Mocean Dance announces new leadership

Susanne Chui
Photo: Nick Rudnicki

Sara Coffin
Photo: Peter Eastwood

>> by Naomi Brand
Halifax's Mocean Dance has announced that its 2012/13 season will begin under the new leadership of Susanne Chui as the company's artistic director and Sara Coffin as artistic associate. Mocean Co-founder and Artistic Director Carolle Crooks Fernando will be stepping down after more than a decade with the company in order to pursue the next phase of her career. "I have total confidence in the strength of this new leadership," says Crooks Fernando. "Susanne and Sara are dedicated to their craft and to the development of Halifax as a centre for dance creation and production. They value the company's vision and its potential for moving forward.” Coffin has been acting as interim artistic director this past season while Crooks Fernando was on maternity leave and will continue her work with the company next season while also pursuing an MFA in choreography at Smith College in Massachusetts. Chui and Coffin are both contemporary dance artists and co-founders of the cross-Canada collective SiNS (Sometimes in Nova Scotia). "I am excited to bring to Mocean the knowledge I have gained from being an independent dance artist for the past ten years,” says Chui. “I look forward to the new experiences that will come with this position.” Mocean's upcoming season is full of performance and creation activities including touring work across the country, performing a new commission by New Brunswick’s Lesandra Dodson and beginning a new creation with Sara Coffin.