Dancers of Damelahamid

Margaret Grenier has directed and produced the Coastal Dance Festival since 2008. She holds a Masters of Arts in Arts Education at Simon Fraser University. She was a sessional instructor at Simon Fraser University for Foundations in Aboriginal Education, Language, and Culture in 2007. Margaret was a faculty member for the Banff Centre Indigenous Dance Residency 2013. She presented at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Australia 2008, Peru 2011, and Hawaii 2015. She serves on the Board for Canadian Dance Assembly as well as the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture.

Andrew Grenier spent 20 years training with the company and has performed with the company since 2004. He has worked with cedar and textiles, creating the sets for the Dancers of Damelahamid productions since 2004 and for the annual Coastal Dance Festival since 2008. Andrew oversees all the technical and set requirements for the Dancers of Damelahamid and is the Production Manager for the Coastal Dance Festival. He has a BSc from McGill University and Masters in Environmental Education from Simon Fraser University.

Charles Koroneho is an award-winning multifaceted artist from Aotearoa (New Zealand), who created and performed extensively in New Zealand and abroad with Te Toki Haruru, a platform that explores the intersection between dance, theatre, and design.

Andy Moro is a multi-award winning Euro/Omushkego Cree designer based in Toronto. Andy co-creates and “designaturges” with companies across Turtle Island, including works in progress with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre in Toronto, Red Sky Performance at the Banff Centre, and the Dancers of Damelahamid in Vancouver. Andy has also been core creative faculty for the Indigenous Dance Residency at Banff since 2012 where he has co-created with Taane Mete, Neil Iremia, Jock Soto, Lina Cruz and more. Andy has twice been named among the Top Ten Theatre Artists in Toronto’s NOW magazine.

Rebecca Baker-Grenier is of Squamish and Kwakiutl ancestry. She is an accomplished Fancy dancer with over 12 years of experience. She has performed with the Dancers of Damelahamid in the recent productions of Flicker (2016), In Abundance (2014), and Spirit Transforming (2014) and has designed and created regalia for the company. Rebecca completed her BA at the University of British Columbia with her Major in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program. She was the Vice President of the UBC Indigenous Students Association from 2012–2014 and the Vice President of the First Nations Studies Students Association from 2014–2016. During her role with the student associations, she started and organized the Nehiyo-paskwa-itisimowan Pow-wow at UBC from 2013–2016. Rebecca was the instructor for the Manitobah Mukluks’ UBC Storyboot School, the Communications Assistant at the UBC First Nations House of Learning, the Research Assistant for the Native Youth Program, and the Education Coordinator Assistant for Thompson Rivers University, Lillooet.

Peter Rockford Espiritu is the Founder & Artistic Director of Tau Dance Theater, the only professional western form dance company founded by a native Hawaiian based in Honolulu, est. 1996. He is a hula practitioner honoring the legacies of na kumu hula, John Ka’imikaua, George Holokai, Ceclia Akim and ‘uniki, papa oli Kaula – under Dr. Pualani Kanaka’ole-Kanahele. Peter studied at the School of American Ballet NYC, receiving scholarships at the American Dance Festival at Duke University, the Colorado Dance Festival in Boulder, dancing and touring with New York Theater Ballet and Svi Gothiener & Dancers, continuing to teach and choreograph globally.  He served for seven years as Artistic Director of ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations), which was an oral traditions project partnering with museums such as the Smithsonian Institute throughout the U.S., and served for six years as Artistic Director at the Oceania Centre for Arts Culture & Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.

Sammy Chien is a QPOC (queer person of colour) interdisciplinary media artist, director, performer, researcher and mentor who works with film, sound art, new media and performance. His work has been exhibited across Canada, Western Europe, and Asia including Centre Pompidou (Paris) and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He’s worked with pioneers of digital performance Troika Ranch and Christopher Doyle, cinematographer for Wong Kar Wai, and currently leads research/mentorship projects engaging various marginalized community groups. Sammy is the Artistic Director of Chimerik畹嫄萺.