These classes come from our mutual experiences as support workers in various capacities, and as dancers working and training in professional “contemporary” dance. Our desire to de-compartmentalize our dance and embodied learning from our support work and allow these experiences to inform each other led us to create these classes as a way to learn and share tools alongside other workers.
Rianne:
Rianne Svelnis is a queer dance artist and a settler of European descent born and living on stolen + occupied Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil- Waututh), and xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories.
Before starting her studies in dance, Rianne worked at the WISH Drop-In Centre and Lookout Emergency Aid Society in the Downtown Eastside. She has continued her frontline work through the pandemic mainly in tent city support work, resource re-distribution and harm reduction. Through this work and under the mentorship of Fiona York, Elder Veronica and Chrissy Brett, Rianne and Charlie Hannah co-founded the Distro Disco Mobile Free Store.
Since graduating from Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Program in 2016, Rianne has continued technical training with Peter Bingham, Helen Walkley, Justine Chambers, Emmalena Fredriksson and at La Cantera studio in Mexico City. She has danced in works by Justine Chambers, MACHiNENOiSY, Emmalena Fredriksson, Sasha Kleinplatz, Daisy Thompson, Olivia Davies and Naomi Brand, among others. Rianne has also presented her own choreographic work in collaboration with All Bodies Dance, Zahra Shahab, Kelly McInnes and Areli Moran (Mexico).
Rianne is co-facilitator with Lance Lim and Kevin Li of the All Bodies Dance Project community classes at the Carnegie Community Centre, and is a new facilitator of Karen Jamieson Dance’s Carnegie Dance Troupe.
Alexa:
Alexa is a first generation settler of Finnish and British Isles descent living as an uninvited guest on the illegally occupied, unceded Coast Salish territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ peoples.
From 2016-2021 Alexa supported survivors of sexual violence through WAVAW’s crisis line, hospital accompaniment program and two-spirit, trans and gender diverse support groups.
Alexa’s dance practice is a devotion to gathering, privileging sensing over thinking, and imperfect collaboration with the the numinous.
As a teacher/facilitator, Alexa is committed to anti-oppressive frameworks, unlearning unhealthy relationships to obedience and power, and creating spaces where agency, rigorous play, and selfhood can flourish.