Born in Tkaronto (Toronto) to Chilean political refugees, Ayelen’s first language was dance which has matured through radical explorations of movement as powerful tools for change and transformation. A multifaceted dancer, filmmaker, activist and community weaver, her work in the world is to lead from the heart and articulate connection.
Acting for Climate Montréal’s mission is to work towards a more
sustainable future by combining performing arts and environmentalism.
To achieve this, the group reimagines the way their art is practiced to find concrete solutions to environmental challenges.
My name is Keaton Leier. I am originally from Saskatoon SK, and received my professional training in classical ballet at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. I have now had a professional career as a leading dancer with the Atlanta Ballet for the past 5 years. I am currently transitioning back to my Canadian roots, and will be joining the ranks on the National Ballet of Canada this summer. I have taken a few courses in environmental studies and I am extremely passionate about the conservation of our earths ecosystems.
Deeply preoccupied by and committed to ecological health and justice, I am a settler living and working in art and movement practice. With the utmost respect and gratitude, and deep sadness for what has come before and continues today, honouring the land, water, sky and animals of the unceded ancestral homeland of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit territories on this, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland, and Labrador).
kloetzel&co. is a dance theatre company committed to works that span stage, site, and screen. Begun in New York City, kloetzel&co. now makes its home in Canada, where it has grown increasingly concerned with the intersection between art-making and social and environmental justice. The company’s research projects emerge from practice-as-research methodologies and result in events, workshops and encounters in theatre spaces, alternative venues, online environments, and spaces of public assembly. kloetzel&co. is particularly dedicated to artistic collaboration and interdisciplinary practices and the company enjoys fostering creative experiments with writers, filmmakers, composers, designers, visual artists, landscape designers, and musicians in each place along its choreographic journey. Award-winning films from the company have been presented across four continents, and live presentation highlights include presentations at New York’s Movement Research at the Judson Church, Danspace, and The Flea Theatre, as well as in hotels, train stations, board rooms, parking lots and gallery spaces. kloetzel&co. is directed by Melanie Kloetzel (MFA, PhD) a performance maker, scholar and educator who has created over fifty works for the company. Kloetzel is also the co-director of the art intervention collective TRAction. Kloetzel’s publications can be found in many scholarly journals as well as in her co-edited anthology Site Dance: Choreographers and the Lure of Alternative Spaces (2009), the co-authored (Re)Positioning Site Dance: Local Acts, Global Perspectives (2019), and the co-authored Covert: A Handbook, which are currently available from University Press of Florida, Intellect, and Triarchy Press, respectively. Kloetzel is Professor of Dance at the University of Calgary.
Juliet Palmer’s music has come to life under a highway off-ramp, in a swimming pool, in the plastic flotsam of a remote beach and in concert halls across North America, Europe and Oceania. Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Juliet makes her home in Toronto where she is artistic director of Urbanvessel, a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Urbanvessel creates new performance works through interdisciplinary collaboration. Rooted in music and sound, the power of the human voice is at the heart of our creative process. Led by Artistic Director Juliet Palmer and drawing upon the diverse talents of our collaborators, Urbanvessel fuses sound, music, text, imagery and movement. Urbanvessel shares knowledge through our educational programmes and community outreach activities.
Aeris Körper is a professional dance company based in Hamilton. We bring people into their bodies through movement, awareness of sensations and connection to self and others with the aim of fostering resilience, understanding and empathy. This allows us to lean into blocks of self-expression which ultimately leads to self empowerment, community building and social change.
Mayumi Lashbrook is a Japanese Canadian settler in Tkaronto who seeks to expose, challenge, and rectify systems of oppression by creating innovative, introspective and inclusive dance theatre. She sees embodiment as at the crux of world making, providing alternatives to unconscious thought, consumerism and oppression. Her primary practices span performance, choreography, education and Artistic Direction. Mayumi is the Co-Artistic Director of Hamilton based Aeris Körper, a facilitator of Dreamwalker Dance’s Conscious Bodies methodology, and the Communications and Outreach Manager for the Canadian Dance Assembly. She is currently studying Butoh and composition in a year-long mentorship with renowned Japanese Canadian dance-theatre artist Denise Fujiwara. Mayumi’s different roles are all-encompassing and overlapping. This enables her to approach projects and communities with openness, curiosity, excellence, and with deep satisfaction.
TRAction is a dynamic collective of interdisciplinary artists who actively and publicly address issues of climate justice.
Although the projects are primarily facilitated and organized by Melanie Kloetzel and Kevin Jesuino, TRAction expands and contracts to include other interested allies, professionals, scientists, volunteers and artists who work at the intersection of art-making and climate change. Using diverse methods of artistic creation, TRAction addresses complex environmental issues and advocates for climate justice for all humans and species.
The Climate Art Web (CAW-WAC) is a grassroots network that brings together climate artists living in northern Turtle Island (Canada).
