Carmelle Cachero
Co-Producer, Creator, Performer
Image Description: A photo of Filipina woman, she has long black hair and wears black shirt, red sash and red wrist ties. She is looking towards the camera and her hands are clasped together.
Carmelle Cachero tells her story through rhythm and her passion for the art form of rhythm tap is a driving force to her pursuits. In addition to Speaking Vibrations, she currently dances with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative Ensemble and YOW City Tap. She co-founded the West Coast Tap Dance Collective and is a former member of The Urban Tap Squad, both based in Vancouver. Carmelle currently is a Producing Fellow in the ThisGen Fellowship under the partnership of Why Not Theatre and the National Arts Centre. Her love for the arts extends into other aspects of her life working as a Sign Language Interpreter for theatre and the performing arts.
Jordan Samonas
Co-Producer, Creator, Performer
Image Description: A white woman on stage posing in a lunge position in front of a blue background. She is looking down. Her palms are open in the shape of a book. She has long brown hair and wears a white draping fabric like a dress.
Jordan Samonas is a professional dance artist, creator and producer. Visionary and go-getter with over 10+ years experience in indie self-production, she has performed for over 25+ years on stages and at festivals across Canada and internationally. Jordan is co-producer and lead project manager of Speaking Vibrations, an award-winning, multi-disciplinary and accessibility-centering performance collective (SkirtsAfire Festival, SOUND OFF Deaf Theatre Festival, Halifax Fringe, Great Canadian Theatre Company, Ottawa Fringe). A dance “chameleon” with an eclectic movement background (contemporary/modern dance, rhythm tap, kizomba/semba, ballet, jazz, hip hop, musical theatre), Jordan’s movement style embodies sound, groove and feeling. She deeply values the rich cultures, traditions and histories of the dances she practices, and believes in dance as communication, community-building and collective joy. If you’re looking for her, she can be found on the dance floor, in her garden or on a canoe trip.
Jo-Anne Bryan
Creator, Performer
Image Description: A photo of Black woman on stage in front of a black background. She has a short fro and is wearing a bright green shirt with wide sleeves. She is looking towards the camera. Her hands making the shape of a sphere or globe.
Jo-Anne Anita Bryan is an Ottawa-based Artist experiencing life through the intersections of being Black, Deaf, Queer, and Woman. Her artistry includes American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling and performance. Jo-Anne is one-quarter of the Speaking Vibrations group; they did their first performance at Uproar Arts Festival (2019). Jo-Anne performed her ASL storytelling Where You Come From (Phenomena Festival, 2019) and 400 years (Sound Off Festival, 2021). When not performing, she works as ASL consultant/Deaf interpreter to interpreters and Deaf theatre actors and creates illustrations in her spare time. She wants to ensure that theatre is accessible to Deaf communities.
King Kimbit
Creator, Performer
Image Description: A photo of a Vietnamese woman who has her black hair tied in a high bun. She is wearing a dark blue robe with draping sleeves. She has her palms open and her eyes closed.
King Kimbit is a literary and vocal Hip-Hop artist based on traditional land of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg. As a daughter of the Vietnamese Diaspora, King yearns to explore the roots of her journey as she expresses through art forms learned from an inner-city upbringing, some of which can be heard on her debut album, Life Lessons Poetically. King is passionate about empowering and encouraging youth, community care, and sharing love through writing, reciting, and the abolition of punitive, carceral institutions, and is currently working on her sophomore album, Healing Trauma From The Projects.
