Multidisciplinary artist, teacher, director, manager and producer. Founder and Co-Director of Ts'ook Danza Plataforma Escénica A.C. She has collaborated with important contemporary dance companies in Mexico and international choreographers.

Benefited on more than 4 occasions by different programs of the Support System for Artistic Creation formerly FONCA.
Finalist in the Guillermo Arriaga National Dance Award INBAL- UAM 2019 and 2021 with works of her authorship.
In 2020 she won the Tour Award in Burgos within the SOLODOS DANZA Contest in Costa Rica.
Winner of the 4x4 Tj Night Choreography Award in Tijuana in 2018, where she also won the award for best performer.
In 2015 she obtained a mention for the best acting quality within the Contemporary Stage Creation Award.
Creator and manager of “Verano Machincuepero”, “3D Choreography Award” and “LA RUTA”

Recipient of Bobbye Ruth and Dewitt L. Potter Fund for Dance Scholarship.

Carlos Rivera is a director, choreographer, actor and a dancer, originally from Mexico City, based in Montreal. He graduated from the Indigenous Residency Program at National Theatre School in 2018 and recently graduated from the MFA in Directing for Theatre Program at the University of Ottawa. Carlos has worked and collaborated with several performing arts companies across Canada including: Red Sky Performance (Toronto), Globe Theatre (Regina), Raven Spirit Dance (Vancouver), MT Space (Kitchener), Puente Theatre (Victoria), Ondinnok (Montreal) Lemon Tree Creations (Toronto) Electric Company (Vancouver) Micro-Scope Productions (Montreal); among others. He is continuously working on numerous artistic projects in dance, film, theatre and performance.

Recipient of Bobbye Ruth and Dewitt L. Potter Fund for Dance Scholarship.

E.Macias (Amskapi Pikuni/Blackfeet & A'aninin/GrosVentre) is a dance maker and dance scholar. Macias holds a BFA in Dance with a Modern Emphasis from Utah Valley University, and a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside. Her dance work centers Siksikaitsitapi ways of knowing to investigate familial lineage, embodied histories, relationships to land and the more than human. Macias has performed and shared dance with communities across Northern and Southern California, Montana, Utah, Massachusetts, New York, and Vancouver BC. She has worked with Native communities including: Sherman Indian High School in Riverside CA, Native American Student Programs at UCR, the Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program at UCR, Title VI Lil Feathers program in Salt Lake UT, Native American Health Center San Francisco CA, and Ohketeau Cultural Center in MA.

Recipient of Ilona Diener Memorial Fellowship Fund Endowment.

Emily Solstice Tait’s practice is rooted in contemporary dance but happily crosses into theatre, stage management and screendance. She is of mixed settler and Ojibway ancestry (urban member of Berens River First Nation). Her choreography has been performed at The Manitoba Museum, The Forks National Historic Site, and along the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Select performances include The War Being Waged (Prairie Theatre Exchange), The Secret to Good
Tea (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Actualize (Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers) Confluence (Raven Spirit Dance), and The___ Place video with CBC Arts.

Recipient of Susan Glass and Arni Thorsteinson Fund for Dancers Endowment.

Kelly McInnes (she/they), a settler of Irish, Scottish & British ancestry, is gratefully based on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Kelly is a queer dance artist concerned with embodying care and creating as a way to remember connection to Earth and all that is sacred. As choreographer, performer and community-engaged facilitator, the intention of her work is to inspire collective healing. Her Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy practice powerfully inspires her artistic process. Often multi-disciplinary, collaborative and site specific, Kelly's work has been presented in festivals in Canada, Germany and Mexico over the last decade. Community-engagement is integral to her practice. Her most recent project Late Stage Remedy, a collective dance meditation, invites folks to gather in public parks to share presence and care with the lands upon which they dance. Kelly also enjoys supporting the creative work of her colleagues, working as a graphic designer and as Festival Coordinator for Matriarchs Uprising. 

Recipient of Susan Glass and Arni Thorsteinson Fund for Dancers Endowment.

Tasha Faye Evans is a dancer, theatre artist, creative consultant, cultural programmer, and educator from  Coast Salish, Welsh and European Jewish grandparents. Her work is an integration of dance, theatre and culture rooted in the sacred responsibility to care for the future of all of our relations.  Her current projects include Cedar Woman,  a dance honouring a  legacy of Coast Salish women spanning all the way back to a tree,  and In the Presence of Ancestors, a life -long exhibition of five Coast Salish House posts being carved and raised in Port Moody.  With decades of creation and production, Tasha  has participated in performances and festivals nationally and internationally. 

Recipient of Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance.

Zac Sakrewski is a bassist, composer and session musician from the idyllic Sunshine Coast, Australia. With a strong desire to experiment and a sympathetic ear, he has developed a playing style that transcends genre and function to cultivate collaboration and kindness. His style can be described as multi-disciplinary, spontaneous and versatile. Pulling from a kaleidoscope of influences and genres to create an evocative musical tapestry.

Zac started studying music at the age of 17 and was privileged to study with composer and conductor Robin Smith (Royal Philharmonic, Mike Oldfield, Kanye West (pre Ye)) and Guitar Legend Phil Emmanuel. To further his studies, he attended the Queensland Conservatorium of music, studying improvisation and composition with renowned Israeli composer Yitzhak Yedid and Double Bass with Peter Walters, Helen Russell and Michael Morgan (Metropolitan Opera) during his undergraduate and later, with Marian Heckenberg (QSO) during his masters studies. Zac has developed an expertise integrating technology with the acoustic and electric bass, utilising effect pedals, ableton and MAX for live to create melodies and soundscapes that simultaneously compliment and juxtapose the original form and function of the instruments.

Zac’s current projects include Milton Man Gogh, Lamborghini Eagleman, Dropbear Lodge, Faux Bandit, Jam of a Lifetime, Milk Buttons, Strangely Enough, Cowbird, Martin Kay’s Forage, June Cartel and The Polaroids and has shared the stage with International and domestic artists such as Yitzhak Yedid, Phil Emmanuel, Julian Arguelles, Kristin Berardi, Kayleigh Pincott and many more.

Zac has released two albums under his own name and his compositions have been nominated for prestigious awards such as the International Songwriting Competition, BELL awards, Queensland Music Awards and the 4ZZZ hottest 100. In 2024 as a part of Milton Man Gogh, Zac attended the Musicians in Residence course at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity under the guidance of Megumi Masaki where he, and the other members of the band connected with likeminded artists and collaborated with artists such as Jane Siberry, Michael Clarke and François Salque.

Zac Sakrewski was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Benjamin Shannon is carving a niche in the Australian and international music scene distinguished as a percussionist, educator, curator, and composer.

Ben's unyielding pursuit of musical growth fuels his endeavours in teaching, composition, and performance. His involvement in projects Milton Man Gogh, Shamin, Kodiak Empire, Big Dead, Brisbane Conduction Orchestra, and others, have contributed to a portfolio of over 20 releases and countless performances/tours, home and abroad.

His collaborative endeavours include performances with Scott Tinkler, Yitzhak Yedid, Katatonia, COG, The Contortionist, to name a few, also earning acclaim for his compositions at the Bell Awards, Queensland Music Awards, and Australian Art Music Awards.

Having participated in the Banff International Jazz Workshop (2017), Banff Musicians in Residence (2024) and the Australian Art Orchestra Creative Intensive Music Program (2018), Ben's commitment to cross-cultural collaboration is evident.

In 2017, he joined the iconic Art As Catharsis label, contributing to bookings and an administrative role for acclaimed acts Qais Essar, Hekka, Rafiq Bhatia, KNOWER, and more, resulting in consistent events, tours and festivals throughout Australia for local and international artists. 

In his role as conductor of The Brisbane Conduction Orchestra, Ben champions diversity, inclusion, and a secure improvisational space. His tireless advocacy in the Australian contemporary jazz scene is highlighted through constant curation in this field.

Benjamin Shannon was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Jack Rosenzweig is a 23-year-old drummer, composer and bandleader residing in Sydney, Australia.

Now in his fourth year of Jazz Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Jack performs frequently in many different musical configurations across Sydney. Jack writes music with Ebony Tait and Lachlan Mills as “HEAPS GRASS”, exploring the spaces between structure and improvisation. His other original band Motion Quartet, who recently attended the 2023 Siena International Summer Workshop in Italy, are quickly establishing themselves as a fresh new voice in the Sydney jazz and improvised music scene.

Under the tutelage of jazz luminaries such as Will Vinson, Steve Barry and Simon Barker, Jack has developed a unique sound and approach to the drumset free from the boundaries of genre. Jack has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the JazzSA Mike Stewart Memorial Prize (2017), Australian Art Orchestra Mentorship (2020) and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Henderson Travellers Scholarship (2023).

Jack Rosenzweig was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards and the Sylvia Stone Scholarship.
 

Perhaps a product of nominative determinism, Oscar Peterson is a musician & composer redefining musical boundaries. He works as a double bassist, electric bassist, guitarist, drummer, composer, arranger & musical director in Sydney & across Australia. 

Oscar graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music jazz program in 2019. In July 2023, he attended the Siena Summer Jazz Workshop in Siena, Italy, studying with Linda Oh, Matt Penman, Reinier Baas, Gerald Clayton & Shai Maestro. In 2022, he was selected as a member of the Australian National Jazz Orchestra Youth Big Band, performing at the Sydney Conservatorium International Jazz Festival and the Perth International Jazz Festival. In 2017, Oscar attended the Australian Art Orchestra's Creative Music Intensive in Tasmania, studying traditional Korean music and Indigenous Australian music. Other career highlights include touring internationally with ARIA-nominated Zela Margossian Quintet and performing for Herbie Hancock at the Sydney Opera House for International Jazz Day in 2019. 

Recently, Oscar has been performing and touring with the Michael J Brady Trio and indie-rock band Safety First, and is currently working on a debut album project with his own quartet.

Oscar Peterson was generously supported by the Repsol Emerging Artists Award.