P105 Dance Performance – Class of 2021

David Giller

Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green (she/her) is an emerging dancer and choreographer based out of Toronto. Originally from England, she moved to Canada in 2007 and began dancing at the Edge school of performing arts in Oakville, Ontario the following year. In her professional career, she has performed at Dance Weekend 2020 as a dancer and has worked with choreographers Lauren Cook and Hanna Kiel. Charlotte enjoys creating her own work and hopes to continue exploring artistically as a choreographer. She is also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with hopes to study and work specifically with dancers and athletes.

Sydney Jones 
Sydney Jones is an emerging artist who recently became a graduate of George Brown College Dance Programs. Sydney is from Ontario and is currently creating in Toronto. She has bee able to perform in modern contemporary pieces choreographed by Derek Sangster and Lindsay Aquin this year. In the summer of 2020, Sydney was in a collaborative piece by Hanna Kiel and Kenny Pearl called Together, Inside-Out and also worked on a performance piece with Lauren Cook in the spring of 2020. Sydney was featured in a piece at the 401 Holiday Open House in 2019 called Human Nature as well as her performance in Unleashed created by Darryl Tracy that year. Sydney is excited to continue her path in modern and share her love for dance.

Emma Lum-Gerry
Originally from Markham Ontario, Emma Lum-Gerry is a young emerging artist currently training in the Dance Performance Program at George Brown College in Toronto. Emma is preparing for her final performance with George Brown Dance which is set to be premiered in August 2021. She will feature in contemporary modern pieces choreographed by Derek Sangster and Lindsay Aquin. Outside her training, Emma has been a choreographer and instructor at Sandra Amodeo Dance Studio for over five years. Upon completion of George Brown Dance’s Performance Preparation Program in 2019, Emma was able to showcase works by Darryl Tracy. Continuing into her second professional Dance Performance program with George Brown in 2020 Emma performed a piece by Derek Sangster at Dance Ontario, she was also able to create a piece with Lauren Cook before the pandemic hit.  She is very excited and eager to continue creating, dancing and performing in high energy and highly physical contemporary dance pieces.

Valentina Polanco
Valentina Polanco grew up in Colombia where she began her dance training with a focus on ballet. Valentina is pursuing a career in dancer performance and arts education with an injury prevention approach. This Toronto-based artists has performed various roles in neoclassical works and classical ballets – Giselle, The Nutcracker, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote. She has trained under recognized artists such as Andrea Wolff, Geta Constantinescu, Olivier Pardina, Laetitia Clement, and Derek Sangster. Valentina was a finalizt in both the World Ballet Competition (USA) and Addicted 2 Dance Competition (Colombia). A graduate in Dance Performance from George Brown College, Valentina has trained at Andrea Wolff Ballet in Colombia and under scholarship at Miami City Ballet, Ballet Austin, Joffrey Ballet School, and Ballet Hispanico in the United States. Additionally, Valentina has also completed the Dance Teaching Certification with IDTS and the Barre Instructor Certification with EBBFA. Valentina is very excited to be part of the Mentorship Program with Canada’s Ballet Jörgen during the 2021-2022 season.

Astrud Robichaud
Originally from Amherst, Nova Scotia, Astrud Robichaud moved to Maine in 2016 to attend the Bossov Ballet Theatre pre-professional ballet school. She is a classically trained dancer that attended the George Brown College Dance Performance Program. Astrud has had the opportunity to train and work with professionals in Toronto including Hanna Kiel and Tina Fushell, and recently worked with choreographers Lindsay Aquin and Derek Sangster for the performance Unleashed. Astrud excels in ballet and brings this strength to other styles of dance. She is also interested in film production and acting and looks forward to broadening her skills and exploring both of those avenues as her career progresses.

Estelle Tang
Estelle Tang is a Toronto-based emerging artist specializing in ballet, modern, and martial arts. Before attending George Brown College, she trained at Jean M Wong School of Ballet (Hong Kong) and Interplay School of Dance (Toronto). Prior to departing Hong Kong, Estelle was a Taekwondo athlete representing the city in overseas competitions. She has collaborated in creative processes with Derek Sangster, Sharon Moore, and Dave Wilson. In her spare time, Estelle draws inspiration from video games that explore deep topics. After graduation, she will begin her mentorship with Canada’s Ballet Jörgen.

Cecilia VanderWerf
Cecilia VanderWerf is an emerging artist who started dancing at the age of 8. She lived in British Columbia for almost 10 years which is where she started dancing, training in many styles but her strong styles are jazz, modern and contemporary. Dance has been a huge part of her life but other than dance she loves to snowboard and swim. Cecilia has done two programs at GBC, the Dance Preparation Program and the Dance Performance Program. Cecilia loves to create and choreograph, and she has wanted to be a dance teacher for as long as she can remember and will be teaching at a local studio in September. Cecilia does not want to give up performing so when shows and companies start auditioning, she plans to audition for as much as she can. She loved her time at George Brown Dance but is excited to get out into the industry.

Taisiia Zamula
Taisiia began her dance training at DVFU Choreography College in her home country of Russia. She was accepted to the L.M Lavrovski Choreography college on a full scholarship, which she graduated with a diploma in ballet performance and instruction. During this time, Taisiia participated in the Svetlana Zakharova’s International Children’s Dance Festival. She danced on many famous stages across Russia, including the Kremlin Theater, The Natalia Sats Musical Theatre, Moscow International House of Music, and Taganka Theatre. Taisiia will graduate in the summer of 2021 from the Dance Performance Program at George Brown College. Here she gained experience in modern, jazz, and various ballet techniques. As a student, she had opportunity to learn from Canada’s Ballet Jorgen Repertoire including Petruska, Rendezvous, and Cinderella. In the upcoming year Taisiia is excited to be joining the Mentorship program will Canada’s Ballet Jorgen. Aside from dance Taisiia is a certified barre instructor, loves to sing, and plays the piano.