Ginette Dion:

GINETTE DION is a professional Bharata Natyam dancer, teacher and choreographer. She began her training in 1990 with Mr. Jai Govinda of the Vancouver Jai Govinda Dance Academy. She then continued to train in the subtleties of this art with Mrs. Jayalakshmi Eshwar, an internationally renowned Bharata Natyam teacher and choreographer and director of the Abhinayaa School of Dance in New Delhi India. More recently, she also studied with Mrs. Smita Mahajan and M. Parimal Phadke in Pune, also in India. In recognition of her dedication to Bharata Natyam, the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute awarded her a one-year scholarship in 2000 and a 4-month scholarship in 2003 to deepen her study of this art in India. These many years of assiduous practice of Bharata Natyam were enriched by a BA in Modern Dance from the University of Quebec in Montreal in 2001 and a teacher’s training in Iyengar yoga.

--- CV coming soon --- Press release ---

As is traditionally expected, Ginette Dion presented her Arrangetram, a solo dance of a complete Bharata Natyam repertoire under the direction of Jai Govinda, in September 1996 and has since performed on several occasions in Canada and in India. She participated in the Kala Nidhi International Dance Festival in Toronto in August 1999 and in December 2001, was invited to dance at the Shilpgram Centre in Khajuraho, India. Ginette also gave two solo performances with live music at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi, one in December 2000 and another in September 2004.

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Ginette Dion has been teaching Bharata Natyam since 1997 and has been invited on numerous occasions to give workshops in dance schools such as The Montreal Modern Dance workshops (Les Ateliers de danse moderne de Montréal, LADMMI), the Montreal Dance Conservatory (Conservatoire de danse de Montréal) and the Louise Lapierre Dance School (l’École de danse Louise Lapierre). She also taught a course in the Dance department of the University of Quebec in Montréal (Département de danse de l’Université du Québec à Montréal) during the summer of 2007. At the same time, she teaches yoga at the Iyengar Yoga Centre of Montreal (Centre de Yoga Iyengar de Montréal).

BHARATA NATYAM SHOWS
Ginette’s extensive experience and personal vitality have led her to produce several Bharata Natyam shows including Bhumi Pranam, a tribute to the earth, in June 2008, Krishna, the flute player in March 2008, Ananda (joy) in 2007, Offering in 2006, Devi – the goddess in 2005, Pushpaputa – Offering in 2005, Rasa – emerging movements of classical Indian dance between 2001 and 2004 and Puja in 2002. She created two Bharata Natyam choreographies accompanied by live musicians: first a solo, Radha and Krishna, presented in March 2008, as well as a piece for four dancers called The Firebird, a Bharata Natyam Dance, with an original musical composition by Antoine Ouellette presented at a show called Bhumi Pranam, a tribute to the earth in June 2008.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE
In order to deepen her art and experiment with new dance forms, Ginette Dion is now creating a personal gestural vocabulary having its source in Bharata Natyam. Utilizing the rhythms, emotions and sculptural poses of this traditional classical art, she has given new life to a personal and contemporary form of dance. From this inspiration, several choreographies were born, namely For Once (Pour une fois, 2001), Khajuraho (2001), Goddess (Déesse, 2002), Bodies in rhythm (Corps en cadence, 2002) and A float (À flots, 2004). In order to continue exploring her artistic expression in Bharata Natyam and in contemporary dance, Ginette founded SATTVIKA DANSE in March 2005.