PAST ARTISTS

“All of us come together here, it feels like this is a place that connects all of us to become more of a community”
Arash Khakpour

2016 ARTISTS

Matthew Ariaratnam
Composer
Matthew Ariaratnam is a composer, improviser and guitarist. His music and research explores sonic textures, graphic/alternative scoring, field recordings, prepared instruments, electroacoustic music, performative listening, and songwriting. Matthew’s music has been heard nationally on CBC radio and also internationally. He is involved in the musical projects Mice Bards, Organic Strategies, Waylaid, Sweet Pieces, and Code of Silence. Matthew is currently exploring interdisciplinary work in Vancouver with performance artists, physical theatre makers, dancers, visual artists, laptop guru’s, and other musicians. Matthew has a Bachelor degree in Music Composition from Wilfrid Laurier University where he studied with Peter Hatch, Linda Catlin Smith, Glenn Buhr, and Terry McKenna. He is currently a Master of Fine Arts Candidate and teaching assistant at Simon Fraser University.
Carolina Bergonzoni
Dance Artist
I’m a Vancouver-based Italian dance artist, yoga teacher and scholar. I hold an MA in Philosophy and MA in Comparative Media Arts. As a choreographer, I recently created site-specific works for Vancouver Fringe Festival, Dance in Vancouver, and BC Buds. I’ve been teaching dance and philosophy for children and community since 2008. In 2011, I graduated as Dance Educator and Community Engagement Facilitator. Since then, I’ve been working for building community of movers and thinkers. I am the new artist-in- residency with the Roundhouse Community Dancers. I’m a nature lover and a body nerd. Follow me on www.carolinabergonzoni.org
Forest Borch
Musician
Forest. Sometimes forest, sometimes phorest plays the fiddle, sometimes the violin. He has been doing this for 20 plus years in a variety capacities and intensities. From folk to old-tyme from classical to gypsy jazz, from cape breton to kajun; genres slip and slide between his fingers and bow. Forest’s influences include Andrew Bird, the Fretless, and Casey Driessen. Exploring the elements of rhythm, tone, harmony and space, his looping ways will leave you questioning, full and centered.
Sophie Brassard and Carly Penner
Dance Artists
Carly Penner began training from a young age around the Fraser Valley. Having a multiple disciplinary background, she has since narrowed her focus and found a passion for contemporary forms. Carly’s introduction to the Vancouver dance scene was through the Catalyst Dance Program, with whom she’s had the opportunity to perform at various venues and in various festivals. Her drive to pursue further training brought her to study in Israel through the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s Dance Journey Program, where she had the opportunity to learn Culberg Ballet repertoire, KCDC repertoire, perform an original piece by a current company member, and take class from various Israeli artists including Vertigo and Batsheva members. Since returning from Israel Carly has returned to train for another two seasons with Catalyst and has been an understudy for the most recent DezzaDance work.

Sophie Brassard is a Vancouver-based dance artist and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University. During her time at SFU she explored her interest in choreography through the creation of works for several interdisciplinary productions. She also explored her passion for performance through the interpretation of several works by local choreographers such as Rob Kitsos, Judith Garay and Vanessa Goodman. Sophie has also had the privilege of dancing in a reconstruction of Merce Cunningham’s Native Green under the direction of Megan Walker-Straight. Most recently, she has performed works for Project CPR and for Dezza Dance.

Jeff Christensen
Magician
Jeff Christensen has been an educator and performance artist for the past 20 years. His M. Ed. (UBC) investigated and explored the use of magic in an educational context to help promote imaginative thinking. Over the past number of years he has performed hundreds of public shows atschools, libraries, festivals, musicals and corporate events. Jeff has been mentored at the prestigious McBride Mystery School in Las Vegas and he’s continually looking for new and innovative ways to share his magic. This year at the Vines Art Festival he’s sharing his award-winning piece The Rainmaker. This piece traces the First Nations legend of the Thunderbird. In doing so it speaks to the dangers of mankind thinking it can control the environment. It’s uses story telling, movement, music, political protest and illusion to create a wonderfully unique piece of magical theatre. The Shaman character portrayed successfully invokes rain from the spirit world only to find that s/he hisunable to control the eventual outcome. In 2016 Jeff was awarded the Mandrake Award for performance excellence by the Society of American Magicians. More information about Jeff can be found at his website: www.MagicalEducator.ca
Valerie Christenson
Performance Artist
Valerie Christiansen is interdisciplinary artist with background in theatre performance, directing and cinema. She is interested in political theatre and creating spaces that collapse social hierarchies. She is a member of The Uninvited Guests collective whose productions focus on local social issues.
Con8 Collective
Dance Artist
Con8 is a young Vancouver-based movement collective focused on the investigation and creation of original work through interdisciplinary collaboration. Lead by Artistic Directors Georgina Alpen and Charlotte Newman, Con8 explores human relationships – our actions, interactions, and impacts on the world around us, through a detailed language of magnified pedestrian gesture, found movement, and the serious investigation of play. Since 2013, Con8 has created a number of diverse site-specific and stage works, founded the collaboration intensive Fridays Like This, and has most recently presented works at 12 Minutes Max (Vancouver, Salt Spring Island) and BC Buds (Vancouver). We are thrilled to have the opportunity to create new, site-specific work for Vines, and explore the stages, spaces and environments of Trout Lake.
Graham Cunningham
Born London England 20/10/1930 Evacuated in wartime to Coldstream Scottish border. After war got a Certificate for Radio telegraphy. Went to sea in 1953. Served on British merchant vessels (also Liberian and Panamanian flags) all oceans all continents till 1968 landed immigrant in Vancouver. Opened Squamish Esso in 1969 and left in 1972 to take advantage of the “hippie” lifestyle. Became Canadian citizen in 1974. Bought a house and lived communally in Strathcona from 1978 till 2010. Studied Zen Buddhism under Joshu Sasaki Roshi at the Vancouver Zen Centre from 1972 till 1991. Pension started in 1992. I live frugally and dedicate all money to decreasing the inequality between the industrialized nations and the poorer nations. I support Ladakhi Women’s Welfare Network and Ladakhi Nuns with land and construction costs and have bought houses for two Ladakhi interns I met thru Cynthia Hunt and her HEALTH Inc. I dance with Karen Jamieson at Carnegie Centre and sketch there on Fridays. I cycle to pick up groceries and to swim at Britannia Community Centre weekly.
Sydney Del
Musician
Sydney Del has been performing for the last 10 years with bands such as Miami Device, Indigo Kids, Reckoner, and LuciDream to name a few.
His recent solo act mixes folk singer elements with electronic and percussive rhythms, bringing an authentic aim to modern music.
Sydney‘s performance is both delicate and danceable, combining a set of gentle guitar strums that builds up into a lively jam of hand drums and bumpin’ beats.
Rooted with lyrics of spiritual, environmental, political, and life experience, each song has a journey to take the audience along.
 Sydney is excited to bring his view of optimism for human kind and Mother Earth to the Vines Art Festival!
Emmalena Fredriksson
Dance Artist
Born in Sweden, dance artist Emmalena Fredriksson has presented choreographic work, performed and taught internationally with Daghdha Dance Company (IE), SEAD (AT), Pact Zollverein (DE) and Falmouth University (UK) among others. Based in Vancouver, Canada since 2013 her work has been presented in Dance in Vancouver’s Choreography Walk curated by Justine A. Chambers, The Dance Centre’s Discover Dance Series and at the Audain Gallery. Emmalena holds an MFA degree from Simon Fraser University and regularly teaches at Modus Operandi and Training Society of Vancouver. Continuing her research into choreography as a relational practice in the expanded fields of dance, upcoming work includes collaborations with the visual art platform HAUNT, composer Alex Mah (EDAM) and a virtual reality dance film project. www.emmalena.se
Sarah Gallos
Performance Artist
Sarah Gallos is a performance artists, producer and movement teacher.She likes to laugh and play, and really, really loves bodies in motion. She loves them so much it makes her cry sometimes.She is also a parent, so moments of stillness and quiet are equally valued. https://www.facebook.com/SarahGallosArtist/
Katie Gartlan-Close and Carmine Santavenere
Theatre Artists
Katie Gartlan-Close and Carmine Santavenere are recent Simon Fraser University graduates and emerging artists on the scene. Both of them are interested in creating collaborative, unique, and eye-opening art in Vancouver. Between them they have many creative skill-sets (including design, physical performance, clowning and directing). Together they are devising a series deemed “Living Cardboard Projects”, where they will bring their creations, installations, and performances out into the city, to spur inspiration and joy in the eyes of the public. “Over the Hill” is a piece in the series that illustrates the epic journey of two seasoned women in search of the home they always wanted- a home full of possibilities! For more information or to support our serie check out our Indiegogo page at http://igg.me/at/cardboard or keep up with us on our instagram @livingcardboardprojects
Elissa Hanson
Performance Artist
Elissa Hanson was born in Vancouver, BC where she began training and performing in dance, music, and theatre. She undertook post-secondary training with Modus Operandi during which time she was introduced to dance on film, physical theatre, and somatic practices. In 2012, she had the opportunity to complete EDAM Dance‘s scholarship program, under the mentorship of Peter Bingham. Elissa has performed and collaborated with Out Innerspace, Kinesis Somatheatro, Deanna Peters, Justine A.Chambers, EDAM Dance, MascallDance, MOVE: the company and Company 605. She has assisted Jennifer Mascall in Experiential Anatomy workshops, and joined Josh Beamish as a mentor in his Choreographic Mentorship Program for talented youth. Her training has taken her to France, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Thailand. Elissa’s independent work comprises several small dances and video works, and she continues to investigate somatic, theatrical and political practices.
Photo: Ed Spence
Eleanor Hendriks
Dance Artist
Eleanor Hendriks is a community-engaged dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver since 2015, founder of Community Verve and developing dances for ecoliteracy. Eleanor’s work is situated at the intersection of performance art and social interaction informed by contemporary theories of mimesis and embodiment. Community performances include: Salmon up the Urban Stream in Pantei Rei Italy 2014; Pseudatsuga Dance at Night Quest 2015; Bog Tide Dances at Vinesarts 2015 and Burns Bog 2016; Community Gardeners Dancing: Cross-Pollination 1 at Sustenance Festival 2015 and Trans-Versus at VIVO Media Arts Centre 2016. She is also a trained dance therapist, and vice-president of the Association Danse Rythme Lien Social et Thérapie, CID UNESCO in France.
Georgia Johnson
Musician
Georgia Johnson is a Vancouver-based actress, singer-songwriter, and producer. She draws on her training in experimental performance to use song as a format for story-telling, mixing vivid imagery with lush harmonics. Her desire as a songwriter and artist is to capture the essence of what it is to be a wild, free spirit caught in a time-bound, linear human experience. She draws from the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest for her inspiration and imagery, the themes of her songs ranging from grief, to delight, transformation, and eventually, reverence for all creation. Songwriting influences include Josh Garrels, Anais Mitchell, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, James Vincent McMorrow.
Arash Khakpour (The Biting School)
Performance Artist
Arash is privileged to be a dancer and creator on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Originally from Tehran but currently residing in Vancouver, Arash’s desire is to see whether theatre can be a place, where the body investigates the alternate ways of being through the historical information in the world and in the body. He is interested in dance as the language in the theatre, which allows him to research about human conditions and nature through historical, social, political and existential interpretations. Arash is the co-founder of The Biting School alongside his brother Aryo Khakpour.
Alex Mah
Musician
Alex is concerned with sound and the performing body —indeterminacy and vulnerability— and with scoring text — language and score interpretation. He regularly collaborates with dance and theatre artists, which informs his process as a composer. Alex holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours in Music from Simon Fraser University. He has participated in festivals and workshops across Canada and has studied composition privately with Antoine Beuger in Germany. As a composer, musician, and (sometimes) dancer, he has collaborated with EDAM Dance, Kinesis Dance somatheatro, Rob Kitsos, Quasar Quatuor de saxophones, and Quatuor Bozzini.
Ariel Martz-Oberlander
Theatre Artist
Ariel is a theatre artist, writer and community organizer living in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish Territories. She is a recent graduate of the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Her work seeks to answer how the principles of drama and scene study can help us connect to each other and communicate in a way that fosters resistance to the things that divide us, such as race, education and gender presentation. Her play exploring the cacophony of experience in the face of climate chaos can be seen at this year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Molly McDermott
Dance Artist
Originally from Edmonton, AB, Molly McDermott is currently residing and working as an independent dance artist in Vancouver, BC. She attended Grant MacEwan College, and Simon Fraser University, graduating in 2007 with a BFA in dance. She has since danced professionally for Kelly Bowker, Justine Chambers, Deanna Peters, Alison Towne, Lydia Wagerer, Co. Erasga Dance Society, Kokoro Dance Theatre, and Mascall Dance. Molly was a co-director of the contemporary dance collective, The Story of Force and Motion, through which she collaboratively choreographed, produced and presented work in Vancouver and Edmonton from 2007-2012.
Kelly McInnes
Dance Artist
Kelly McInnes is a dance artist based in Vancouver, B.C. A graduate of the Modus Operandi contemporary dance program, she has also completed a scholarship at EDAM Dance under the direction of Peter Bingham, where she continues to develop her practice. Kelly has participated in creation mentorships through the Cultch‘s Ignite! and Contemporary Art Gallery’s Summer Intensive. She has recently completed a year mentorship with choreographer Claire French funded through the BC Arts Council‘s Early Career Development and a second season in Made in BC’s community engagement facilitation mentorship under Julie Lebel and Miriam Colvin with the Roundhouse Community Dancers.

Kelly creates her work, through a feminist lens, as a form of social activism; a call to action. Using her work to magnify, comment on and create dialogue around important issues within our society. To give material form to the socio-political in her work she often combines dance, visual art, sound, film and objects to create thought provoking performances. Her work involves long duration, installation, site specific location, community engagement and guerrilla performance.

Amara McPhail
Dance Artist
Canadian born contemporary dance artist Amara McPhail was awarded an Alberta Foundation for the Arts dance grant in 2006. She began her training in classical ballet in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2009 she moved to London where she trained at the prestigious Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Since graduation, she has freelanced with renowned artists and companies such as SurFaceDance, Wet Paint Theatre, Inkyung Lee, Ishimwa, and Lauren Barri-Holstein. While living in Berlin, she began to discover her distinct style and performed two self-choreographed works in Theaterhaus Mitte Berlin as well as ada Studio Berlin. A strong ballet technique coupled with her fierce passion for contemporary dance, theatricality, and classical music makes for distinct and unique choreography and movement quality.
Linnea McPhail
Visual Artist
Ontario-born arts and crafter Linnea spent most of her childhood exploring art materials and wandering around the luscious Ottawa Valley. She aspires to share the magic of art making and is currently studying Art Therapy at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute and living out her dream of living by the ocean. As a student and creator, she is constantly shifting from multiple art modalities in hopes of discovering the beauty that is made during the art making process. Avid crafter, musician, dancer, and pun generator, her recent project “1000 Paper Whales” uses the relaxing process of folding origami, as well as acts as a pathway to an open discussion about whales and the health of our oceans. If you meet her say Hi, she is friendly. You can talk to her about Whales or her cat Vlad.
Monster Moon (Madelyn Osborn)
Theatre Collective
Monster Moon Theatre is a collective of artists exploring the darker side of the human mind to find ways to teach each other that it is not always apart of yourself we have to be afraid of. With their newest show Disposable Generation they question the true impact plastics and packaging have on the planet.
Polymer Dance
Dance Artists
Polymer Dance is a contemporary dance troupe for non-professional dancers over the age of 16 that started in 2012. It is directed by Miriam Esquitín and Kristina Lemieux. We offer progressive technique classes for beginners at Hillcrest Community Centre and for intermediate/advanced dancers with at least three years of experience at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre where we have a residency. We also perform at a mix of traditional and non-traditional venues a few times a year with structured improvisation. For more info, visit polymerdance.com or contactpolymerdance@gmail.com.
Miriam is a contemporary dance artist that has taught for over 12 years in community-based dance groups and holds a Certificate in Contemporary Dance Instruction and a MA in Social Anthropology. Krisitna is a reputable arts administrator and contemporary dancer with a BA from the University of Alberta with a major in Sociology and minor in Drama.
Bronwyn Preece
Performance Artist
Bronwyn Preece lives 100% off-the- grid on Lasqueti Island/Xwe‘etay, BC: an honoured guest on Straits Salish Traditional Territory. She is an improvisational, site-sensitive performer, community applied theatre practitioner, author and poet, walking and visual eARThist and the pioneer of earthBODYment, currently doing a performance-based PhD examining the embodiment of ecology and disability. She both facilitates workshops and performs internationally: including at World Stage Design 2013 in an outdoor, edible stage: in an international collaborative project examining how local gardening can serve as a metre for climate change. She served 6 years in local politics, with the Islands Trust, being the youngest woman ever elected to her post, operating under a ’green’; mandate. She is the author of In the Spirit of Homebirth: Modern Women, An Ancient Choice (2015), Gulf Islands Alphabet (2012), among multiple other publications. www.bronwynpreece.com
Meegin Pye
Theatre Artist
Meegin Pye is a graduate from UBC Acting. Originally from Vancouver Island, with the mountains and ocean as her playground, Meegin was raised with an appreciation for the natural landscape that BC has to offer. Currently residing in Vancouver she has learned to appreciate the cityscape but seeks ways to bring both natural and structural topography together.

Recent theatre credits include: Eurydice, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Bacchae 2.1 (UBC); Love, Lust & Lace (Gas Pedal Productions); The Children’s Hour (Ensemble Theatre Company); The Shipyard Pals’ Walking Tour (NVMA & Presentation House); Rimers of Eldritch, Romeo and Juliet (Malaspina Theatre).

Son Bohemio
Musicians
SON BOHEMIO is; Nyra Chalmer (Violin),Hector Falcon (Cajon) and Joaquin Gonzalez (Guitar.Voice),is an ensemble that performs music from all over Latin America and Spain with a gipsy bohemian style,the vocals in their performances blend beautifully with the sound of the guitar,the violin,and the the peruvian cajon and invite all the audiences of different cultures to an imaginary trip in to the hispanic heritage.
Theatre on Earth
Theatre on Earth is a collective of theatre who came together in 2011 to create and produce Project Corndog. Our show took place on and around an organic farm in the Fraser Valley and was followed by a meal sourced off the land and shared by audience, performers and farmers alike. The following year Project Corndog was remounted at Stowell lake Farm on Salt spring island by Graffiti Theatre. For the past 5 years Theatre on Earth have been working as artists in residence at the Strathcona Community Garden in collaboration with the Environmental Youth Alliance. https://www.facebook.com/theatreonearth/
The Man Died On This
Theatre Artists
The Man Died On This. is an international clowning collective that is making their way through the light for the first time. Up and down, up and down, they went up and down and craved for the light of the arts. They have taken out their ballet pole and failed, they have taken out their yoga mats and failed, and left with only a few broken tents and a Hill to pass in the end. This Vancouver based international clowning collective is now making some trouble wherever they appear.
Yours Sincerely, Louie, Tracy and Slaslaslav Slav. Slaslask
The Two Gents of New West (Generation Hot)
Theatre Artist
Two Gents of New West is a youth-organized production company that operates on the support of the community. As a founder of the company, Howard Dai is excited to extend the scope of this collective’s project to a greater audience; while Nelson Ellis, the newest addition to the company, is ready to expand the horizon his theatrical pursuit. Both Howard and Nelson will be starting their first year of theatre school in college this September, and they are both excited to present their work (and the wonderful and and talented cast) to you!
Tin Gamboa
Dance Artist
Tin Gamboa is a vancouver-based emerging dance artist who was born and raised in the Philippines. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Dance, at Simon Fraser University and has had the pleasure to work with renowned choreographers such as Amber Funk Barton, Jennifer Mascall, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Cheryl Prophet, Henry Daniel, and Alvin Tolentino. She has also studied contact improvisation with Peter Bingham and gaga technique with Adi Salant. She is currently pursuing and enjoying opportunities that involve either or both dance and community. She does this through collaborations with other artists and working with non-profit organizations. Gamboa hopes to continue this pursuit and continue to learn, explore, and express through dance and human connection.
T‘uy’tanat - Cease Wyss
Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Metis/Hawaiian/Swiss Inter-disciplinary Artist Mediums/Formats: Digital Media Web Installations Public Art Community Based/Engaged Dialogues Storytelling Medicine Gathering Sharing Traditional Knowledge Creating and Building Communities Land and Wetlands Restoration and Remediation Collective and Collaborative Processes. I love plants. I love nature and all that we are gifted through Grandmother Nature and Grandfather Rocks. I am hoping to share information that I tend to share on a regular basis, about the work i do with plants. This includes forests and gardens, as I spend most of my outdoor time in these places. I spend as much time outdoors as I am able to. I have lived a rich cultural life in my traditional territories, working, learning, teaching, living, gathering medicines, creating art, building communities, and striving for a better living in other ways.
Danielle Vallee
Visual Artist
Danielle is a multidisciplinary artist and communicator with a passion for environmental and social change. Equipped with a background in psychology, she has a keen interest in facilitating human interaction along with community and personal growth. She sits on the Board of Directors for Vines, as the festival melds her love for the environment, her community and the arts in Vancouver.
A Capilano University student by day, Danielle moonlights as a freelance graphic designer; working with organizations such as Luciterra Dance Company, Orb Clothing and Music Heals. She spends her limited free time enjoying local green spaces or good food – but preferably both.
Krys Yuan
Theatre Artist
Krys Yuan is a young theatre-maker who hails from the small, sweaty and lively island state of Singapore. Having graduated from the School of the Arts, Singapore, she currently studies anthropology at UBC and continues her theatre practice outside of school as an actor, director and writer. She is interested in the intersections of various social themes on global and local levels, and telling stories of people who have been affected by them through theatre and prose. When she isn’t busy writing, she enjoys chasing cats and taking long bus rides with a good book.

With her first play Amber, she explores how to connect people to a realistic idea of the future with climate change accelerated, and to confront all its possibilities – the bleak, the hopeful and everything that lives in between.

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Vines Art Festival takes place on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

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Pandora Fieldhouse
2325 Franklin Street
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