MOEM – BODY: With Hanna Kiel

 Hanna Kiel (길현아): Dora Award-winning choreographer Hanna Kiel hails from Seoul, South Korea, and relocated to Vancouver in 1996. Her early works were showcased at 12 Minutes Max, PlanB Singles and Solos Festival, Dancing on the Edge Festival, and Pulse at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. In 2007, she collaborated with Yoko Ono as a dancer and choreographer at Centre A. Since moving to Toronto in 2008, Hanna has choreographed for organizations such as Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, Conteur Dance Academy, George Brown Dance, Ryerson Dances, School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Kenny Pearl’s Emerging Artist Intensive, IGNITE, ProArteDanza, Ballet Jörgen, Alias Dance Project, The National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre, Dusk Dances, and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary. Her theatre collaborations include Cockroach by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho) at Tarragon Theatre and Working Phoenix by Silk Bath Collective at Theatre Passe Muraille. In 2012, she won Northwest Dance Project’s international choreographic competition Pretty Creatives and served as an E-choreographer for Springboard Danse Montreal in 2015. Hanna is currently a resident choreographer at Canada’s Ballet Jörgen.

John was appointed Artistic Director of Ballet BC in 1992, and his leadership marked the beginning of a creative and prosperous period in the company’s history as he implemented assertive outreach strategies for strengthening the company’s identity locally, nationally, and internationally.

Over the past 37 years, numerous internationally-respected companies, festivals, and institutions have commissioned new choreography from John. He is the recipient of prestigious awards acknowledging his outstanding contribution to the world of dance, including the first-ever honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University (2003), the Exceptional Achievement Award in the Performing Arts from the Black Historical and Cultural Society of British Columbia (2005), and the African-Canadian Achievement Award for Excellence in the Arts and Entertainment (2016), among many others.