Sable Island (2015) by Serge Bennathan. Photo by Holly Crooks.
For more than twenty years, Mocean Dance has provided fertile ground for artistic endeavors and potential in the field of dance. Led by Co-Artistic Directors Susanne Chui and Sara Coffin, Mocean is recognized nationally as a leading contemporary dance company from the Atlantic region.
Sharing perspectives of our region, we create opportunities to engage local artists and connect to the national performing arts milieu. Through our work and collaborations, we are an artistic catalyst and contribute to making Halifax a hotspot for creation, research, experimentation, interdisciplinary dialogue, and performance. Our programming and community engagement activities cultivate opportunities for artists to transform themselves and connect with audiences, to build community through dance and creativity.
In 2016, Mocean was honoured with The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Art Award for Canvas 5 x 5, which was the first time this esteemed award has been given to a Nova Scotia dance work. Mocean Dance is a member of Dance Nova Scotia and the Canadian Dance Assembly, Cultural Human Resources Council, and many of its members belong to the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists.
These Versions of Us (2018) by Heidi Strauss. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.
"highly physical, collaborative, and technically and emotionally rich Contemporary dance"
- the Dance Current
Vision & Values
Mocean is about movement. To be like the ocean: powerful, alive, regenerating, and generative; we are strong and fluid. The body is the vessel through which life is perceived and experienced; we centre the body’s somatic knowledge to create dance, through which we access the deepest parts of ourselves and our shared humanity. We nurture and bridge artistic questions into possibility and make work that resonates in the body, ignites the imagination, and inspires a shared reverie. Our work lies in the ethos of interconnection, cultivating potential with care, and empowering artists to develop creatively and connect with our greater community.
Vision
A thriving contemporary dance community that connects artists and audiences,
and that reflects Nova Scotia's cultural dynamism
VALUES
ARTIST-CENTRED
Spaces where artists thrive and grow.
TRANSFORMATION
New experiences and sensations of human imagination.
EXCHANGE
Invite curiosity and activate possibility.
INTEGRITY
Care for the people. Care for the work. Do our best.
Mission
Nurture and grow contemporary dance creation and artistic practice,
while catalyzing exchange across collaborative disciplines and communities.
Mandate
Create, produce and present contemporary dance
Collaborate with other arts disciplines and organizations in the creation and presentation of new work
Develop and employ dancers, choreographers and other artistic makers with a connection to Nova Scotia and our region
Focus community engagement to broaden access to dance
Develop audiences for dance and multidisciplinary work
Advocate for dance and be an ambassador for dance from our region
Tour work regionally, nationally and internationally
Company History
These Versions of Us (2018) by Heidi Strauss. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.
Mocean Dance was founded in 2001 by five Nova Scotian dancers to provide a home where local dance artists could develop professionally while also giving audiences access to high quality contemporary dance. For ten years, founders Carolle Crooks Fernando, Sara Harrigan, Lisa Phinney Langley, Alicia Orr, and Sarah Rozee, worked to ensure that the company was artistically and structurally viable.
When the last founding artistic director retired in 2012-13, Susanne Chui and Sara Coffin were hired as the first external artistic leaders. Active performers, choreographers, administrators, and producers, Chui and Coffin are committed to creation, developing multidisciplinary work, building the dance community, and establishing connections regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Together, they have a strong artistic vision and the ability to balance artistic growth with sound management, bringing inspiration and experience to the company as it evolves in its third decade. In the past decade Mocean has evolved from a dance company centered around the artistic growth of a small group of dancers, to a dance hub reflecting the breadth of creativity of the local professional dance community.