About the Choreographers

Santee Smith created Sharing Dance’s first indigenous-themed flashmob routine. An innovative creator and avid collaborator her dance work resonates deeply with audiences.

Santee is from the Mohawk Nation and calls Six Nations, Ontario her home. She is the founding Artistic Director/Choreographer for Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. One of Canada’s most exciting choreographers Santee has propelled her company to international acclaim.

Her formal training occurred at Canada’s National Ballet School. She holds Kinesiology and Psychology degrees from McMaster University and a Master’s Degree in Dance from York University. Her first choreographic commission was for The Gift, a National Film Board documentary in 1996. Santee’s choreographic works include: Kaha:wi, Midwinter Dreaming (Dancer's Dancing commission), Here On Earth, The Threshing Floor (co-choreography), Sacred Spring, A Constellation of Bones, A Story Before Time, A Soldier’s Tale (produced by Theatre Aquarius), Tripped Up Blues (Canada Dance Festival commission), Susuriwka – willow bridge, The Creator’s Game, Star Dreamer (Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre commission), Medicine Bear and TransMigration.

Santee has been awarded Ontario Arts Council’s K.M. Hunter Award for Dance, Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for most outstanding mid-career artist in the field of dance as well as receiving the first John Hobday Award for outstanding achievement in the field of arts management. A sought after teacher/lecturer Santee taught at: York University, George Washington University, University of New Mexico, Waseda University (Japan), and Benemeritus & Autonomous University of Puebla (Mexico) among others. In 2009, Santee launched KDT's Aboriginal Dance Training program, a one-of-a-kind curriculum combining western-based, traditional and contemporary indigenous dance forms and alternative physical training techniques.

More on Kaha:wi Dance Theatre

Lopa Sarkar created NBS’ first Bollywood style flashmob choreography. Toronto-based, Lopa has worked with artists the world over as both a dancer and a choreographer. The routine is set to Turn the Music Up, a chart-topping song by the Montreal artists The Bilz & Kashif.

Lopa Sarkar completed her dance training in Bharatanatym, the classical Indian dance form, in Toronto. She performed throughout Canada and the US before moving to London, England, where she spent two years choreographing, performing and teaching Bollywood dance with three different companies. While in the UK, she worked with Bollywood choreographer Pappu-Malu (of Devdas) and performed on stage with Malaika Arora. She has been seen on BBC, Zee TV, and Sony Television.

Lopa has also worked as a Choreographer for Club Med, based out of the Bahamas. Through the Club Med Artist Program, she was invited to teach and perform in Turks and Caicos, Punta Cana and Mexico. She has choreographed for film in New York City, performed in London, taught in Wales, and currently runs her own dance company in Toronto, Divine Heritage Artistry. Dancers with Divine Heritage Artistry have performed on television for MTV, at the Air Canada Centre for the Toronto Raptors, and on stage with Raghav and Malkit Singh. Lopa herself has been a part of festivals around the world including LUMINATO in Toronto, WOMAD in London, and the International Music Festival in Wales.

In 2009, Lopa was invited by Lulu Lemon to be their first Bollywood dance ambassador. That same year, Lopa and her dancers were invited to be the opening act at the sold out "It's Always Something" charity show for Gilda's Club where they shared the Princess of Wales Theatre stage with other Canadian stars including Russell Peters and the Canadian Tenors.

In 2010, Lopa was invited to teach and perform at Raqs Britannia by Miles Copeland and the Bellydance Superstars. That same year she was Tre Armstrong’s (from So You Think You Can Dance Canada) Assistant Choreographer on the set of the film Breakaway for a video directed by Director X staring Akshay Kumar, Ludacris, RDB, and Russell Peters. Lopa holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto.

www.lopasarkar.com

Lenny Dela Pena created Sharing Dance’s first hip hop flashmob choreography. An internationally in-demand choreographer who has worked with some of hip hop’s finest stars, he created an amazing routine to Maestro Fresh Wes’ Let Your Backbone Slide.

A Dancer, internationally-renowned Choreographer and Director Lenny “Lenny Len” Dela Pena is admired for his vision, ability to teach and his feel for music.

In New York he works with the Alpine Music Group/Def Jam. In Los Angeles he’s a member of the Global Hip Hop Network, in Toronto he dances with DoDat Entertainment and is the founder of Flavor Shop Tribe. He’s an entertainer, teacher and soul movement enthusiast whose objective is to spread and elevate the knowledge of like-minded artists’ growth through dance, film, music and feel. Lenny has worked with Ne-Yo, Rihanna, T-Pain, Jeremih, Esthero, August, k-os, Jodi Connor, JLS, and most recently choreographing the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Closing Ceremonies. The hip hop finale Lenny choreographed was the debut of hip hop culture being involved in any Olympic ceremonies.

With over 20 years of experience in the music and dance industry Lenny has made his regard for quality education and higher learning clear. His vision, ability to communicate and lead continues to help develop talents worldwide such as the Philippine Allstars (World Hip Hop Champions, 2006 – 2008) and finalists on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Lenny has developed rising singer/songwriting artists Nasri and August who are renowned for writing best-selling records for the likes of Justin Bieber and Chris Brown.

Creatively and soulfully, Lenny has established himself to be an undeniable energy force amongst the best and brightest talents of today.

Courtnae Bowman choreographed the Crabbuckit flashmob routine.  She is a choreographer, teacher, performer and the artistic director of her own company, Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet.

Courtnae grew up in Victoria B.C, moving on to receive her professional training at The Goh Ballet Academy, the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Ballet B.C and George Brown Dance, from which she graduated with honours and received a certificate of professional development from its affiliate, Ballet Jörgen Canada.

Influenced strongly by her diverse training Courtnae has had the pleasure of dancing for choreographers such as Kathleen Rea, Roger Sinha, Noemi Lafrance, David Earle, Sharron Moore, John Alleyene, Donald Sales, Emily Molonar and Coralee McClaren. Dancing as a soloist for Siona Jackson, Annie Wood, Tina and Estelle Nicoladis, Courtnae has performed for the Dancers for Life AIDS benefit, Dance Ontario Weekend, The Bazaar, Dusk Dances, the Vancouver International Dance Festival, the Before During After Dance Festival of Duets, Nuit Blanche, and Vivid 2002, a REAson d’être/Chimera Project co-production. Courtnae’s recent dance work includes music videos for Dearly Beloved, The Love Willows, Sandrine, McFly. Courtnae was delighted to have worked on international singer Feist's music videos, 1234 and My Moon, My Man, after which she was invited to perform at Massey Hall in her Spring 2007 tour. 

Directing the ballet program of a competitive dance school won her great acclaim for her choreographic abilities and inspiring approach to ballet. Her students have gone on to train at Canada’s National Ballet School, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Goh Ballet Academy, Quinte Ballet School, and The George Brown Dance Program. Students have also pursued performing careers with both Disney and Thrive! Entertainment.

Courtnae is a guest teacher throughout Ontario and is currently on faculty at Canada’s National Ballet School and City Dance Corps.

Since founding Cadence in November of 2008, Courtnae has created seven pieces for the company. In June of 2009, she launched The Cadence Mentorship Program which gave six pre-professional dancers the opportunity to join the company during creation and training over the summer. In July 2009, she produced “Cadence City Connect: Vancouver”, the first of a series of collaborations with choreographers and dancers from cities both within Canada and abroad, with the vision of further developing the companies versatility. Dancers from Vancouver joined the company over the summer to collaborate with Vancouver based choreographer/dancer Donald Sales in the creation of two works for Cadence.

Courtnae looks forward to continuing on her mission to develop, create and produce compelling contemporary dance works to be presented throughout Canada and abroad.  More information about Courtnae can be found at Courtnae.com

Matjash Mrozewski has created two flashmob routines showcased on Sharing Dance, Feist’s I Feel It All and Joel Plaskett’s Penny For Your Thoughts. He trained at Canada’s National Ballet School before pursuing a career as a dancer and choreographer.

Matjash Mrozewski - classicist, fusionist, dance dramatist - is a choreographer whose work has won over audiences and critics in North America, Europe and Australia.

Matjash started creating dance while studying at Canada's National Ballet School. He continued to choreograph after he joined the National Ballet of Canada. Matjash danced for two years in Europe, and on his return to Canada launched his choreographic career with A Delicate Battle, for the National Ballet in 2001.

In the past ten years, Matjash has created original works for, among others, The Royal Ballet, The Australian Ballet, The San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, The Royal Danish Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and The Royal Ballet of Flanders.

Matjash has also worked extensively in contemporary ballet and modern dance. In 2003 he was the first recipient of the National Arts Center Youth Commission for Dance, which led to his first full-length work, Break Open Play. Matjash has choreographed for musical theatre, special events, and the catwalk. Six dance films have been made of his original and adapted choreographies.

He can work comfortably in all kinds of situations - any type of music, venue, circumstance or cast - from a single dancer to a cast of 300 non-professionals. Matjash always seeks to surprise - and embraces new challenges and collaborations. Read more about Matjash on Matjash.com