Dan Dumsha
A graduate of Queen's University Drama (B.A.H) and Artist in Community Education (B.Ed), Dan began his career as a high school teacher in Toronto. He moved west to BC and has been working as a corporate facilitator, executive coach, and performer and teacher of improv in Vancouver for 15 years. Falling in love with improv, Dan trained with and then joined the main casts of QueerProv, the Fictionals, and Vancouver TheatreSports League. On a sabbatical in 2015, Dan founded the Dirty Little Secrets Improv show in New York City, which still runs monthly in the East Village. Returning to Vancouver, Dan co-founded Momentous Comedy and continues to produce improv shows across the city like Puff the Magic Improv show and Mandy & Friends. Dan serves as the President of the Queer Improv Society of Vancouver, running the famous weekly QueerProv show in Vancouver's west end. In 2019, Dan helped to start Tightrope Theatre and continues to work as the Director of Improv for Work & Wellness.
Dan is passionate about improv's unique ability to bring people into the moment to discover the connective power of presence and co-creation.
David C. Jones
David C. Jones’s creative career has had him work a corporate comedian and a keynote speaker, theatre creator and filmmaker. He also likes to casually mention he was the Entertainment Manager of the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was worked in such exotic locations as Israel, Bosnia, Mexico, Italy, Australia and Switzerland and has won a bunch of awards including Teacher of The Year. He recently created the Audience Engagement Academy for Leaders and Teams. www.audeinceengagementacademy.com & www.davidcjones.ca
Ellen Bradley-Cheung
Ellen Bradley-Cheung is a multi-talented individual with a unique perspective on life. As a comedian, yogi, mother, and counsellor, she has explored different paths to emotional and spiritual wellness. As a person in long-term recovery, Ellen brings her life experiences to the stage, and uses humor to shed light on addiction, on mental health struggles, and to give hope to others.
Ellen is committed to helping others find their own path to wellness and self-discovery. Her TED Talk will draw on her personal experiences, to explore the power of humor in overcoming life's challenges, and to encourage you to stand in the light of your greatness.
Ellen loves to perform with her comedy friends in White Rock and Surrey. You might know them as Hilarapy and Addictive Comedy. Through comedy, she talks about anything from addiction to grocery shopping. No topic is off-limits. Her dream is to have a Sketch Comedy Show one day that talks about all subjects, big and small. Y’never know. Six years ago she performed stand-up for the first time at age 50, and now she’s doing a TEDx talk! So yeah, Ellen believes in dreaming big.