About Us
Collective Unrest is an Ottawa based dance collective intent on creating and presenting dynamic and emotionally charged dance works. The collective is led by local dance artists Jacqueline Ethier, Alya Graham, and Sarah Hopkin. Collective Unrest is a commission based collective focused on making more dance happen in Ottawa.
Meet Our Team
Photo by Darin Gregson
Dancer
Sudbury native Jacqueline Ethier is a dance artist, educator, and mother. She is a company member with Ottawa Dance Directive (Yvonne Coutts) and a collaborator with TAKE UP SPACE (Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson). Rooting herself within the Ottawa dance community, Jacqueline has worked with DORSALE danse (Sylvie Desrosiers) for two decades and with Tara Luz Danse (Anik Brouvrette) for over a decade. She is a 1999 graduate of the Contemporary Dance Programme at The School of Dance in Ottawa. She commissioned new works by Peggy Baker, a solo in 2008 and a duet in 2019, both creative processes and experiences that had a profound effect on her multifaceted life as a woman. Jacqueline has performed in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings for the last twenty-five years and in festivals across the country, Dancing on the Edge (Vancouver), Fluid Fest (Calgary), Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival (Guelph) to name a few.
Jacqueline has been a leader in the Health and Wellness community and enriching the lives of many since founding Pilates Space in 2002 and teaching the next generations of teachers as an International Faculty Member with Fletcher Pilates. Jacqueline believes in the power of movement education to change and enrich lives.
Dancer
During her studies at The School of Dance, Yukon born Alya Graham participated in choreographic processes with Tedd Robinson, Yvonne Coutts, Mélanie Demers, Sylvie Desrosiers, Serge Bennathan, Dana Gingras, and Sarah Williams. Since her 2014 graduation, Alya has had the pleasure of working with choreographers Caroline Barrière, Jocelyn Todd, Marissa Wong, Amelia Griffin, Meagan O’Shea (Stand Up Dance), Charles Cardin Bourbeau, Cathy Kyle-Fenton, Sylvie Desrosiers (Dorsale Danse), Allison Burns, Geneviève Duong, and Ludmylla Reis. She is currently a company member at Ottawa Dance Directives under the direction of Yvonne Coutts.
Alya began choreographing in 2015 alongside Annabel Boissonneault ('De notre petit squelette', 2015) and Jessie Lhôte (Aquincum, 2016). Her more recent work includes a solo study (Statufié, 2018), and a visual art and dance collaboration (Dénudement, 2019).
Photo by Curtis Perry
Dancer
Sarah Hopkin is a freelance dance artist from Nova Scotia. She is a company member with the Ottawa Dance Directive and has danced for Phin Performing Arts, Nostos Collectives, Mocean Dance, Votive Dance, TAKE UP SPACE and Toronto Dance Theatre. Sarah has also danced for choreographers Peggy Baker, Allison Burns, Cathy Kyle Fenton, Nicola Fridgen, Jordan Samonas, and Jocelyn Todd.
Sarah has choreographed and performed in many events including the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and Ottawa’s Dark Horse Dance Projects. She teaches at The School of Dance in Ottawa in both the professional ballet stream and the post-secondary contemporary program, and has taught for Halifax Dance and the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. She has taught professional classes through Mocean Dance and the Ottawa Dance Directive, as well as community and senior chair classes through Mocean Dance. Sarah is an alumna of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Dance Program.
Photo by Curtis Perry
Photo by Curtis Perry
Musician/Music Consultant
Internationally renowned Canadian cellist and composer Raphael Weinroth-Browne has been celebrated for his emotive and virtuosic playing both on stage and in the studio.
Combining his classical training with a passion for progressive metal and Middle Eastern music, he has defied traditional notions of how the cello should sound and developed a unique artistic voice that has consistently resonated with listeners on a deep emotional level.
He has played on Juno award-winning albums, performed in front of over 40,000 people at the world’s biggest metal festival, made viral YouTube covers, and worked closely with contemporary dancers on multidisciplinary collaborations.
In 2016, Raphael was recruited by Norwegian progressive rock icons Leprous. His cello has since been featured prominently on their latest three albums and he has played over 200 shows with them in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Most recently he performed with the band at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall and appeared on opening slots for rock heavyweights Evanescence, Devin Townsend, and Apocalyptica.
As a session musician, Raphael has appeared on over 200 studio albums, including the Juno Award-winning Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (Woods of Ypres). He has also captured the attention of prominent prog and metal artists such as Opeth and Steven Wilson with his innovative cello covers of their songs in his own unique style.
Raphael’s debut solo album, Worlds Within, was released in 2020 to critical acclaim. A haunting 40-minute piece for amplified cello based around cyclical looped patterns and lush reverb-laden soundscapes, the album weaves together elements of ambient music, post rock, modern classical, and progressive metal, standing confidently alongside the work of similar artists such as Sarah Neufeld, Jessica Moss, Zoë Keating, and Jo Quail.