Myriam Verzat

Myriam is an interdisciplinary artist born in France. After studying dance and theatre improvisation in Montreal she went on to create Lindex, an improv theatre/ movement troupe that performed for 4 years. In 2015, Myriam directed and performed Reconnect, an interactive show featuring seven artists in dance, theatre and music. Since moving to Nanaimo in 2017, she has become a leader in Nanaimo’s cultural scene, teaching, performing, and organizing creative events. Myriam is also a Certified Trainer in Compassionate Communication (NVC) with a focus on collaboration, and offers courses for clients such as VIU, NACL, and Kiwanis Village.

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Mitch Miyagawa

Mitch is a multi-disciplinary artist with award-winning work in theatre, documentary, and essay. His artistic highlights include Plum Tree, a widely-produced play about Japanese-Canadian internment, and A Sorry State (2012), a documentary about government apologies for state-sanctioned racism (also a cover essay in Walrus Magazine in 2012). The film won the Writers Guild of Canada Award for Documentary.

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Tatiana Hassan

Tatiana started dancing at the age of three, training over her life in a wide spectrum of dance styles such as ballet, Jazz, tap, modern, partner dancing. She moved to Paris to study at the Ecole professionnelle de danse Rick Odums, where she graduated with a degree in jazz dance pedagogy. She directed the Jazz Dance department at MISI school of Musical Theater in Colombia for 5 years. She then pursued an MFA in Choreography at Temple University in Philadelphia. Her work has taken her to many countries, including Colombia, The United States, Argentina, France and now, Canada.

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Valérie Mermet

Valerie studied West African dance with many great dance masters. Born in France, she moved to England to perform in a 12-piece African dance ensemble, where she performed in various festivals, including Glastonbury and Womad. After moving to Canada, she studied contact and improvisation dance and. For the past 20 years she has contributing to Nanaimo culture by teaching, collaborating, performing and organizing events. In 2021 Dance Infringing Festival, Valerie performed in Motus Domus a duet built around the notion of presence with Peter Trosztmer, dancing in Montreal, divided by 6000kms. In July 2021, she performed in Lila in Nanaimo as a dancer. 

Michael Geselbracht

Michael Geselbracht is a Nanaimo resident of mixed Irish German Italian and Lebanese heritage who has been infected by dance since being a teenager. Michael is most happy when inciting mass dancing hysteria in public events and parties, and is never shy to be the first one on the dance floor to get the party started. He believes dance is one of humanity's original medicines, and hopes that he can support others in choosing dance as a prescription for whatever ails them. Michael was also part the performance Lila presented in Nanaimo in September 2022.