Artistic Practice

Carmelle has been involved in the performing arts  her entire life.  Growing up in the world of dance, music, and theatre, she is no stranger to the stage. While living on Canada's west coast, she performed with the Vancouver Tap Dance Society later moving on to dance with The Urban Tap Squad (UTS) under the artistic leadership of Jennifer Bishop.  Inspired by their fellow dancers with UTS and a passion for tap dance, Carmelle, along with Jennifer, established the West Coast Tap Dance Collective in 2003 to promote, develop and preserve the art of tap dancing. 

Currently, she dances with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative Ensemble which cultivates a lively and positive Ottawa tap dance community and the art of tap dancing. In addition, she is a member of a multi-disciplinary quartet, Speaking Vibrations, as the Rhythm Tap Dancer collaborating with artists of spoken word, song, ASL poetry, and contemporary dance. Carmelle is also a member of a Tap Dance Trio, YOW City Tap, collaborating with a pianist in the development of a new rhythm tap dance work that explores how the work of contemporary tap dance artists and jazz musicians may be inspired and informed through the study of historical tap dance repertoire and its relationship to jazz music.  Recent performances as an independent artist, ORI Ensemble member, and Speaking Vibrations include: The Great Canadian Theatre Company Mainstage, Speaking Vibrations Online, The Ottawa Fringe Festival, Ex Ducere at NextFest, and The Ottawa Jazz Festival.

Her training and experience attending workshops and classes with prominent tap dancers and Tap Masters is too extensive to list, but notable inspirations and master classes that have influenced her over the years are: Max Pollak, Dianne Montgomery, Dayna Szyndrowski, Roxane Butterfly, Sam Weber, Heather Cornell, Tasha Lawson, Lisa LaTouche, Michelle Dorrance,  Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Jason Samuels Smith, and Andrew Nemr to name a few.  

At the beginning of 2022, Carmelle was selected as a Producing Fellow with the ThisGen Fellowship which is a partnership between Why Not Theatre and The National Arts Centre.  This  two-year program  supports Fellows from across Canada  and helps develop relationships with leading artists and institutions across the country and internationally.  Carmelle was fortunate to be part of this exciting journey and had the opportunity to have her work placement residency with Dorrance Dance based out of NYC, for their holiday production of The Nutcracker Suite. 

Recently, Carmelle has returned to the Philippine Dance Troupe of Ottawa (PDTO), where she was a dance member during her younger years. Two of her children expressed an interest in joining and this brought her back to the PDTO and into her current role as Assistant Choreographer. She feels honoured to be part of the legacy that is passing on our cultural knowledge to the future generations of our Filipino Community. Her involvement with the PDTO has also cultivated her love for percussive music and has been studying Kulintang with Ron Querian for the past year and is excited to be part of Uni at Ugat Music Camp this summer. 

Carmelle also works as a Certified Sign Language Interpreter working in all areas of the field.  Her passion for the arts extends into her professional life with a niche in Theatrical Interpreting working with theatre companies and organizations such as  The National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa), Young People’s Theatre (Toronto), Segal Centre for the Performing Arts (Montréal), Geordie Productions (Montréal), and the Ottawa Fringe Festival  to name a few.  In her personal life, she loves playing the piano, photography and is a mother of four awesome kids who keep her busy and on her toes!