Administrative Team
Pamela Boyd - Artistic Director
Joint-founder and the Artistic Director of Calgary’s MoMo Mixed Ability Dance Theatre, Pamela Boyd is a well known member of Western Canada’s independent dance and theatre communities. A professional theatre artist for almost fifty years, Pamela trained as an actor in the 70s at The Drama Studio in London, England. A performer with a strong movement practice, she has worked across Canada and in the UK. In 1997 she began working with adults with disabilities and quickly became involved in disability arts. After many years teaching improvisational theatre and movement and working with a wide range of influences in the creation of her own more exploratory, multi-disciplinary work, she is totally at home in the exciting world of inclusive arts and performance. In pursuit of training and exposure Pamela travelled to Australia, The UK and the US. She certified as a DanceAbility teacher with Joint Forces Dance Company in Oregon in 2004, and has also worked with Wolfgang Stange, Karen Anderson and Adam Benjamin in the UK. She has found that working in a diverse artistic community has posed questions and presented challenges which have profoundly deepened her own creative life and practice. A long time theatre teacher and practitioner Pamela is also and an award winning playwright well known for her plays; Inside Out, Odd Fish and I Love Mondays, performed throughout Canada. Pamela is also a certified yoga instructor.
Naomi Brand - Associate Director
Naomi Brand holds both an MFA (Drama) and a BA (Dance) from the University of Calgary and is an active member of the Calgary dance community. As an independent dancer, choreographer and teacher Naomi has been fortunate to work with many talented artists and companies. She has performed in the works of Helen Husak, kloetzel&co (Melanie Kloetzel), Darcy McGehee, M-Body (Davida Monk), Wojtek Mochniej, Sharon Moore and Jason Stroh amongst others. She has trained extensively in contemporary dance and improvisation with renowned teachers from across Canada, US and Europe. In 2010 Naomi traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay to train with Alito Alessi as part of the DanceAbility teacher-training program. Her choreographic works have been presented in numerous festivals and venues in Calgary as well as in Toronto, Vancouver, Poland and Italy. She is an instructor at the University of Calgary, a news writer for The Dance Current as well as the Co-Director of the Calgary Contemporary Dance Collective.
Naomi first became involved with MoMo Mixed Ability Dance Theatre in 2005 as a guest performer and teacher. Since then she has directed Conundrum (2006), choreographed Echoes and Arrivals (2008) and Sneaky Business (2010), Paired (2010), as well as acted as rehearsal director for the company’s repertoire.
Naomi is currently MoMo’s Artistic Associate and a teacher of both the Tuesday community class and the youth program.
To contact Naomi by email: naomi@momodancetheatre.org
Catherine Coutts - Administrator
Catherine Coutts was born in France and has made Calgary her home since 1981. She describes herself as an energetic multi-tasker and wearer of many hats. She is an independent travel consultant, works with Bowtown Music, a local Music Studio, and has tremendously enjoyed working with MoMo Dance Theatre for the past 3 years and seen it grow into a well respected organization.
Norma Lock - Arts Management Consultant
Ensemble Artists
Members of the Performance Ensemble are improvisers of mixed ability with more than one year of experience. Ensemble members have made a commitment to the group and the ongoing process of physical and vocal exploration leading to innovative and distinct performance.
Michael Ho
Michael has been dancing with MoMo since its inception in 2003. He is most remembered for his solo, Big Naught: Memory of a Brain Injury, which he choreographed in 2006. In February 2011 Michael traveled to Cuba with MoMo to work with Cuban mixed ability dancers. He enjoys the free spirit of improvisational dance, an art form accessible to all abilities and welcomes all artistic challenges and adventures.
Frances Maleske
Frances has been a committed member of the MoMo ensemble since 2006 and made her stage debut in MoMo's 2007 show, Dancing in Tongues. As a long time member of The Disability Action Hall, Frances is a self advocate, committed to raising awareness around issues of increasing AISH pensions and affordable housing. Frances has also been working with InDefinite Arts for many years and enjoys expressing her artistic talent through crafts!
Thomas Poulsen
Thomas has been a dedicated member of MoMo Dance Theatre for seven years. He has performed his solo My Head Is Filled With Things to Say in a number of venues in Calgary including the Fluid Festival and International Day of Persons with Disabilities. He has also performed the duet Paired across Calgary as well as in Italy. In 2006 Thomas traveled to London, England to study with internationally renowned improvisation teacher, Adam Benjamin. Thomas is also a committed member of the Disability Action Hall and has been working professionally with people with developmental disabilities for many years. He serves as a member of MoMo’s Board of Directors.
Brenley Shatz
Brenley joined MoMo in January 2007 and was seen in The Matilda Stewart Show, Dancing in Tongues, singing in Freak Out 2007 and 2008 and in Crossing The Line. Brenley has been performing music on and off for over forty years. As a voice student of Elaine Case, Brenley has achieved her Grade 8 certificate with the Royal Conservatory of Music and has been wowing audiences with her comedic timing in Musical Comedy Recitals since 1989.
Jennifer Stewart
Jennifer will be going into her 7th season with MoMo. She has performed in many of MoMo’s pieces including her solo The Night Time is the Right Time which was seen in Momentum and International Day of Persons with Disabilities. She has almost ten years experience working in a variety of projects in the Calgary theatre community. In September 2007, Jennifer took part in The Leading Edge workshop with Mind The Gap Theatre Company in England. Jennifer was also in Julie McNamaras film I dream, I dare, I do which is in the editing stages. Jennifer enjoys going to movies in her spare time....
Loretta Young
Loretta has been very happy dancing with MoMo Dance Theatre since 2005. In 2009 Loretta trained with Axis Dance in San Francisco and in 2010 traveled to Finland where she studied with Alito Alessi, founding director of DanceAbility. In 2011, Loretta traveled with MoMo to Kimberley B.C. to teach and perform and to Cuba to work with mixed-ability dancers.
James Silcok
James began dancing with MoMo in 2009 in the Tuesday class. He joined the performance ensemble in 2011. James has performed in Imaginary People and brings a great deal of rhythm and funk to the ensemble. James goes to InDefinite Arts regularly, loves wrestling and country music.
Yvonne Anderson
Yvonne was born in Calgary and raised in British Columbia. Yvonne is a practical nurse who began participating in MoMo classes with a client in 2007. She was immediately hooked and is now both a committed ensemble member and a teacher of MoMo’s Tuesday classes and youth classes. In 2010, Yvonne traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay to participate in the DanceAbility teacher-training program with Alito Alessi.
Kathy Austin
Legally blind since birth, Kathy began dancing with MoMo in the fall of 2008 and in September 2009 she joined the performance ensemble. She danced in Freak Show 2010 as part of the High Performance Rodeo, in MoMo’s mainstage show Momentum, in October 2010, and is now fully participating in all of the ensemble’s performance activities. Also a busy and award winning visual artist, Kathy’s work has been exhibited, screened and sold across Western Canada and as far away as Southern California. She lives in Calgary with her husband Tom Morrison.
Brodie Boychuk
Brodie grew up in Grande Prairie, Alberta. He moved to Calgary where he attended Mount Royal College. Brodie leads a busy life in his community playing wheelchair floor hockey, wheelchair floor soccer, is a member of a bowling league, the Disability Action Hall and also actively involved in his church. Brodie joined MoMo in 2010 and has performed in Rumi Triad and Imaginary People.
Spencer Choy
Spencer began dancing with MoMo’s Tuesday class in 2009. In 2011, he joined the performance ensemble where he danced in Imaginary People. When he’s not dancing Spencer enjoys traveling with his family and collecting stamps and coins from other countries.
Other Artists We Work With:
Valerie Campbell
Valerie is a performing artist and teacher working in actor training and performance creation with a specialization in movement. She is ever grateful for her dream job as a faculty member in the Department of Drama at the University of Calgary. Valerie is grateful to MoMo for the opportunity to work with this inspiring performance community.
Nicole Mion
Artist and Curator, Nicole Mion is a sought after director and contemporary choreographer specializing in contemporary performance, new media, dance, and installation. For MoMo she has choreographed Tuba Man and the 3 solos in Crossing The Line. She is Artistic Director for Sprinbgoard and Co-Artistic Director for Road Pictures. For Springboard, Nicole curates Interrarium - a multi-disciplinary creative residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Fluid Movement Arts Festival in Calgary. Nicole won the Paula Citron award for most outstanding choreography at fFIDA Toronto.
Kyrsten Blair
Kyrsten Blair is a dancer, choreographer, and educator. Her choreography has been seen at Dancers’ Studio West, Calgary Opera, Corps Bara Dance Theatre and others. She has also performed with the One Yellow Rabbit Ensemble, and was rehearsal mistress for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’ Bulla! She draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, including intensive study of Javanese Court Dance in Indonesia, aerial dance in the United States, Cuban folkloric in Old Havana, and a BFA in Drama from the University of Calgary.
Kyrsten is also the Director of Be Love Yoga Studio, the Dance Specialist at the Calgary Girls' School, and a sessional instructor in the Faculties of Fine Arts and Kinesiology at the University of Calgary.
Veronica Benz
Veronica Benz holds a B.A. degree from the faculties of Kinesiology and Fine Arts of the University of Calgary, majoring in Contemporary Dance. She has pursued professional training in dance technique, choreography and education. She has extensive experience teaching, and has focused her efforts into teaching dance for people of mixed abilities. In Calgary she has taught for Prospect Now, for children in the SKILL program. For MoMo Dance Theatre, she is a teacher, rehearsal director and administrator. Veronica is also a dance artist, and is frequently presented as a performer and choreographer. Her choreography has been most recently presented at the 2010 Fluid Movement Arts Festival, Alberta Dance Explosions (2010, 2009), Why dance? (2009) and many more. Veronica is very, very happy to be involved with the wonderful people and the amazing work that makes up MoMo Dance Theatre.
To contact Veronica by email: veronica@momodancetheatre.org
MoMo regularly hires professional dance, theatre and visual artists and musicians
from the Calgary arts community and beyond to work with the Company.
MoMo also brings teachers from other countries to run workshops. To date they are:
Wolfgang Stange & Colm Gallagher from Amici Dance Theatre in London, England, May 2008;
Karen Anderson & Neil Price from Indepen-dance in Glasgow, Scotland, January 2010;
Alito Alessi of DanceAbility International May 2010.
Board of Directors
Sarah Boulton, President
Sarah is in her third year on the Board of Directors for MoMo. After becoming legally blind 8 years ago, Sarah has embraced her "new life" by being an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities as well as a public speaker promoting understanding and awareness. Currently, she sits on the Board of Directors for CNIB (AB/NWT Division) and is involved with the Advisory Sub-Committee on Accessibility (ACA) and The Calgary Foundation. Sarah's passion is to be a director of film work and she has made 5 films to date.
Gloria Toole, Secretary
Gloria, BEd, M.A, is a freelance writer and retired teacher. She completed her 35 year teaching career as an advisor in special education for the Calgary Board of Education but continues to work for those with special needs as a volunteer in several non-profit organizations. She meditates, reads, writes, cooks, attempts to garden and hangs out with her friends, family and dog, Cricket in her “spare” time.
Jill Webb, Treasurer
MoMo is pleased to welcome Jill in her first term as Treasurer. Jill has served as Treasurer on other non-profit boards and is an instructor of accounting at the University of Calgary. Her passion for yoga and movement further aligns her with MoMo.
Vivian Choy, Director
Vivian joined MoMo in 2009 with her brother, Spencer. Having served in a variety of roles within the social justice arena in Calgary, Montreal, and abroad, Vivian, M.Phil., currently works as a Crime Analyst for the city. She continues to cherish the people and activities and spirit of the organization since arriving in the studio from the very first moment.
Thomas Poulsen, Director and Performer
Shawna Burnett, Director
