HOUSE AWAKE Artist Bios: Leah Abramson,Jacci Collins,Edmond Kilpatrick

LEAH ABRAMSON is a singer-songwriter-musician-sound-experimenter from Vancouver. After spending her youth playing traditional old-time music and indie rock with Dyad, The Crooked Jades and Octoberman, she now creates her own folk-noir music under the moniker "The Abramson Singers" and is working with Portico on an album of songs about Louis Riel. When Leah is not playing or writing music, she is collaborating with other artists, baking cookies and scheming.

myspace.com/leahabramson

JACCI COLLINS is an independent dance artist, choreographer and dance educator based in Vancouver. After completing studies in dance at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton and receiving her BFA in dance from Simon Fraser University, Jacci traveled to Johannesburg to work with the performance company, Moving Into Dance Mophatong. Since returning to Canada, she has continued to perform and teach throughout BC and Alberta and has had the pleasure of working with Joe Laughlin, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Kokoro Dance, Jennifer Clarke and Linda Turnbull. Jacci is thrilled to be working with Kirsten Wiren, her longtime friend and colleague.

EDMOND KILPATRICK is an independent dancer, teacher and choreographer based in Vancouver. A graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, his dance career began in Montreal with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Edmond moved to Vancouver and danced with many local and national contemporary choreographers. This led to him joining Ballet BC where he remained for 9 seasons.

Edmond has taught his Boys Only program at Arts Umbrella for the last 7 years and recently taught a semester at SFU. He has taught both ballet and contemporary dance extensively since 1994 teaching both young students and professional dancers. He has choreographed for both stage and film and is currently dancing with Wen Wei Dance.

Art for Impact officially announces its 5th event, entitled HOUSE AWAKE! We hope you will join us for an exciting evening of multidisciplinary performance installations, featuring acoustic and experimental musicians, circus artists, dancers, filmmakers, actors, poets, and media artists. Featured artists include Leah Abramson, Marc Arboleda, Sammy Chien, Craning Neck Theatre, Alison Denham, Edmond Kilpatrick, Paul Talbot, Kirsten Wiren, and many more....

It's all in support of RainCity housing, a grassroots organization built around compassion, purpose and a commitment to delivering progressive housing and support solutions for people living with mental illness, addictions and other challenges.

Drinks and appetizers will be on hand for you to enjoy as you explore the event in any way you choose...those who want to can stick around for an awesome afterparty with music and dancing.

....please check back soon for featured artist bios in the days leading up to the event.

all media for this event has been designed by Andrew Haw, www.ah-on.ca

Art for Impact at Chapel Arts in December!

Plans are underway for Art for Impact's next event, a dynamic, multi-disciplinary "moving gallery" of performance installations at the elegant Chapel Arts in East Vancouver. We're very excited about this incredible venue, and our chosen beneficiary organization, RainCity Housing-www.raincityhousing.org. Art for Impact is currently in the process of curating artists and recruiting volunteers for this exciting event. For more information, please see our pages on how to get involved as an artist or volunteer. To find out about Chapel Arts, visit www.chapelarts.com.

ART for IMPACT IV is over.

Thank you so much to everyone who came!

Please check the Art for Impact 4 page for details about the fantastic evening!

ARTIST BIOS- Justine A. Chambers, Laura Hicks

Justine A. Chambers is a Vancouver-based independent contemporary dance artist. She was a principal dancer with Desrosiers Dance Theatre, a member of Diavolo Dance Theater in Los Angeles and has worked with a number of independent choreographers worldwide including: Kota Yamazaki (Japan), Julia Sasso, Turbo Bonz Dance Projects, Atlas Moves Watching Dance Projects, Vicki St.Denys, Sonya Biernath, Roxanne Huilmand (Brussels) Princess Productions, Heidi Strauss, Conrad Alexandrowicz, and Darryl Tracy. In addition to being on faculty at Ryerson University, Dance Teq, The Quinte Ballet School, and the Teacher’s Collective in Toronto, she was invited to hold master classes at McMaster University, Park Avenue Dance Company (Rochester, NY), and Victoria Danceworks. Chambers is currently on faculty at Arts Umbrella and is currently artist in residence to the dance program. She also teaches at Harbour Dance Centre in Vancouver. She also works actively as a rehearsal director, and has notably directed a remount of James Kudelka’s Soudain L’Hiver Dernier and the Autumn movement of John Alleyne’s Four Seasons. Chambers has been commissioned to create work for the Music Gallery, Ryerson Dances, Quinte Ballet School, Series 8:08 Season Finale, Arts Umbrella Dance Company, Dances for a Small Stage, Contingency Plan, SFU Contemporary Dance and Elev8 in Victoria. She has also collaborated on theatre projects as a movement coach and choreographer. In 2007, she was artist-in-residence at Colour School where she created a solo work in collaboration with conceptual artist and arts educactor, Kristina Podesva. Chambers was featured in David Bowie’s music video Dead Man Walking, and has appeared in Canadian television specials, films and in international industrial performances. In February 2010 she and co-creator Deanna Peters presented a full length duet One + the Other at New Dance Horizons in Regina. She has recently performed in 'this time', a full length duet created by Heidi Strauss for Chambers and Brendan Wyatt. Chambers and video artist, Josh Hite, are currently creating "Copy" a multi-disciplinary and participatory work that explores duplication, mimicry, degeneration and repetition by allowing dancers and viewers to simultaneously co-create the piece as a whole.

Laura Hicks is a dancer, choreographer, improviser and teacher with strong interests in multidisciplinary work, community outreach, contact improvisation, and pilates. Based in Vancouver since 2005, Laura has danced for Claire French/Restless Productions since 2007 and has also worked for MACHiNENOiSY, the Body Narratives Collective, Jennifer Clarke, Justine Chambers, Julie Lebel, Sara Coffin, Kathleen McDonagh, and Chick Snipper. Her own work has been presented by; In the House Festival, Dancing on the Edge, 12 Minutes Max, and as part of Artistic Residencies across BC. Laura organizes and dances with No Hitting, a performance collective that brings together some of Vancouver’s most striking improvisers in sound and movement. Laura is an emerging Artist in Residence with the Dance Centre for 2009/10 and was recently awarded the Holy Body Tattoo BC’s Emerging Dance Artist Award.

ARTIST BIOS- Meredith Kalaman, Bekka Rose

Meredith Kalaman is a Vancouver based dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Meredith has performed and toured with Movent, the Karen Jamieson Dance Company, Judith Marcuse Projects and Cori Caulfield, as well as understudied with Dancers Dancing. Meredith's own work has been presented at Dancing on the Edge 2009, the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival 2008 & 2009, BC Buds 2008 & 2010, Dances for a Small Stage 14 & 20, Winterfest, 12 Minutes Max both in Vancouver and at On the Boards in Seattle and the In the House Festival. Meredith is a graduate of the Ballet BC Mentor Program.

Bekka Rose was first introduced to juggling when her parents enrolled her in Cirkids, a Vancouver based circus for kids, at age 7. Juggling soon became her passion, and this passion lead her to numerous juggling festivals and workshops throughout Europe and North America. In Europe, she studied under the

renowned Russian juggler Sergei Ignatov at the Jonglierkatakomben in Berlin, and with Jay Gilligan (USA) and Luke Wilson (UK) at Cirkus Cirkor, the circus school in Stockholm. Inspiration from this wide variety of techniques lead her to her own poignantly poetic style of juggling and movement.

ARTIST BIOS- Ndidi Cascade & Deanna

Ndidi Cascade and Deanna are Vancouver based Hip Hop Soul artists. Known for their powerful vocals and lyrics, these talented women intend to empower and inspire

using music. Having shared the stage with artists such as Femi Kuti, Collie Buddz, De La Soul and K'Naan and K-os, Ndidi Cascade and Deanna are proud to represent Vancouver on a global stage. These two best friends are also Hip Hop workshop facilitators who enjoy engaging and inspiring individuals to discover and develop hidden talents.

ndidicascade@hotmail.com

goatsinthemist@gmail.com