Artistic Staff
Alan Shain - Co-Founder, Program Developer
Alan Shain’s performance disciplines include performance creation, solo-performance, storytelling, theatre, dance, and stand-up comedy – all specific to the representation of the lived experience of disability. Alan has taken on several leadership roles within the area of disability and performance. He founded his own company, Smashing Stereotypes Productions, in 1999 to support the dissemination of his solo show, Still Waiting for That Special Bus. In 2002, Alan co-founded DanceAbility with dance artist Shara Weaver – an outreach program of The School of Dance which serves disabled people within the Ottawa region. Due to the overwhelming interest and demand for dance and disability workshops, performance and training, Alan, Shara, and Renata Soutter, have founded and incorporated a non-profit organization - Propeller Dance. Musicians
Mark Rehder is a multi-dimensional percussionist and in-demand player on the Ottawa scene. He plays regular drum set, various African and Middle Eastern drums, and also some wind instruments and keyboards. He performs, writes, and records regularly with groups such as The Jivewires, the Impressions In Jazz Orchestra, the Steve Berndt Quartet, the Just Voices Choir and others. Mark provides musical accompaniment for Propeller Dance as well as the Grasshoppa Dance Exchange.
Jason Sonier: bio coming soon.
Mike Essoudry is known as a sensitive yet active and responsive drummer, with strong musical intuition. He received a Master of Music degree (Jazz Drumset Performance) from McGill University in 2003. Mike studied drums with Chris McCann, Dave Laing and Michel Lambert. He composes and arranges contemporary jazz for a quartet and an octet, performing with both in Ottawa and Montreal. In Ottawa Mike performs regularly in avant-garde free jazz and improv settings with Parade and with Linsey Wellman. Mike is an active teacher as well as a dance accompianist for many different groups including Propeller Dance.
Dominique Saint-Pierre
is an accomplished and celebrated musician, composer, director and coordinator. He has created and played orginal music for dance artists (Sylvie Desrosiers, Marie-Nicole Lamoureux for her work presented in Paris at les Jeux de la Franophonie, Katharine Labelle, Ginette Laurin for works created for her company O Vertigo) as well as for film, radio and television documentaries and series (Radio-Canada, TFO), theatre (Compagnie Vox Théâtre, Théâtre du Trillium, Dérives urbaines, Triangle Vital, Théâtre La Catapulte) and numerous special events. He has toured with musicians Dario Domingues and Ian Tamblyn and performed throughout Ontario and Quebec. He is an OAC grant receipient for his work with his groups Kif-Kif and Iceberg. Dominique creates using piano, synthesiser, percussion and voice. He has been providing original musical creations and accompaniment for the DanceAbility performing group for the past two years.
Volunteer Teaching Assistants
Ximena Puente has extensive working experience with children, teenagers and young adults. She started her career as a modern dancer in Venezuela where she danced in numerous venues. She went on to get her Masters of Psychology from the Central University of Venezuela. She volunteers with Propeller Dance as an assistant teacher.
Jessie Huggett is a dancer and choreographer with both the Propeller Dance Performing Group and Dandelion Dance Company. She is an advocate for people with disabilites. Jessie has been a “Top 20 Under 20” National Youth Award Finalist, and received the Jane Cameron Award, a national award for an artist with Down Syndrome (2005). She has performed all over Ontario, including Parliament Hill, Ottawa City Hall, Carleton and Ottawa University, Youth Conferences and at CODE. Jessie Huggett volunteers as a teaching assistant for the Propeller kids' program.
Mentors
Jennifer CayleyJulie Cezer
Guest Artists
Spirit Synott (Toronto)Steve Wint (Ottawa)