Esie Mensah is an award-winning choreographer, director, dancer, movement director, educator, and TEDx speaker whose powerful voice shapes the future of performance across dance, theatre, opera, and film/TV. A Dora-nominated artist, she has worked with global leaders Rihanna, Drake, Nelly Furtado, Kenny Ortega, Canada’s Got Talent, Holt Renfrew, Deloitte, Microsoft, AGO, and the Toronto Raptors. Her work has toured internationally to the U.S., U.K., Ghana, Nigeria, France, and more. She has choreographed for Soulpepper Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, Shaw Festival, made her Stratford Festival debut this summer choreographing Ransacking Troy and directed Serving Elizabeth at Theatre Aquarius. Choreographer for Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining, which had its US premier this year. Lastly, Esie was the Artist in Residence of Fall for Dance North Festival where she co-curated the Afrofusion Signature program and debuted her latest creation ESHI on her company Esie Mensah Creations and Canada’s National Ballet School’s Company Life Program dancers.

Laura Nanni is a curator and cultural leader with more than 15 years of experience creating inclusive public initiatives that connect art, science, and civic engagement. Her work is grounded in collaboration, care, and creative exploration, and she’s committed to building meaningful relationships across disciplines, communities, and ways of knowing. She has led organizations through transformation, broadened participation, and introduced new approaches to public programming. As Artistic Director of Nuit Blanche Toronto (2024–2025), she worked with artists, cultural institutions and partners to advance large-scale participatory and accessible projects across the city. Before that, as Artistic and Managing Director of SummerWorks (2016–2023), she supported the organization’s evolution during a period of significant growth—strengthening its culture of experimentation and care, and expanding its impact and reach. Earlier roles with Harbourfront Centre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Luminato, TIFF, the City of Toronto, and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity shaped her approach to interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement. At the core of her work is a commitment to fostering curiosity and creating opportunities for people to connect with ideas, with one another, and with the world around them.

Jenna Rose-Freeman lives in Toronto with her family, and spent her childhood and adolescence in a dance studio before pursuing academic studies at Western University and then the University of Toronto. Jenna holds a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto, has worked within the arts and culture sector for 15+ years focused on arts administration, project management, partnership development and stewardship, and strategic planning. As the Director of Business Operations and Government Relations at Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) – where she has worked for over a decade – she oversees key aspects of internal business operations, including retail operations at The Shoe Room, and NBS’ IT strategy and department; and the government relations and funding portfolio including the project management of grant-funded special projects.

Visionary dance educator Mavis Staines has revolutionized the way dance is taught, performed, witnessed and shared across Canada and around the world. Over her 35-year tenure as Artistic Director of Canada’s National Ballet School, she has cemented the School’s reputation as the leading champion of excellence, access, and inclusion in dance. 

Born in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, Staines received her ballet training at Canada’s National Ballet School. Upon graduation from NBS, she danced as a first soloist with the National Ballet of Canada and the Dutch National Ballet until an accident cut short her performance career. She subsequently enrolled in NBS’ Teaching Training Program, joining NBS’ Artistic Faculty in 1982. She was appointed Artistic Director in 1989. 

Staines’ approach to the holistic wellbeing of the students in NBS’ elite Professional Ballet Program sparked an international conversation about classical ballet training, with a focus on progressive approaches in pedagogy, mind-body awareness, and nurturing the whole dancer. Her wholehearted enthusiasm for exploring technology in the arts, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and partnership building put Canada and NBS on the map of global leaders in ballet. 

Staines served as a juror for the Prix de Lausanne from 1993 to 1995 and was President of the Jury in 1998 and 1999. In 2001, she accepted the volunteer position of Artistic President Designate for the Prix de Lausanne and assumed the full responsibilities of Artistic President from 2002 to 2008.

A lifelong believer in the benefits that dance can offer all of us, Staines championed the establishment and rapid growth of NBS Sharing Dance, NBS’ community-engagement initiative that encompasses the widest range of community programs of any ballet school in the world. Her commitment to making the power of dance more accessible has opened doors for more than 100,000 Canadians of every age, ability, and aspiration to-date.  

Mavis Staines is a recipient of the 2019 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award (GGPAA), a Member of the Order of Canada, and a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.