Julia Aplin (choreographer/co-creator VOICE-BOX) is a dancer and teacher, active as a choreographer since 1989. Her work has been commissioned by Luminato Festival, Dusk Dances, York University, Madawaska String Quartet, Art in Open Spaces, The Theatre Centre, Dancemakers, Company Blonde and Canadian Brass and has been presented across Canada and in Europe. www.radixlbody.com
Sarah Armstrong (designer STITCH) has worked as a set and costume designer across Canada and as a textile designer in Canada and the US. Costume designs include Laurier, CPR Scandal and Saskatchewan Rebellion (VideoCabaret); William and James (Theatre Passe Muraille) and Electra (Stratford Festival of Canada). Set and Costume designs include Real Live Girl (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), Marion Bridge (Sudbury Theatre Centre) and Mother Courage (Bangkok Playhouse). Film credits as Costume Designer include Finn’s Girl, Third Eye and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. Sarah’s interest lies fully in working with textiles and creating soft textile art pieces.
Neema Bickersteth’s love of singing led her to opera studies at the University of British Columbia, where she received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees of Music. She has performed many operatic roles in both Canada and Europe including Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and the title role in Léhar’s The Merry Widow. Neema has been honoured to sing for the XIVth Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She is currently in her third season with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, a classical choir that focuses on Afro-centric music, and regularly performs with Tapestry New Opera. (Performer STITCH).
Marie-Josée Chartier (choreographer STITCH) is a choreographer, director, dancer, vocalist, teacher and the Artistic Director of Chartier Danse. Her performing career has taken her to international and national stages as a solo artist and with dance companies. Her choreographic work has been presented in prestigious dance series and festivals in Canada, Europe and Latin America, and has been broadcast through documentaries on Canadian Television. www.chartierdanse.com
Anna Chatterton (writer/co-creator SLIP, PROVINCE OF IMPOSSIBLE, STITCH & VOICE-BOX) is a librettist, playwright and performer whose work is rooted in rhythm, rhyme, soundscape and sound poetry. Her work focuses on women’s societal roles, constraints and obsessions, both historical and contemporary. Anna is currently in Tarragon Theatre’s Playwright’s Unit and has been in playwrights units at The Canadian Stage Company and Factory Theatre. She was recently commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company to write a full length opera with James Rolfe (2011/12). www.independentauntie.ca
Christine Duncan (performer SLIP, PROVINCE OF IMPOSSIBLE, STITCH & VOICE-BOX) is a vocal artist at home in the worlds of theatre, opera, gospel, jazz, experimental improvisation and other forms of mayhem. A musical chameleon with a near five octave range, Duncan uses her voice as an instrument, exploring its full tonal, timbral and textural range. www.barnyardrecords.com
Ruth Madoc-Jones (director STITCH) is a Toronto based actor and director and co-founder of Les Vaches: The ecstatics, Jekyll and STEM. Directing credits include The Drawer Boy (Theatre Passe Muraille), A Nanking Winter (Nightwood Theatre), The Gladstone Variations: Requiem for a Dream (Convergence Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare in the Rough), The Lab (Theatre SKAM), Dreary and Izzy (Native Earth Performing Arts), The Least Noble of Creatures (Femfest/Winnipeg), Duel at Dawn (LKTYP) and Pasque Flower (Shaw Festival). Ruth was the 2005 Intern Director at the Shaw Festival. Ruth is a graduate of the acting program at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Patricia O’Callaghan (performer STITCH & VOICE-BOX) trained at the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Patricia has recorded four solo CDs with international distribution and touring and is working on her fifth. Billboard hailed her as “…the most promising cabaret performer of her generation…” Patricia’s opera/theatre credits include roles with Soulpepper, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Tapestry. www.patricia-ocallaghan.com
Juliet Palmer (composer/co-creator FOUR LINES, SLIP, PROVINCE OF IMPOSSIBLE, STITCH & VOICE-BOX) is a composer, sound artist and performer from New Zealand. She moved to New York in 1990 to work with Meredith Monk on her opera Atlas. She holds a PhD in composition from Princeton University and was Assistant Professor of music at Brown University before moving to Toronto in 1998. Her works have been presented at festivals and concerts in Europe, North America and Australasia. www.musiccentre.ca
Christie Pearson’s work engages the disciplines of architecture, sculpture, installation, urbanism, poetry, ritual, and the art of living. Installations and events seek to amplify our bodies’ relation to our natural and constructed environments, inviting participants into creative dialogue. Recent collaborations include co-curating “wade” with artist Sandra Rechico (www.wadetoronto.com) and an all-night pool piece at Trinity Bellwoods as part of Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche 2006 called Night Swim. Projects have been featured in Canadian Architect and Mix magazines, Alphabet City, web sites Anti-loft, Spacing, and Samplesize, and presented at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. (Designer, co-creator FOUR LINES, SLIP).
Kimberly Purtell’s lighting designs have been critically acclaimed both on the national and international stage. They have been seen across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Prague, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia. Kimberly has received 7 Dora Mavor Moore nominations for outstanding Lighting Design and was the 2005 recipient of the Pauline McGibbon Award. (Designer STITCH).
Jim Ruxton (new media artist/co-creator STITCH & VOICE-BOX) is an artist and engineer working in installation, performance, theatre, dance and film. He uses electronics as a medium to create works that are kinetic and interactive. Jim is also a founder and Director of Subtle Technologies an organization that creates links between artists and scientists with events throughout the year and during its annual Subtle Technologies Festival. Jim teaches hybrid media at OCAD.
Vilma Indra Vitols (performer SLIP & VOICE-BOX) moves effortlessly between the worlds of Baroque Opera, cabaret and contemporary music. Recent performances include those with Opera Atelier, Vancouver Opera, Modern Baroque Opera and The Canadian Opera Company. Vilma recently won her first amateur boxing bout. www.vilmavitols.com
