For BCTF Teachers, the conference fee includes:
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membership to the BC Dance Educators’ Association PSA
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access to the members-only section of the website
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admission to the conference, including:
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access to recordings of all conference sessions
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chance to win a door prize
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Student teachers, retirees/EOCs/FTE<.5, subscribers (non-BCTF members), dance studio teachers, and private school teachers are welcome and encouraged to attend as well.
Early Bird rates are applicable until October 1, 2022.
Regular rate apply until 10pm until October 20, 2022.
For the conference schedule please scroll through the image gallery.
Clinician details & workshop information can be found below.
$80
$90
Chinese Dance
(All Levels)
Jessica Jone
Jessica was born in Vancouver, and received her early dance training from Lorita Leung. She later went on to train professionally in Chinese classical and folk dance at the Beijing Dance Academy, and the Guangdong Dance School in China. She is also a graduate of the contemporary dance program at Simon Fraser University. Jessica is an accomplished dancer and seasoned performer who has won many awards for performance and choreography, including the Chairman’s Award at the Fourth Peach and Plum Dance Competition in Beijing, and two Best Choreography Awards at the North American Chinese Dance Competition.
Jessica is currently Principal and Artistic Director of the Lorita Leung Dance Academy. She is also Canada’s first Senior Instructor of the Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Dance Graded Examination Syllabus (CDGES). She has taught many workshops and master classes at various dance organizations including Simon Fraser University, the Dancers Transition Resource Centre, the Canadian Dance Teachers Association, Goh Ballet Academy, the Dance Centre, the American Chinese Arts Society in Boston and St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. In 2012, the City of Vancouver named Jessica as one of its Remarkable Women in the field of arts and culture.
BCDEA Workshop Description
Introduction to Chinese Fan Dance
This 90-minute workshop will give teachers the opportunity to experience Chinese fan dance by introducing basic fan manipulation and movement sequences. Through hands-on practice, learn how to twirl, flick, snap, flutter and flow the fan into movements as an extension of the body. In addition to basic fan technique, participants will also learn a short fan dance excerpt. Be prepared to challenge your dexterity and engage in one of the most beloved forms of Chinese dance. Fans will be provided for teachers’ use.
Bollywood
(All Levels)
Entertainment icon Shiamak Davar is one of the most sought-after choreographers and entertainment designers in India and he has spread the joy of dance across the world for over three decades. Shiamak is largely responsible for modernizing the dance scene in India, especially in the film and theatre industry, and is respected for his very popular trademark ‘Bollywood Jazz’ dance style.
Rohan D’Silva is one of SHIAMAK’s senior most instructors and choreographers and has been teaching dance, choreographing and performing globally for nearly two decades. He has trained some of the biggest Bollywood super stars including Hrithik Roshan and Shahid Kapoor. Rohan leads the SHIAMAK Vancouver team and is extremely popular in the Lower Mainland as a passionate, energizing, always smiling and warm teacher.
Bollywood is the very popular Indian-language film industry based in Mumbai, India. Bollywood dance is energetic, exciting, joyful and fun for all ages.
Métis Jigging
(All Levels)
V'ni Dansi
V'ni Dansi is a Vancouver-based traditional Métis and contemporary dance company dedicated to sharing the dances, stories and culture of the Métis. Led by Artistic Director, Yvonne Chartrand, V'ni Dansi holds the distinction of being the only company in Canada dedicated to both Métis and contemporary dance. Meaning "come and dance" in Mitchif, V'ni Dansi is thrilled to share the Métis people's joyful culture with audiences of all nations. V'ni Dansi's Louis Riel Métis Dancers specialize in traditional Métis dance and are dedicated to preserving traditional Métis dances. (Mitchif is the original word meaning the people and the language)
About the workshop
Our workshops are appropriate for audiences of all ages and include an introduction to Métis history and culture and a participatory tutorial on traditional Métis jigging. Accompanied by a fiddle player, our instructors have extensive experience teaching children of all ages, skill levels and people of all ages. Workshops are led by 1 dance facilitator.
Our facilitator will give a bio of her Mitchif (Métis) ancestral family background with Mitchif history and cultural sharing. She will provide various handouts and material for the participants to look at and explain them. She will demonstrate the National Dance of the Métis, the Red River Jig, then she will teach the jig which includes the "basic step" and the "fancy steps". The "warm-up" will be learning the "basic step" in which our facilitator will explain some Métis terms such as "away to the west", "right hand star" and "left hand star" She will also share a traditional dance called the Seven Step.
Hip Hop Grooves and Moves
(All Levels)
Richard O’Sullivan is a man who has been blessed with the gift of dance since his early years. Originally his world was all about football- he started at the early age of five and continued until he graduated from high school. He loved to dance but didn’t see a future in it at that time. In 1994 he took a trip to Los Angeles to see what the dance scene was all about. It was there that the dance bug got him, and he never looked back.
Richard has since had the pleasure to have traveled to different parts of the world to choreograph, teach, and perform, notably Tokyo, Amsterdam, Slovenia, Germany, and all through North America. He has built a reputation as one of Canada’s most respected dancers and choreographers, with an intricate, smooth style that has always been current and cutting edge. His performance career includes a long list of credits in film, television, commercials and live stage performances as a choreographer, actor and dancer. Some of the top names that he has worked with are Janet Jackson, Harry Connick Jr., SWV, MC Hammer, Snoop Dogg the list goes on.
Contemporary
(Secondary)
Lesley Telford
Lesley Telford is based in Vancouver, Canada as a choreographer, educator and Executive Artistic director of Inverso Productions. Her work has been described as having “a profound way of tapping into very deep recesses of our emotional and intellectual landscapes”
Lesley danced professionally Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Compañia Nacional de Danza in Spain, and Netherlands Dans Theater 1 where she worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Crystal Pite and others and performed in major theatres worldwide.
She has been commissioned to choreograph for Ballet BC, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Netherlands Dans Theater 1, Hubbard Street Dance Company 2, Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Ballet Vorpommern, International Project for Dance in Rome- DAF, Butler Ballet, University of Utah, and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
She founded her own company, Inverso Productions, to experiment with other art forms and ways of creating dance. Through Inverso Productions she has produced and choreographed three full-length works: Brittle Failure, which has toured to Spain, the Netherlands and Canada, Spooky Action, and her current project, Gem-like. Through Inverso, Lesley also leads initiatives for emerging professional dance artists.
Lesley has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production from the University of Salzburg and the Mozarteum.
Contemporary class description:
Lesley will share some tools for teachers to facilitate access to both experienced and less experienced dance students. Focused on finding ways to allow diverse levels of challenge within one class, Lesley will lead a contemporary class that prioritizes concepts over accomplishments.
This workshop will include coordination tools, spatial awareness and improvisation techniques as well as a few basic movement exercises and combinations that apply these ideas.
Be ready to move and bring your creativity into the room!
Tap
(Intermediate/
Secondary)
& Feet, Beat & Rhythm
(Elementary)
Jennifer Bishop
Jennifer has been active in the entertainment biz for over 30 years. She is highly sought after as a coach, performer & consultant. She is the “go to” for many local theatre companies for pre-show prep for their cast members. Her diverse background in dance and theatre has provided her with a massive variety of experiences in the entertainment world. She has
numerous film & TV and voice over credits as both choreographer and performer. She has performed at The Chutzpah Festival, Harmony Arts Festival, Vancouver International Dance Festival and The Vancouver Tap Festival. You may have seen her in productions at The Arts Club Theatre (Cabaret, Singin' In the Rain, West Side Story) or The Playhouse (Guys &
Dolls, The Music Man). Her performing career has allowed her to travel across North America with percussion/dance ensemble “Rhythmatix” and as far as Taiwan for an adventure as a singer with a top 40/funk band. Jennifer is co-founder of THE WEST COAST TAP DANCE COLLECTIVE and Artistic Director of THE RHYTHM ROOM.
Tap Intermediate
Tap Dancing is visual music and it requires focus and a good ear. In this class we'll explore ways of
developing musicality by using basic rhythms and then layering accents into them in different ways.
We'll play with different ways of helping students expand their own musical interpretation with safe,
structured improv exercises.
Feet, Beat & Rhythm
Rhythm is everywhere. Are you listening?
This class will explore fun ways to make rhythms using your body & voice. Stamp, clap, snap and sing your way to making your own music.
Afro-Fundamentals
(All Levels )
Prince Nii Engmann
Is a international choreographer and multi-faceted artist based in Vancouver. He is an educator who strives to connect people to their inner selves through the application and understanding of dance, music and history. With his origins in Ghana, West Africa, he is excited to introduce those who enter his spaces to his culture through the music and dance of not just his country, but the continent of Africa.
What to expect
The workshop will be an introduction to modern Afro styles of dance (Usually categorized as Afro or Afrobeats)! We will be discussing the historical context behind these dance styles and how we can take what we learn and apply it into our classrooms. We’ll learn strategic ways of introduce the dance and energy into our rooms while also maintaining a level of respect for the cultures and people that these dance styles come from.
We will learn the fundamentals of Afro dance through a “Grooving” style workshop. We will also learn vocabulary from the dance style Azonto originating in the country of Ghana. We will then take the fundamentals and vocabulary and learn ways of introducing the energy, grooves and rhythms unique to the style into our own bodies of work.