• 1:00 – 1:15 pm
Artistic Director
Julia Taffe
Choreographer Julia Taffe combines art, environment and adventure, making dances for buildings, mountains, neighbourhoods, theatres and trees, finding new movement perspectives in the realm of suspension.
Julia is the artistic director of Aeriosa, a Vancouver-based vertical dance company. She has choreographed over 25 works on location including: Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish BC, Taipei City Hall, Cirque du Soleil Headquarters, Vancouver Library Square, Banff Centre, Scotiabank Dance Centre and Toronto’s 58-storey L Tower.
Prior to founding Aeriosa, Julia performed across Canada with Ruth Cansfield, and around the world with Bandaloop. Julia attained ACMG Rock Guide certification in 1997. She has worked as a co-producer, choreographer, cast member, stunt performer, mountain safety rigger and creative movement consultant on various film and television productions in Canada and abroad.
Dancer
Alex Tam
On the unceded traditional Coast Salish territory, Alex Tam is a Vancouver-based dance artist. A natural born thrill seeker, Alex was instantly hooked on vertical dance while gazing out, suspended, from a Grand Fir tree and has been performing and collaborating with Aeriosa since 2015. Alex studied Fine Arts at KPU (Hons.) and professional dance at Arts Umbrella and Modus Operandi. Alex has toured and performed both independently and collectively at international dance festivals in Canada, United States of America, South America, and Taiwan. He is currently advancing his education in health through the Registered Massage Therapy Program at Langara Collage.
Dancer
Cara Siu
Cara Siu is a movement artist and emerging choreographer and movement facilitator, engaged in exploring performance research and community dance. Her passion to share expression, physicality and imagination with audiences have fueled many diverse dance experiences. After acquiring her modern dance training in Vancouver, BC at Simon Fraser University, she continued her dance training in the US, winning scholarships to both Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Massachusetts and Lewitzky Dance Company in Los Angeles.
Upon returning to Vancouver, she became captivated by the emerging form of dance theatre and apprenticed with Lee Eisler of Jumpstart Performance. As a collaborator/performer, she has contributed to the creation of dance theatre productions for Gambling Soles, Donna Redlick Dance Theatre, Link Dance Foundation and Raven Spirit Dance.
Dancer
Chandra Krown
Vancouver born, Chandra Krown is a dancer, aerialist, choreographer and multi-disciplinary artist. She started with a ballet foundation as a child but soon discovered gymnastics and enjoyed competing.
As a young adult she began performing with local companies in Vancouver and trained at Main Dance’s professional training program. After the program, she launched XtravaDance Productions with some peers and pursued her career in the performing arts/entertainment. She worked with various companies in Vancouver.
In 2004 she started to work with Aeriosa Dance Society which was her first experience dancing on buildings as a Vertical dancer. She is honored to return to Aeriosa Dance and is excited about the current projects blending her love for nature and trees with dance!
Dancer
Meghan Goodman
Originally from Toronto, Meghan Goodman is an interdisciplinary dance artist and Iyengar yoga instructor. Graduating from Simon Fraser University in 2003 with a BFA in dance and minor in mathematics, Meghan has continued to actively perform, choreograph, and teach in Vancouver for the past 17 years. In addition to her work with Aeriosa, she has performed pieces by choreographers such as Jennifer Clarke, Hanna Kiel, Justine Chambers, Michelle Olson, Rob Kitsos, and Sarah Chase. Meghan has also performed in two productions with the Vancouver Opera. Meghan is currently teaching Iyengar yoga, training with Aeriosa, and raising her two young boys.
Guest Dancer
Vince Virr
Vince Virr is a multifaceted international dance artist who has performed in more than fifty dance productions across six continents. His experience varies from performing, creating and collaborating to teaching and mentoring. He is passionate about work for young audiences, cross cultural exchange and intergenerational participation.
To find out what projects Vince is currently working on please click here.
Safety Director and Rigging Designer
Colin Zacharias
Colin Zacharias is an internationally certified mountain guide and has worked in avalanche or guiding operations since 1980. He enjoys working with Aeriosa’s dancers whether on mountain cliffs, tall buildings, trees or in the theatre. Colin also guides thoughtfully designed climbing and skiing adventures to destinations spanning the globe, from Nunavut to Antarctica.
Colin was one of the riggers for the 2000-2002 video production of Granite Ocean, that featured Julia Taffe dancing on vertical rock faces of the Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish, BC. Since then, he has worked with Julia and Aeriosa on more than 40 productions. His responsibilities have included site safety inspections, risk management planning and documentation, dancer safety supervision, rigging and climbing, tree climbing, training riggers and dancers, and writing the Aeriosa safety manual.
Aeriosa is one of the foremost vertical dance companies in Canada and as a result has collaborated with the Vertical Dance Forum (Europe), Gravity and Levity (England), Kate Lawrence Vertical Dance (Wales), Il Posto (Italy), Wired Aerial Theatre (England), Histeria Nova (Croatia), Compagnie Retouramont (France) and Bandaloop (USA) to support and develop risk management planning and training strategies for the art form.
Colin is the past Technical Director for the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and currently participates in professional level curriculum development for the Canadian Avalanche Association and the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education. He is a professional level avalanche educator and operations safety consultant for ski areas, cat and heliski operations. Outside North America, his work training and mentoring mountain professionals has taken him to Europe, Japan, Chile, and Iceland. His rigging and mountain safety experience also includes feature films such as iRobot and Touching the Void and TV programs including Burnett Productions EcoChallenge and Expedition Impossible series filmed in Morocco, Argentina New Zealand, Fiji and Borneo.
Colin’s certifications include ACMG/IFMGA/UIAGM (internationally recognized mountain guides associations), SPRAT (rope access), ACTSAFE Fall Protection, ACTSAFE Aerial Lift Operator, and the Wilderness First Responder.
Rigger
Jacob Goslawski
Jacob is an IRATA level 3 rope technician as well as an ISA certified arborist. He has more than 10 years of experience under his belt and owns two companies. Jacob loves any activity outdoors. When he’s not splitboarding, hiking, rock climbing, kayaking or paddle boarding, he volunteers his time with the Mission Search and Rescue team. We are grateful to have him as part of our safety team at Aeriosa Dance!
Stage Manager
Peter Jotkus
Peter is a Vancouver-based Stage Manager with over thirty years experience creating live theatre including large scale musicals, opera, film projects and dance. He has worked at most of Canada’s regional theatres including: The Arts Club, Pacific Opera, the Vancouver Playhouse, Bard on the Beach, Citadel Theatre, Banff Centre, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Stratford and Shaw Festivals, the Canadian Stage Company, LIVENT, the National Arts Centre, and the Charlottetown Festival.
He is a Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and has toured extensively both nationally and internationally including BAM in New York, UCLA, the Adelaide and Wellington Festivals. The Edinburgh International Festival and various other companies throughout the US and Europe.
Peter has worked for the past five years as Aeriosa’s Site Manager in and around the lower mainland.
