Overview
Hart House Theatre proudly hosts Canada’s largest university dance festival – the U of T Festival of Dance (FoD).
Created 24 years ago as an avenue to provide dance groups on campus the opportunity to perform on stage for an audience, the Festival of Dance has now grown into a celebration of the diversity and prosperity of the U of T dance community. Past events have included over 60 different dance pieces, well over 200 performers and an impressive variety of dance forms including jazz, ballet, ballroom, modern, contact improv, hip-hop, musical theatre, Irish, Latin, and Egyptian belly dancing, just to name a few. With such an abundance of dance groups associated with U of T, participation in the festival is a great opportunity for dance groups to interact, collaborate and promote their own work and ventures.
Festival Executive
Ingrid Lui, Festival Coordinator
Ingrid is a third year Psychology and Global Health double major who is classically trained in ballet and contemporary. She started her Festival of Dance journey by first participating as a dancer, then serving as the 2018 Executive Assistant, and is now in her third year of being involved in the Festival. The Festival has a very special place in her heart, and she is very excited to plan this year’s event and put on a fantastic show.
Tara Costello, Lighting Designer
Tara is a second year English Major who has played Just Dance 2014 and thought: wow, those lights look cool, I wonder what it would be like to design them for real? She is a regular volunteer at Hart House Theatre and most recently was an Assistant Stage Manager for Heathers: The Musical. This is her second year involved in lighting for the Festival of Dance, and she is so happy to be back with such a fantastic team!
Hareem Haider, Stage Manager (Friday)
Hareem is a (future) engineer by day, theatre enthusiast by night. Raised in steeltown Hamilton, Ontario, she has worked primarily on the admin side of young-people’s theatre and looks forward to taking those skills into the booth for Festival of Dance. Hareem is an experienced Hart House Theatre volunteer, having been an Assistant Stage Manager for both Penelopiad and Hair this year. She is currently plotting to permanently live in Hart House Theatre.
Catie Cheng, Stage Manager (Saturday)
Catie is a proud University of Toronto and Festival of Dance alumni. The Festival was an integral part of her experience as an undergrad, so much so that she returned as a performer multiple times even after graduating from U of T. This year, Catie is beyond excited to return to FOD as a stage manager, she is looking forward to give back to this wonderful community that have given her life as a dancer in both undergrad and beyond.
Samantha Pierre, Assistant Stage Manager
Samantha is a second year U of T student studying statistics, economics and math. Samantha has loved theatre since the age of four when she played Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan. A trained musical theatre performer, ballet dancer and opera singer, Samantha has worked both on and behind stage for several community and professional productions. Samantha aspires for a career in finance, eventually hoping to one day produce her own Broadway musical. Most recently, Samantha was the Assistant Stage manager for Hart House Theatre’s production of Retreat. She wishes to thank Chiara for never letting her throw away her shot.
Yuan Ren, Assistant Stage Manager
Yuan is an alumna of U of T. She is happy to be back at Hart House after many years.
Natalia Sydorenko, Assistant Stage Manager
Natalia is currently studying electrical engineering at U of T and spending too much time at Hart House Theatre. She has been working on many different parts of the productions to gain experience to continue to work in theatre after graduation. After working as a scenic painter in Skule Nite for two years, she has been expanding her experience at Hart House Theatre volunteering as a Lighting Operator, Costume Design Assistant and Set Design Assistant as well as a Lighting Designer on SMC’s Beauty and the Beast.
Masoud Riyazati, Photographer
Gillian Lewis, Staff Advisor
