MENTORSHIP

  • Irma Villafuerte in ‘No Woman’s Land’ - Choreography by Roshanak Jaberi, Photo by Kevin Jones

    Irma, a brown, Central American, woman with black hair, is barefoot and wears a white dress as she sits on stage. Her hands are on top of her knees, flexed, and she looks upward. Other performers are also onstage, outside of the light.

Kin Nguien performance photo

Mentee Kin Nguien, Photo by Katrina Castro

  • Kin Nguien, a Vietnamese woman with long black hair and dark brown eyes, with her hands hovering closely to her face. Kin looks upward with a concerned expression and another hand reaches towards the top of Kin’s head from behind her.

Both Karen and Allen have a long history of mentorships and dramaturgy for creative practices for stage and film. They strongly believe in the power of a symbiotic mentor–mentee relationship, and their mentorships often extend far beyond the life of a project. Mentorship projects were fuelled in 2000 with a 4-year project called Kd’d2 where emerging artists interned and toured Kaeja works.

In 2022, Karen Kaeja won the George Luscombe Mentorship Award. Read her acceptance speech. She was also Stratford Festival’s first movement dramaturg for Keira Loughran’s Wendy and Peter Pan, and acts as Jaberi Dance Theatre’s Artistic Advisor.

Kaeja Artists in Residence (KAIR) program started in 2021 with Mio Sakamoto. Please read about Mio here. Please read about our 2022 and 2023 KAIR Artists here. Our KAIR 2024 artists are Mio Sakamoto, Fer Camacho, Kunji Ikeda, and Zita Nyarady; read about them here.

Many of their mentees have gone on to create their own companies and wonderful impact in the community, while also remaining connected to Karen and Allen, often with new collaboration projects. Some of their past and current mentees include:

  • Drew Berry (Independent Artist)

  • Tara Butler (Dust and Soul Dance Projects)

  • Susanne Chui (Co- Artistic Director, MOCEAN Dance)

  • Sophie Dow (Independent Artist)

  • Jenn Edwards (Independent Artist)

  • Shay Erlich (Independent Artist)

  • Aria Evans (Political Movement)

  • Mateo Galindo Torres (Guetcha Guaritcha)

  • Amy Hampton (Executive Director, Dance Ontario)

  • Roshanak Jaberi (Artistic Director, Jaberi Dance Theatre)

  • Nyda Kwasowsky (Independent Artist)

  • Lilia Leon (Independent Artist)

  • Dana McDonald (Independent Artist)

  • Philip McDermott (Independent Artist)

  • Sylvie Moquin (Independent Artist)

  • Newton Moraes (Founder, Moraes Dance Theatre)

  • Krista Newey (Independent Artist)

  • Kin Nguien (Independent Artist and KINAJ)

  • Malgorzata Nowacka-May (Artistic Director, Chimera Dance Theatre)

  • Jillian Peever (Independent Artist)

  • Beata Rasitsan

  • Brennan Roy (Independent Artist) 

  • Mio Sakamoto (Independent Artist and MillO Dance Projects)

  • Ashvini Sundaram (Independent Artist)

Artists and dance-makers are welcome to inquire about mentorship with Karen or Allen anytime by reaching out to the office at kaeja@kaeja.org..

Mentorship Programs

For three years Kaeja partnered with New Blue Emerging Artists to offer a mentorship program called Creative Risk. This residency provided studio space and creative guidance from Karen and Allen for artists to incubate risk-taking work.

Since 2020, Kaeja d’Dance has mentored emerging dance artists through the generous support of the RBC Emerging Artists Project.

2024 RBC Emerging Artists Coming Soon!