Léa Tremblay, Toronto, ON Are you interested in acting up too? Click here to get started! Check out the next Youth Acting UP! Profile

Dancer. Builder. Activist. They say a true dancer’s feet never really touch the ground. And that’s never been truer than in the case of Léa Tremblay. The 22-year-old choreographer and 4th-year York University student is using her talent and hard work to make a difference all over the world. At York, where she is an Honors Double Major in Dance and International Development Studies, she joined together students from all facets of the art community to put on two community performances. These collaborative projects allowed York University’s dance, music, theatre, visual arts and design students to make various creative experiments in interaction with one another and then assemble the results into a cohesive performance. In March 2007, she and her troupe performed “Schoolyard”, followed by “All You Can Eat” in March 2008.

Given her talent and passion for modern dance, Léa is surprisingly new to the art form. She began studying at College Andre-Grasset, Montreal in September 2004, at the suggestion of a friend. She immediately fell in love with it, especially with the guidance and inspiration from choreographer Claude Bellemare. Last year, she travelled to the Middle East with Operation Groundswell to build a school for Bedouin communities, a desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group. While there, she was encouraged by Palestinians of all ages to share with them her dance, and in return they taught her Dabkah, a Palestinian folk dance. This summer, she will spend three months teaching modern dance and ballet to young people in the West Bank cities of Qalandia and Ramallah. One important part of Léa’s project is gender equality. That’s why she ensures her classes and workshops are inclusive, and rely on the participation and ideas equally from boys and girls. In addition to the experience working in the Middle East, Léa also made some friends with whom she still keeps in touch. After completing her Honors Double Major in Dance and International Development Studies, Léa plans to apply for a Master’s program in International Development. She also studies Arabic and Spanish.