What is Provocations?

PROVOCATIONS: drama and dance in education is a new publication with a mandate to celebrate, problematize, and inquire into drama and dance in diverse educational settings. This venture aims to connect Ontario drama and dance educators by providing a vibrant platform for sharing professional knowledge, pedagogical practices, and research. The centering of teacher, student and arts educators voice and experience will be a hallmark of the publication.

Provocations' audience consists of educators, K- post-secondary, who want to learn more about effective teaching techniques, share their own classroom discoveries and research, and have a platform for interacting with others. The journal will also be of interest to artist- educators and arts organizations.

Mission and Vision Statement

MISSION

To cultivate community, provoke pedagogical inquiry, and disrupt educational complacency through drama and dance.

VISION

Through the sharing of diverse teaching & learning stories, PROVOCATIONS aims to build a connected community of drama and dance educators. This publication centers the voices of drama and dance practitioners (teachers, students artists) whose inquiries and practice-based research place them in conversation with a broader community. Innovative approaches, bold risk-taking, and reflective practice are highlighted to encourage exploration and experimentation in the drama and dance classroom.

WHAT GUIDES US

Drama and dance stories matter
Drama and dance make space for reflection on multiple processes: wondering, theorizing, challenging, exploring, provoking, creating, thinking and feeling
Drama and dance educators take action to decolonize learning
Drama and Dance practice-based research and scholarship build community, while stimulating innovation and new conversations
Drama and dance will continue to grow through exemplary practice

Provocations Editorial Board

Christine Jackson (she/her)

Christine has provided arts leadership in a variety of contexts, as a teacher and Arts Coordinator at the Toronto District School Board, Arts Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, and faculty member at OISE/UT, York University, and Brock University. As a Sessional Lecturer at OISE, Christine is currently teaching Intermediate/Senior Drama, P/J Drama and Dance, and Foundations of Teaching & Learning. She is a long-time member and former president of CODE, a Cultural Leader's Lab fellow, and is a board member of several arts organizations.Christine is the founder and managing editor of Provocations, 2020-2026.

Brendon Allen (he/il)

Was challenged by a teacher with good instincts to deepen his love of French through improvisation and theatresports in Grade 4 and now, in Grade 37 (or so…) he is still learning and now looks for ways to present sparks to young people through Drama, Theatre and the interdisciplinary multiverse. A papa, a playwright, a picture book writer and an educator. Recently he has been playfinding with companies like The County Stage Company, Why Not Theatre, Outside the March, and the Toronto Fringe. Look for one of his projects at YPT soon. He is happy to be a part of this team of passionate dramatists at Provocations, as Drama and Dance have never been as important to the future of schools than they are right now but those passionate about it need to raise the stakes of the dialogue.

He still loves French and Improv, Merci, Mr. Paquin!

Jane Deluzio

Jane has 45 years of dance and drama experiences as a teacher, department head, coordinator, instructional leader, vice-principal, AQ instructor, conference speaker and workshop leader. In 1996 she was awarded a Human Rights Citation and a Certificate of Recognition from the Toronto Police for her work with students against Hate Crime. She has worked with teachers in Ontario, Austria, England, Estonia, Germany and Kazakhstan on developing student-centred, brave classrooms with a focus on personal and social creativity, engaged dialogue, and critical thinking that involves bodies as well as minds in motion. A long-time member of CODE, Jane is currently Past-President. She is also a volunteer on the boards of Dreamwalker Dance and Ergo Arts Theatre, and as the Educational Consultant for Bridging Arts Salzburg. A life-time highlight was performing as a senior, alongside Provocations Editor, Christine Jackson, in Karen Kaeja’s TOUCH X at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre, November 2022.

Jessie Kennedy (she/her)

Jessie Kennedy teaches drama and English with Trillium Lakelands District School Board. She is a student in the Graduate Faculty of Education at York University and her research aims to understand the impact of Land-inspired drama pedagogy on students’ feelings of connectedness and belonging to their classroom, school, and local communities, and how learning with local partners and devising drama for an audience affects student learning and builds relationships. Jessie is a former Vice President of the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators.

Matthew Sheahan (he/him)

Matthew Sheahan is the Past President of the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE), and the Vice President of the General Meeting Committee of the International Drama/Theatre Educators Association (IDEA). He has presented numerous workshops across Ontario and internationally, focussing predominantly on infusing and elevating marginalized and Indigenous voices in a good way, free from appropriation. In 2021, Matthew served as the project manager for the Grounded in Space and Place resource writing project, and facilitated the re-write for all Drama and Dance AQ and ABQ requirements through the Ontario College of Teachers. He is a veteran Drama teacher and an instructor with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Intermediate and Senior Drama. Currently, Matthew is an Indigenous Education Instructional Coach with the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board K-12.

Sharon Davidson

Sharon is a former drama student and constant person of colour who has worked in Canadian organizations which represent performers’ professional interests.

Claire Holland

Claire Holland is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board. She has extensive experience teaching Drama and Dance as a classroom teacher and Arts Prep provider. She has developed teacher resources around finding entry points into Drama and Dance, strategies for cross-curricular integration of the Arts, and strategies for using Drama to promote Critical Literacy and Financial Literacy.. Claire has been an instructor of the Drama AQ at OISE/UT and a course director for the Drama teachable in the Faculty of Education at York University. Most recently, she conducted a 3 part learning series for Drama teachers at the TDSB who are new to the subject area and need support in understanding the core conventions, planning and assessment.

Kerri-Lee is an arts administrator and a K–12 educator in the WRDSB. She earned her Bachelor of Education from Queen's University (Artist in Community Education, 2018) and began her career as the Education and Outreach Associate with the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. She later returned to Ontario to teach elementary French, Music, Drama, and Dance with the Waterloo Region District School Board, and currently teaches French, Family Studies, and Social Sciences courses in the secondary panel. She has also served on the Teacher Advisory Committee and worked as an Education Associate at the Stratford Festival. In 2023, Kerri-Lee completed a Master of Professional Education at Western University, focusing on teaching students with exceptionalities. She remains active in community theatre with Kitchener-Waterloo Musical Productions and The Community Players of New Hamburg. She is proud to serve on the Editorial Board of Provocations and the Board of Directors for the Arts Education Network of Ontario.

Thank you also to our Advisory Board Members and Readers:

Ayesatta Conteh

Moksha Serrano

Robert Durocher

Ruwena de Fonseka

Ariel Clarke

Shemina Keshvani

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