Young Centre Announces 6 New Resident Artists

Albert Schultz, General Director of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, today announced six new Resident Artists who will, for the next twenty-four months, call the Young Centre home: Ravi Jain actor, producer and artistic director; legendary Toronto poet Dennis Lee; theatre designer Ken Mackenzie; singer, percussionist and band leader Aline Morales; filmmaker and actor Charles Officer and pianist and conductor Gregory Oh. Veteran Resident Artists Waleed Abdulhamid, Roberto Campanella, John Millard, Andrea Nann, Patricia O'Callaghan and Suba Sankaran will renew their term at the Young Centre with the newly announced artists to make-up the Young Centre's twelve Resident Artists.

Since the introduction in December of 2008, of the Resident Artists, who have served as visionaries, performers, facilitators and mentors, the Young Centre has garnered a reputation as a vibrant cultural destination across the disciplines of Dance, Music, Theatre and Spoken Word. The Resident Artists' artistic contributions have been demonstrated through the successful stream of festivals and events at the Young Centre including the Waves Festival, the Global Cabaret Festival, Collisions Dance Festival and the City Choir.

"The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is the vital spark every city desires."
- Globe and Mail

"Awash in cultural life... a dizzying mixture of dance, music, live performance, film and mixed media."
- The Toronto Star

The Young Centre receives operating support from the Ontario Arts Council with additional funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. The Young Centre Resident Artist Program is generously supported by Donna and Gary Slaight.

The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is an award-winning, multi-venue performing arts facility located in the Distillery Historic District. Anchored by Soulpepper Theatre Company's year round season and George Brown College's Theatre School, the Young Centre is a home for Toronto's leading artists and arts organizations across all performance disciplines. The Young Centre presents the very best in theatre, dance, music and spoken word in a state-of-the-art setting.

The Young Centre for the Performing Arts

Resident Artist Biographies

Waleed Abdulhamid is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, vocalist, producer and filmmaker, who has been an active member of the Toronto music scene since his arrival in Canada in 1992. Waleed was born in Sudan and began performing at the age of 6, touring across his country, Egypt, Syria, Kuwait and the Emirates. After leaving Sudan, he performed and toured extensively, appearing at major European music festivals. He demonstrates his versatility on guitar, bass, drums, flute, harmonica, marimba, balimbo, congas, djembe, to name a few, and is known for his striking vocals, innovative bass technique, and his speed and precision on percussion. Waleed has played and recorded with David Clayton Thomas, Jackie Richardson, Jully Black, Deborah Cox and Zaki Ibrahim. He also scored and produced the documentary film, "Let's Find A Way," which raised funds to help children affected by HIV. Waleed has musically directed shows at the Caliban Arts Theatre, Inner Stage, and various dance companies, and has composed and produced music for several TV shows and films.
Roberto Campanella first trained with the Scuola Italiana di Danza Contemporanea before joining the company and rising to the ranks of principal dancer. He later joined the prestigious Aterballetto in Italy, under the direction of Amedeo Amodio. In 1993, Roberto joined the National Ballet of Canada where he was soon promoted to soloist. In 1995, Roberto made his critically acclaimed choreographic debut at the National Ballet's Choreographic Workshop. He continues to choreograph for multidisciplinary shows and collaborations and in 2001 he was nominated for the Bonnie Bird Choreography Award in London. After leaving the National Ballet of Canada in 1996, he graduated with distinction from the National Ballet School Teacher Training Program and is now a sought after Ballet Teacher. Roberto is currently the founder, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the contemporary dance company, ProArteDanza, launched in October 2004 to audience and critical acclaim.

Ravi Jain is an actor, director, producer and educator. He trained at LAMDA in London, England, graduated with honours from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and is a graduate of the 2-year program of École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Ravi has worked internationally as an actor, including as a core member of the New York-based WOW Company (2000-2003). He is the founding Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre, a Toronto-based theatre company with an international scope known for its inventive, experimental, cross-cultural collaborations resulting in shows featuring new Canadian writing and revitalized interpretations of classics. Ravi is the winner of the Ken MacDougall Award for Emerging Director (Harold Award), Dora Award for Best Performance in a Featured Role for SPENT, and was an Urjo Kareda Artist-in-Residence at Tarragon Theatre (2009-2010).

Dennis Lee is a celebrated writer, poet, teacher, and thinker. He is most famous for his children's writings, including Alligator Pie (1974) and the song lyrics for the 1980s television show Fraggle Rock. Dennis was the co-founder of the House of Anansi Press, and served as literary consultant for both Macmillan and McClelland & Stewart. His work Civil Elegies and Other Poems won the 1972 Governor General's Award for poetry. He has received many awards, including four honorary degrees. Dennis was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993, and served as Toronto's first Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2004.

Ken Mackenzie has worked in theatres across Canada and the United States as a designer. Some of Ken's recent design credits include costumes for Death of a Salesman, as well as set and video design for Oh What a Lovely War (Soulpepper). Other design credits include Book of Tink for the Walt Disney Modular Theatre, Tartuffe for Boston Court Theatre and Kiss of the Spider Woman for Talk is Free Theatre. Ken is currently a member of the Soulpepper Academy. In 2006, he earned his master's degree in design from the California Institute of the Arts.
John Millard has been active in the Canadian music and theatre scenes for the last twenty years. He has toured Canada and Europe with his bands The Polka Dogs and John Millard & Happy Day. He has released five CDs through Festival Records in Canada, and on the Extraplatte label in Europe. Featured performances include WOMAD, New Music Across America, Festival D'été in Quebec City, Mariposa and Vancouver Folk Music Festivals. He has worked with many Canadian theatre companies including Shaw Festival, Theatre Columbus, Volcano, Mulgrave Road Co-op, The National Theatre School, The National Arts Centre, The National Ballet, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Canadian Stage Company, Necessary Angel, and Caravan Farm Theatre, to name a few. In April of 2008 John was the music director for the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in Vimy, France, the Kurt Weill Songbook at the Young Centre's Canwest Cabaret Festival and for Margaret Atwood's "Year of the Flood" at the PEN Congress in Tokyo.
Aline Morales is a singer, percussionist, bandleader, composer and teacher, who was
born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Aline's training in capoeria led to her interest in music which began with the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of maracatu under renowned teachers Lenis Rino and Eder O Rocha. Her performance career began with a variety of Brazilian groups, opening for famed artists such as Manu Chao, Jorge Ben Jor and Otto. Moving to Canada in 2004, Aline immediately became one of the leading figures in Toronto's growing Brazilian, world and percussion music scenes. As well as co-founding and directing the now extinct group Maracatu Nunca Antes, Aline has performed with artists such as Maninho Costa, Rick Lazar of Samba Squad, Luanda Jones, Ritesh Daz and Filo Machado. Aline presently sings lead vocals in the group Sambacana with Alan Heatherington, and formed a traditional Brazilian dance band called Forro Nite with Canadian guitarist David Arcus, with whom she is writing original material for a new CD. In 2009 Aline founded the group Baque de Bamba that performs traditional Brazilian percussive rhythms. In May of 2010, she appeared in a new advertisement sponsored by Ontario Tourism.
Andrea Nann has a 22-year career as a professional dance artist Andrea's artistic vision is to produce, create and share work reflecting a compassionate and intelligent world. As artistic director of Dreamwalker Dance Company, Andrea has choreographed over 15 original dance works and is intricately connected to the arts community in Canada having cultivated a unique artistic practice and movement aesthetic that reflects her exposure to a vast range of movement styles, artistic approaches, techniques and art forms. Andrea has collaborated with authors, poets, pop musicians, rock musicians, visual artists, textile artists, ceramic artists, calligraphers, DJs, video artists, filmmakers, opera singers, actors and songwriters. A graduate of York University's Department of Fine Arts in 1988, Andrea was a full-time member of the Danny Grossman Dance Company for 15 years from 1988- 2003 where she created, performed and taught major roles from the works of Mr. Grossman and guest choreographers. She has received three Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Outstanding Performance. Andrea also initiates and facilitates community arts events and workshops and produces The Whole Shebang, a critically acclaimed annual multi-arts festival celebrating live performance and artistic diversity.

Patricia O'Callaghan is an accomplished vocalist in contemporary opera and cabaret music. In her travels, she has lived, studied, and picked up the local languages in Mexico, Quebec, Germany, and France. Patricia divides her time between recording CDs, touring her own shows, and collaborating on other interesting projects, working towards her heart's ambition to bring her distinctive brand of cabaret to a broad-based audience. She will be releasing a new CD in 2011. Appearances include opening the 2007 season with Soulpepper Theatre Company playing the role of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera. She also has the good fortune to appear in television shows, such as her own Bravo! special, Live at the Rehearsal Hall; the Rhombus/CBC special, Youkali Hotel; and the acclaimed Ken Finkleman drama, Foolish Heart.

Charles Officer is a Jamaican-Canadian writer, actor, and director. Charles' directorial debut, When Morning Comes, premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. His feature dramatic film Nurse.Fighter.Boy premiered at TIFF 2008 and received 10 Genie nominations in 2010 which included best director and screenwriting. His most recent feature documentary Mighty Jerome premiered at the 2010 Vancouver International Film Festival and was nominated by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle for Best BC film. His other work includes the short films Short Hymn_Silent War (2002), Pop Son and UrdaBone (2003), a music video for K'naan's Strugglin and the television pilot Hotel Babylon in (2005), and the Global Television series Da Kink In My Hair (2008). As an actor, he has appeared in stage, film and teleVision Productions, recently starring in the Soulpepper production of A Raisin in the Sun.

Gregory Oh is an accomplished pianist, conductor and teacher, and holds graduate degrees from the University of Toronto and University of Michigan. Gregory is the Artistic Director of the acclaimed new music group Toca Loca, conductor of Continuum Contemporary Music, harpsichordist in the ensemble The Lollipop People, and contemporary music curator at Toronto's Music Gallery. He has performed all over the world and his music is often heard on CBC Radio One and Radio Two and seen on CBC Television, TVOntario and Bravo!. A Dora-nominated music director, he most recently worked on the premieres of Cold Spring at New York's EMPAC (2010) and Native Earth's Giiwedin (2010) as well as xx Live Nude Girls! (2009) in the Summerworks Festival, and has also worked at San Diego Opera, the Canadian Opera Company and Florida State Opera. Greg is a board member and the Music Committee co-chair of the Toronto Arts Council.

Suba Sankaran is a Dora award-winning, twice Juno-nominated multi-instrumentalist musician (voice, piano and percussion) who has effortlessly combined musical worlds and seamlessly crossed genres, performing across North America, Europe and Asia with Autorickshaw, Trichy Sankaran, FreePlay Duo (with Dylan Bell) and Retrocity (80s a cappella revue). Performance highlights include performing for Peter Gabriel, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu. Suba is in demand as a choral director, arranger, educator and composer. She has composed and produced music for theatre, film, radio and dance, including collaborations with Oscar-nominee Deepa Mehta.

 

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