Hannah Shira Naiman

Hannah Naiman is an independent choreographer and dancer, a traditional dance leader, and a pilates instructor based in Toronto, Ontario. She completed her BFA in Contemporary Dance at Concordia University. In addition to her contemporary dance training, Hannah has danced and taught and called various forms of English and American folk and social dances in Canada and the US.
Hannah has performed for Meagan O’Shea, Stephan Koplowitz, Heidi Strauss, Valerie Buddle, Heather Bryce, and Katarzyna Ignatowska. She has presented her choreographic works in Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.  In 2007, she founded Once Removed, a contemporary dance company whose repertoire isolates and illuminates particular elements of traditional American and English folk dance.  Once Removed performed in Montréal at the St. Ambroise Fringe Festival in June 2008, and most recently at the Ottawa Folk Festival, in August 2009. For her contemporary dance choreographies, Hannah was awarded an Emerging Artist Award as well as a Space Grant Award by Green Street Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts.