Meet our 2025 Dance Stewards—seven emerging dance artists who will be welcoming you in the lobby, supporting audiences, and gaining hands-on experience behind the scenes of a national festival.
Like our Dance Ambassadors, the Dance Stewards are the face of the festival. They help bridge the gap between audiences and artists, while deepening their own understanding of how festivals operate.
In addition to their front-of-house presence, Dance Stewards are offered meaningful opportunities to grow their networks, connect with artists and curators, and engage in conversations that support their artistic development. We believe a festival is more than just what happens on stage—it’s also a space for exchange, mentorship, and community-building.
Supporting pre-professional and early-career dance artists through the Dance Steward program is one of the ways we nurture the future of Canadian dance.
*The Dance Stewards will be performing their commissioned work in our WYSIWYG program.
Alaia R. Lopes
Alaia R. Lopes is an aspiring queer contemporary dance artist based in Toronto. She is an honours graduate from George Brown’s Dance Performance Program, where she had the privilege of studying under Derek Sangster, Hanna Kiel, and Nicola Pantin. At George Brown, Alaia performed works by dance mentors such as Lauren Cook, Susie Burpee, Amanda Davis, and Christopher Knowles. Alaia is looking forward to collaborating with fellow artists and learning new ways of storytelling through movement.
Amelie Mah
Amelie Mah is a Chinese Canadian performer, creator, and collaborator. In her own works, Amelie explores how combining spoken and physical expression with movement practice can serve to create compelling stories. Amelie Mah has worked as a collaborator with the Frog in Hand 2024 Summer Company, on works for a new mixed bill along with excerpts of Frog in Hand repertoire. Amelie Mah is a 2025 TMU graduate with a BFA in dance.
Averil Dubois
Averil Dubois (She/Her) is a visual artist, performer, and creator based in Toronto. Averil is a multidisciplinary artist who is experienced in singing, acting and dance. She also works in visual arts such as painting, sculpture and film creation. In her practice, she explores how these disciplines relate to each other. She has recently completed a BFA in Performance Dance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Hollie Sargent
Hollie Sargent is a multidisciplinary artist, passionate about creating art through movement and choreography. With extensive experience in competitive dance, she has traveled globally, sharing her passion through performances, conventions, workshops, and competitions. Recently earning her BFA in Dance Education from York University, Hollie is eager to collaborate with fellow artists in the professional dance community. She looks forward to creating meaningful work and building lasting connections through dance and art.
Jaelyn Jones
Jaelyn Jones is a Biracial Black Canadian/American emerging choreographer and performer, originally from Surrey, British Columbia. She completed a BFA in Dance at York University, where she refined her technique, performed in student and faculty works, and choreographed five pieces of her own. With creation and experimentation at the core of her passion, Jaelyn is constantly exploring the interconnection of identity, embodied research, and authentic expression through dance and fibre arts.
Mackenzie Richardson
Based in Tkaronto, Mackenzie Richardson (She/Her) is an emerging dance performance artist. As a graduate from Dance Arts Institute in 2025 she has collaborated with a variety of artists such as Ryan Lee, Naishi Wang, Peggy Baker and Alyssa Martin. Whilst attending school she spent additional time training at The Fifth Dance Intensive, Kylie Thompson Intensive and ProArteDanza Intensive. She hopes to explore the different dimensions of dance across the world in the future.
Maya Gale-Buncel
Maya Gale-Buncel is a contemporary dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Toronto, ON. She is interested in exploring the ways that dance and theatre can connect, converge, and intersect to better tell stories and reach new audiences. She is also curious about how she can use her art as a vessel for social change. Maya is a graduate from the Dance Performance Program at George Brown College and the Human Body Expression Mentorship Program.