Staff & Board
Crimson Coast Dance operates with the dedicated support of our AD, Staff, and volunteer Board of Directors
Holly Bright, Artistic Director
Holly Bright is a performer and dance educator. She holds a BA in Dance, BSc in Human Physiology, is certified in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, Gyrokinesis/Gyrotonic movement systems and Thai Massage. Holly founded Crimson Coast Dance Society (Nanaimo, 1998), an organization that supports creation and presentation of professional dance programming.
In 2010, Holly was awarded The City Of Nanaimo’s Honour In Culture Award for her contributions to the cultural fabric of the arts in Nanaimo. Her youth program, Body Talk, was nominated for a 2015 Business Achievement Award for Cultural Vitality. In 2016 Holly was selected for one of two annual John Hobday Awards offered through the Canada Council for the Arts by the Saidye Bronfman Family to acknowledge her work as an arts manager and to support her desire to cultivate cultural knowledge of Indigenous people, protocols, and their arts and artists — especially those of Snuneymuxw First Nation.
Teaching credits include; Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, The University of Akron, Ohio, The University of New Mexico, Las Cruces, and various B.C. dance academies in Nanaimo. Holly has danced with artists including; Susanna Hood, Margie Gillis (Montreal) Judith Adams (U.K), Senta Driver, Hanya Holm, Agnes de Mille, Nina Weiner, Maureen Fleming-Odo, Lynne Taylor Corbett (New York City), Helen Myers (New Mexico), Chick Snipper, Kokoro Dance, Judith Marcuse (film), Lee Eisler, Deborah Dunn, Judith Garay, Jennifer Mascall and Cheryl Prophet (Vancouver).
In her role as artistic director for Crimson Coast. Dance Society, Holly has choreographed solo works as well as works for dance professionals, dance students, and community dance projects for which she draws on her experience with Harry Streep and Stephan Koplowitz (NYC).
Musical Theatre choreographic background includes Euphemia (Akron, Ohio), The Spirit of Bleeker Street (NYC), A Good Person? (Malaspina University Theatre), Hot Flashes (Theatre One, Nanaimo), Heidi and South Pacific (Chemainus Theatre), Rocky Horror Picture Show and All Grown Up (Schmooze Productions, Nanaimo). She has performed in Guys and Dolls (Ohio), and created the lead role in an original musical, The Swing of Things (NYC).
Board of Directors
President | Lynda Adams
Lynda is a freelance theatre/dance artist, educator, keynote speaker, adjudicator and passionate board member (CCDS, Edmonton Arts Council, Alberta Dance Alliance, Theatre Alberta). She has a Masters’ Degree in Choreology from the Laban Centre in London, England and has taught in theatre departments at the U of A, MacEwan University, UBC, Douglas College, Red Deer College and for many adult and youth organizations.
Lynda has directed, choreographed, dramaturged and/or coached over 100 productions across Canada. She has received numerous awards including an Edmonton Theatre Sterling Award for Outstanding Choreography and was selected as one of 25 Most Influential Artists in Alberta by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts in 2016. During the past decade, Lynda has been creating community engagement interdisciplinary works, involving up to 200 people, including The Canola Project, which was selected for NYC’s League of Professional Theatre Women’s “30 Plays for 30 Years”. Since transplanting herself from Alberta to the incredibly arts vibrant city of Nanaimo, Lynda continues to teach, sit on boards, adjudicate, create art and present keynote addresses in both Alberta and BC!
Vice President | Dee Street
Dee is a consultant who supports businesses with planning, administration and fundraising. Drawing on a diverse career including over 15 years of corporate HR experience, Dee now supports non-profit organizations with their fundraising and is currently supporting Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Foundation and North Vancouver Museum and Archives new building initiative.
Dee has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Ryerson University and is certified as a Canadian Human Resource Professional in British Columbia. She moved to Ladysmith, BC in March 2018 from Vancouver and likes to hike, golf and explore the island in her spare time.
Secretary | Rebecca Woytiuk
Rebecca Woytiuk is an arts administrator from Edmonton, AB. Dancing from a young age, she trained as a stage manager and worked backstage for opera, theatre and dance in Vancouver, Toronto and London, UK for over 10 years. Currently, she serves on the CCDS Board as well as on the Nanaimo Fringe Festival Board as Treasurer, and works as administrator for the Vancouver Island Symphony in Nanaimo. She enjoys teamwork and collaboration because they give every player the opportunity to contribute their best selves and skills. She is a graduate of York and McEwan Universities.
Treasurer | Lori Sorenson
Director At Large | Robert Seaton
Director At Large | Lisa Cook
Originally from the Okanagan, Lisa attained her Advanced RAD at the age of 14 and has danced at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and National Ballet School. She went on to teach ballet, jazz, and contemporary to many students throughout the Okanagan and Nanaimo. Currently she works in finance with CIBC Wood Gundy but still manages to keep her passion for dance alive!