Curriculum Vitae
Olivia Shaffer
Dance Artist // Movement Educator
Choreographer . Performer . Improvisor
Associate Artistic Director, EDAM
Feldenkrais Method® Teacher of Awareness Through Movement®
Certified Pilates Mat Instructor
B.F.A. Dance
image: Yvonne Chew / Olivia Shaffer
FORMAL EDUCATION
Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts in Burnaby, BC
Bachelor of Fine Arts – Dance Major
Certificate in the Liberal Arts
Pilates Unlimited Inc. in Vancouver, BC
Pilates Certification: Mat Level 1 (Beginner)
Pilates Certification: Mat Level 2 (Intermediate/Advanced)
Feldenkrais Teacher Training (KFTT) in Kelowna, BC
Certified Awareness Through Movement® Teacher
Functional Integration® Trainee
PROFESSIONAL DANCE WORK & PERFORMANCES
2014 - present / Company dancer with EDAM (Experimental Dance and Movement)
2015 - 2023 / Project dance artist with Co. ERASGA
2023 / Project dance artist with Foolish Operations
2021 - 2022 / Project dance artist with Jeanette Kotowich
2012 - 2020 / Project dance artist with Helen Walkley
2008 - 2022 / Collaborations with Dance Companies and Independent Choreographers/Directors including:
Kate Franklin, Isabelle Kirouac, Rachel Meyer, Mutual Futures Collective, Nayana Fielkov, Daelik & Delia Brett/MACHiNENOiSY, Jamie Robinson, Donna Redlick/Donna Redlick Dance, Gail Lotenberg/LINK Dance, Heather Lamoureux/Pressed Paradise, Ashley Whitehead, Starr Muranko/Raven Spirit Dance, Vanessa Goodman/Action at a Distance, Diego Romero/A very deep and meaningful company, David McIntosh/Battery Opera, Daisy Thompson, Judith Garay/Dancers Dancing, Katie DeVries, Lindsey Shaw, Michael Kong, Kirsten Wiren, Natalie Gan/Hong Kong Exile, Siobhan Sloane-Seale, Shauna Elton, Erika Mitsuhashi, The Foreigner’s Collective, Rob Kitsos, and Henry Daniel.
TEACHING
2017 - present / Teacher of Dance + Movement (Somatics, Improvisation, and Contact Improvisation) at venues such as:
EDAM, UBC, Modus Operandi, OURO, Immigrant Lessons, Ballet BC, SFU’s Theatre BFA Performance, Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, Leviathan Studio, Vancouver Contact Improvisation Festival, The Training Society, Polymer Dance, Performing Arts Program at Douglas College, Salt Spring Jam, Berkley Jam, Nanaimo Contemporary Ballet, Immigrant Services Society of BC, University of the Philippines.
2021 - present / Adjunct Movement Professor
BFA Acting Program, University of British Columbia
2023 - present / Teacher of Awareness Through Movement®
Virtually on Zoom
2013 - 2021 / Teacher of Mat Pilates at venues such as:
False Creek Community Centre, Ron Zalko Fitness & Yoga, Douglas Park Community Centre (Pilates Unlimited).
TRAINING, WORKSHOPS & RESIDENCIES
2011 - present / Contact Improvisation with Peter Bingham (EDAM), and with teachers including:
Anjelika Doniy, Matin Keogh, Andrew Harwood, Alicia Grayson, Karen Nelson, John Faichney, Ray Chung, Chris Aiken, Sara Shelton Mann, Frey Faust, Leilani Weis, Ruslan Baranov, Suzanne Liska, Anne Cooper, Daelik, Delia Brett, Yves Candau, Mark Young, and Jennifer McLeish-Lewis.
2017 - present / Feldenkrais classes & teacher training with teachers including:
Julie Peck, Alice Friedman, Gisele St. Hilaire, Jeff Haller, Deborah Bowes, Erica Trivett, and May Nasser.
2017 - 2021 / Grotowski Technique, Physical Theatre, & Scene Study with Raïna Von Waldenburg
2011 - 2020 / Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, & Improvisation with Helen Walkley
2011 - 2019 / Axis Syllabus workshops with teachers including:
Frey Faust, Ruth Douthwright, Kathleen Rea, and Baris Mihci.
2010 - 2021 / Other (multi-day) professional dance, theatre, performance, and voice training:
Billy Marchenski, Kevin O’Connor, Wendy vanden Heuvel, David MacMurray Smith, David Smukler, Brad Gibson, Dawn McCaugherty, Tom Stroud, Gayle Murphy, Susanna Hood, Katie Duck, Charles Koroneho, Sara Shelton Mann, Allen & Karen Kaeja, Jennifer Mascall, Tara Cheyenne/TCP, Rafaele Giovanola, Lin Snelling, Fighting Monkey with RootlessRoot Company, and Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.
Other somatic training:
Alexander Technique classes with Krystal Morrison and Marta Hunter
ARTISTIC WORKS
2022 - 2023 49.3° N, 123.6° W (duet, in collaboration with Diego Romero)
Aug 2022 / Presented by Acker Stadt Palast in Berlin, Germany
Jan 2023 / Presented by The Happening in Vancouver, BC
Apr 2023 / Present by Ignite the Arts Festival in Penticton, BC
May 2022 This widening of my gaze (commission, group piece with the Continuum Dance Company)
Presented by Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby, BC
2022 Senescence (duet, remount + development, in collaboration with Alex Mah, Diego Romero, Raïna von Waldenburg)
Mar 2022 / Presented by Vancouver International Dance Festival in Vancouver, BC
Aug 2022 / Presented by Acker Stadt Palast in Berlin, Germany
Jul 2020 Hold still a moment (livestream, part of forest dance series)
Presented by Dance Cafe (the Response) + Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver, BC
Nov 2019 Senescence (duet, in collaboration with Alex Mah, premiere)
Presented by New Works in Vancouver, BC
Jul 2019 Senescence (solo, excerpt)
Presented by Small Stage in Vancouver, BC + Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation in Seattle, WA
Feb 2019 Untitled (duet, in collaboration with Nayana Fielkov)
Presented by BOOMBOX in Vancouver, BC
Feb 2018 Senescence (solo, in-process showing)
Presented by 12 Minutes Max at Faris Theatre, The Dance Centre in Vancouver, BC
Sep & Oct 2017 NotBecauseWeAreUsedToLiving (site-specific solo, in collaboration with Dave Biddle)
Presented by SFU SCA, MFA Graduating Project in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC
Jun 2017 Things that are beautiful and transient (solo, premiere)
Presented by Inception Dance Company at VIU Theatre in Nanaimo, BC
Nov 2016 Feedback Loop (solo, premiere)
Presented by Shooting Gallery Performance Series at Dusty Flower Shop in Vancouver, BC
May 2014 Sociopetal Axis (trio, performed by Jeanette Kotowich, Julie Geremia & Lulu)
Presented by BLOOM at Mascall Dance in Vancouver, BC
2011 their cloudy measurement (solo, premiere)
Jan 2011 / Presented at Nitzotzot in Kibbutz Ga'aton, Israel
Oct 2011 / Art for Impact in Vancouver, BC
Spring 2010 Colour by Number (duet, premiere, in collaboration with Justin Reist)
Presented by 12 Minutes Max at The Firehall Theatre in Vancouver, BC
Summer 2009 Firewire (duet, in collaboration with Justin Reist)
Presented by LINK at Moberly Arts Centre in Vancouver, BC
Spring 2008 Box Social (quartet, in collaboration w/Jeanette Kotowich, Jaime Koleyak & Sarah Russell)
Presented by SFU Dance Grad Show at The Firehall Theatre in Vancouver, BC
Spring 2008 Adrenal Offspring (duet, performed by Janine Kamonzeki & Sarah Russell)
Presented by SFU Dance Grad Show at The Firehall Theatre in Vancouver, BC
Spring 2008 Please Press Pound (duet, in collaboration with Jeanette Kotowich)
Presented by SFU Dance Grad Show at The Firehall Theatre in Vancouver, BC
Winter 2008 CO = SV x HR (solo)
Presented by SFU Student Mainstage at The SFU Theatre in Burnaby, BC
Spring 2007 Kool-aid Drinkers (duet, in collaboration with Janine Kamonzeki)
Presented by SFU Student Mainstage at The SFU Theatre in Burnaby, BC
Spring 2005 Guise (trio, in collaboration with Jaime Koleyak & Sarah Russell)
Presented by SFU Student Mainstage at The SFU Theatre in Burnaby, BC
AWARDS
2021 Canada Council for the Arts, Research and Creation Grant
2021 Canada Council for the Arts, Professional Development Grant
2020 Canada Council for the Arts, Professional Development Grant
2020 Canada Council for the Arts, Travel Grant
2019 British Columbia Arts Council, Project Grant
2019 British Columbia Arts Council, Professional Development Grant
2018 Canada Council for the Arts, Concept to Realization Grant