Oriah Wiersma is a community-oriented movement artist and bodyworker (CST, Thai massage) who grew up profoundly connected to the land that helped shape her. She splits her time between Toronto and Northumberland county passionate to support the arts in both a large city centre and a small town. With physical movement as her language she is curious how the body speaks when words fail and the ripple of our craniosacral rhythm. Oriah is passionate about collaboration, the exchange of knowledge amongst disciplines and generations. She works with musicians regularly connecting to her long history with music. She created five choreographic works and was movement director for R. Murray Schafer’s musical drama The Spirit Garden that took place outdoors in Coldsprings, ON with close to 100 performers. This past year she choreographed and performed for the Toronto-based band Ptarmigan’s new music video and was commissioned by SONG (Songs Of the Next Generation) to create a movement film. With the synth-pop band ZINNIA, she creates choreographic works to their songs, performing with them at the Basement Review Series - curated by Jason Collett, ArtsWells music festival in BC, and in various Toronto Parks this past summer. Oriah continues to lean into the possibilities of interdisciplinary exchange through various artistic residencies; The Creative Gesture Collective Composition Lab for Music and Dance at the Banff Centre for the Arts, New Music New Dance Creation Residency through Connection Dance Works, and Reclaiming Attention through the Ottawa Dance Directive.

Amanda Pye is a movement artist and creator currently based in Toronto. She has collaborated with a wide range of creators including Mikaela Demers, Aeris Körper, I/O Movement, Sarah Koekkoek, Krista Newey, Candice Irwin, Kate Hilliard, Apolonia Velasquez, Jasmyn Fyffe, Alias Dance Project, Frog in Hand, and Shotgun Juliet Theatre Company. Amanda is currently working as a collaborator with adelheid dance projects and choreographer Heidi Strauss. She is also working to develop her choreographic practice, and her most recent creative projects have been developed through residencies at Canada’s National Ballet School supported by Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Open Space Programme at The National Ballet of Canada, and the Performing Arts Creation Residency at The Banff Centre. She is also interested in how she can translate her movement through film and was accepted as a bursary recipient for the Digital Media Lab stream at Artscape Daniels Launchpad Toronto. Her film explorations have been shared in various online showcases; including the film project ‘14' created with sound designer Dorian Voos, which was featured in a month-long gallery display produced by MakeRoom Inc at Stackt Market. Amanda holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ryerson University Performance Dance Program.