Lisa Sandlos is a faculty member at York University in both the Department of Dance and the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. She holds an M.A. in Dance from York University and certificates in Laban Movement Analysis from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) and University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). Sandlos is currently working on a Ph D in the School of Women’s Studies at York.
Sandlos has been an active member of Toronto’s dance community for many years as an educator, choreographer, and performer. She is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and George Brown College’s professional training program. Sandlos has danced in the work of Yuri Ng, Menaka Thakkar, Sylvie Bouchard, Eve Lenzner, David Earle, Newton Moraes, Michelle Silagy, Judith Miller, Janet Lemon, Maxine Heppner, Robert McCollum and Motus O Dance Theatre. Sandlos co-founded the group dance Continuum, which produced performances and workshops for both adults and children. Her independent choreography has been presented at the York Quay Centre at Harbourfront, Myth Productions, the 8:08 Series, the Hamilton Summer Dance Festival and in Miami, Florida.
Sandlos currently teaches modern dance technique, improvisation, conditioning, and Ecstatic Dance in the Department of Dance at York, as well as modern dance, movement analysis and Pilates in the School of Kinesiology. She has taught modern dance and creative movement to all ages and levels, working extensively in the public schools through the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Education program, the National Ballet of Canada’s Creating Dances program, and Learning Through The Arts. She has worked as a senior instructor of Pilates and Bartenieff Fundamentals at Second Wind Studios and Riverdale Fitness Mill and served as a board member of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists (CADA). Sandlos founded Modern Movement in 1992, and spent fifteen years directing this unique dance and movement program for adults of all levels of experience and ability. From 1991 to 2002, she was also the founding director of The Young Contemporary Dancers of Toronto , a company that was dedicated to providing broad-based training in contemporary dance technique and choreography and a range of performance opportunities for youth within Toronto’s independent professional dance community.Sandlos’ choreography has been presented at venues in Toronto such as Artword Theatre, Nathan Phillips Square, and the Winchester Street Theatre, at the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, McMaster University in Hamilton, and in Miami, Florida.
Sandlos’ current research focuses on the hypersexualization of young female dancers, and the impacts of this trend on dance education, public perceptions of dance, and girls’ psychological and social development. She is also interested in global and local practices of “ecstatic dance”, and the ways in which consciousness-altering or transformative dance experiences can shape communities, influence health, and fulfill the human desire for spiritual connections.
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Teaching
Professional Choreography
Performance Experience
Other Professional Activities