Faculty

Professional Training Program

Coming Soon: Faculty List 2022-2023

Professional Training Program

Core Faculty 2021-2022

JOHANNA BERGFELDT

Ballet and Contemporary Technique

SASHA IVANOCHKO

Career Paths
Contemporary Technique

ROSEMARY JAMES

Graham Technique

ROBERT MCCOLLUM

Ballet Technique and Coaching

SHARON B. MOORE

Resident Choreographer

JULIA SASSO

Choreographic Workshop (3rd Year)
Creative Process
Resident Choreographer

ELKE SCHROEDER

Contemporary Technique

DARRYL TRACY

Anatomy
Contemporary Technique
Resident Choreographer

Professional Training Program

Adjunct Faculty 2021-2022

PEGGY BAKER

Creative Residency (3rd Year)

DANIELLE BASKERVILLE

Graham Technique

COLIN FROTTEN

Music

BRENDAN JENSEN

Conditioning/Restorative

KAREN KAEJA

Contact Improvisation, Partnering/Contact Dance

JEFF MORRIS

Elements of Production

MEGAN NADAIN

Cardio/Conditioning
Graham Technique

JACOB NIEDZWIECKI

Film for Dance

KATHERINE SEMCHUK

Cardio/Conditioning

MICHELLE SILAGY

Pedagogy (2nd Year)

DEBBIE WILSON

Horton Technique

Professional Training Program

Recent and Future Guest Artists

Conrad Alexandrowicz
Kate Alton
Patricia Beatty
Nova Bhattacharya
Marc Boivin
Susie Burpee
Michael Caldwell
Ginelle Chagnon
Peter Chin
Allison Cummings
Jennifer Dallas

Robert Desrosiers
Paul-André Fortier
Fiona Griffiths
Danny Grossman
Susanna Hood
Allen Kaeja
Eddie Kastrau
Hanna Kiel
James Kudelka
Louis Laberge-Côté
Coralee McLaren

Sahara Morimoto
Pulga Muchochoma
Nicole Nigro
Kenny Pearl
Douglas Price
Tedd Robinson
Lucy Rupert
Roger Sinha
Heidi Strauss
Lise Vachon
Christine Wright

Adult Recreational Classes

MEGAN NADAIN

Modern Dance Expression

Young Dancers’ Program

OLIVIA ARCANGELI

Teacher

BRITANNY BOOTH

Teacher

YIMING CAI

Assistant Teacher

EMMA KERSON

Teacher

MICHELLE SILAGY

Young Dancers’ Program Director/Instructor

Johanna Bergfelt, a native of Sweden, graduated from The Royal Swedish Ballet School in 1989. She has an extensive performance background beginning with Östgötabaletten, where she worked for six years, and later joined Norrdans, and the Barents Dance Ensemble. Since coming to Canada in 2000, Johanna has worked with The Chimera Project, Kaeja d’Dance, Kathleen Rea, Santee Smith, Darcey Callison, Louis Laberge-Côté, Kate Alton, Holly Small, William Yong, Pro Arte Danza, Mairéad Filgate, Yvonne Ng, and the Toronto Dance Theatre, where she was a company dancer for six years. Johanna has been nominated four times for a Dora Mavor Moore Award.

As a teacher Johanna teaches regularly at In Studio, The Citadel, The Dance Institute, her own online classes, and company classes at Toronto Dance Theatre.

Sasha Ivanochko is an arts worker with 33 years experience performing, creating, teaching, and curating in the field of Contemporary dance.

Sasha first developed her powerful physicality competing for ten years on the Canadian National Gymnastics Team. At the age of 14 she began training in Ballet and Modern dance at the Etobicoke School for the Performing Arts. In 1991 she graduated from Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre), and she earned her MFA Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University in 2017.

A virtuosic and versatile interpreter, Sasha has performed with many celebrated choreographers and companies including, among others, Judith Marcuse Projects, Peter Chin, Denise Fujiwara, DA Hoskins, Peggy Baker, Robin Poitras, Toru Shimazaki, Michael Trent, Tedd Robinson, Citadel+Compagnie, and for 9 years as a lead dancer with Toronto Dance Theatre. During her final two years with the company, Ivanochko was the Artistic Assistant to then Artistic Director Christopher House.

In 2005, she founded her ad hoc company, Ivanochko in company, and her critically acclaimed choreography has enjoyed presentations at the International Theatre Festival of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), the Dance Meeting (Japan), The 2007 IETM, Festival Quartiers Danse, Studio 303 and Tangente (Montréal), The Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa), The Fluid Festival and Dancers' Studio West (Calgary), Dancing on the Edge and the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (Vancouver), New Dance Horizons (Regina), The Music Gallery, The Citadel, Dancemakers and DanceWorks (Toronto), The Festival of New Dance (St. John’s), Mile Zero Dance (Edmonton), La petite scène (Quèbec), and the visiBIe Arts Festival (Los Angeles). She has created commissions for Toronto Dance Theatre, Via Salzburg, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, and multiple independent dancers.

An educator since 1996, Sasha developed a training methodology that is specific to the demands of her choreography. The class supports participants developing a kinetic and interpretive understanding of her movement vocabulary, but as well encourages a broader range of skills that has applications towards many performance avenues. Sasha has been on faculty on at Dance Arts Institute, The School of Alberta Ballet, The University of Calgary, École de danse contemporaine de Montréal and has guest taught at ARTÈRE, Concordia, Modus Operandi, Ballet Mannheim, Kobe Jogakuen University, Simon Fraser University, The School of Dance, The School of Contemporary Dancers, L'école de danse de Québec and in many independent dance communities across Canada.

Artistic and academic acknowledgements and honours for her research and creative work include the Kathryn Ash Choreographic Commission Award, the K.M. Hunter Award, two Chalmers Family Fellowships, the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate scholarship, and she received the 2020 John Hobday Award for arts management.

Sasha’s service to the community includes acting as Chair for the Board of Directors of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists-East (2006-2009), and Chairing the Canadian Dance Assembly’s Independent Artist Standing Council (2009-2011). From 2018 for three years, she was Artistic Director of Dancers’ Studio West. In August of 2021, she became the Artistic Director and Pedagogical Director of Dance Arts Institute.

Rosemary James assumed the role of Rehearsal Director in 1992 after a successful career performing with Toronto Dance Theatre. She has mentored, taught, coached, and remounted the choreographies of Christopher House, former Artistic Director of TDT (1994-2022). In this position she continues to direct rehearsals, teach, and participate in collaborations with artistic, administrative, and production teams. James taught in the Professional Training Program at DAI (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) from 1987-2023 and was the Training and Performing Associate from 2009-2021, under the expert leadership of Patricia Fraser (1993-2021). She has taught modern dance courses at York University and is currently a contract lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University. James is passionate about sharing the Martha Graham Technique with future generations of dancers. She is also teaching this valuable and foundational movement vocabulary at Performing Dance Arts. In 2021, she initiated and interviewed former TDT colleagues in an audio series, Reconnecting with Black Dancers from the 80’s and Early 90’s. As well in 2021, she collaborated with Mary Jane Warner to produce the film tribute, Celebrating Patricia Beatty: Artist, Choreographer, Teacher. On January 27, 2023, James was honoured with The Charles Augins Inspirational Artist Award from the International Association of Blacks in Dance for her dedication and contribution to the dance community. James holds a Bachelor and Master of Arts in dance from York University.

Robert McCollum trained in New York City from 1974-78, on scholarship at the American Ballet Center (school of the Joffrey Ballet), with a faculty which included Meredith Baylis, Richard Gibson, and Ann Parsons. He also studied independently with Maggie Black and Marjorie Mussman, and, at the Boston Conservatory, he took joint ballet/Limón classes, by invitation, with Emiko and Yasiko Tokanaga. He counts among his modern dance influences his workshop experiences with Ruth Currier, Louis Falco, Jennifer Muller, Kathryn Posen, Jennifer Scanlon, and Twyla Tharp. McCollum went on to dance professionally in both the United States and Canada. In 1980, McCollum sustained a serious injury, and, though he couldn’t continue to perform in a company context, he nevertheless danced independently with many choreographers, including Gail Benn, Murray Darroch, Gabby Kamino, Jennifer Mascall, Holly Small, and Debbie Wilson.

From 1987 through 1989, McCollum attended Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) auditing the teacher training program as a professional dancer, and he received his Associate Cecchetti Certificate with Distinction from NBS in 1989. Since 1996, McCollum has taught at NBS, where he is the co-ordinator for the adult evening program, and he is on the faculty of the Teacher Training Program.

For many years, he has been on the staff of the annual summer Teachers’ Seminar, working with Peggy Baker, Irene Dowd, and Patricia Miner. From 1990 to the present, he has been a faculty member and resident choreographer at the George Brown College Theatre School, where he teaches dance to actors and choreographs their performances. Since 1996, he has been a guest ballet master for advanced students at the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (formerly Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre). McCollum has also taught in the summers, since 1992, for Dans Nova Scotia, under Artistic Director Diane Milligan.

Acclaimed for his expertise in teaching adults, McCollum has a teaching style clearly influenced by his studies in Limón, particularly with Jennifer Muller, and he remains very connected to the modern dance community in Toronto. His teaching bridges dance techniques in a unique manner, and his respect for the integrity of the whole dancer is always evident in his approach.

Julia Sasso’s decades-long career encompasses performance, choreography, teaching, mentorship, writing, and advocacy. She began dancing in 1960 in Detroit, where she trained with Cecchetti ballet master, Rose Marie Floyd. In her teens, she was a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet School, and an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet, both in New York City. Her artistry has since been shaped by curiosity, inquiry, experimentation, and investment in a variety of practices including Skinner Releasing Technique™, improvisation, theatre, voice, pilates, Gaga, ELDOA, Fundamentals (Cristine Wright), and various contemporary movement techniques.

Recognized as ‘one of the foremost dance artists in the country’ (The Dance Current), Sasso performed internationally with Toronto’s Dancemakers in 1984-2000, and was the company’s Assistant Artistic Director and principal teacher for a dozen years. She is ‘one of perhaps a dozen contemporary modern dancers in Canada who is simply breathtaking in motion’ (The Ottawa Citizen). She continues to perform and create independently. Sasso has choreographed extensively for the concert stage as well as for theatre, feature film, and television. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented throughout Canada, in the United States, and abroad, by Harbourfront Centre, the Canada Dance Festival, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre, Dancemakers, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, and DanceWorks among others.

Under the moniker Julia Sasso dances, she has created, produced, and presented five full evening-length dance works: Sporting Life (1996, remounted 2016), Beauty (2003), the betrayal project (2006), Túl a folyón (Beyond the River, 2009), and SLoE (2012). Her contribution to theatre and concert dance has been acknowledged with eight Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations. Sasso has taught at distinguished learning centres worldwide. She has created choreography for professional contemporary dance training programs across Canada and abroad and since 1995, and has created close to 100 dances for The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Professional Training Program, where she is a core faculty member. From 2006-2022, she directed a range of Dance courses in York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Her artistic practice has been recognized with awards, grants, scholarships, and bursaries from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Chalmers Performing Arts Training Awards, Laidlaw Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, The John McKellar Charitable Foundation, Dancers’ Transition Resource Centre, Skinner Releasing Institute, York University, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School, Harkness House for Ballet Arts, and The Cecchetti Council of America.

Sasso’s published writing appears in, Skinner Releasing Technique, A Movement and Dance Practice (2021) www.triarchypress.net/srt

Elke Schroeder is a Canadian born dance artist living in Helsinki. A graduate of Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre), she is designated a Fighting Monkey Instructor (creators Jozef Frucek and Linda Kapetanea) and is co-creator of Underdog Practice with her partner, Mikko Rinnevuori. Elke’s diverse movement background includes dance of many styles, floorwork, acrobatics, yoga, functional movement, athletics and martial arts. A passionate teacher, she has taught FM and dance practices for myriad international movement, dance and yoga organizations including Uniarts Helsinki, Dance Arts Institute, L'École de Danse de Québec, L’Artère Danse, the University of Calgary, Ryerson University, York University and Spirit Loft Toronto (among others). She is currently a dancer with Raekallio Corp and Susanna Leinonen Company and creates dance art work under her own dance company, One Animal Movement.

Darryl Tracy is a Toronto-based independent dance artist: choreographer, interpreter, teacher, and producer. He is a senior faculty member and a Resident Choreographer at The School of. Toronto Dance Theatre. As a dancer, he has created roles by many of Canada’s leading choreographers. He and Heidi Strauss were co-artistic directors of Four Chambers dance projects from 1999-2006. Tracy was a member of the company Sylvain Émard Danse in Montreal for more than four years. He has created 42 of his own works through commissions and self-produced events. Most recently, he has choreographed for Connection Dance Works in New Brunswick, L’École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, Sawdon Dance in Winnipeg, and George Brown Dance in Toronto. He guest-teaches across Canada and in the United States.

In 2015, Tracy created two site-specific works for the Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and for Nuit Rose (Toronto), and in May 2016, a short film for the RT Collective, for the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival. In June of 2017, he was a guest choreographer for Kenny Pearl's Emerging Artist Summer Intensive, remounting his work external perturbationsl. In September 2017, his solo, All the Patsys, that he choreographed and performed (alongside Connection Dance Works’ with far arms), premiered as part of Saint John New Brunswick's Imperial Theatre season. His latest work quietly rooting for the storm was presented in Winnipeg with SawdonDance. As a dancer, he has been on tour in work by Lesandra Dodson, In Two Days a Man can Change, as well as with Marie-Josée Chartier's petites danses. Tracy also teaches anatomy at the Teachers Training Program at The National Ballet School,

Tracy works part-time as a neuro-based rehabilitation physiotherapist at University Health Network - Lyndhurst Centre, Toronto and also in the private sector.