Showcase 2020 Artists
Experience of a variety of performance styles from this year's Showcasing artists. All artists featured in Showcase will be added to our Artists on Tour Directory to book for your school in September 2020.
See who will be performing at Showcase this April!
Aché Brasil
Aché Brasil brings the beauty of the Brazilian cultural art forms to children through engaging and interactive shows that include Brazilian music, dance, culture and martial arts. Combining stunning acrobatics, the hypnotic rhythms of Afro-Brazilian dance and the awe-inspiring art form of Capoeira, words like breathtaking are inadequate to describe this group; known to leave the audience spellbound.
Candy Bones
Candice Roberts of Candy Bones Theatre and Nayana Fielkov of Ragmop Theatre have been professionally collaborating together for over 15 years! (The Myrtle Sisters/The Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret) Make a Mistak! masterfully combines their love of immersive physical theatre, music, mask, puppetry, clown and dance to explore the ART of FAILURE.
CréaSon
CréaSon is the brain child of Sylvain Grenier, a musician with boundless imagination (Robert lepage, solo with OSM) and the musician-signer Alain Quirion (Daniel Bélanger, Zébulon, Michel Pagliaro), CréaSon is on the road since 1991 with more than 2,000 performances in venues, festivals and schools in Canada. CréaSon unites children of all ages in a big "environmusical" party! Being ecological is so logical!
Cumbia Galera
“Cumbia Galera” means: “Cumbia of the People”. Our name is a reflection of our passion for sharing Cumbia in community. We explore what it means to come from different lands, speak different languages, and practice different dances… We celebrate the diverse gifts we bring to nurture the seed of Cumbia in new soil, and encourage audiences to consider how they nurture diversity in their lives.
D.O. Gibson
D.O. Gibson is a Guinness World Record setting rapper, published author and University graduate that has been inspiring hundreds of thousands of youth since 2001. He set a Guinness World Record for longest freestyle rap by rapping for 8 hours and 45 minutes. Gibson’s school program has been featured on CTV’s Etalk, YTV In The Zone, and on MuchMusic.
Green Thumb Theatre
For over 40 years, Green Thumb Theatre has been creating and producing plays that explore social issues relevant to the lives of children, youth, and young adults. They provide theatre that celebrates the language and stories of today's generation, stimulating empathy, debate, and critical thinking. Green Thumb is one of Canada's foremost creators of theatre for young audiences.
HeARTbeat Theatre Productions
The HeARTbeat cast is made up of three passionate professional artists, who love kids and are pursuing a calling to tell stories that will inspire kids to find their place in the world. Not only do we create, perform and work together, but we're great friends who love to travel, laugh and imagine together.
Immigrant Lessons
This vibrant young collective promotes cultural pluralism through dance, music, fashion and visual design. Using an exciting mashup of styles including various street dance forms, theatre, voice and spoken word they tell stories of first- and second-generation immigrants, navigating Canadian culture and facing questions of identity and belonging. Audiences are taken on an emotional journey through curiosity, struggle, and love.
Jess Dance
Jess & her company are passionate dance educators experienced in empowering K to Grade 12 students. They are committed to working in all schools regardless of financial ability, & to reaching the most remote communities. They provide a safe space for youth to have fun, try their best, & be who they truly are while building character, confidence, self expression, & connection.
Jillian Christmas
Jillian Christmas is a queer, afro-caribbean writer living on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam people (Vancouver, BC.), where she served for six years as Artistic Director of Versəs Festival of Words. Jillian's work has been published in a number of magazines and books, she has performed and facilitated workshops across the country and beyond, her debut collection launches in March 2020.
Karima Essa
Three-time Canadian National Dance champion Karima Essa is an incredibly charismatic and passionate Bollywood dance performer/choreographer who has entertained audiences at festivals, theatres and schools across Canada. Her love for Bollywood took her to the screens in Mumbai as a two-time semi-finalist on Omni TV’s Bollywood Star. Karima first showcased at ArtStarts in 2018 and has performed 100+ schools.
Kung Jaadee
Kung Jaadee is a professional storyteller, educator, author, drummer, singer and dancer belonging to the Haida, Musqueam and Squamish First Nations. For nearly 30 years, she has performed traditional Haida legends teaching universal messages about sharing, community, love and self-respect, while also sharing personal stories about her clan's survival of the smallpox epidemic and the history and hardships of her people.
PIQSIQ
" Inspired by Arctic beauty, Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, come together to create Inuit style throat singing duo, PIQSIQ. First experienced as a singing game amongst children, they realized as adults that throat singing was not only a musical expression, but a radical act of cultural revitalization. PIQSIQ has toured Canada, in the US, Germany, Switzerland and Finland."
Queer Songbook Orchestra
They is Me, a QSO Kids Production, is an extension of the Toronto based Queer Songbook Orchestra. A collaborative new work created by, and combining the skills and past experience of, Juno award winning puppeteer, producer and veteran of children's television Ali Eisner; theatre actor, writer and wandering poet Stephen Jackman-Torkoff; and a pocket sized version of the Shaun Brodie led Queer Songbook Orchestra.
RupLoops
" When it comes to entertaining audiences of all ages, RupLoops has the job on lock. The brainchild of Vancouver-based Rup Sidhu, RupLoops is known for delivering highly engaging, interactive experiences using vocal percussion, rhythmic rhymes, live looping and an arsenal of eclectic instruments from around the world. He has been welcomed to festivals, schools and universities around the globe."
SABALI! of CIRQUE JEUNESSE EN ÉQUILIBRE
SABALI! is a vibrant and kinetic circus and West African arts troupe that has presented their work L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE in BC, Quebec and Romania. Co-directed since 2013 by Mamoudou Diallo and Allison Griffith, SABALI! uses circus and West African arts as a fun way to build bridges between cultures and encourage youth to discover their full potential and become inspired about life!
Story Theatre Company
For nearly 40 years, Story Theatre has been inspiring imagination and encouraging literacy by creating dynamic theatrical productions for children inspired by classic literature, fairy tales, and fables. The company commissions new plays by emerging Canadian playwrights specifically for touring to schools. Story Theatre values widespread access to arts-experiences because Story is part of each of us & we are all part of the show.
TapCo (Youth Tap Ensemble)
TapCo is a company of young performers (ages 11-17) showcasing tap dance with virtuosic technique and versatility. A staple of the lower mainland, TapCo performances combine storytelling, tap dance, and audience participation, to inspire, uplift, and highlighting the communities of origin in which tap dance was born. TapCo shows feature choreography by internationally acclaimed artists commissioned by the Vancouver Tap Dance Society.
The Gumboot Kids Live Show featuring Jessie Farrell
Jessie Farrell is a Juno award-winning singer-songwriter who loves entertaining audiences with her songs about the joy and wonder of nature. Jessie Farrell stars in Jessie & The Gumboot Kids, a spin-off of the hit CBC Kids television series Scout & The Gumboot Kids.
The Well Worn Trail
As lifelong musicians, learners and educators, we care deeply for this beautiful planet. Our talents and energy merge to give an inspiring and interactive performance for all ages. We are driven by our beliefs that we’re all interconnected and that nature is medicine. We share connection, protection and respect for all biodiversity through homegrown music, puppetry, natural instruments and more!
Wali Shah
An alumni of RBC’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants, Wali Shah, is a poet and public speaker. He’s given TED talks, he’s worked on voiceovers, he’s created poetry for corporate projects, and has spoken at schools and colleges across Canada. He's the Poet Laureate for his hometown, Mississauga, Ontario. From performing for Barack Obama, to freestyling with Kendrick Lamar: thousands follow his voice, and his advocacy.
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