contemporary

Mel trained in ballet at the Legat Ballet School and musical theatre at London Studio Centre both in England. She also has a BA (Hons) in Dance and Culture from the University of Surrey, England in addition to an Award of the University of Surrey (Dist) in Arts Administration and Management. She is an experienced dance and arts administrator and manager, having worked for organizations such as Siobhan Davies Dance Company and the Council for Dance Education and Training in London, England as well as fulfilling a wide array of freelance dance and arts contracts.

From 1991 to 2010, Mel was Artistic Director and Choreographer for a musical theatre company producing, most recently, full length musicals including Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and My Fair Lady. Her experience as a choreographer spans a period of 25 years and she has worked with a wide range of age groups from young children right through to seniors. Mel is able to draw on her experience in a broad variety of dance genres such as ballet, contemporary, jazz, Broadway, Kathak and African in her choreographic work and she enjoys fusing aspects of these styles together to create work that is clearly marked with her own creative stamp.

She has a breadth of experience choreographing and staging full length musicals in addition to creating compilation style shows with songs from hit musicals that have been commissioned as fundraising events by several organizations. Mel strongly believes in utilizing the power of dance and the arts to reach out to and unite people from all types of backgrounds and to address challenging topics. In 2009, she simultaneously directed and choreographed the musical Rent whilst managing a campaign to raise public awareness of HIV and AIDS in a fairly conservative area of South East England, in addition to raising funds for a local HIV and AIDS charity.

As a performer, Mel has played a range of leading female roles such as Polly Baker in Crazy For You, Florence in Chess, Eliza in My Fair Lady, Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Maureen in Rent in addition to appearing in numerous shows as both a dancer and lead vocalist.

In addition to teaching show material and reconstructions of original choreography to company members, Mel has enjoyed devising and delivering musical theatre and dance workshops in a range of community settings.

As a newcomer to Newfoundland, Mel is very much looking forward to becoming immersed in the cultural life of the province and would urge anyone interested in working with her as Administrator, Choreographer or Performer to get in touch!

Andrew Draskóy has been active as a choreographer, dancer, and historical dance researcher and teacher since 1988. His choreographic works include Brigamania 135 (1996), The Pull (1997), Transformation Motif (2004), Every Day (2006), Impetus (2009) and numerous collaborative works.

In the choreographers' collective Louder than Words (1994-2000) he discovered a love of collaborative choreography and structured improvisation. He continues to work in this form with other independent choreographers and contemporary dancers in St. John's.

Andrew's work in Renaissance dance research and reconstruction has been presented around the world, including at the International Early Dance Conference in Belgium (2000) and the Boston Early Music Festival (2003). His paper "`Se il Cavallo Gagliardo': Connections between Horsemanship and Dance in 16th Century Italy" has been cited in major works in the field. He taught Renaissance dance in St. John's from 1989 to 1997, and continues to teach occasional workshops locally and abroad, including annually at the NL Folk Festival. In 1997 he and Alison Carter produced a large Renaissance Dance show for Year of the Arts.
He has choreographed in period style for six theatrical productions in St. John's.

In 2009 Andrew formed a new company to work specifically on Renaissance dance. This group of eight performers presented work and conducted several workshops in 2010 as part of the Quidi Vidi dance series, the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, Culture Days, and the Cupids 400' Muses and Minstrels Festival. The company is currently working on reviving a Spanish dance form that was a precursor to Flamenco, and preparing for the 2011 touring season.

Andrew is also involved in preserving and sharing traditional Newfoundland dance.