ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

charles c. smith is a poet, playwright, essayist who has written/edited sixteen books. he studied poetry and drama with William Packard at New York University and Herbert Berghof Studios, drama at the Frank Silvera’s Writers’ Workshop in Harlem. he won second prize for his play Last Days for the Desperate from Black Theatre Canada and his poetry has appeared in numerous magazines, including Poetry Canada Review, the Quille and Quire, Descant, Dandelion, Fiddlehead and others. he has received writing grants from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. charles is Artistic Director of the wind in the leaves collective and his recent books include: travelogue of the bereaved, The Dirty War: The Making of the Myth of Black Dangerousness, whispers, destination out and Searching for Eastman. his next book of poems is titled specimens which unearths western medical science’s use of black bodies from the early days of enslavement to our times today

DRAMATURG

Artistic Director of KasheDance and Curator of Programming at Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO). He delivers EDI programming for clients including the National Ballet of Canada, Canada’s National Ballet School, and Luminato Festival et. al. Nominee for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize 2023 and finalist in 2021, he is a recipient of Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch – Staunton Award, and Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leaders Fellow. Faculty member of Centennial College’s Dance Performance Program he has been a Guest Artist at U-West Indies (Mona), UW-Madison, Northwestern University, and the UT- Austin. He’s on the Boards of Dance Collection Danse, Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, and previously Canadian Dance Assembly, Prologue to the Performing Arts, and Nia Centre for the Arts, where he was Chair of Canada’s first professional multi-disciplinary centre for African-Canadian art.

Abbey Richens, hailing from London Ontario, is a dance and multidisciplinary artist. She is a community arts facilitator, working with her arts collective Meaningful Movement to build spaces for artists based in Toronto. For Abbey, dance is an important practice for healing and connection. She is a recent graduate of York University’s BFA Dance program, a youth dance instructor, and a budding visual artist. Abbey has recently performed with Arts and Water Cultura’s Dockside Dances, Hercinia Arts, and is thrilled to be part of Wind In The Leaves Collective for this production. Abbey is actively exploring ways to express her artistic perspective and advocate for artists.

Alli Carry is a Calgary-born and Toronto-based emerging multidisciplinary artist. She works as a choreographer, performer, instructor, producer, photographer/videographer, and arts administrator. Her performance credits include works by Marina Robinson, Kylie Thompson, and Emily Duckett, as well as DO YOU FEEL HAPPY OF YOURSELF, a semi-improvised piece set to poetry by Morgan Tessier, presented at The Citadel as part of Allies and Friends. Aside from performing as a dancer, Alli is inspired to explore her artistry and produce work through the mediums of choreography, film, photography, and theatre.

Alli’s choreographic work has been supported and presented through residencies including The Garage, Daco, Dance Together Projects, Open Space, and FFDN’s International Presenters Program. In 2025, her choreography appeared in the musical Iris Says Goodbye and the play Zeitgeist at the Toronto Fringe Festival. In October 2025, she co-directed (alongside 郝邦宇 Steven Hao) and choreographed a dance theatre production of Jordan Tannahill’s Concord Floral produced by Pucker’s Co at the Theatre Centre.

In February 2026, Alli collaborated with VideoCabaret through her company Roughhouse Dance to present the Ripe Fruit Dance Festival. There, she premiered a 30-minute-long contemporary dance work titled A subject., which had been in development since 2022.

Rooted in collaboration and guided by a feminist lens, Alli’s work aims to resonate across diverse audiences while staying true to her voice. She holds a BFA in Performance Dance with distinction from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Ana Claudette Groppler is a dance artist based in Toronto. A Canadian and German Citizen raised by lesbians and extended family from different cultural backgrounds (German, Jamaican, and Gwich'in First Nations), Ana is surrounded by a spiritual family. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Groppler has worked with Social Growl Dance, Political Movement, wind in the leaves collective, Signal Theatre, Lara Kramer Danse, Kaeja d’Dance, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects, and Fiona Griffiths. Onstage Ana transforms audiences with her magic, bringing them out of their skin and back again. Groppler has performed her own work in shows with Dance Matters, Nextfest, and the Parahumans. She has performed internationally including Mexico, Berlin, and Edinburgh.

Aryana Malekzadeh is an Iranian Canadian performing dance artist, choreographer and dance educator based in Toronto. She is a graduate of Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University where she was awarded merit scholarships for her excellent work ethic. Throughout her professional career Aryana has worked for renowned choreographers such as Hanna Kiel, Roshanak Jaberi, Syreeta Hector, Newton Moraes and The Wind in the Leaves Collective amongst others and has performed as a company member with Little Pear Garden Dance Company. Most recently, Malekzadeh toured across Canada with Shannon Litzenberger Contemporary Dance performing as an ensemble member in their work World After Dark. In addition, she has danced in various festivals such as Fall for Dance North, Dance Ontario DanceWeekend, The Carnival of the Arts, The Dance Made in Canada Festival and Nuit Blanche. Alongside performing, Aryana is a contract faculty member at York University, where she pursues her passion of teaching movement and shares her learnings with her students.

In her own practice, Aryana’s work explores themes of identity, belonging, and cultural inheritance -examining how the body holds memory and how movement reflects the complexities of assimilation and resistance. As an artist of the Iranian diaspora, she is interested in delving into the layered experiences of migration and dual identity, investigating how heritage and history live within the body, and what it means to exist between cultures.

Bakari Ifasegun Lindsay, born in Trinidad, has excelled in dance, choreography, singing, music, costume design, and research for over 32 years. Trained at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, he holds a diploma in Style and Design, a Masters in Dance Ethnology, and a Bachelors in Education from York University. Bakari co-founded COBA Collective Of Black Artists, performing globally with companies like Danny Grossman Dance Company and Jubilation Dance Co. He’s renowned for his solo Ancestral Calling and appeared in Disney’s The Lion King. Bakari’s diverse work includes dance films and productions, while advocating for equity and arts education, blending artistic practice with cultural values.

Claire She/Her is a freelance contemporary dance artist based in Toronto. After graduating from the Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre), her class did a residency with La Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán in Mexico. Claire attended the Gaga Intensive at Orsolina 28, TransFormation Danse and most recently Yin Yue’s intensive in New York City. Claire has worked with Peggy Baker, Frog in Hand, Kylie Thompson Dance Projects, Citadel + Compagnie, and is a member of the wind in the leaves collective. She toured the Orlando and Vancouver Fringe Festivals with Kylie Thompson and choreographed for the Carnival of Arts Festival in Markham, Ontario in late June. She is currently touring with Citadel + Compagnie in Julie et L’univers.

Ellie Jung is a contemporary dancer from Korea. She trained from a young age and worked professionally before expanding her practice internationally, performing in Spain and Poland. Leaving Korea became a natural progression as she engaged with diverse environments, histories, and artistic communities, shaping an ongoing journey in dance. Her interests lie in interdisciplinary practices at the intersection of contemporary art, language, and movement. She first connected with Toronto-based choreographers Hanna Kiel and Heidi Strauss through auditions and workshops in Korea. She was later invited to Canada through a residency with Ottawa Dance Directive and is now based in Toronto.

Emily Duckett (she/they) is a Black, queer, dance artist residing in the region originally known as Tkaronto. They’re artistic expression is profoundly influenced by they’re intersecting identities. Emily’s practice is based on the belief that creating and manipulating art is a communal endeavor and the idea that dance is a vehicle for de-socialization, leaving deeply embedded societal constraints behind and instead existing whole heartily in the body. Since graduating from York University with a BFA in Dance and a Specialized Honor in performance and choreography in 2022, Emily has collaborated with esteemed companies such as Mocean Dance, Toronto Dance Theatre, Wind in the Leaves Collective, and ProArteDanza. At present, they’re artistic exploration centers on themes of unity, chaos, visceral instincts, pleasure, paradoxes, and risk taking.

Beginning her career in 2003 Jillia Cato actualized her unstoppable passion in creative practices grounded in Caribbean inspired performing arts with her positive, solution oriented personality. She is an afro-indoCaribbean artist and is assistant artistic director at KasheDance, program associate at CPAMO, project coordinator and dancer with Wind in the Leaves Collective and an independent artist born in Trinidad and Tobago with experience in music, theatre, dance education, production and stage management. Utilizing her Performing Arts degree (Suma Cum Laude, Valedictorian) and project management from her Engineering degree, she functions also as a Production Stage Manager for a variety of event types within the creative sector. She has danced and toured internationally with Machel Montano and Kes The Band (2008-2019). She’s worked with the National Theatre Arts Company of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean Arts Festival (CARIFESTA), Centennial College, Etobicoke School of Arts, Kaeja d’Dance, Luminato and Jumblies Theatre.

Born in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), Julianna Heft (she/her) is a contemporary performance artist currently based in Toronto (Tkaronto). She is a graduate of Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre), where she performed in works by choreographers such as Alyssa Martin, Riley Sims, Heidi Strauss and B. Solomon. Her credits include Nextfest, Art and Water, and Mallo Nights. She was a participant in BIGBANG, where she trained in styles such as acro, contemporary, floorwork, hip hop, and partnering. Her solo choreographic work was a recipient of Goodwomen Dance’s space/share residency. Julianna believes in movement as a catalyst for community, collaboration and a liberation of our bodies. She hopes to continue facilitating spaces that explore those values.

Kéïta Fournier-Pelletier is a queer, Métis, Franco-Manitoban artist based in Tkaronto. They are continuously discovering what these intersecting identities mean to them, and the role they play in their art as a dancer, choreographer and educator. They have performed and choreographed in festivals such as Skylines Film and Dance Series, Toronto Fringe Festival, and SummerWorks Dance Festival. She has an interest in dance-theatre and has collaborated as a choreographer / performer with Theatre Passe Muraille, and lemonTree creations. Most recently their newest work Pillar of You was presented at the Citadel Dance Mix and in Hamilton at Aeris Körper’s festival “Here&Now”. Kéïta is interested in collaborating on works that question power, heteronormativity, and other societal norms that reject her identity.

Mafa’s work has been presented at various events, including Ontario Dance Weekend, International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in Toronto, Body Percussion Festival, Dance Immersion ShowCase, Contemporaneity, Edition 1.0, TEADA 2019 CUBA, and FFDN’s signature program in 2020, at Theatre Passe Muraille, and TDT Pilot Episode 2021. He is actively involved in community engagements & arts education programs including a mentorship placement with Young People’s Theatre as part of the Arts Management post-graduate certificate program at Centennial College, and as a mentor for Vibes Arts, in-residence choreographer with Ballet Jorgen. Mafa is the recipient of the OntarioQuebec cohort program presented by (La DSR) and La danse sur les routes du Québec and Ontario Presents.

Morgyn began her dance training in Edmonton, Alberta as a competitive dancer and at her high school, Victoria School of the Arts, where she graduated with an International Baccalaureate dance certificate. She studied at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre where she was awarded the Walker Wood Foundation and Lindy Green & Sam Chaiton bursaries and graduated in 2019 as class valedictorian. Following graduation she travelled with her class to Mexico for a residency with La Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán. She has worked with Frog in Hand, Kaeja d’Dance, the Citadel + Compagnie, Human Body Expression and has performed in Nextfest, the Toronto and Edmonton Fringe Festivals, InSitu, Dance Ontario DanceWeekend, SummerWorks and the Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur. This fall she joined Tiger Princess Dance Projects as an apprentice facilitator for an arts education program. Morgyn is incredibly excited to be collaborating with Wind in the Leaves collective!

Nickeshia Garrick is a settler on the stolen land of Tkaronto and has performed on this land for over 25 years. They are unapologetically a Black, Queer Artist, who believes in the healing power of breath through raw emotion and movement. Nickeshia received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), National Ballet School of Canada (Tkaronto), Toronto Dance Theatre (Tkaronto), and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). Her classical vocal and theatre training was achieved at Eastwood Collegiate Institute (Kitchener). Nickeshia has had the honour of training with Sean McLeod (New York) to achieve her certification in Sean McLeod’s Reinforced Motor Function Technique®, RMF®. Her extensive dance training includes Bakari E. Lindsay, Arsenio Andrade, Rob Kitsos, Peter Bingham, and Christopher House. Nickeshia has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, Tara Butler, Santee Smith, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, and the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre. Nickeshia is a Dora Mavor Moore, winning and multi-nominated artist who holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University and is a Co-Founder of CinnaMoon Collective which is currently working on their premiere piece, Surrendered Spirits.

Rumi Jeraj is an Ismailli muslim hailing from Sherwood Park Alberta (the world’s largest hamlet). A Graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University Rumi has worked for dance artists including Hanna Kiel, Daryl Tracy, Heidi Strauss, and Eilish Shin-Culhane. Over the past year he has presented his work at the Hamilton Fringe Festival, Night Shift and Dusk Dances. Outside of contemporary dance, Rumi has a practice as a Tap Dancer often collaborating with local Jazz musicians. He aspires to create and be a part of work which mixes forms in order to better tell stories. He believes there is a perfect balance between words, music, and movement which can communicate intellectually, emotionally and viscerally all at once. He aspires to find this state on stage

Yui Ugai is a dance artist from Hiroshima, Japan, now residing in Toronto, Canada. She has collaborated with diverse dance companies globally, performing on numerous national and international stages. Yui’s journey began with drama studies at Takarazuka North High School, followed by intensive training in dance and music at Kobe College, Japan. She holds both a BFA and an MFA in Dance from York University, Toronto, where she serves as contract faculty. Yui’s talents extend to acting, debuting in Summer Days directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, and collaborating with Hollywood casting director Yoko Narahashi. She plays a lead role in Raptura which premiered at the imagineNATIVE Film+Media Arts Festival at TIFF, her talent has graced screens worldwide, including Netflix, Disney+, and Sony Pictures.