Unveiling the Mastery of Cori Caulfield

“Cori Caulfield has created some of the most memorable moments of contemporary dance in Canada,” (The Vancouver Sun) as a choreographer and performer, while developing a highly respected performing arts academy serving the community in which she grew up. Cori has toured extensively with her “meticulously crafted solos” (The Globe and Mail) in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Asia including having her full-length solo show “Portrait Solos” presented at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for the 2006 Canada Dance Festival, and being one of only a handful of artists representing dance at the National Arts Centre’s BC Scene with MovEnt in 2009.

Cori officially founded Caulfield School of Dance in Port Moody in 1988 after having taught performing arts in her parents’ basement from the age of twelve. Her students have gone on to world renown ballet and contemporary companies including Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet British Columbia, MOVETHECOMPAY, Miami City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet Company, as well as roles on Broadway and feature film; and recurring roles on television for ABC, Fox, and STARZ networks, etc.

Cori has also instructed and choreographed for many performing arts organizations both locally and abroad including Ballet British Columbia (through MovEnt); the response (Amber Funk Barton), Victoria’s Belfry Theatre (for the Electric Company Theatre’s smash hit “Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla”); Evergreen Cultural Centre’s Ovation Award-winning production of A.K. Coope’s original musical, “How I Became Queen”; the Goh Ballet Academy and Goh Ballet Company (of which she was a member); Dancestreams Youth Dance Company; Harbour Dance; The Landing; Main Dance; the University of Lethbridge; Concordia University and Ballet Divertimento in Montreal; the University of Alberta; Patravadi Theatre Company in Bangkok, Thailand; and British Columbia’s School District 43. Most recently, in May 2022, she taught a masterclass for Nanaimo Contemporary Ballet. Cori has been a guest speaker at Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, Main Dance, and Grant McEwan University.

From a Guest Artist residency at William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt in 2001, Cori toured internationally for six years with Kidd Pivot in duets Crystal Pite (Governor General award winning choreographer for Paris Opera Ballet among other world class companies globally) created for herself and Cori: “Field: Fiction”, “Uncollected Work“, “Farther Out”, and others. Cori has also performed as a dancer, actor, and singer in the works of other renown Canadian choreographers and companies including Project 21, Companie Marie Chouinard, MOVETHECOMPANY, Mascall Dance, Cornelius Fischer-Credo’s Astrid New Dance, and Margie Gillis.

According to the Georgia Straight “the head of Coriograph Theatre…. has created character studies that are as unforgettable for her acting as they are for her striking movement…. Spectacular is not too strong a word to describe Caulfield on-stage. She can isolate her joints and fragment her motions to captivating effect. Even the way she curls her fingers, rotates her shoulders, or tilts her head is compelling; she’s simply one of those dancers you can’t take your eyes off.”

Cori performed in “Leaving Grit” by Donald Sales (choreographer for Ballet BC, etc.) and Cherice Barton (choreographer for “Le Reve”, “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark”, etc.) with Lara Barclay, Donald Sales, Azure Barton, Leon Feizo-Gas, Jeffrey Mortensen, Devon Rainey, Kevin Tookey, and Jennifer Welsman which premiered in the 2012 Chutzpah Festival. As part of the 2012 International Push Festival, Cori also choreographed a Dances for a Small Stage solo for Hailley Caulfield Postle.

Cori created and performed in collaboration with violinist and composer Meredith Bates in the Fall of 2015 for Live at the ‘Bolt in honour the Shadbolt Centre’s 20th season, for Dances for a Small Stage, and with her longtime idol Margie Gillis for the Sechelt Arts Festival.
As a choreographer, Cori was recognized as “a leading figure in the Canadian cultural milieu” with the 2004 Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts. Cori and her professional dance theatre company CORIOGRAPH THEATRE have been supported with both Creation and Production residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts; and both the British Columbia Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, with grants for Travel, Touring, Creation, and Production.

With Coriograph Theatre, Cori has had the great pleasure of performing with many of her students in the Evergreen Cultural Centre Dance Series, with the Prokofiev Quartet at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, in the Dancing On the Edge International Dance Festival, with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, and other events. She has also enjoyed touring in the work of Josh Beamish’s MOVETHECOMPANY with two graduates of her School, Crystal Wills and Heather Dotto.

After her childhood training, which included representing the Coquitlam District Music Festival and Surrey Festival of Dance for Ballet at Provincials, (Performing Arts BC) and winning a provincial ballet title, Cori has trained internationally in acting, voice, and many dance forms. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, and a diploma in Limon Modern Dance Technique from the Limon Institute, New York. She continues to enhance her teaching not only through performing and choreographing professional dance, theatre, and fashion, but also by pursuing advanced learning opportunities.

Cori is grateful to the Caulfield School of Dance Directors, Keeley and Alyssa; and to her own teachers including Dolores Kirkwood and Ellen Andrews, and all at Goh Ballet Academy, and S.F.U., and many others; and the current and past Caulfield School of Dance teachers, administrators, students, and their parents; and her own parents(!); for helping her realize her lifelong dream of teaching performing arts to young people at the highest level.

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