Nina started her classical training at the age of six, with Sonia Chamberlain. Throughout her childhood, she performed in many ballet performances. As a teen, she became curious about improvised dance and experimented with it while in Cegep. Feeling the need for more structure, she revisited classical training but also added jazz to her repertoire. Next, came the discovery of modern dance. Peggy Baker, of Lars Lubovitch fame, and one of Montreal's dance innovators, Iro Tembeck, were great inspirations. After many years of intensive training and studies in History of Modern Dance, Nina obtained a Teachers' Certificate where she realized that her passion for teaching was as strong as her desire to perform.
In 1980 she joined La Troupe de Danse Pointépiénu. Throughout the company's numerous european tours, Nina guest-taught and directed workshops and animations in schools and studios. In 1984 she joined Howard Richard Danse. Her close relationship with friend/mentor, Howard Richard, brought her to a much deeper level of expression as is evidenced by 'Woman Reclining on a Chair' - a solo he conceived for her. During the years that followed, Nina also worked on other independent projects, performing as a soloist in art galleries and in a dance film that had extensive airplay in dance film festivals.
Throughout her career as a performer, Nina continued to teach and choreograph on a regular basis. She continually searched for means to connect with her deeper self. In 1989 she was hired by Collège Jean-Eudes, one of Montreal's elite private high-schools, to direct its modern dance program. This included modern dance technique, history of modern dance and choreographic workshops with focus on improvisation. As part of her tache, Nina also choreographed for the department's yearly performances.
In 2003 she was approached and hired at Collège Ste-Anne de Lachine to help form their new dance program. Here she also teaches modern dance, history of modern dance and improvisation - as well as choreographing for the students' yearly performances.
Nina has explored many alternative means of expression. Her introduction toContact Improvisation with master teacher Andrew Harwood and *Authentic Movement with Susan Schell shifted her vision of dance and allowed her , once again, to further deepen her connection with movement. She has attended many workshops at Earthdance, a Massachusetts sanctuary for dancers and movers throughout the world. She has studied with masters such as Martin Keogh, Ray Chung and Nancy Stark-Smith. In 2003 Nina was one of Earthdance's artists-in-residence. She participates in contact ‘Jams' regularly - and teaches improvisation workshops of her own, in her Montreal hometown -as well as abroad.
In 2006 she attended Earthdance's Contact Improvisation Teachers' Exchange (CITE). Guided by Nancy Stark-Smith and Martin Keogh, this workshop is a fertile terrain - a sharing of ideas, knowledge and experience amongst teachers throughout the world.
Nina's classes and choreographic works are dynamic, colourful and multi-textured. More and more, she feels the interconnection between the physical and the spiritual realms. She knows them to be "intertwined " and trusts their importance. Her approach to movement encourages its participants in finding his /her own personal way of moving.
Nina is a member of the Association of Contact-Improvisation (ACI) and responsable for the Teaching and Research Committee. She created a series of ‘Contact-Exchanges' for teachers of contact-improvisation. This year she will participate in Pennsylvania's CI36 - a world event celebrating contact-improvisation's 36th year of existence.
Her desire is to share the magic of improvisation throughout the world.
Also a very passionate photographer, Nina is particularly inspired by the various moods & textures in Nature, which she channels into her dances. She has exhibited some of her photos in the United States and here in Montreal. Nina is also a singer/songwriter/musician. She has performed as a solo act, as a duo and with several bands throughout Canada, singing folk and rock. She has worked on a solo CD with songwriter / producer Noah Salzman.
* Authentic Movement is an extension of one's state of mind, a state not always explainable nor predictable. This approach offers an opportunity to tap into one's intimate states of being and to explore its perpetual changes, without judgement or expectation. Usually, Authentic Movement is practiced in pairs, where one person is a mover and the other is a witness to that mover.