Renata Soutter is co-founder and co-artistic/co-executive director of Propeller Dance. She is an experienced integrated dance artist and has trained with Candoco in London UK (Thanks to the support of The Canada Council for the Arts) and also with Alito Alessi/DanceAbility International, and has been invited to show work in professional theatre venues as well as present at international and national conferences. She graduated from Concordia University in 2001 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance. Prior to this, since 2002, she worked for The School of Dance as co-director of the DanceAbility Performing Group. As well, she developed and taught one of the City of Ottawa’s first community arts dance programs for people with disability. She has choreographed and performed dance works in the Canada Dance Festival, Square Zero Independent Dance Festivals, NAC Fourth Stage, fFIDA, Montreal Fringe Festival, Studio 303, Dance Network, Bread and Puppet Theatre. She has been a core member of the Grasshoppa Dance Exchange and is also an experienced dance educator and has been invited by the National Arts Centre’s music education department to create dance for a pilot school residency project. She holds a certificate in expressive arts therapy from Algonquin College and a BA in comparative development from Trent University. She lives in Gatineau QC, near the hills.

Shara Weaver is co-founder and co-artistic/executive director of Propeller Dance. She received her DanceAbility Teacher Training Certificate from Alito Alessi, USA in 2005, a teaching methodology designed for teaching integrated groups of dancers with and without disability. Prior to the creation of Propeller Dance, she was the co-founder and director of The School of Dance’s DanceAbility program. Shara has extensive experience teaching and performing improvisational and West African dance. She has performed at Canada Dance Festivals, Square Zero Independent Dance Festivals, NAC Fourth Stage, Studio 303, Cube Gallery, Saw Gallery, Dance Network, The Mercury Lounge, Ottawa Folk Festivals and various other clubs and art venues in Canada and the US. Originally a student of the National Ballet School, she has studied dance at the Toronto Dance Theatre, George Randolph Centre, Dance Network, Dance Educators and with various professional companies in Mali, Ghana and Burkina Faso; West Africa. She has been a MASC artist for 7 years and is experienced in delivering dance programs to schools. Shara has also studied with Jurg Koch, a former Candodo dancer in Seattle Washington.

Alan Shain’s artistic work is founded on a deep commitment to disability activism and taking a personal responsibility for creating change. His performance disciplines include performance creation, solo-performance, storytelling, theatre for young audiences, 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 – a big component of which is arts-in-education. In 1999 he founded his own company, Smashing Stereotypes Productions to support the dissemination of his creations. He is an artist with MASC and Prologue for the Performing Arts. Alan has toured around the world presenting work across Canada and the US, in Taiwan and Australia. In 2002, Alan co-founded Dance Ability with dance artist Shara Weaver – an outreach program of The School of Dance. Due to the overwhelming interest and demand for dance and disability workshops and training, Alan, Shara and Renata founded and incorporated Propeller Dance in 2007. www.propellerdance.com

JOE likes to work with castings from all horizons. Therefore, he wants to offer a new voice to the public, a voice little heard, in order to create this effect of strangeness necessary for reflection.
JACK favours collective theatre creations where social issues are at the heart of his works.
JOHN likes to integrate animals, kitsch objects, pop music, English language, and carpet grass to its performances.
Together, they are Joe Jack & John. www.joejacketjohn.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=heb98aJ6ERo&feature=related

France Geoffroy completed a college degree in dance in 1997 while studying Bartenieff technique and improvisation with Valerie Dean. In 98-99 and 2001, she studied with CandoCo, a London integrated dance company. In 2000, she founded Corpuscule Danse where she acts as an artistic director, teacher and performer. Geoffroy has danced, amongst others, with choreographers Harold Rhéaume, Johanne Madore et Estelle Clareton. www.corpusculedanse.com

Seduced by Montreal’s cultural effervescence, Estelle Charron multiplies her implications in the city’s cultural milieu and is currently completing her masters in creation at UQÀM. Sur la pointe de tes doigts, je t’écoute du bout des lèvres is the second integrated dance piece of this young and engaged choreographer, also co-founder of AlIzEs danse with Alain Carnier and Izabella Marengo.

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