Mohammed Rashead

Performing has always been an outlet for Mohammed, as a first generation Canadian from Syria. Mohammed was always keen for any opportunity and challenge that was brought to the table. With pure optimism and curiosity for the arts, Mohammed started dancing at the late age of nine.

Mohammed joined Team Canada after graduation, training in Jazz, Contemporary and Hip Hop, competing at the International Dance competition in Italy. 

Before moving to Vancouver, Mohammed was a part of Vibestreet Dance Studio: training under Jerome Esplana, Alo Galedo, Scott Forsyth, and Roberta Bierman. The experience of training and competing internationally equipped Mohammed with the discipline, focus, and drive to teach at Vibestreet, Raino Dance, and to choreograph for local artists in Victoria.

Once moving over to the mainland in 2017, Mohammed danced with TwoFourSeven Company under the direction of acclaimed choreographers, Carlo Atienza and Roberta Bierman. Now training in his acting career at local studios and working in the film industry on shows such as Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Mandy Moore, Jillian Meyers), Riverdale (Heather Laura Grey), and more. 

Mohammed is a brave and dedicated individual. His contagious positivity creates a nurturing and progressive environment that fosters growth for his peers and himself. Mohammed is so excited to take on the opportunities that are to be presented in the near future, and is looking forward to seeking out new endeavours.

Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Photo: Kelsey Kuehnmuth

The concept of my piece so far is for me to share my heart through graceful movement and tranquility. Diving deep into the darkness and finding the healing through doing so. I in-vision using pieces to create a storyline that the viewers can leave feeling like they know me a bit better. The heaviness that comes with queerness and acceptance - using movement to shed a bit of light on this but not so intense that it’s not comprehendible.   

I  believe that we  face struggles to become the guardians of that issue, so we have the ability to heal those facing what we have. I don’t want any other generations of immigrants to face the  same issues that I did and still do. 

I want them to feel something that empowers a strength to carry on. 

I want to tell my story. Because I know that there are many young-ins out there who face the same struggles of stereotypes with creativity, sexuality and being who you are. I know there needs to be a  voice  to ground and nurture those who need to hear that,  being who you are  is beautiful and you need to embrace it. The immense love that we can spread. The joy. I want us to feel a bit uncomfortable but also safe to explore the feelings that arise. 

Through movement i will choose to explore the feelings that come up for me, creating a piece that highlights these explorations, the challenge is to create it in a flow that makes sense. My intuition is saying that this is going to be a display of more fluid/techniques/mixture of the things I’ve learned through the years of dancing hip hop as well - not more so the actual songs and concepts, but combining it all into one.