PODCAST 191: Sara Coffin and Susanne Chui
Release Date: 12.18.25
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Mocean Dance with Sara Coffin and Susanne Chui
Episode 195: Show Notes
Some creative partnerships do more than grow over time; they help shape an entire artistic landscape. In this episode of The Movers and Shapers Podcast, we meet Sara Coffin and Susanne Chui, co-artistic directors of Mocean Dance, whose long shared history and collaborative vision have transformed contemporary dance in Nova Scotia. Sara begins by tracing her path from early choreography to training across Canada and the United States, and how returning home eventually led her into a leadership role with Mocean Dance. Susanne shares her parallel journey, from a childhood in community dance to professional training in Toronto and the decision to return to Halifax, where she built an independent career before joining the company. Together, they reflect on the evolution of Mocean Dance from a dancer-centered company to a community-focused hub for creation, training, and sector-wide collaboration. They discuss how their friendship, complementary strengths, and improvisational ethos shape their working relationship, and they offer a look at the ambitious interdisciplinary and land-based projects that will define their next chapter. Listen in for a thoughtful conversation about collaboration, place-based artistry, and what it takes to sustain a thriving dance ecosystem outside major centers.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Sara’s early pull toward dance and her first experiences in choreographing.
- Training across Canada and finding her voice through somatics and collaboration.
- Forming the SiNS (Sometimes in Nova Scotia) collective: building an early artistic community.
- Returning to Halifax and stepping into leadership at Mocean Dance.
- Completing her MFA at Smith College in the United States to deepen her artistic practice.
- Susanne’s community-based dance beginnings and discovery of professional training.
- Moving to Toronto for conservatory study and early company work.
- Returning home to build an independent career supported by grants and local networks.
- Joining Mocean Dance and forming a co-artistic partnership with Sara.
- Learning the administrative demands of running a company.
- Shifting Mocean from dancer-centered work to community-focused programming.
- Expanding professional development offerings, labs, and training programs.
- Building interdisciplinary partnerships across art, ecology, architecture, and design.
- Developing land-based and relational works with Indigenous collaborators.
- Reflections on sustaining a long-term creative partnership rooted in trust and improvisation.
- Looking ahead to large regional initiatives and reimagined touring models.
ABOUT Sara Coffin
ABOUT Susanne Chiu
Susanne Chui (she/her) is a mother of two, an award-winning dance artist and Co-Artistic Director of Mocean Dance. As a performer for 23 years, Susanne has worked with over 25 choreographers from across Canada, and her dancing in Mocean’s Canvas 5 x 5, choreographed by Tedd Robinson, earned her the 2016 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia’s Masterworks Award.
For Mocean, Susanne has co-created with Erin Donovan (Hear Here Productions), Burnwater and Burnwater: Alchemy, both multi disciplinary, immersive performances. A passionate improvisor, Susanne collaborates across disciplines and is a faculty member of the Creative Music Workshop. Her most recent project, Where Dance and Music Meet, featured 19 performers in a full-length evening of improvised dance and music forms. Whether in the studio, on stage, or in unconventional environments, her work invites permeability between dancer, witness, and space—allowing each to shape the experience in real time.
photo: James MacLean
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