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…

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.

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! 

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’.

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)

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.

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.

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