Le Groupe Herencias uses the arts to promote, exchange, and encourage acceptance of diversity in identity, culture, and heritage. They create thought-provoking, publicly-engaged projects and powerful performances that deconstruct common notions of who we are and who we are expected to be. By doing so, they work to inspire the creation of more inclusive societies. This collective is composed of and collaborates with, culturally diverse people of colour (POC) who have experienced trauma, violence, adversity, and/or mental health disorders. They experiment with innovative arts practices to share, learn, and exchange on culture, identity, and heritage to create social change.

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Farah fuses the arts, therapeutic techniques, and ethnography to reduce shame, and improve self-worth, relevance and resiliency. For 25 years, she has been working with organizations, institutions and communities using the arts and creativity as a tool to resolve structural problems in practice, improve cultural understanding and foster innovation.  Her successes include facilitating programs and workshops for over 10,000 artists and cultural workers, producing over 30 performances, implementing 6 community art projects for social change, co-founding the Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada and Le Groupe Herencias. Farah promotes a focus on identity, respect and empathy to decolonize ingrained normative behaviors as an indigenous Pakistani (Pathan/Kwadja).

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Born in Havana, where he absorbed the rich dance traditions of Cuba, earning a Diploma in Classical Ballet from the National School of Arts (ENA) and in 1994, a Masters degree in Dramaturgy and Theatre from the Superior Institution of Art (ISA). In 1999, Julio joined Compagnie Marie Chouinard, where he danced for 6 years, followed by a year with RUBBERBANDance, 4 years with the popular television show Le Match des Étoiles, and performed in Joe Dassin, Sherazade, Motown and regularly with Cirque du Soleil. Julio then founded the Afro Cuban Association of Montreal and co-founded Le Groupe Herencias. His choreographic style is a fusion of contemporary dance, traditional dance, ballet technique, movements from daily life, and ritual. Yemayo, Orun Seko, The Aristocrat and Cervantes are only a few of his recent creations.

Nadia is an award-winning spoken word poet as well as a community arts facilitator, published poet, musician, creative non-fictionist and an emerging visual artist. Because of her multi-disciplinary interests in the arts some of her favorite projects have included: a music-dance-projection-theatre production called Myrtle Silverspot also for Sistahood (2009); and a painting-music-poetry-science installation A440Hz Electromagnetic Explorations for the Vancouver New Forms Festival (2007). Her visual arts work has included three group shows and a solo show in a café, as well as a five year social practice project of “art manicures.  Nadia is a first generation daughter of Indian parents. She  was born in Saskatoon, grew up in Ottawa, matured in Vancouver and am currently living in Montreal all of which she recognizes as the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples who are its rightful stewards.

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Himmat is a composer, a professional musician and an interdisciplinary artist of Indian ancestry. His compositions have been used in solo performances, soundtracks for theatre, film, contemporary dance and performance art. Notably, his work has been featured on the CBC national television show “Adrienne Clarkson Presents” as part of the television premiere of “Burning Skin”, a dance performance by choreographer Roger Sinha. His contemporary musical pieces constitute a fusion of his influences and the tensions between them. His work is informed by his education in western classical music; the Sikh religious music, Bollywood soundtracks, Indian classical and folk music that would play in his childhood home; and contemporary popular music.

https://himmatsinghshinhat.com

Vi An specializes in spontaneous and intuitive compositions on various Asian long-plucked zithers, including the Japanese koto, Vietnamese đàn tranh, and Chinese zheng instruments. Vi An is self-taught, making her debut in music when she was six years old. Since the age of ten, Vi An has independently produced 25 solo albums, including numerous collaborations with artists, musicians, and theater companies around the world.

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Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos lives on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada, where he teaches, performs, and makes precision jinashi shakuhachi flutes. Born and trained in Japan in the classical Zen Shakuhachi tradition, Alcvin is a genre-bridging artist who transitions between musical genres. He is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist (shamisen, shinobue, shinkin). He is also a recording artist with several traditional and contemporary music CDs to his name. He performs throughout Canada and internationally, and leads the Shakuhachi Roots Pilgrimage to Japan every few years.

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The India School of Dance, Music & Theatre Inc. was established in 1980. With over 150 students, the school provides lessons in Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Classical Bollywood, and music. It received the First Community Leadership Award presented by the Asian Heritage Society (2019).

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Brittany Young Tenn and Shavira Narrandes joined the India School for lessons in Kathak, an Indian classical dance style, in 2002 and 2004, respectively. They became two of the first six Kathak dancers to complete an Aradhana, or Indian classical dance graduation, in Manitoba (2009), then continued as instructors in Kathak and Classical Bollywood. Throughout the years, they have participated in various cultural events including Diwali Mela, Folklorama, and Asian Heritage Month. Their competitiveness has awarded them with Gold and Gold Honours from the Manitoba Provincial Dance Festival.

Brittany has also offered her teaching/choreographing experiences to the Indo Caribbean Performing Arts School for 9 years. She holds a B.A. honours degree in Psychology and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree in Clinical Psychology.

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Brittany Young Tenn and Shavira Narrandes joined the India School for lessons in Kathak, an Indian classical dance style, in 2002 and 2004, respectively. They became two of the first six Kathak dancers to complete an Aradhana, or Indian classical dance graduation, in Manitoba (2009), then continued as instructors in Kathak and Classical Bollywood. Throughout the years, they have participated in various cultural events including Diwali Mela, Folklorama, and Asian Heritage Month. Their competitiveness has awarded them with Gold and Gold Honours from the Manitoba Provincial Dance Festival.

Shavira became the first Kathak dancer in Manitoba to complete a Rangmanch Pravesh, a solo graduation (2019), and manages the Kathak department of the India School of Dance. She holds a B.Sc. honours in Genetics, M.Sc. in Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, and pursues a higher education in medical sciences.

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GWDAC aims at offering high quality dance classes to help each student develop their passion for dance and reach their full potential. The majority of their dance program will focus on educating dancers to understand and recognize Chinese dance culture, and therefore to establish the esthetics of Chinese dance, and the connection between dance and a healthy life style. They hope to open themselves to possible associations between Chinese dance and western dance; and we also hope to enrich cultural life for the local community by providing different kinds of dance classes and performance opportunities. They invite professional dance teacher from China to teach their students, keep the high standard teaching level.