Non-Profit Reg: 8607877
Dancing Damsels Inc.
SOCIAL & COMMUNITY WELL BEING
THROUGH PERFORMING ARTS
The Academy of Spanish Dance
The Academy of Spanish Dance is the affiliate school of Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company and was established in 1982 by Esmeralda Enrique. A sound training in flamenco, classical Spanish and regional dance is offered to all students whether they take class for recreation, to gain grace and poise or with the hope of pursuing a professional career. Working closely with dedicated teachers, our students are stimulated and challenged in a positive atmosphere. Our desire is to maintain a standard of excellence in training that is rewarding and enriching, accessible to all students, and enables them to acquire new skills and reach higher goals. Academy of Spanish Dance provides daytime and evening classes for adults from beginners to professionals and also has a popular children’s program. "Fiesta Flamenca" is the performance group of Academy of Spanish Dance.
“FIESTA FLAMENCA”
Flamenco is one of the most popular forms of Spanish dance. It blends the influences of Arabic, Jewish and Gypsy musical traditions with the traditions of Andalusia, the province in southern Spain. With its percussive footwork and graceful arm and hand movements, flamenco invites both performer and audience to experience dances of exquisite beauty and passion.
The student group you are about to see -- Fiesta Flamenca – continuously polish their artistry and skills at the internationally renowned Academy of Spanish Dance, under the direction of its founder Esmeralda Enrique.
MamaDances is founded on the notion that healthy mothering is at the root of building a robust society. MamaDances incorporates techniques from diverse approaches to movement, dance, wellness and physical awareness. Participants experience enhanced fitness and well-being through movement, parent-child bonding, accelerated child development, and make social connections.
The original idea for MamaDances was born out of necessity to negotiate around or incorporate a child into an artistic practice. Six dancers performed in the premiere of Mama dances/1000 mains at Chateau Du Fresne in Montreal during Festival Transatlantique, Manifestation de la Danse, September 2006. Since then, classes have been offered at several sites in Montreal on an ongoing basis. MamaDances is a privately-held corporation, incorporated as a Canadian corporation in 2012, and maintains its head office in Montreal. MamaDances will launch in Toronto at the beginning of 2014 and plans to launch in Ottawa, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Boston and New York during 2014. For more info: www.mamadances.com
Hannan's Bellydance Studio was founded by the award winning belly dancer Hannan Sultan in 2003 as a one person operation. Due to our outstanding instructors and services, we have grown to be one of North America's most successful bellydance schools with nine instructors, a student dance troupe, two locations and the home of The Egyptian Dance Company. Upon moving back to her home country, The United States, Hannan handed over the business to Nada El Masriya, knowing that Nada is a former Reda Troupe Member with 17 years of belly dance and folklore experience, makes her ready to take the Studio to even higher levels.
Nritya Kala Mandir:
Nritya Kala Mandir, the dance school established by Kanan Bhatt in Toronto, in 2001 trains young students in Bharatnatyam, an Indian Classical dance style, and Folk & Bollywood dance styles at three different locations in GTA – Scarborough, Vaughan and Brampton. Kanan Bhatt is an acclaimed Dance Teacher and Choreographer of Bharat Natyam style. She holds Bharat Natyam Alankar (M.A. in Dance) from Gandharva Mahavidyalay, Amdavad and Nritya Kovid from Nalanda Dance Research Centre, Mumbai, India. During a dance career spanning more than 30 years, Kanan has given many stage performances personally as well as along with her troupe in major cities in India and North America. Over the years, more than 60 students have performed Arangetral under her tutelage in Canada, India and U.S.A. Kanan Bhatt has been felicitated with many awards & certificates for her contributions in nurturing the younger generation into practicing a healthy & active lifestyle and for promoting the ethnic art & culture, through dance.
Dhanwantary Kumari (Gudiya): DANCING DAMSELS
I have learnt Kathak at a very young age in Kolkata, India, from my dance guru, Pandit Bachan Lal Mishra, one of the most distinguished Kathak Artist and most learned Guru. I can also perform Western Dance fusion with Classical dance and have many years of experience in this dance art.
Julieta Tabares Sanchez: ZUMBA
Julieta Tabares Sanchez, a native of Manizales, Colombia, came to the G.T.A. in June 2004, when her husband was relocated from the U.S. to Canada.
Julieta was always interested in personal fitness and a healthy lifestyle. In 2007, she therefore decided to take her passion "to the next level" and signed up with CanFitPro (Canadian Fitness Professionals) to become a CANFITPRO-certified fitness instructor as well as health and nutrition specialist. One day, searching through the internet, Julieta came across "ZUMBA". She became instantly interested in it for its blend of fitness and the tropical rhythms Julieta grew up with in Colombia. Becoming one of the first certified ZUMBA instructors in the G.T.A. was therefore an obvious calling for Julieta.
In 2007, Julieta started teaching some ZUMBA classes to friends in the basement of a friend's house. The positive feed-back she received, encouraged her to pursue the next step which was renting out a small gym to promote the classes to a wider audience. Within a short period of time, the capacity of the gym proved to be too limited. Fortunately, Julieta found a bigger space which could handle the increased number of participants and also gave her the chance to offer as much classes per week as the growing number of participants demanded.
What started with a weekly meeting in a friend's basement has over the last 6 years developed into a fitness program where Julieta offers between twelve and thirteen hours per week with an attendance ranging between 15 and 50 participants per class.
As time went on, the growing popularity of Zumba classes encouraged Julieta to organize Zumba events with internationally recognized Zumba Master trainers in Oakville.
As a fitness professional, her career mission is to educate others to exercise and to empower all her students to improve quality of live through physical fitness. She therefore measures her success by the positive impact she make on participant's lives. The positive feed-back she receives from them is a constant source of motivation for her.
Last but not least : Proud of her Colombian roots, she is happy to promote through ZUMBA the image of her home country Colombia and its cultural traits in a positive way to a broader audience
For more information about Julieta’s activities, please visit ZUMBACAN.COM
For more information on ZUMBA in general, please visit ZUMBA.COM
Egyptian Dance Company:
“Exhilarating, Vibrant & Innovative”
Increasingly described as “The Broadway of Belly Dance”, the Egyptian Dance Company is a multi-disciplinary company founded by Nada El Masriya in 2005.
The company's vision is to represent Egyptian and Middle Eastern dance's naturally entertaining and positive outlook while instilling a more sophisticated awareness of the complexities of the international world by creating increased transparency and deeper insights into associated political and social issues.
Because Nada El Masriya believes that dance must be a truthful and sincere representation of the cultural tradition it comes from, she takes pride in making sure that all Egyptian Dance Company dancers truly understand the culture perspective, lyrics and cultural references contained in the performance.
The Artistic Director Nada El Masriya is an international level performer and instructor of Egyptian and Middle Eastern Dance, trained by the world-renowned Reda Troupe. She has received awards and accolades from some of the greatest living Belly Dancers.
"Nada El Masriya is the Ambassador of Egyptian Dance in Canada." - Fifi Abdou
The Egyptian Dance Company encompasses an impressive line-up of talented dancers and skilled musicians consisting of 7 musicians, and 14 male and female dance artists trained in diverse Egyptian and Middle Eastern dance styles. True to the cultural tradition, the dancers are required to not only dance, but also memorize, understand, and sing each and every original dance piece as if they are native to the art form. The company's musical directors represent the best of modern via Simon Rahmoun to the best of traditional as presented by Juno Nominated Dr. George Sawa.
Due to the Company's great artistry and popularity, they are regularly featured in productions and performances locally in Toronto, as well as nationally and internationally, including Dance Ontario, Luminato, The International Council for Traditional Music and World Belly Dance Convention. In addition they have shared the Stage with Egypt's most prestigious dance company the Reda Troupe.
Rich with Culture, Beauty and Dance.
PARUL GUPTA: INFUSION DANCE STUDIOS
Parul Gupta’s training includes Kathak, Bharatha Natyam, Urban Dance, Modern Dance and Hatha Yoga. Over the past six years she has been particularly focused on her study of Kathak, in both Canada and India, under the esteemed guidance of Sandhya Desai, Sudeshna Maulik, Ruby Mishra and the renowned Kumudini Lakhia. Parul is the founder and artistic director of Infusion Dance Studios (www.infusiondance.ca), based in Toronto and Montreal. Her choreographies are part of the Cirque du Soleil productions “Love”, “Kooza” & “Totem”. Parul’s scholastic degrees include a M.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business (Western University) and a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from Concordia University. Recent performance credits include full length Kathak solos in the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre (Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts) in January 2014, Vancouver’s annual India Classical Dance Festival “ Gait to the Spirit” and at the Sampradaya Theatre in Mississauga for the “Horizon Series” in 2013. Parul sits on the Board of the Dance For Life Foundation – a non-profit organization that uses dance as a medium to raise funds to donate to those that need it most and she was a Juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Dance Awards (Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts) 2012-2013 season. Parul believes that dance should be performed with instinctive expression and strong technique and that dance is within everyone.
The true beauty of dance is that it holds no restrictions or boundaries. Nrutha kala kendra Dance Academy has come a long journey to be established as a well known dance school in Toronto.
Preetha Kandanchatha is the Founder and Director of Nruthakala kendara.
In 2002 , the dance academy had just started ,since then NKK Dance academyis established in 4 locations with over 150 students attending.
The Academy provides training in traditional classical forms of dance such Bharathanatyam, mohiniyattam, kuchupdi while it explores a variety of other Indian thematic dances including; , folk and cinematic dances.
. In order to provide the best and for quality purposes, Preetha is fortunate to have ample support and assistance from teachers Smt. Sujatha Ganesh Anjitha Raghuram . and Ebby kaynayil .
Mrs. Preetha Kandanchatha is dancer, choregrapher and the teacher of NKK. Preetha, at the age of 3 with her first guru Mrs. Sadanam Lakshmikkutti Amma started exploring the dance field. Later on she moved on with Kalamandalam Indira for aquaring in depth knowledge in the ocean of dance..Now Preetha is continuing her learning through Ms. Rajasree Warrier.
. Preetha hails from a family of artists, of which one is a master of Kathakali - the traditional dance of Kerala. Hence she has had the opportunity to learn the art of Kathakali, a dance form that is intricately woven with story, thalam, mudra, and abhinayam, from her uncle and guru, Aasaan Narippatta Narayanan Namboodiri. Preetha has many Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali performaces under her belt
Placed Second Runner Up at Miss India Worldwide Canada 2014 Pageant
Completed Bachelor of Law and Society Honours Degree at York University
Interests: passionate about social justice, law, performing arts and music
Goal: To show the diversity of young woman their strength to be themselves, be fearless of rejection/humiliation and to be who they are; wish to be helping women achieve equal recognition in the performing arts
Performance:
The dance performance is a fusion of Folk, Bollywood and Modern Hiphop.
Songs used: Nagad Sang from the movie Raam Leela and Nahin Tere Jeha pop song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
This fusion of versatile dance shows a blend of influences in women's lives today
SEEMA SREEKUMAR: SINGER
Smt Seema Sreekumar mastered in Carnatik Vocal Music and Western music from Chennai.Started her career in the music field at the age of Seven under the renowned violinist Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, and his sister Padmavathi jayaram.Also trained and earned Special Vocal Classes to perform along with Bharathnatyam Arangetram from Shri Adayar K Lakshmanan,the renowned Bharathnatyam expert.
From the Academic Level With her Enchantling voice performed for challenging musical shows and won several awards and She was titled as Nightingale of Anna Adharsh School proudly from her Principal Smt Usha Bhatt. She was also titled as Mithra Gaana Thilakam from the Malayalam Organisation of Chennai.
Attended Musical shows with famous directors in Malayalam Shri kaithpram Damodharan Nambhoodiri,Shri raveendran.A Musical ride to South African Countries with Playback singer Shri Venugopal,and performed various stages in Bahrain with Shri Kannur salim,Shri Kanhangad Ramachandran,Shri Unni menon.Rendered in Star shows with Actor Suresh Gopi and Actress pooja bhatt.Also rendered for several Bharathnatyam Arangetram.
On to her Credit rendered many Devotional albums with Playback Singer Shri Madhu Balakrishnan named Devi Sayoojyam and rendered in several private devotional as well as other albums.Currently working on a Tamil Playback movie named Kamban which is upcoming project.
Meantime She got oppurtunity to deal and share with numerous students of hers all over India,Bahrain and south Africa where she conducted Carnatik vocal Workshops and encouraged one and all to thier heights.
She was one of the panel judges in Junior Munch Star Singer show in Asianet.The programme named Melodic Hummings,the musical ride which was telecasted in Bahrain Asianet was directed and compered by her.
Currently three months in Toronto,Involvment in all Organisations and has performed in various stage shows and started Carnatik vocal training to students in Toronto,Canada.
Prima Dance School opened on April.2.2011. This is the first dance school in North America that is taught by an Indian Movie Choreographer. Ashok Raja master’s assistant is here in Canada teaching right now. Ashok Raja master is a well-known movie choreographer who has done much choreography for various stars. He is known for choreographing for Vijay’s opening song. We teach a variety of dance styles. Some include:
Folk, Hip Hop, Jazz, and etc. We have done various performances on various stages. We currently have 4 branches located in Scarborough, Mississauga, Brampton and Ajax with nearly hundreds of students. Prima Dance school's life goal is to inspire tomorrow’s young artists to develop confidence, ability and passion for dance.
Prima are winners of Panorama India Republic day Folk Dance Competition for past two years. Prima also choreographed and performed in the Adhibhagavan Audio launch which happened in Powerade Centre, Toronto
Joanna de Souza has been studying kathak dance under Pandit Chitresh Das since 1978. She studied in the guru-shisha-param-para tradition, and has been given a deep knowledge of Kathak, through this one-on-one relationship.
As an informed, non-South Asian kathak dancer, Joanna brings her unique perspective to all classes, choreographies and performances.
An award winning full time dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Joanna teaches from beginner to professional levels, on a year-round basis. With dedication to see Kathak continue to flourish in Canada, she teaches all level classes, including those for children.
