all over the world offering social circus workshops and her unique master classes. Angola is thrilled and honoured to be part of the Femmes Du Feu team.

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Sara Torrie

Costume Designer

Sara Torrie is a Canadian artist exploring the regenerative potential and ingrained intelligence found in textiles and objects. She is currently organizing her fashion project, Sartoria, to make more space for costume and installation work. her involvement with Femmes du Feu has included a number of costuming contracts/invitations including the great privilege to be part of Circus Sessions, in May 2019.

http://www.saratorrie.xyz

http://www.sartoria.ca

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Femmes du Feu Creations acknowledges the land we are on is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples, many of whom continue to live and work here today. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties and is within the land protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum agreement. Today this gathering place is home to many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples and acknowledging reminds us that our great standard of living is directly related to the resources and friendship of Indigenous peoples.