.Jessica Runge

Jessica Runge works and makes her home in Toronto. She began dancing at the age of five and completed her professional training as a scholarship student at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. A member of Toronto Dance Theatre from 1998 through 2006, Ms. Runge also enjoys a successful career as a freelance dance interpreter, choreographer, and teacher. She has toured nationally and internationally performing works of such acclaimed Canadian choreographers as Peggy Baker, Peter Chin, Kim Frank, and Christopher House. Her own works have been presented in many venues in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada, including the outdoor stage at the Canada Dance Festival. She has been commissioned to create dances that have toured internationally, as well as site-specific works for such spectacular settings as a twelve metre high outdoor waterfall in downtown Toronto. Ms. Runge is a co-winner of the 2005 K.M. Hunter Artists Award for Dance, and she has been nominated for three Dora Mavor Moore awards for her outstanding performances of, and choreography for new dance premieres. From 1994 - 2004, Ms. Runge was a co-artistic director of Series 8:08, a Toronto-based producer of innovative dance workshops and performances.