ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | FOUNDER
Jennifer Mascall
“A most unique creative force.
“A fertile, iterative, gloriously unfinished practice.”
Deborah Meyer
Vancouver Sun
“Jennifer Mascall is nominally a choreographer, but she's also a poet of the ephemeral, a painter of possibilities. A performance by MascallDance is at once conceptually stimulating and gloriously, joyously corporeal: she incorporates physical theatre, kinetic sculpture, free-frame images of stunning poignancy, and seemingly impossible feats of grace.”
Alex Varty
Georgia Straight
“Choreography truly exceptional in its conceptual rigour and technical execution… a ride you won’t forget.”
Peter Dickinson
Performance, Place, & Politics
Jennifer Mascall ((she/her/hers/they/them/theirs) is a Canadian choreographer, teacher, improviser, mentor, and advocate for the art form. A first-generation settler of Norman/Celt descent, she is a ceaseless investigator and an unquenchable source of ideas. Mascall and her over 200 works have received many awards and continue to challenge dancers and audiences. As a committed dance innovator, practitioner, educator, mentor, and advocate, she encourages new generations of artists through collaboration, creation, choreographic residencies, intensives, and dialogue. Mascall’s approach is informed by studies with two American master teachers Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and Linda Putnam.
MascallDance, founded by Mascall in 1982, has flourished under her leadership. Previous to 1982, Mascall had an international career as a solo improviser and co-founded GRID, TIDE and EDAM, all collectives. Early interests were written dances, which developed into Dial A Dance phone in dance orders and Footnotes, an anthology containing the written notes of 60 choreographers. She has received the Canada 125 Confederation Commemorative Medal, the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award, the Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, a Dora Mavor Moore Award, a Jessie Richardson Award, the Ann O’Connor Award, International Woman’s Day Award, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Best Performers Award (The Brutal Telling), the F.A.N.S. Distinguished Artist Award, and an Isadora for outstanding contribution to dance in B.C.
Photo: Yukiko Onley
The Mascall Dance Society is the grateful recipient of funds from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia, The British Columbia Arts Council, the City of Vancouver Arts and Culture, and the Hamber Foundation.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
HARVEY MELLER
(he, him, his) Chairperson
Harvey Meller, BSC. LLB. with an extended studies diploma in dance, practices primarily commercial and entertainment law through his own corp. and provides advice to and works in association with Vancouver litigation firm, Klein Lawyers. In a prior life, Harvey studied mathematics, computer science, and securities regulation. Before practicing law he had a 15 year career as a well-respected Vancouver-based modern dance choreographer. Harvey founded two dance companies, was the recipient of commissions from numerous established Canadian companies and the National Arts Centre of Canada, and had a national tour of his work in 1993-94. Harvey is now a semi-avid curler, and a co-conspirator and moral advisor to his partner, playwright/actor, Jenn Griffin. Photo: Harvey Meller
KAREN MCKINLAY KURNAEDY
(she/her/hers) Secretary
HERITAGE - second generation settler of Scottish heritage. She is a dancer, writer, and educator who began her dance training in the 1960s at The Hanova School of Modern Studies in Body Sculpture and the Classical Dance, (the first modern dance school in Vancouver), where she was forever imbued with the spirit of Duncan, Dalcroze, Laban, Wigman, and Shankar. Karen’s work as a writer includes publishing several essays, articles, and books about dance and dance education. Her new book, ‘Our Love Affair with Dance’ is almost ready for release. Karen received her Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta and also earned a Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Simon Fraser University. Her teaching experience includes thirty years in the Coquitlam School District, being a Faculty Associate and instructing in the Graduate Diploma program at Simon Fraser University. Her interests lie in promoting and implementing new ideas for education, the arts, dance history, dance, and dance education. Photo: Irwan Kusdaradjat Kurnaedy
LIEN KIM LE
(SHE/HER/HERS) TREASURER
Heritage - Vietnamese. Lien is a Business System Analyst who has been working in Information Technology consulting for over 20 years. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from University of California, Irvine. She is a successful professional and a devoted mother, wife and foster parent. Born and raised in Vietnam, at 14 Lien joined thousands of refugees - the so-called Boat People - fleeing for a better life overseas. After a year moving between refugee camps, Lien and her family arrived in Los Angeles. Moving to Canada in 1998, Lien became a passionate volunteer and Board Member for the Vietnam Education Society, a Canadian charity working to support education and anti-trafficking for underprivileged Vietnamese children. Photo: minalumena.com
NATALKA LUBIW
(any) Director at Large
Heritage - European. Natalka is an Architect in the position of Director, Facilities Development, for the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her group delivers a wide range of major facilities projects across the City’s portfolio, to serve the diverse needs of the many service groups. She is experienced in procuring and managing consultants and contractors, and in delivering facilities that target ambitious GHG reductions and, more recently, net zero energy. She is also a member of the Architectural Institute of BC Investigations Committee. Natalka has been interested and involved in the modern dance world since the early days of Contact Improvisation in 1970-80s Toronto. PHOTO: screenshot
PEARL LOUIE
(she/her/hers) Director at Large
Heritage - Chinese. Make-up and special effects artist in film and television, Pearl is the eldest of a large Chinese Canadian family. She was born in Regina on Treaty 4 land and attended Central Collegiate Fine Arts Programme. A founding member of Regina Modern Dance Works (1974-79), she also attended the Banff Centre Stagecraft Apprenticeship Program on scholarship and moved to Vancouver in 1983 to help kickstart its’ fledgling film industry. Auntie to 16 rambunctious nieces and nephews, Pearl also excels in furniture restoration and babysitting. Photo: Pearl Louie
ALLISON BROOKS
(SHE/HER/HERS) DIRECTOR AT LARGE
ARTIST ALLISON BROOKS HAS SPENT HER LIFE IN WESTERN CANADA ON VARIOUS UNCEDED FIRST NATIONS TERRITORIES AND TREATY 1 TERRITORY. HER FORMATIVE DANCE TRAINING BEGAN IN PENTICTON BC AND CONTINUED WITH THE SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY DANCERS WINNIPEG, WHERE HER ABILITIES AND VOCATION AS A CONTEMPORARY DANCER CRYSTALIZED. ALLISON CONTRIBUTED TO THE CREATION OF THE IMPOSSIBLE HAS ALREADY HAPPENED AND DURING 2023 PERFORMED IT ON TOUR IN NEW ZEALAND AND WESTERN CANADA. A PERFORMER AND CHOREOGRAPHER, SHE HAS COLLABORATED WITH MEAGHAN O’SHEA, CONSTANCE COOKE, AMOK PROJECT, IMPULSE THEATRE, AND A WIDE RANGE OF OTHER LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS. PHOTO: KENDRA HOPE PENNER
Photo Credit: (top) Chris Randle - Lara Barclay, Billy Marchenski (collaborating performers: The Three Cornered Hat)
(mid) Milo Carbol - Allison Brooks, Justin Calvadores (performers, The Impossible Has Already Happened (bottom)
Chris Randle - Robin Poitras (Co-creator/performer, Unfinished World):
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Chinatown P.O. Box 88011
Vancouver, BC, V6A 4A7
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