
SOM founder Michael Menegon gathered some of the best improvisors in Toronto to help him transform his vision on to the stage. 30 years of being a dance accompanist plus his own career as a contemporary dancer lead to where SOM is today. SOM is experiential. SOM is visual. SOM is auditory. SOM is movement. SOM taps into the creative mind of both the performers and the audiences.
Musicians:
Michael Menegon - percussion, vocals
Ian de Souza - Bass
Nilan Perera - Guitar
Pierre Mongeon - trumpet, flugelhorn, recorder keyboard & toys
Movement Design:
Elke Schroeder
Lonii Garnons-Williams
Alison Keery
Video Design:
Richard Blenman
Sound and Light Design:
John Preketes
Guests Musicians:
Rick Sacks - drums
Andrea Koziol - singer
Guest Dancers:
Jocelyn Mah
Nicole Rose Bond
Philip McDermott
Ian de Souza – Bass player
Uganda born, Toronto bred bass player and producer, Ian de Souza is the recipient of a Juno Award (2007), National Jazz Award (2009) and a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee (2009).
Over his 35 year career as a musician, Ian has recorded and performed widely on over 4 continents, North America, Europe, Asia and Australia with artists as diverse as Jeff Martin, Jane Siberry, Carole Pope, Denzil Sinclair, Stephen Paige and Colin James (Canada), Bill Frissell, Cyro Baptista, Ursula Rucker, Paul Schaffer (US), Yograj Naik and San Page (India), Wayna, Aaron Nitunga, Jean Christophe Matata (Africa).
He is a founding member of the Jazz/Canadiana/improv quartet, Sisters Euclid and is a long time collaborator with electronic duo LAL, and torch-folk singer, Andrea Koziol.
In addition he composed music for Dancemaker’s Dance Company for choreographer, Nova Bhattacharya’s Red and White. He continues to compose for dancer/choreographer Joanna de Souza’s Chhandam Dance Company.
Nilan Perera – Guitar Player
Guitarist/composer Nilan Perera has been active in some of the most forward looking, influential and radical Canadian ensembles including NOMA, Bill Grove’s Not King Fudge, Handslang and the Excalceolators. He has performed and recorded with John Butcher, Evan Parker, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Jandek, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Glen Hall, John Oswald, David Toop, Sarah Peebles, Eddie Prevost, Urs Leimgruber, Rainer Wiens and Michael Ondaatje and many others. His decade+, award winning association with multidisciplinary artist Susanna Hood has placed him in the vanguard of experimental sound artists working in performance with three major works with Ms. Hood's company hum as well as many other independent dancer/choreographers and theatre companies.
Michael Menegon – SOM director, Drummer
While finishing his professional training as a dancer at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre Michael was introduced to and mentored with the legendary drummer/dance accompanist Ricardo Abruet for three years. Since graduating Michael has continued playing for classes while also dancing for DanceMakers, Toronto Dance Theatre and the Group de la Place Royale in Ottawa as well as self-producing and performing in over 20 works in Canada, Mexico, South America and Cuba. He received a Canada Council Award for choreography and has been critiqued for creating one of the top dances in 1999 for a work that used the Beat Suit, an electronic drum costume that allows the dancer to access and create the score while dancing. He has been a resident accompanist at Toronto Dance Theatre for 30 years and has accompanied for many great teachers including Peggy Baker, David Earle, Risa Steinberg, Serge Bennathan and many others from Canada and the U.S.
Pierre Mongeon - Trumpet, Flugalhorn, percussion
Award-winning songwriter, composer, arranger, trumpet, flugelhorn and keyboard player, Pierre is active in Toronto’s improvisation scene performing with various ensembles including his collective “Pierre Mongeon’s Transharmonic”.
Former international recording artist with Somerset Entertainment’s Avalon label, Pierre loves nature and lives life playing jazz.
Pierre studied at the Quebec Conservatory of Music and at the University of Ottawa and has been playing improvised based music for over 35 years. Pierre’s album project, “Circle Of The Earth-Share the Love, has been critiqued as a masterpiece by Peter Moore (eRoom) and Jaymz B (Jazz FM). One of the tracks, “Happy Feet” was a grand prize winner for a John Lennon Song-writing Contest.
Richard Blenman – Video Designer
Richard is the director of Tingle Media. He has been a staple in the DJ /VJ scene in Toronto for over two decades. His work has garnered him invitations to work with the Toronto International Film Festival, Mat Sundin of the Toronto Maple Leafs and numerous clubs and restaurants in Toronto and the US.
Elke Schroeder – Dancer
Elke Schroeder is a Toronto-based dance artist. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (2005) she has worked with Lucy Rupert /Blue Ceiling Dance, and Alias Dance Project, Jenn Goodwin, Amanda Acorn, Susie Burpee and Andrea Nann among others.
Elke is known for her explosive performance quality, floorwork skills and edgy choreography; “an almost literal ball of effervescent energy, like a swiftly tilting planet falling out of orbit” (Mooney on Theatre). She is a long-time student of Jozef Frucek and Linda Kapetanea (RootlessRoot) in Brussels and her teaching centers on their Fighting Monkey Practice. She has also studied intensively with Iñaki Azpillaga, the dancers of Ultima Vez, Les Slovaks,and David Zambrano.
Lonii Garnons-Williams - Dancer
Lonii was born in Darwin, Northern territory, Australia where she moved from to begin her full-time training at Queensland Dance School of Excellence, Brisbane. In 2009 she graduated with a Certificate in Dance having received the Contemporary Dancer Scholarship and awarded runner up in the Cecchetti Queensland Gold metal.
She furthered her training in Perth, Western Australia at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
As a freelance dancer Lonii has worked with many celebrated Choreographers; Gavin Webber, Raewyn Hill, Leigh Warren, Cadi McCarthy, Lucas Jervies, Jera Wolfe and Robert Glumbek. Lonii joined Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) as a full-time ensemble member in April 2015 and was nominated at the Helpmann Awards for Best Female Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production for her role in Habitus. She joined Red Sky Performance shortly after her new international endeavor to Toronto and performed Miigis, Adizocan and Backbone as part of their 2016-2017 season
Alison Keery - Dancer
Alison Keery is a dancer, educator and improviser based in Toronto. She was the co-founder of music and dance improvisation collective, Lila Ensemble with whom she toured Europe alongside up and coming composer Emilio Guim (Sweden). She is a regular performer and on the organization committee of coexisDance, a music and dance improvisation series in Toronto. She is a regular collaborator of Meandering Streams of Conciousness; an avant- garden, free and structured orchestra led by Avesta Nakahei. Keery most recently toured with Dusk Dances for their 2018 Season (Inner City Siren’s Part 2: Julia Aplin & Tenterhooks: William Young), was a performer in Michael Reinhardt’s Operations at Nuit Blanche and danced in Illuminite Yonge and Dundas Squre. She is presently working on a series of duets with David Earl and appears regularly with TDC Entertainment. Keery is a Music Together TM instructor at several locations across Toronto.