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 2006.  Hannah has performed for Meagan O’Shea, Pierre Chartrand, 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.  Hannah was invited to perform as a guest in Claudia Moore’s  “Older and Reckless 10th Anniversary Show” at the Dancemaker’s Centre for Creation as one of 10 emerging dance artists in Toronto.
In addition to her dance and movement training, Hannah is a singer/songwriter, and performs in the folk duo “The Blackest Crow” with Emily Adam.