Biographies

Livea Gill
(Artistic Director)

Born and raised in the Comox Valley, Livea’s love for the performing arts started at a young age. Since the age of 8, she began her training in jazz and ballet, but quickly branched out into modern/contemporary, stylized jazz, lyrical jazz and hip hop. Being from the Comox Valley, Livea continued to train extensively across Vancouver Island as well in the Greater Vancouver Area. As a dancer, teacher and choreographer Livea has enjoyed the opportunity to work with many of the local talented young performers in several of the dance studios and schools in the Comox Valley. In June 2007, Livea was appointed Artistic Director to the Company. With over 10 years teaching experience, Livea combines her extreme passion for dance and music with her positive energy and creative flare to create dance classes that are always fun, challenging and inspiring. 

Tamara Ryan
(Guest Choreographer)

Tamara Ryan started teaching Musical Theatre at Gemini Dance Studios School of Performing Arts in 1995 after receiving her associate degree in Theatre. During her studies and early teaching years she enjoyed being on stage performing many roles: Patsy Cline in Always Patsy Cline, Ruby McKutcheon in Country Coral, Bobbi/Gabby in City of Angels, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Jack in Jack and the Bean Stalk, Barbara Allen in Dark of the Moon and playing various roles in Chemanius Theatre’s debut production of West Coast Review. Most recently, she returned to stage last summer for Showcase Festivals production of Cabaret.

During Tamara’s Grade school years she trained in ballet, highland and jazz (and was the only dancer in her school to enter Song and Dance into the North Island Festival and onto Provincials to win for her intermediate category.)

Tamara pioneered the Musical Theatre program at Gemini and has seen her students reap many rewards. Teaching is her love and she has devoted much of her time and energy to the success and uniqueness of her student’s performances. Her desire to communicate a love of the performing arts to an audience is evident in the numerous pieces that she has created for Gemini, Harbour Dance Centre and Kirkwood Dance Academy. Tamara also enjoys teaching voice, early childhood program and A.I.D.T.A modern jazz.

Choreographic credits include, Fiddler on the Roof, Anne of Green Gables, Tom Foolery, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Tom Sawyer, Mame, and Oklahoma.

Performance and entertainment is her motto as she tries to help her students become “Triple Threats” (singing, dancing, and acting) in a fun innovative and positive environment.

“There is nothing like being out there on the stage and using all your communication skills to capture the audience”

Lindsay Sterk
(Guest Choreographer)

An accomplished dancer, singer and actor, Lindsay has performed and taught throughout Canada.  As a tap dancer he has studied with Brenda Bufalino, Heather Cornell, Dianne Walker, Lane Alexander, Cindy Kerr, Germaine Salsberg, Jim Hibbard and Lisa Hopkins.  He has been a performer in various tap events such as Tap is..., It's about Tap, as well as guest appearances with the Urban Tap Squad. As an adjudicator he has worked for Kamloops Festival of Performing Arts; Pacific West Festival and the North Island Festival of Performing Arts. Teaching credits include Harbour Dance Centre, Vancouver Tap Dance Society, Danette’s Dance and several other West Coast dance studios.

Lindsay's selected musical theatre credits include roles such as Cliff in Cabaret (Showcase Festival); Freddy in My Fair Lady/Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (Chemainus Theatre); M. D’Arque in Beauty and the Beast (Arts Club); Figaro in the Marriage of Figaro (Burnaby Lyric Opera); Dr. Craven in the Secret Garden (Gateway Theatre); as well as work with The Arts Club, Vancouver Playhouse, Wild Excursions, Pangaea Arts, Modern Baroque Opera, Ophidian, Pacific Opera Victoria, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, Stage West, and the Charlottetown Festival.

Lindsay is the Director/Owner of Pantuso Dance in Courtenay, BC. www.pantusodance.com

Lilian Ashworth
(Guest Choreographer)

Lilian Ashworth is a British born dance teacher who holds a BA (hons) degree in Performance Arts from Middlesex University in the UK. She went on to dance professionally for eight years, working with a variety of touring and educational dance companies that took her to Europe and India.  

Lilian went on to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Drama Education and taught in mainstream schools, transition units and secure units for several years.  

Lilian is now enjoying her life as a freelance dance and drama teacher here in BC. Lilian hopes to gain her BC teachers certification and bring her experience into local schools.

Martha Carter
(Guest Choreographer)

Artistic Director of mmHoP, Martha Carter is a Canadian based director-choreographer-creator of dance, media and music works. Transcending her roots of classical music and ballet, her works push the boundaries of style fusion. Dancers sing their score and composers dance; video artists share the stage with drag queens ‘en pointe’; ballet dancers battle freestylers while break dancers reinvent ballet. Carter’s hybrid’s are the external expression of her vision of dance as a reflection of contemporary life.

Carter’s recent choreographies Xdance at the Canada Dance Festival 2002, iDUB at the ScotiaBank Dance Centre in March 2004, The Spell Remains at The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in January 2005, and ri’zilyent : an urban ballet at The Shadbolt in March 2007, are each an evolution of her innovative multi-disciplinary style. iDUB has since met critical praise at The High Performance Rodeo in Calgary (Jan 2006) and at the New Dance Festival in St. John’s Newfoundand in June 2006 and ri’zilyent was remounted with Croatian dancers for Zagreb’s New Dance Week Festival in June 2007. 

Martha’s experimental videos (HoP Spots 1-4, Aria Trilogy, Xfairytale & Painting Peace) have been presented at Video Dansa in Barcelona, VideoDance in Athens, Moving Pictures in Toronto, Dance and Camera in New York, and most recently at Dance Camera West in LA in June 2004. Her recent site-specific installation, FIGMENT, was presented at the Dance Centre as part of Dance in Vancouver 2004. 

Martha received her BA in Music from Stanford University and her MFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She is a respected teacher at universities including Ohio State, Concordia and Simon Fraser. She has also taught master classes at private schools, notably Montréal’s Studio 303 that she co-founded in 1989. Since 1993 she has regularly toured internationally with Compagnie Marie Chouinard as Rehearsal and Touring Artistic Director, also representing the company for the remount of the Rite of Spring at Lisbon’s Ballet Gulbenkian in Fall 2003, and the 24 Preludes of Chopin for the National Ballet of Canada in 2008. 

Sarah Brewer Clowes
(Guest Choreographer)

      Sarah has been a teacher for the past 27 years, regularly here in B.C., as well as guest teaching in Europe, America and across Canada. She held the position of Assistant Ballet Mistress to the Professional Program in Banff for three summers, a sessional faculty position at Simon Fraser University for four years, as well as a senior faculty position at Main Dance Place for a decade. She holds a senior faculty position at Spotlight Dance Centre and Tri-City Dance Centre as well as having been the Senior Ballet teacher with Spiral Dance Co. for the past 18 years. Sarah has also been choreographing professionally for nearly 20 years.

      In the past two decades, Sarah has had the pleasure of adjudicating dance festivals throughout Canada, including two consecutive Provincial competitions, in Victoria and Nelson, B.C.

        Sarah Brewer Clowes has danced professionally with the Munich Ballet in Germany, Northwest Florida Ballet in the U.S. as well as with the Banff Festival Ballet and The Vancouver Opera here in Canada. She has maintained an independent performing career since 1989 and has had the pleasure of working with such esteemed choreographers as Gioconda Barbuto, Crystal Pite, David Earle, Naomi Lefebvre, Wen Wei Wang and Cori Caulfield, to name a few. Sarah also co-produced, choreographed and performed in the Funky Brewster Cauling PULSE presentation at the Dance Centre in 2007 to sold out audiences. Sarah loves the passionate expression that sharing dance as a teacher, choreographer and performer can offer.

Heather Dotto
(Guest Choreographer)

Heather Dotto is a diverse performer trained in many forms of dance and theatre.  Heather is currently working professionally as a contemporary dancer as well as teaching and choreographing for different programs in the lower mainland.  Her pieces have won numerous awards at district and provincial festivals.  Heather has been a performing member of Move: The Company since it’s inception in 2005.  She has been privileged to perform, tour, and be artistically involved in many works by Josh Beamish.  Heather has also had the opportunity to perform for a variety of companies and choreographers including; Simone Orlando, Amber Funk-Barton, Choreograph Theatre, Heather Laura Gray, Cardiff Stage Productions, and The New Pornographers.  Her acting credits include various plays, musicals, and the lead role in the short dance film “Perceptions”.