Shakeil Rollock
“Being of Caribbean descent, I have a natural inkling towards the act of storytelling. Storytelling to me is about preserving histories as well as educating and enlivening the audience. Growing up partially deaf has forced to utilize sight in a different way while also having to play closer attention to the soundscapes around me. Also, being queer enhances my work when incorporating relationships between bodies. These three facets of myself greatly influence the work I produce.”
As an emerging dancer, choreographer and instructor, I’m proud to call Toronto my home. Starting dance late at the age of seventeen, I mainly trained in urban styles and later was influenced to train in modern, ballet, contemporary and jazz techniques. As a graduate from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, I have developed my experience through working with artists such as Louis Laberge-Côté, Allen and Karen Kaeja (Kaeja d’Dance) Draico (Step Up Franchise), Hollywood Jade (Jully Black Entertainment), Meagan O’shea (Stand Up Dance), Newton Moraes (Newton Moraes Dance Theatre), Christopher House (Toronto Dance Theatre), Kevin Ormsby (KasheDance), Julie Pérron (Cirque du Soleil) and Debra Brown (Cirque du Soleil). Most recently I have been forutnate enough to work within the Afro-Contemporary Diaspora with Esie Mensah (Esie Mensah Dance) and Lua Sheyenne (Lua Sheyenne Dance Company).
Beyond performing, I create my own works through my collective, Impromptu Movements. I’ve presented in various spaces such as, Dancemakers, The Opera House, The Gladstone Hotel and Theatre Passe Muraille. I thoroughly enjoy teaching dance throughout the province; having lectured annually at Wilfrid Laurier University for their masters program in social work. Movement is an automatic extension of life and dance is a performance-based method of movement. To me, in its simplest form, dance is the enactment of life.
Visit Shakeil’s website here
Follow: @shakroll