Arts North Youth Company:

 

FACULTY

 

 

Ashley Burton, a graduate of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Ms. Burton majored in dance and holds Bachelors degrees in both Education and Fine Arts. Her present interests focus on teaching, choreography and production. As an undergraduate, Ashley choreographed for York’s Dance Ensemble, an occasion that has led to various professional opportunities. Her daring and intricate work has been showcased in various festivals throughout Ontario including the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, Ffida International Dance Festival and Nuit Blanche. Métis by heritage, Ashley has contributed significantly to the York University’s Shifting Currents: Finding Balance project by conducting interviews, documenting First Nations dance events, and developing a new piece of choreography with youth from Ontario and Alberta. In April 2009 Ashley was invited to participate in an Artist Residency at the Banff Centre where she created the dance work that is now set for an international tour. As Founder and Artistic Director of Arts North, Ashley is currently working as a dance consultant and arts liaison in Northern Ontario. Her goal is to bring the arts North with a Fine Arts Training Centre encompassing culture and creativity. Ashley is also an occasional teacher for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, and an active member of the Sudbury Rotary Sunrisers Club contributing her time supporting the community and local charitable causes.

 

Jessica Cummings, born and raised in Montreal Canada, began training as a competitive gymnast at the age 5 and as a dancer at the age of 12. Her dance career began at Studio A Montreal where she trained in contemporary, ballet, lyrical and hip hop. Her passion for hip hop truly began when she was accepted onto the elite hip hop team, Extreme. It is with this team that she went on to win the title of World Hip Hop Champions in 2004 (Hip Hop International). In 2002, Jessica found a passion for teaching and choreographing when she began teaching at Studio A. Since then she has directed several competitive and professional teams. Shortly after, in 2007, Jessica joined the all-female hip hop crew Aftermath directed by Erik Saradpon of Formality San Diego. While a member of Aftermath, Jessica had the opportunity to perform and compete on several world stages and has worked closely with choreographers such as Mariel Martin, Sheryl Murakami, Joey Cruz and many more. With both Extreme and Aftermath, Jessica has taught and danced in several countries and cities such as, Lebanon, Japan, Germany, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Utah, Ottawa and Toronto. Jessica has choreographed and performed for several fundraisers, music videos, performances and television events (being featured on both CTV and Global television). One of her most memorable experiences was working with former Cirque du Soleil director Deborah Brown with whom she traveled to various places around the world.

 

One of Jessica's greatest accomplishments is being able to share her passion and creativity with other dancers. She has inspired many dancers to stay humble and dedicated while following their dreams. Although Jessica loves to inspire others she never ceases to be amazed by all the dancers and choreographers around her. Her inspirations are Michael Jackson, Tucker Barkley, Laura Edwards and Lyle Beniga. As she heads off to Sudbury Ontario to pursue her graduate studies in Sport Psychology, she plans to continue teaching and sharing her expertise in dance at Arts North.

 

Check out some of Jessica's work:

 

 

Emily Caruso Parnell has been teaching dance in the studio & classroom for more than fifteen years. A native of Sudbury, she completed her undergraduate dance training at Bennington College & York University where she had the privilege of studying with, among others, Dana Reitz, Sara Rudner, Terry Creach, Susan Sgorbati, Lionel Popkin and Donna Krasnow. During this time, Emily also undertook training with Robert McCollum, Sally Brayley Bliss, Leica Hardy, Suzette Sherman & worked with choreographers such as Pat Richards, Veronique MacKenzie, & Matthias Sperling.

 

She is a graduate of the Bachelor of Education program at the University of New Brunswick and a registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance (TC). Emily is also a student in the Masters of Arts in Dance Theories and Practices program (focus on dance education) at the University of North Carolina Greensboro from which she expects to graduate in 2011.

In addition to her work in studios, Emily teaches in the Rainbow District School Board as a dance/drama teacher and works with teachers to support the implementation of the elementary arts curriculum. She is in demand as a provider of professional development for teachers both within and beyond her board and represents the MidNorthern Region on the board of the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE).

 

This summer, Emily travelled to Seattle where she completed a two-week intensive program in Brain-Compatible Dance Education at the Creative Dance Center with Anne Green-Gilbert and Dionne Kamara. Emily believes that every child can be creative. To borrow a phrase from Hannah Arendt, she believes that creativity is “the lost treasure” of education and that that the times we live in are a call to pay attention to this treasure at last.

 

Jessica Crowe is a well known artist in Northern Ontario who has been singing, writing, and performing music professionally since the age of 12. Her love for performance led her to Sudbury Secondary School, where she was cast in many vocal and theatre productions (most notably her role as Eponine in the student production of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables"). During highschool she obtained a job as the lead singer of the dance band Diva and also performed as a solo acoustic act around the city. While attending Laurentian University, she played the role of the Ghost Singer in Judith Thompson's "The Crack Walker" and has since reprised the role in Eve Ensler's "V-Monologues". In 2006, Jessica formed the rock band TRIXX and began touring Northern and Southern Ontario, opening for acts such as Trooper, April Wine, and Honeymoon Suite. By the following year, she was writing original material for TRIXX's first independent album. After the CD was released in 2008, TRIXX' began their "Riddled Rail Tour" and filmed the TRIXX-4-SIMMONS music video, which received recognition from Simmons Records of Universal Music Canada. Since TRIXX disbanded, Jessica has continued on as a solo act, working as a session musician for several recording projects and live performances such as the MCTV Lion's Club Christmas Telethon, where she has worked as a backup singer for two years. Currently, Jessica can be seen performing around town as a solo artist and as one member of the acoustic duo "Crowe and The Bone". Jessica began working with Arts North during last season's Triple Threat course, and is overjoyed to officially be joining the Arts North Faculty as an educator. Jessica aims to foster and encourage the development of good musical theatre performance and vocal technique, with an emphasis on creative exploration, healthy voice production, breath managment, ear-training, speech, and projection.

 

Sarah Kallio was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. While attending Sudbury Secondary School Arts Education Program, she was trained in numerous dance disciplines such as ballet, national, jazz, modern, composition and choreography under the supervision of Carolle Mageau and Karen Rammul. Throughout her time at the school, she participated in many main stage productions such as musicals, variety shows, dance productions and additional performances the arts education program put on in and outside of the school. Sarah's experience also included complementary training at private studios within the Sudbury region working with teachers such as Lesley Kallio, Caroline Udeshini and Denise Vitali.

 

Upon graduating from Sudbury Secondary School, Sarah attended Ryerson University's dance performance program. This was a professional training program where she had more disciplined and intensive study in ballet, jazz, modern, composition and choreography under the supervision of Nadia Potts, Karen Duplisea, Vicki St. Denys and Stelio Calagias. Other areas of focus throughout her time at Ryerson University included creative performance studies, dance history, anatomy, elements of performance, vocals and acting. Alongside her post secondary studies, Sarah was fortunate enough to have worked on performances and develop choreography with many professional artists such as Heidi Strauss, Carol Anderson, Bill James, Sascha Ivanochko, Justine Chambers and Julia Sasso. She completed the four year honours program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004.

 

After completing her studies at Ryerson, she continued her education at York University where she attended the Faculty of Education's teacher training program. Throughout her time at York, she completed studies in both dance and dramatic arts education, achieving a Bachelor in Education with teachables in both dance and the dramatic arts. Furthermore, Sarah has recently completed an additional qualification to achieve her honours specialist in dance education through York University.

 

Sarah has worked in southern Ontario as both an occasional teacher for the District School Board of Niagara and dance instructor at local studios. During this time she also completed an additional qualification course at Brock University which qualifies her to teach both English as a Second language, as well as English Literacy Development.

 

Sarah has been back in the Greater City of Sudbury for the past 4 years working as a dance educator at Sudbury Secondary School as well as dance instructor at a variety of local dance studios. She looks forward to the opportunities Northern Ontario presents and is excited to be a part of the Arts North faculty.