About
Join us for a fun and informative information sharing session with Valerie (dance artist, CADA/East staff) and Roberto (dance artist, CADA/East director). They will focus on:
- Things to know!
- Where to go!
- How to link yourself to the wider dance community!
- Brainstorm future collaborations that connect back to you and your personal vision!
Valerie and Roberto will lead you through a physical warm up to shift energies, making information absorption more available. They will answer questions related to CADA/East’s fee payment structure document (Professional Standards for Dance), as well as some light contract-based role play scenarios that you may encounter in your dance career.
About CADA East Chapter
Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, East Chapter (CADA/East) is a not-for-profit organization that supports and educates its membership of independent dance artists, promoting the use of best practices within an evolving sector. We are a grassroots arts service organization and work to empower and educate our members toward self-representation. A major sphere of activity is best practices, and our guide, Professional Standards for Dance (PSD), is a living document that responds to the sector. We support our mission with resources including professional development tools, training and caregiving subsidies, research and development, and workshops. We address the needs of a community in which the vast majority of artists are self-employed
Facilitators
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Photo by: McKenzie James PhotographyValerie Calam
Valerie Calam (she/her) is a dance artist interested in finding pathways to refresh and support herself. She works with fabric, patterns, sound, numbers, the nervous system, the body, and likes to edit/adapt/repurpose things. Most of all, Val enjoys working alongside dancers, artists & queer creatives. She umbrellas much of her work under the name Company Vice Versa and works frequently with composer Fantastical Realms.
Valerie is the Membership Coordinator & Operations Manager for CADA/East (Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists-East Chapter). She completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Choreography in 2014 and is the recipient of the KM Hunter Award for dance. Valerie is a faculty member at Dance Arts Institute, formerly known as The School of Toronto Dance Theatre where she teaches Contemporary technique, as well as designs all their costumes and will choreograph a new work in 2024. She frequently teaches and choreographs at Toronto Metropolitan University in their dance program.
Recently, Val worked with aldeheid/Heidi Strauss (designer), Bad New Days Theatre (performer), Citadel & Cie (performer), Michael Caldwell (costume design), Emma Kerson (sound design), ProArteDanza (improv teacher, costume coordinator), Atri Nundy/TDT’s Convergent Divergency (costume design) and filmmakers Franci Duran and Michèle Kaye. Val had the pleasure to mentor dance artist Jessica Mak through the generous support of Jaberi Dance Theatre’s Mentorship Program. Currently, she is a company member of Citadel & Cie performing in the remount of Nuit, choreographed by Jean-Pierre Perreault in 1986. Valerie is composing a full-length sound score for Allison Cummings/Sore for Punching You, to be presented in January 2024 at The Citadel (Ross Centre for Performing Arts) in Toronto.
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Photo by: McKenzie James PhotographyRoberto Soria
Roberto Soria (he/she) is the new era no longer restricted by time; she walks the earth with patience noticing how all is changing, he doesn’t interfere, she listens, he watches, ready for nothing yet it all shows its true colours. The sun and the moon have her life and it’s the random that keeps him alive.
Dancing since the age of 13, Roberto started training in Ottawa and relocated to Toronto to begin the Professional Training Program at Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre). While at Dance Arts, he had the opportunity to work with some of Canada’s incredible choreographers including Sharon Moore, James Kudelka, Darryl Tracy, Tedd Robinson, and Christopher House.
After graduation, she became a company dancer with Toronto Dance Theatre. Roberto is also a freelancer and creates original works. As a freelancer, he has worked with Hanna Kiel, Michael Caldwell, Nashi Wang, KINAJ, and The Dietrich Group. In 2022, Roberto presented an original work in Berlin as a part of the b12 Workshop Festival’s “free radicals” program. This year, Roberto has started two creative collectives: “AR True Luck” with Arin Aronky-Schell, and “DOLLHEAD 2000” with Brayden Cairns.
Roberto is a raver, a dj/creator of noise, a lover, a poet, a photographer/filmmaker, a sagittarius, and friendly so if you see him/her in the street, come say hi!
U of T Festival of Dance Executive - [email protected]
