Summer Company 2018
Frog in Hand Summer Company
In Spring 2018, Frog in Hand held open auditions. Eight incredible folks under the age of 30 were invited to join Frog in Hand's first Summer Company project. Throughout the summer these emerging dance artists created and premiered new work, joined Frog in Hand professional dancers in rehearsal and performance, taught dance classes, led community and school outreach, undertook specialized training workshops, wrote blogs, The dancers took master classes led by professional mentors who shared their knowledge and experience in Pilates, Flying Low, Gaga, Contemporary Ballet, Partnering, Aikido, Stage Combat, Theatre Viewpoints, Commedia Dell’arte.
In November 2018 the apprentices continued their collaboration with Frog in Hand, with seven of eight dancers returning to perform with Frog in Hand at the In Situ 2018 festival.
Meet the 2018 Frog in Hand Summer Company
Claire Whitaker
Rohan Dhupar
Hannah Shikatani
Sarah Flack
Morgyn Aronyk-Schell
Clarke Blair
Gwendolyn Mitchell
Justin Fraser
Photo by Rosemary Snell
(names from left to right)
Morgyn Aronyk-Schell
Morgyn began her dance training at the age of three in Edmonton, Alberta at Amanda’s Academy of Dance. She studied with the incredible faculty and guest artists at her performing arts high school, Victoria School of the Arts, where she graduated with an International Baccalaureate dance certificate. Morgyn has dance training in jazz, tap, contemporary, modern, ballet, pointe, lyrical, hip hop, musical theatre, and Afro-Fusion dance. She is currently entering her third and final year in the School of Toronto Dance Theatre's Professional Training Program. She produced of the Fall 2017 Coffee House production, and was awarded the prestigious Walker Wood Foundation and Lindy Green & Sam Chaiton bursaries. At the School, Morgyn performed works by Jennifer Dallas, Jasmyn Fyffe, Danny Grossman, Ryan Lee, Sharon B. Moore, Julia Sasso, and Darryl Tracy. Morgyn’s professional performance experience includes Edmonton’s Nextfest, the Edmonton Fringe festival, the Festival of Trees, and at Disney World. Morgyn also has a significant interest in pedagogy, and taught dance to kids of all ages. Morgyn is excited to be attending Peggy Bakers’ summer dance intensive in August and is thrilled and honored to be joining Frog in Hand’s summer apprenticeship program. Morgyn hopes to one day integrate her studies and passion for anthropology and film studies with her dance practice.
Rohan Dhupar
Rohan was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario. He grew up heavily involved in dance and theatre, training at various local dance studios including Studio Pavas and Sean Boutilier Academy of Dance, and graduated from the regional arts program at Cawthra Park Secondary School. Rohan is currently attending Sheridan College in Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance. He has performed across Ontario, in New York, and at Walt Disney World with the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre and the Cawthra Park Repertoire Ensemble. Rohan has returned to Cawthra Park as an alumni choreographer us to with the Repertoire company, and their productions of Hairspray, Guys and Dolls, and Billy Elliot. Rohan has appeared in Theatre Sheridan’s production of Kiss Me, Kate, and The Dream Catchers, a Canada 150 commission at the Charlottetown Festival and Canadian tour. Rohan is incredibly excited to be working with Frog in Hand this summer. In the fall, Rohan will be part of the developmental workshop of Kelly v. Kelly, a new musical by Britta Johnson and Sara Farb through the Canadian Music Theatre Project. Rohan is most interested in creating art that initiates discussion and contributes meaningfully to activism, allyship and advocacy in today’s civic climate. He is constantly inspired by his fellow artists, mentors and teachers, and sends love to all of them in addition to his parents, family and friends who have supported and pushed him along his artistic journey.
Clarke Blair
Clarke is an emerging dance artist and aspiring developmental biologist based in Toronto. She trained with the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT), in Toronto and danced with the CCDT Company for three years while and attending high school at the Etobicoke School of the Arts as a Music Theatre major. Clarke has furthered her training at various summer intensive programs, including TransFormation Danse (Montreal), DanseTheatre David Earle (Guelph), and TOES for Dance’s Ignite (Toronto). This past January, Clarke had pleasure of working with Social Growl Dance (Riley Sims) in new work commissioned by Dance Ontario’s Dance Weekend. Clarke is in the process of completing her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Toronto, with a double major in Neuroscience and Cell Biology. She is thrilled to join the Frog in Hand summer company for eight weeks as both a Dancer and Communications Intern.
Sarah Flack
Sarah grew up in Guelph, Ontario and trained at various studios throughout her adolescence. After competing in dance over the majority of her childhood, Sarah decided she wanted to take her training in a different direction, finding an interest in concert dance. Sarah is entering her third year at SUNY Purchase College, and finds her fellow classmates to be a constant source of inspiration. She will be taking her studies abroad to Amsterdam for the Fall semester, studying at Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Sarah is extremely eager to delve into the European culture as she hopes to find herself living and working abroad in the future. During her time at Purchase, Sarah has worked with many well known New York City choreographers, including Manuel Vignoulle (Amazons), Diane Madden (Trisha Brown’s Glacial Decoy), Doug Varone in his acclaimed Lux, and Nora Petroliunas in her new work Mina. She has performed in many recognized spaces throughout New York such as the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase College, New York Live Arts, and 92nd Street Y. Sarah is very grateful for the opportunity to work as an apprentice for Frog in Hand this summer. She hopes to gain information and knowledge to bring with her wherever she goes on her artistic journey.
Justin Fraser
Justin was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He has studied dance for 10 years, discovering his passion for dance at Sudbury Secondary School’s performing arts program, where he attended as a dance major. At Sudbury Secondary Justin was awarded Overall Best Performance during his graduating year. Justin’s journey continued with Denise Vitali and a local not-for-profit contemporary dance company, the “earthdancers”. There he trained in Graham technique, ballet, contemporary, improvisation; he also had the opportunity to choreograph several dance works. Justin’s passion is to delve into creative movement, exploring new ways of manipulating the human body, pushing the boundaries of dance and exploring the unknown. This fall Justin will be entering his third and final year at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Justin aspires to create innovative choreography that express his artistry, and aims to generate opportunities for unique experiences in the realm of dance.
Gwendolyn Mitchell
Gwen was born in Alberta and started dancing at age four at the Edmonton School of Ballet. At age ten, she moved to Chatham Ontario, where she continued her training at Pure Dance Academy. Gwen has competed in ballet, hip-hop, jazz, tap, lyrical, and contemporary in events across Canada and the US. While in Chatham, she trained under Florence Abel in Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) syllabus. Gwen is entering her third year of studies at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT) and is delighted to have been named vice president of student council for the upcoming year. Through STDT, Gwen has performed in pieces by Sharon B. Moore, Darryl Tracy, Julia Sasso, Jasmyn Fyffe, and Jennifer Dallas. In STDT’s most recent show, she performed in a new work by Ryan Lee as well as in a remount of Danny Grossman’s Endangered Species. Other performance experiences include 72 Person Ball Passing by Charles Moulton, which Gwen performed at Fall for Dance North 2017. Recently, Gwen was honoured to receive the Kathryn Ash Scholarship, which will be invaluable to her continued dance training and education. This summer, Gwen will be expanding her training at ProArteDanza’s Summer Intensive Program. She is also excited to be a part of Frog in Hand’s summer apprenticeship program, which will give her relevant experience for her future career in dance. Gwen is looking forward to a summer of dancing, performing, and creating with so many talented artists!
Hannah Shikatani
Hannah was born and raised in Milton, Ontario and currently resides in Toronto. She trained for several years at the Canadian Dance Company, where she studied ballet, hip-hop, jazz, musical theatre, contemporary and tap. Hannah enriched her diverse training in Toronto, attending the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) as a member of their youth performance company. Hannah has worked with choreographers such as Hanna Kiel, Gadfly, Darryl Tracy, David Norsworthy and Robert Glumbek, and has performed works by David Earle, Carol Anderson and Colin Connor. With dance, Hannah has been able to travel and perform at the Joyce Theatre in New York City for the Limon Dance Festival with CCDT, and in Whitehorse, Yukon with Gadfly as a part of Cypherfest. Hannah will be entering her third year at Ryerson University in the Performance Dance Program where she trains in Graham technique, ballet, contemporary, jazz and improvisation. Outside of her dance training Hannah has done several acting and singing programs with PrePro Artist Collective, directed by Addison Brasil and Samantha Berardesca. Currently Hannah is training under the guidance of Colleen Snell, founder of Frog in Hand. She is working as an apprentice alongside seven other talented new generation dance artists. Hannah is extremely thankful to be part of such a wonderful group of driven, creative humans and looks forward to using all that she will learn to help her grow as an artist.
Claire Whitaker
Claire was born in Markham, Ontario, where she attended Unionville High School’s dance program and local studios, where she trained in modern, ballet, contemporary, musical theatre, tap and jazz. Claire is entering her third year at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT) this September. At STDT she has performed and choreographed multiple dances for student shows, indeed, Claire was recently awarded the 2018 Jacque Foesier Youth Dance Award for her contributions and support to the dance and art community. Last summer Claire attended the Social Growl Dance creation workshop with Riley Sims in Toronto, and Montreal’s TransFormation Danse where she worked with Peter Jasko, Angélique Willkie and Eric Beauchesne, learning repertoire from Crystal Pite’s Dark Matters. Claire has created original choreography for two musicals: Drenched, directed by Margarita Brodie and Cookstown, by Adam Bovoletis. This summer Claire has the pleasure of performing in The New Blue festival in a new work created by Roberto Soria, and will also be working with Kristen-Innes Stambolic in a work in progress showing in Summerworks. She is thrilled to be working with Frog in Hand this summer as an apprentice, performing across Mississauga and Toronto. Claire is constantly fascinated by the way the body can be both manipulated and transcended by the act of making dance. Claire continues to be inspired by the ever-changing world of dance and is excited to see where it will take her next.