Faculty
Marcia Dysart
Marcia has settled back in New Brunswick, after living in Southern Ontario for nine years, bringing
with her more than 15 years in dance performance, choreography and instruction in the
dance disciplines of contemporary, ballet, jazz, creative movement, improvisation and
contact improvisation.
Marcia began her dance career in New Brunswick studying ballet, contemporary and jazz with Dance Fredericton, Dance East, UNB Ballet School, and Diana Webster School of Ballet. While in Fredericton she was a member of Dance Fredericton's Performance Ensemble and FORE, a collective of musicians and dancers, directed by Lindsey Sweeney. During this time Marcia choreographed and danced in a documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
While living in Ontario she developed professionally as a dancer, choreographer and educator. She has danced with the Hamilton Dance Company, Parahumans Dance Theatre and Mac Dancers. Performances include original contemporary works in the Guelph and Dundas Contemporary Arts Festivals, Hamilton Art Gallery shows as well as 8:08 Series (an interactive forum for dancers to seek feedback on new works), and Chimera Project, Toronto. She has traveled to Oklahoma and Detroit for the American College Dance festivals to perform and study the dance disciplines of contemporary, ballet, jazz, and African dance.
While in Ontario, Marcia developed and taught dance programs to grades one through five, according to the Ontario curriculum. She also taught ballet for two schools, Steps Performing Arts Centre, Hamilton, and Dynamic Dancers, Ancaster, Ontario. Currently she is teaching contemporary dance at Rothesay Ballet School and movement for the IACT in My School program under the direction of Kate Wilcott (Interaction Children’s Theatre Company).
Returning to New Brunswick has been a great step for her professionally as she sees the arts community growing. Recently she took part in a residency with Mocean Dance of Halifax and performed in a piece choreographed by the company. Marcia‘s recent performances include dancer and member of the chorus for Saint John Theatre Company’s production of Chicago as well as the role of Mouse King, in Rothesay Ballet School’s production of the Nutcracker. Working with Interaction Children’s Theatre has given Marcia an outlet to lead aspiring actors through a series of movement exercises to facilitate the creative process in developing choreographic pieces, most recently for their production of the Snow Queen and Jungle Book.
In March 2010, Marcia co-founded Connection Dance Works, Saint John’s first professional contemporary dance company. Her most recent project with the company, entitled ‘Under Sail’, was performed at the New Brunswick Museum and supported by the Saint John Community Arts Funding Program.