Andrew Tay, 1977, Toronto Canada. Multi-hyphenate choreographer, performance curator, dancer and DJ, Andrew’s work seeks to trouble dominant perceptions of power informed by his lived experiences as a queer Filipino Canadian. His work Make Banana Cry (co-authored with Stephen Thompson) questions perceptions of “Asian-ness” in Western culture and has been presented at the Festival TransAmériques (Montreal), Kampnagel (Hamburg), Fierce Festival (UK) and continues to tour internationally. His other works Fame Prayer / EATING (created with Katarzyna Szugajew and François Lalumière), The Magic of Assembly (created with Whacking artist Ashley Colours Perez) and Odd-Sensual have received numerous accolades including the Risk and Innovation Award (Summerworks Toronto) and 5 Dora Mavor award nominations. 

Andrew is known for reimagining possibilities within historic dance institutions through his work as the inaugural Artistic Curator of the Centre de Creation O Vertigo (CCOV) Montreal and his current role as Artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) one of Canada’s oldest contemporary dance companies. In 2022 Andrew was named on the list of “50 under 50 shaping tomorrow” by Concordia University. He actively thinks about community, irreverence and resistance in both his performance and curatorial practices.

Stephen Thompson, originally from Calgary, Alberta is an inter-disciplinary artist working between Canada, USA and Europe. Stephen’s introduction to movement and performing was through competitive figure skating. He received a Bachelor of Kinesiology (art and science of movement) and Dance from the University of Calgary. In 2015 at the World “Figure” Championships in Lake Placid, Stephen received the bronze medal. In 2016 he received a Victor Martin-Lynch award from the Canada Council for the Arts. Past choreographic work and collaborations: 2012 Bessie award winning Antigone Sr. (Large), The Ghost of Montpellier and the Samurai (2014) with Trajal Harell, Culture Administration & Trembling (2014), Les Etudes (2017), Chaud (2020); Jennifer Lacey, Antonija Livingstone, Dominique Pétrin, whatwearesaying (2014); Public Recordings (2 Dora Mavor awards Toronto), numerous projects with Benoit Lachambre, Relative Collider (2015); Liz Santoro and Pierre Godard, Service #5: Try to keep kids off naturalism and Kein Paradiso with Adam Linder recipient of the Mohn Prize at the L.A. Bienniale, Stitchomythia with Nadia Lauro and Zeena Parkins, Dramaturge for Such Sweet Thunder (2019) recipient of 8tensions Impulstanz, Compulsory Figures (2019) co-signed with French visual artist Xavier Veilhan.