Connections//Collisions

Hemali Boorada

Hemali Boorada is a Kuchipudi dancer training under Guru Gomathi Boorada for the past 20 years. A lead dancer in the Shivamanohari Company, she actively tours internationally. Hemali made her choreographic debut at SkirtsAFire and NextFest in 2023, and is now actively choreographing, with a focus on multicultural collaborations. While completing her Masters in Kuchipudi, Hemali is also a Student-at-Law.

Hemali Boorada will present a piece featuring artists:
Eric Awuah
Gomathi Boorada
Jesitta Jilju
Mohamed 'Papa' Bangoura 
Mpoe Mongale
Solina Lee
Tiago Cruz

Sara Campos-Silvius

Sara Campos-Silvius (she/her) is a queer and multiracial Latine creator and performer known for her signature voice and dynamic energy. Working across genres and disciplines, her diverse performances and pieces have been featured in the Edmonton Poetry Festival, Hungry Zine, Expanse, Found Fest, Nextfest, Springboards, the Edmonton International Film Festival, and many more. She is also a member of CRIPSiE, the Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society in Edmonton. Check out Sara’s work at www.saracs.art
Photo credit | Mat Simpson

Eric Awuah

Eric's teaching and performance career has taken him across borders, where he has shared his passion for dance in Higher Educational Institutions, professional dance companies, and amateur dance groups in countries such as Norway, Canada, and beyond. His contemporary African/Ghanaian dance workshops and classes are known for their innovative approach, exploring the embodiment of indigenous dance elements on diverse bodies and fostering connections between cultures. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Eric is also an avid researcher, with a keen interest in exploring the cultural and social dimensions of dance. He has undertaken research projects and taught in various international settings, including Romania, Hungary, Burkina Faso, Denmark, and London, further enriching his understanding of dance practices across different contexts. Through his dedication to dance, education, and research, Eric Awuah continues to make significant contributions to the field of dance studies, bridging cultural divides and promoting cross-cultural exchange through the universal language of movement.

Romero Dance Collective

Romero Dance Collective is a contemporary dance company dedicated to creation, performance, and artistic exploration. With a focus on developing original work, the collective engages diverse audiences through bold, expressive movement grounded in Contemporary and Jazz practices.

Led by Artistic Director Jason Romero, the company draws on extensive experience in both film and stage. Rooted in a deep passion for dance, Romero Dance Collective fosters a collaborative environment for artists to create, experiment, and share compelling work that reflects the complexities of the human state.

Gray Voles C.S

Gray Voles C.S. is the current name of the two-person art collective of Nancy Sandercock and Ian Crutchley. Since meeting at a Xime rehearsal in 2014, through Fringe performances (with Allison Grant-Preville) as The Christian Wolffs, and their first film, Drift, completed for Mile Zero Dance in 2021, they have been collaborating and talking, and texting about collaborating about art.  

Colby Stockdale

Colby Stockdale (He/Him) is an indigenous creative based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan. He is graduating from the University of Alberta's BFA Acting Program in the coming weeks.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson is a mover, creator, director, and actor with a passion for research, exploration, and play. She is currently exploring the commodification of art and the loss of meaning in late stage capitalism. What happens when theatre becomes entertainment, escape, and a way to make money? What happens when we attempt to remove friction and discomfort from our lives? She chooses to explore these topics mainly through the body both as a vessel for research, as well as a means of conveying information that words cannot.

Select credits include: implication (Azimuth) The Piano Lesson, girls can eat now, Tomato Girl (New Works Festival), Marat/Sade (UofA Drama 457), Ready-or-Not (Mile Zero Dance Connections//Collisons, Nextfest), and Practically Perfect Pitch (Top Bunk Theatre).

Harper Oud

Harper Oud is a performer and writer from Edmonton, Alberta.

Aidan Collins

Aidan Collins is a multidisciplinary artist based in amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton whose practice moves fluidly across direction, movement, and performance. She has a foundation in devised and physical theatre, and an extensive dance background. Aidan is a recent graduate of the BA (drama)/BeD (secondary) program at the University of Alberta, where she cultivated a cross-disciplinary approach rooted in play, bodily precision, and ensemble exploration. She has contributed to numerous festivals across the city and University, including Fringe, Nextfest, and New Works. 

Emma Schneider

Emma Schneider is an emerging queer and neurodivergent writer, performer, and theatre maker. Recently, you may have seen them in schools across Edmonton in Celestial Being (Concrete Theatre), playing in the lobby at Expanse Festival (Theatre Azimuth) or right here at Mile Zero sharing her work-in-progress solo show My Uncle Died of AIDS and all I got was This Shirt.

Ukrainian Shumka Dancers

Established in Edmonton in 1959, Shumka is Canada’s only professional Ukrainian dance company. Seen by millions on international television broadcasts, the company has presented command performances for Queens, Prime Ministers, and Presidents, and have performed alongside the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Julie Andrews, and Principal Dancers of the National Ballet of Ukraine. Along with Alberta Ballet and Edmonton Opera, Shumka is honoured to be a resident company of the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Over its 65 year history, Shumka has created numerous original works, collaborating with Ukrainian and local choreographers, composers, designers and musicians. In October of 2025, the company was inducted into the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame in Canada.

In addition to this Springtime performance, Shumka is also presenting "Shumka: Back to Our Roots" April 23 & 24 at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, a vibrant, high-energy performance that celebrates Ukrainian dance by returning to what matters most: movement, music, and regional tradition.
Photo credit | Ryan Parker Photography

Steph Patsula

Steph Patsula (b. 1988, CA/US) is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of live performance and visual media. Their practice explores the shifting boundaries between the sacred and the secular, as well as the evolving dynamics of autonomy and intimacy within human and non-human relationships. Drawing on folklore, myth, and ritual, Patsula investigates how emerging technologies influence spiritual, cultural, and ecological systems.

Through improvisation and a tactile, deliberate approach to creation, they work with found and built objects to construct immersive environments that reflect on presence, perception, and connection in an increasingly mediated world.

Gomathi Boorada | Curator

Gomathi, the Artistic Director of Shivamanohari School of Performing Arts in Edmonton, is a trained Kuchipudi dancer with extensive experience in South Asian Dance Drama and Theatre. Amongst many accolades, she was recently nominated as a co-choreographer for the premiere of Clare Barrons 'Dance Nation' in 2025. A fierce advocate for marginalized voices, Gomathi has tirelessly worked to bridge communities and establish Edmonton’s first inclusive Multicultural theatre - The CUBE.

Gomathi is known for her cross-cultural collaborative work, and innovative choreography Her original production Dvaita-Duality has completed an international tour in 2025 and a cross-Canada tour in 2026. Gomathi works with the Indonesian Institute of Arts and the University of Gadjah Mada as a Guest Lecturer, offering lectures, seminars, and workshops on Indian Classical Dances, Dance and Intercultural Understanding, Dance as a Ritual, and Dance as a Cultural Identity. She is trained in the art of ‘Tholu Bommalata’ (Indian Shadow Puppetry) and ‘Wayang Kulit’ (Javanese Shadow Puppetry) at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Josh Languedoc | Curator

This series curated by Josh Languedoc! Originally called The Dirt Buffet Cabaret, this new cabaret is all about breathing new life into art and our current world. As we navigate a radically rapid changing landscape, art is the best way to respond to the world around us. Often, the body knows the truth. This new cabaret series, with alternating themes each time, showcases new and daring works by a variety of artists. Meant to be an incubation process for artists to explore themes of societal change and embodied empowerment, this cabaret will feature movement pieces, solo pieces, and cross-disciplinary explorations between artists.