photo by Michael Slobodian
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Lesley Telford, Artistic Director
Lesley Telford is a Vancouver-based choreographer and teacher who has returned to her hometown after a career in Europe spanning 20 years. She is the artistic director of Inverso Productions and the Performance Research Project. She has a long standing commitment to emerging dancers in our community and is dedicated to create platforms for research and development and performance opportunities that allow these dancers to grow as artists. Lesley finished her studies in Montreal at L ́École Supérieur de Danse du Québec before joining the company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She went on to dance with Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain. Most recently she danced with Nederlands Dans Theater 1 where she worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Crystal Pite and others and performed in major theatres worldwide. She has set and staged the work of Jiri Kylian as well as Lightfoot/Leon. She has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production at the joint program of the University of Salzburg and the Mozarteum. She was also a fellow in a joint research project with the Zurich University of the Arts in 2013. She was selected by Crystal Pite for the Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award 2015 as emerging artist in dance. As a choreographer, she has created for Ballet BC, Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Hubbard Street Dance Company 2, Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Ballet Vorpommern, International Project for Dance in Rome- DAF, Butler Ballet, University of Utah and Arts Umbrella Dance Company among others. She is the founder of Inverso Productions, a platform for interdisciplinary performance. Through Korzo Productions and Inverso Productions, she produced and choreographed Brittle Failure, which was a part of tours and festivals in Spain, the Netherlands and Canada. Inverso is presently continuing to perform the project Spooky Action. Lesley is grateful to work on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. |
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Heather Myers, Artistic Associate
Heather is a mother, dance artist, and arts facilitator. She received her training at the National Ballet School and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and danced with Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Netherlands Dance Theatre. As a company dancer, and later, as an independent artist she has worked with artists including Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Medhi Walerski, Lucinda Childs, Ivan Perez, Marina Mascarell, and Lesley Telford. Heather received the Clifford E. Lee Award for choreography in 2009 and has worked as a commissioned choreographer and instructor of technique and creative process locally and internationally. While living in Holland, Heather organized community-based interdisciplinary improv sessions as part of her work on NDT’s SWITCH committee, and later initiated dance exchange/workshops during personal travel in Indonesia and India. Most interested in questions around creative process, context, and the social relevance of artistic intelligence, Heather now enjoys supporting the evolution and delivery of other people's work. Pursuing these interests, Heather is currently completing The Tamalpa Institute's Teacher Training Program in Life/Art processes and Somatic Movement Education, and recently completed an Arts Management program at Capilano University which included practicum work with The PuSh Festival, The Roundhouse, and Plastic Orchid Factory. She has also studied Contemporary Arts at SFU, and studied with Ruth Little and Liz Lerman in Banff, among others. Thanks to the trust and generosity of her community, Heather now collaborates with various artists and organizations as an instructor, rehearsal director, creative advisor, interpreter, writer, and production assistant. She lives in Burnaby, BC, on unceded Central Coast Salish Territory. |
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