Elizabeth “Bizz” Varty is a dance artist, educator and administrator. She holds a Spec. Hons. BFA in Dance from York University and a post‐graduate certificate in Arts Administration & Cultural Management from Humber College. She led the creation of the Flux London Dance Festival and served as Executive Director during its three-year run before founding the London Dance Festival and the Centre of Movement Arts non-profit in 2017. Since 2016 she has served as the Regional Coordinator for Dance Ontario’s London Dance Network.
Bizz has worked with several major dance schools and organizations including the London Arts Council, London Heritage Council, Sound in Motion, Thames Valley District School Board, London District Catholic School Board, Ontario School of Ballet, Ontario Ballet Theatre, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, JD Dance and the Dance Teachers Alliance of Canada.
Bizz’s choreography has been presented in venues across the province, including Peterborough’s emergency festival and Toronto’s Bazaar dance festival.
Bizz currently teaches dance classes at Sound in Motion studio and Mothership London. She has shared her love of dance and movement with thousands teaching classes and workshops in studios, schools, community organizations, public events and private functions. She was the Dance Artist-in-Residence at over a dozen schools and several museums in the London region from 2012-2017.
Bizz’s private movement education practice, including yoga and pilates instruction, helps people of all ages and abilities access the movement they need to live comfortably and joyfully in their bodies and brains. She has extensive experience working with chronic pain and hypermobility, and is currently researching the connections with neurodivergence.
Bizz has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the London Arts Council. She has served on juries for the Ontario and London Arts Councils.