Dance Artists in Residence 2024

Alejandro Ronceria is an internationally acclaimed director/choreographer/dance dramaturge based in Toronto. He directs and produces dance/theatrical productions internationally and mentors Indigenous choreographers and productions.

Ronceria was the co-founder/Program Director of the first Aboriginal Dance Program in North America at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. During his five-year tenure, the groundbreaking program brought together Indigenous and Inuit performers from across Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Greenland, and New Zealand. His dance films have screened at TIFF and Sundance. Classically trained in ballet in Colombia, he holds an MFA in Dance Dramaturgy from York University. Ronceria was inducted into the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame.

Dr. Nanako Nakajima（中島那奈子） is a dance scholar and a pioneer of dance dramaturg, and a certified traditional Japanese dance master, Kannae Fujima. Her dramaturgy includes luciana achugar’s “Exhausting Love at Danspace Project” (2006-07 New York Dance and Performance Awards, ‘The Bessies’), Osamu Jareo's “Theater Thikwa plus Junkan Project” in Kyoto, Ong Ken Sen’s “OPEN WITH THE PUNK SPIRIT! Dance Archive Box” in Singapore, and Mengfan Wang’s “WHEN MY CUE COMES, CALL ME, AND I WILL ANSWER” in Wuzhen. 

In her recent projects, she integrates her research on aging into dance, such as “Yvonne Rainer Performative Exhibition” at Kyoto Art Theater Shunju-za, 2017, "Dance Archive Box Berlin" at Akademie der Künste, 2020, and the lecture-performance “Noh to Trio A” at Nagoya Noh Theater, 2021. She received the Special Commendation of the Elliott Hayes Award in 2017 for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy from the Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She was a Valeska Gert Visiting Professor 2019/20, at Freie Universität Berlin.

She has worked with the international festivals and theatres including Tanz im August, YPAM (Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting), tanzhaus NRW, and Tanzquartier Wien. She is a Jury of 2022 Keir Choreographic Award, Australia. Her publications include The Aging Body in Dance: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (co-edited with G. Brandstetter Routledge, 2017), Performance Research, Vol. 24, No. 2: ‘On Ageing (& Beyond)' (2019) co-edited with R. Gough, and Oi to Odori (co-edited with K. Toyama, Keisoshobo, 2019).
 

Since 2002, Victor Quijada and RUBBERBAND have not only redefined break dance codes within an institutional context and enlivened the Quebec dance scene,but have opened the way for new creators fascinated by this dance form. Armed with a technique he conceived for dancers, the RUBBERBAND Method – an electrifying vocabulary combining the energy of Hip Hop, the refinement of classical ballet, and the angular quality of contemporary dance – and some 40 creations and collaborations in Canada and abroad behind him, Victor Quijada has always continued to evolve and innovate throughout his prolific career.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, the child of Mexican parents, Victor first danced in the b-boying circles and hip-hop clubs of his native city. He performed with Rudy Perez from 1994 to 1996, then moved to New York City to join THARP! After spending three years with that company and following a stint with Ballets Tech, in 2000 he came to Montreal to join Les Grands Ballets canadiens. In 2002, he founded RUBBERBAND, throwing himself into deconstructing the choreographic principles he had learned by blending them with the raw ideology of his street dance origins. His creations – numerous short works and 14 full-length productions – are distinguished by a powerful theatricality, the energy of improvisation, and certain codes of film language, the whole sculpted with an incomparable precision of movement.

For several years now, Victor has taught the RUBBERBAND Method throughout the world. As guest choreographer, he has created new works for dance and circus companies; notably in return commissions for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Scottish Dance Theatre.

For full biography see here: https://rbdg.ca/en/victor-quijada-2/