Marion Landers

Marion is a professional actor, choreographer and teacher of 20 years. She was born in Vancouver of Irish and South African heritage. Marion began her performing career as a dancer, training in ballet for 10 years (Valerie Mahabir, West Coast Ballet Institute, Goh Ballet) before completing a 4-year BFA in contemporary dance at the School for Contemporary Arts,SFU. Company experience includes Balet Brazil, Laura Monteiro (Vancouver/Brazil) and ZabMaboungou/ Compagnie DanseNyataNyata (Montreal), after which she began studying acting at Gastown Actors Studio. Marion soon embarked on a Master of Arts in Theatre at UBC. Marion's thesis, Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears, consists of an original play based upon the life story of the author's paternal grandmother and an accompanying essay titled "Lost Lesotho Princess/Landlord Ears: Visibility, Invisibility, Roots and Liminality in the African Diaspora." Marion is an active choreographer who has performed, collaborated and created new work for many years. Marion toured to New York with the dance technology project CU-SeeMe, culminating in a PBS performance interview with choreographer Lisa Naugle (NYU). She has performed in the Afro-Brazilian style for almost a decade with choreographer Laura Monteiro (Brazil), as well as traveling to Bahia, Brazil to study traditional dance with Maestre King, contemporary choreography with Danielson Jose and Capoeira with the Maestre Bamba Academy. Marion then auditioned for ZabMaboungou/ Compagnie DanseNyataNyata (Montreal) and performed Mozongi (Return), a contemporary creation of Congolese dance. NCBWF, Heritage Canada, SFU, dance for theatre, teaching. known for her full-length dance theatre work I Live Still (2013-2015), co-produced by the SFU Woodwards Office of Community Engagment and the National Congress of Black Women Foundation with funding from the BC Arts Council. Marion has taught at The School for Contemporary Arts, SFU as a Sessional Instructor with her course Introduction to African Dance Forms and is a two-time producer of Black History Month at The School. Marion also teaches dance fitness at Steve Nash Sports Clubs, including Hip Hop, Primal Movement and Le Barre(ballet barre fitness). Marion's choreography for theatre includes: Euripides' Women of Troy(Bill Dow/SFU Theatre), Welcome Back to Harlem! A Hellfighter's Story(Diane Roberts & Marsha Regis/Rooted Theatre), Welcome to Thebes(Brian Parkinson/United Players) and Tis Pity She's a Whore(Brian Parkinson/Ensemble Theatre). Marion's Commercial credits include Crayola, Nestle, Bounty, Campbell's, Sylvan Learning Centre and public service announcements for H1N1 virus, Global News, Tourism Burnaby and The Law Society. Her film and television credits include a supporting role in the movie The Wedding Chapel, also starring Shelley Long (Cheers) and lead and supporting roles on 7 Seasons of the 'emergency-room' re-enactment series Untold Stories of the ER. Marion has acted in the movie Witness: Amber Fry and more recently, short film Solomon's Bee, with her son, actor Solomon Irama (Cop and a Half 2). Marion was a key member of Rooted Theatre Company (2011-2014), acting, dancing, choreographing and producing Welcome Back to Harlem! A Hellfighter's Story (Diane Roberts & Marsha Regis/The RevueStage) where she brought to life 1920's star Josephine Baker and the Lindy Hop. In 2015, Marion played a lead role together with her son, Solomon Irama, in Welcome to Thebes (Brian Parkinson/United Players).