March 13, 2022 to March 15, 2022

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Photo by Drew Berry

Dust and Soul Dance

March 13-15 10AM-1PM/EST
KWLT

Incubation of a solo work created by Nickeshia Garrick in collaboration with Tara Butler. In this solo Nickeshia and Tara will explore their experiences as women in life and in art. Focusing on how they have overcome obstacles and adversity in their search to find their voices as artists. The work will investigate their ability to trust in their bodies, in their instincts and in one another. Merging the strengths of two independent thinkers and movers and discovering more of what lies deep within.

The mandate of DAS Dance Projects is to create and present professional dance performances for the Waterloo region. Our goal is to present exciting, original, and relevant dance performances as well as build a deeper understanding for the art of dance for our growing community. We are excited to be an integral part of the arts ecology here in Kitchener/ Waterloo.

TARA BUTLER
Kitchener, ON

Tara began her dance career with The National Ballet of Canada after graduating from the National Ballet School. She then danced for The Alberta Ballet and was a celebrated Principal dancer for Canada’s Ballet Jorgen for 16 years. Bengt Jörgen created many lead roles in full length ballets for Tara including Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Anastasia, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. She had the opportunity to guest perform internationally with The Hong Kong Ballet, The Ohio Ballet, Banff Festival Ballet and The Miami Hispanic International Ballet Festival. She has worked with many of Canada’s most sought after choreographers including Gioconda Barbuto, Roberto Campanella, Allison Cummings, Robert Desrosiers, Robert Glumbek, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Malgorzata Nowacka-May, Crystal Pite, Kathleen Rea, and Wen Wei Wang.

Tara was featured in Michael Greyeyes short dance film ‘Seven Seconds and the award winning dance film ‘Old Country‘ by Allen Kaeja. Since moving to Kitchener and having her second child, Tara has been teaching and coaching young dancers, choreographing, and performing as a freelance artist. Tara has been appointed an Associate Artist with Pat The Dog Theatre Creation where she has launched a professional development movement creation workshop.

In November 2021 Tara and her newly formed umbrella company Dust and Soul Dance Projects presented Dance Takes Berlin, an evening of Contemporary dance at The Registry Theatre. These sold out performances featured new work by award winning choreographers David Earle, Allen Kaeja and Nickeshia Garrick. Under Dust and Soul Dance Projects Tara has also launched workshops for non dancers and new workshops for pre professional dance students. Tara is passionate about building a strong dance scene in the Waterloo Region through annual professional and original dance performances, community workshops and mentoring young dancers locally. The goal is to develop a dance ecosystem for the Waterloo Region as an essential part of the local arts scene.

Nickeshia Garrick
Toronto, ON

Nickeshia Garrick was born in Toronto, Ontario, and has been performing since the tender age of six. She received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), National Ballet School of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Simon Fraser University. Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood Collegiate Institute. Nickeshia has had the honour of training with Sean McLeod (New York) to achieve her certification in Sean McLeod’s Reinforced Motor Function Technique®, RMF®. Her extensive dance training includes Bakari E. Lindsay, Arsenio Andrade, Rob Kitsos, Peter Bingham, and Christopher House. She has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, T.I.L.T Sound and Motion, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, and the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, just to mention a few. Nickeshia has performed the Canadian National Anthem at the Rogers Centre, was a commissioned artist for the 2010 Winter Olympics (Vancouver) as part of the Push International Performing Arts Festival, has made appearances in various art installations and shows for Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche (Toronto) and Fringe Festival (Toronto), and was invited to perform at the Nafro Festival (Winnipeg) as a soloist and part of a trio. Furthermore, Nickeshia has recently performed in Queerantine created by Rhoma Spencer for Toronto Pride, 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on the queer community. Queerantine has recently been adapted into a short film called, My Execution Will Be Televised as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nickeshia holds her BFA at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), is a 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for Outstanding Ensemble in Pool (no water), and is currently working on the second iteration of her solo show, To My Past, Present, and Future…

Dust and Soul Dance

March 13-15 10AM-1PM/EST
KWLT

Incubation of a solo work created by Nickeshia Garrick in collaboration with Tara Butler. In this solo Nickeshia and Tara will explore their experiences as women in life and in art. Focusing on how they have overcome obstacles and adversity in their search to find their voices as artists. The work will investigate their ability to trust in their bodies, in their instincts and in one another. Merging the strengths of two independent thinkers and movers and discovering more of what lies deep within.

The mandate of DAS Dance Projects is to create and present professional dance performances for the Waterloo region. Our goal is to present exciting, original, and relevant dance performances as well as build a deeper understanding for the art of dance for our growing community. We are excited to be an integral part of the arts ecology here in Kitchener/ Waterloo.

TARA BUTLER
Kitchener, ON

Tara began her dance career with The National Ballet of Canada after graduating from the National Ballet School. She then danced for The Alberta Ballet and was a celebrated Principal dancer for Canada’s Ballet Jorgen for 16 years. Bengt Jörgen created many lead roles in full length ballets for Tara including Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Anastasia, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. She had the opportunity to guest perform internationally with The Hong Kong Ballet, The Ohio Ballet, Banff Festival Ballet and The Miami Hispanic International Ballet Festival. She has worked with many of Canada’s most sought after choreographers including Gioconda Barbuto, Roberto Campanella, Allison Cummings, Robert Desrosiers, Robert Glumbek, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Malgorzata Nowacka-May, Crystal Pite, Kathleen Rea, and Wen Wei Wang.

Tara was featured in Michael Greyeyes short dance film ‘Seven Seconds and the award winning dance film ‘Old Country‘ by Allen Kaeja. Since moving to Kitchener and having her second child, Tara has been teaching and coaching young dancers, choreographing, and performing as a freelance artist. Tara has been appointed an Associate Artist with Pat The Dog Theatre Creation where she has launched a professional development movement creation workshop.

In November 2021 Tara and her newly formed umbrella company Dust and Soul Dance Projects presented Dance Takes Berlin, an evening of Contemporary dance at The Registry Theatre. These sold out performances featured new work by award winning choreographers David Earle, Allen Kaeja and Nickeshia Garrick. Under Dust and Soul Dance Projects Tara has also launched workshops for non dancers and new workshops for pre professional dance students. Tara is passionate about building a strong dance scene in the Waterloo Region through annual professional and original dance performances, community workshops and mentoring young dancers locally. The goal is to develop a dance ecosystem for the Waterloo Region as an essential part of the local arts scene.

Nickeshia Garrick
Toronto, ON

Nickeshia Garrick was born in Toronto, Ontario, and has been performing since the tender age of six. She received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), National Ballet School of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Simon Fraser University. Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood Collegiate Institute. Nickeshia has had the honour of training with Sean McLeod (New York) to achieve her certification in Sean McLeod’s Reinforced Motor Function Technique®, RMF®. Her extensive dance training includes Bakari E. Lindsay, Arsenio Andrade, Rob Kitsos, Peter Bingham, and Christopher House. She has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, T.I.L.T Sound and Motion, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, and the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, just to mention a few. Nickeshia has performed the Canadian National Anthem at the Rogers Centre, was a commissioned artist for the 2010 Winter Olympics (Vancouver) as part of the Push International Performing Arts Festival, has made appearances in various art installations and shows for Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche (Toronto) and Fringe Festival (Toronto), and was invited to perform at the Nafro Festival (Winnipeg) as a soloist and part of a trio. Furthermore, Nickeshia has recently performed in Queerantine created by Rhoma Spencer for Toronto Pride, 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on the queer community. Queerantine has recently been adapted into a short film called, My Execution Will Be Televised as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nickeshia holds her BFA at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), is a 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for Outstanding Ensemble in Pool (no water), and is currently working on the second iteration of her solo show, To My Past, Present, and Future…