BIOS
Heather Myers
Heather is a mother, dance artist, and arts facilitator.
She received her training at the National Ballet School and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and danced with Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Netherlands Dance Theatre. As a company dancer, and later, as an independent artist she has worked with artists including Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Medhi Walerski, Lucinda Childs, Ivan Perez, Marina Mascarell, and Lesley Telford. Heather received the Clifford E. Lee Award for choreography in 2009 and has worked as a commissioned choreographer and instructor of technique and creative process locally and internationally. While living in Holland, Heather organized community-based interdisciplinary improv sessions as part of her work on NDT’s SWITCH committee, and later initiated dance exchange/workshops during personal travel in Indonesia and India.
Most interested in questions around creative process, context, and the social relevance of artistic intelligence, Heather now enjoys supporting the evolution and delivery of other people's work. Pursuing these interests, Heather is currently completing The Tamalpa Institute's Teacher Training Program in Life/Art processes and Somatic Movement Education, and recently completed an Arts Management program at Capilano University which included practicum work with The PuSh Festival, The Roundhouse, and Plastic Orchid Factory. She has also studied Contemporary Arts at SFU, and studied with Ruth Little and Liz Lerman in Banff, among others. Thanks to the trust and generosity of her community, Heather now collaborates with various artists and organizations as an instructor, rehearsal director, creative advisor, interpreter, writer, and production assistant. She lives in Burnaby, BC, on unceded Central Coast Salish Territory.
Lesley Telford
Lesley is a choreographer and the Artistic Director of Inverso Productions. She is grateful to live and work on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people. Through Lesley’s choreographic work she explores the physicality and spatial structures of emotional states at the intersection of dance, the visual arts, text and film. Her work has been described as having “a profound way of tapping into very deep recesses of our emotional and intellectual landscapes”. She combines impulse-based physicality with sensitivity to the minute relationships between performers and their environment.
As an educator and mentor, she has a long-standing commitment in support of emerging dance artists. To further this purpose Inverso has developed outreach and professional platforms to provide valuable opportunities and experience. She has taught internationally in many companies and schools.
Lesley finished her studies in Montreal at L´École Supérieur de Danse du Québec before joining the company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She went on to dance with Nacho Duato´s Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain. Most recently she danced with Netherlands Dans Theater 1. Lesley has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production from the University of Salzburg and the Mozarteum.
Season 2021/22 will include new commissions from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and her third creation for Ballet BC. She has also created works for Netherlands Dans Theater 1, Hubbard Street Dance Company 2, Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Ballet Vorpommern, International Project for Dance in Rome- DAF, Butler Ballet, University of Utah, and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
She founded her own company, Inverso Productions, in 2012 to experiment with other art forms and ways of creating dance. She has worked with many collaborators including scenographer Yoko Seyama, writer Barbara Adler, videographer David Cooper and composer James Meger among others. Through Inverso Productions she has produced and choreographed two full-length works: Brittle Failure, which has been a part of tours and festivals in Spain, the Netherlands and Canada and Spooky Action, which recently premiered in Canada to enthusiastic reviews. Her work has been presented in the CaDance Festival and Korzo Theatre in the Netherlands, International Festival Madrid en Danza and the Reina Sophia Museum in Spain, the Chutzpah Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, the Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, the Schmiede Festival, EDAM Choreographic Series, the Fluid Festival in Calgary, and the Vancouver International Dance Festival.
Shay Kuebler
Shay is a Vancouver-based choreographer and Artistic Director of Radical System Art. Shay’s abilities as a creator and performer have grown from his versatility and exposure to numerous art forms. He has continued to invest in his artistic practice through international studies in music, theatre, dance and martial arts, including focused time in The USA, Brazil, Japan and China.
As a performer, he has worked in the fields of Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary Dance, Circus Arts, Film and Theatre. He has performed for numerous companies across Canada, USA and The UK, including Kidd Pivot, Holy Body Tattoo, Pachimama Theatre, Line 1 and Company 605.
He has choreographed and directed works for Ballet Edmonton, The American Dance Festival, CitieBallet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Moment Factory and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks. In Vancouver, he was a co-founder of The 605 Collective and is the founder and current Artistic Director of Radical System Art. With his company, Shay has produced and directed five full- evening dance works that have toured nationally and internationally.
As an educator, Shay has worked with multiple organizations including Simon Fraser University, L’Ecole Du Danse Quebec, The London Contemporary Dance School, The American Dance Festival, Arts Umbrella and Modus Operandi.
In 2010, he received the Holy Body Tattoo emerging artist award and in 2014 he received The Mayor’s Arts Award for emerging dance artist from the City of Vancouver.
www.shaykuebler.com
Michael Schumacher
Based in Amsterdam, Michael Schumacher is a performing artist with roots in classical and modern dance.
He has been a member of several groundbreaking companies, including Ballet Frankfurt (with William Forsythe), Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Pretty Ugly Dance Company, and Magpie Music Dance Company. A collaborative figure in several productions of Peter Sellars, Schumacher has appeared in Bible Pieces, Peony Pavilion, El Niño, Bach Cantatas, La Passion de Simone, and The Vimalakirti Sutra.
Working as dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Schumacher has developed a unique approach to the discipline of improvisation. Music is a fundamental element of his process, and he has collaborated with many pioneering musicians, including percussionist Han Bennink, violinist Mary Oliver, and cellist Alex Waterman.
As a choreographer, Schumacher has created original works with the dancers of Ballet Frankfurt, Netherlands Dance Theater III, The Dutch National Ballet, and Dansgroep Amsterdam. In recent years, Schumacher’s work has come to the forefront in several productions of the Holland Dance Festival. With Jiri Kylián, he created the hauntingly beautiful Last Touch First, which has been performed throughout Europe and the U.S. to great acclaim. Recently Schumacher created Queen Lear, a dramatic duet in which he and Sabine Kupferberg reveal Shakespeare’s epic narrative with striking simplicity.
rIn 2008, Schumacher was awarded both the Gouden Zwaan and the Jiri Kylián Ring, the first dancer/choreographer ever to receive the two awards at the same time.
Heather Myers
Heather is a mother, dance artist, and arts facilitator.
She received her training at the National Ballet School and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and danced with Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Netherlands Dance Theatre. As a company dancer, and later, as an independent artist she has worked with artists including Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Medhi Walerski, Lucinda Childs, Ivan Perez, Marina Mascarell, and Lesley Telford. Heather received the Clifford E. Lee Award for choreography in 2009 and has worked as a commissioned choreographer and instructor of technique and creative process locally and internationally. While living in Holland, Heather organized community-based interdisciplinary improv sessions as part of her work on NDT’s SWITCH committee, and later initiated dance exchange/workshops during personal travel in Indonesia and India.
Most interested in questions around creative process, context, and the social relevance of artistic intelligence, Heather now enjoys supporting the evolution and delivery of other people's work. Pursuing these interests, Heather is currently completing The Tamalpa Institute's Teacher Training Program in Life/Art processes and Somatic Movement Education, and recently completed an Arts Management program at Capilano University which included practicum work with The PuSh Festival, The Roundhouse, and Plastic Orchid Factory. She has also studied Contemporary Arts at SFU, and studied with Ruth Little and Liz Lerman in Banff, among others. Thanks to the trust and generosity of her community, Heather now collaborates with various artists and organizations as an instructor, rehearsal director, creative advisor, interpreter, writer, and production assistant. She lives in Burnaby, BC, on unceded Central Coast Salish Territory.
Lesley Telford
Lesley is a choreographer and the Artistic Director of Inverso Productions. She is grateful to live and work on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people. Through Lesley’s choreographic work she explores the physicality and spatial structures of emotional states at the intersection of dance, the visual arts, text and film. Her work has been described as having “a profound way of tapping into very deep recesses of our emotional and intellectual landscapes”. She combines impulse-based physicality with sensitivity to the minute relationships between performers and their environment.
As an educator and mentor, she has a long-standing commitment in support of emerging dance artists. To further this purpose Inverso has developed outreach and professional platforms to provide valuable opportunities and experience. She has taught internationally in many companies and schools.
Lesley finished her studies in Montreal at L´École Supérieur de Danse du Québec before joining the company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She went on to dance with Nacho Duato´s Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain. Most recently she danced with Netherlands Dans Theater 1. Lesley has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production from the University of Salzburg and the Mozarteum.
Season 2021/22 will include new commissions from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and her third creation for Ballet BC. She has also created works for Netherlands Dans Theater 1, Hubbard Street Dance Company 2, Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Ballet Vorpommern, International Project for Dance in Rome- DAF, Butler Ballet, University of Utah, and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
She founded her own company, Inverso Productions, in 2012 to experiment with other art forms and ways of creating dance. She has worked with many collaborators including scenographer Yoko Seyama, writer Barbara Adler, videographer David Cooper and composer James Meger among others. Through Inverso Productions she has produced and choreographed two full-length works: Brittle Failure, which has been a part of tours and festivals in Spain, the Netherlands and Canada and Spooky Action, which recently premiered in Canada to enthusiastic reviews. Her work has been presented in the CaDance Festival and Korzo Theatre in the Netherlands, International Festival Madrid en Danza and the Reina Sophia Museum in Spain, the Chutzpah Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, the Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, the Schmiede Festival, EDAM Choreographic Series, the Fluid Festival in Calgary, and the Vancouver International Dance Festival.
Shay Kuebler
Shay is a Vancouver-based choreographer and Artistic Director of Radical System Art. Shay’s abilities as a creator and performer have grown from his versatility and exposure to numerous art forms. He has continued to invest in his artistic practice through international studies in music, theatre, dance and martial arts, including focused time in The USA, Brazil, Japan and China.
As a performer, he has worked in the fields of Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary Dance, Circus Arts, Film and Theatre. He has performed for numerous companies across Canada, USA and The UK, including Kidd Pivot, Holy Body Tattoo, Pachimama Theatre, Line 1 and Company 605.
He has choreographed and directed works for Ballet Edmonton, The American Dance Festival, CitieBallet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Moment Factory and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks. In Vancouver, he was a co-founder of The 605 Collective and is the founder and current Artistic Director of Radical System Art. With his company, Shay has produced and directed five full- evening dance works that have toured nationally and internationally.
As an educator, Shay has worked with multiple organizations including Simon Fraser University, L’Ecole Du Danse Quebec, The London Contemporary Dance School, The American Dance Festival, Arts Umbrella and Modus Operandi.
In 2010, he received the Holy Body Tattoo emerging artist award and in 2014 he received The Mayor’s Arts Award for emerging dance artist from the City of Vancouver.
www.shaykuebler.com
Michael Schumacher
Based in Amsterdam, Michael Schumacher is a performing artist with roots in classical and modern dance.
He has been a member of several groundbreaking companies, including Ballet Frankfurt (with William Forsythe), Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Pretty Ugly Dance Company, and Magpie Music Dance Company. A collaborative figure in several productions of Peter Sellars, Schumacher has appeared in Bible Pieces, Peony Pavilion, El Niño, Bach Cantatas, La Passion de Simone, and The Vimalakirti Sutra.
Working as dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Schumacher has developed a unique approach to the discipline of improvisation. Music is a fundamental element of his process, and he has collaborated with many pioneering musicians, including percussionist Han Bennink, violinist Mary Oliver, and cellist Alex Waterman.
As a choreographer, Schumacher has created original works with the dancers of Ballet Frankfurt, Netherlands Dance Theater III, The Dutch National Ballet, and Dansgroep Amsterdam. In recent years, Schumacher’s work has come to the forefront in several productions of the Holland Dance Festival. With Jiri Kylián, he created the hauntingly beautiful Last Touch First, which has been performed throughout Europe and the U.S. to great acclaim. Recently Schumacher created Queen Lear, a dramatic duet in which he and Sabine Kupferberg reveal Shakespeare’s epic narrative with striking simplicity.
rIn 2008, Schumacher was awarded both the Gouden Zwaan and the Jiri Kylián Ring, the first dancer/choreographer ever to receive the two awards at the same time.
Inverso Productions gratefully acknowledges that the land on which we work and create is the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. We are committed to ongoing learning to be informed allies of Indigineous people.
Copyright © 2024
Inverso Productions Society
1190 Kilmer Rd, North Vancouver, BC, V7K 1R1
Inverso Productions Society
1190 Kilmer Rd, North Vancouver, BC, V7K 1R1