Tania Betiku-Board President
Tania was born and raised in Winnipeg, MB; a city known for its multiculturalism and thriving arts community. Tania developed a passion for the performing arts early in life; a passion cultivated through her involvement with the Manitoba Theatre Centre for Young People and her participation in several dance and musical productions through the city.In addition to her passion for the performing arts, over the last seventeen years, Tania has also devoted her academic and professional pursuits to understanding and leading initiatives that improve the capacity of public and non-profit organizations. In her current role with the BC Public Service, she leads a team that implements projects aimed at supporting transformation in the Justice Sector.
Tania holds an undergraduate degree in Political Studies, a masters degree in Public Administration and has received national awards for her research on corporate entrepreneurship. In addition, Tania is a Certified Executive Coach that works with individuals and teams to improve their productivity and personal effectiveness.Outside of work you’re most likely to find Tania taking classes in the dance studio or volunteering her time to support community development initiatives.
Trudy David– Vice President
Trudy grew up in Edmonton, but fell in love with the adventure of traveling and living in diverse cultures during her teens, when her family moved to Australia for a year. Since then she’s lived and worked in Europe, the French West Indies, and French Polynesia, before settling in Victoria. Her love of languages and cultures led to a thirty year career teaching ESL and French in high schools and colleges. A secondary career in music and opera performance developed through her studies at the Conservatory of Music, and led to sixteen wonderful years with Pacific Opera Victoria where she absolutely loved expressing herself through the drama and music of opera. Trudy’s four children, four grandchildren and late husband, have enriched her life immeasurably. They’ve brought her much joy, joining her in nature, sometimes for ski and surf adventures. They’ve also led her to experience some of life’s challenges and to become a more loving and compassionate human being. In “retirement” Trudy enjoys running her rental property business, practicing many outdoor sports, singing jazz, and dancing. She has greatly admired Dyana Sonik-Henderson and Broken Rhythms Dance Company since meeting them, and is honored to support them by serving on the board.
Patty Pitts -Secretary
Patty Pitts is an air force brat who was born in Montreal but lived in Edmonton, Ontario and New Brunswick before her family relocated to Victoria. She’s been a West Coaster ever since! She began her career in print journalism when Victoria had four daily and weekly newspapers. She moved to Vancouver to work at BCTV (now Global BC) before coming back to Victoria to report for CHEK News for 11 years. In 1991 she joined the communications department at UVic and retired in 2012 as manager of media relations. Before Covid upturned the planet, Patty was a dedicated traveller taking trips to Europe (including a five month camping and driving trip in 1977), Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and Argentina. Often the journeys included hiking, especially in the American Southwest. Following retirement she returned to the dance classes she left as a child at both Raino and Seda Dance. Patty looks forward to supporting the talented artists and volunteers at Broken Rhythms.
John Manson– Treasurer
John has been active in various segments of Victoria’s arts community since 2010, including visual arts, writing, dance, and theatre. An aspiring theatre director and arts administrator, John found his love of dance late in life and has been training at Raino Dance since 2014. In addition to his involvement with a range of other local dance studios, John has performed with several theatre companies in Victoria including VOS and Gotta Getta Gimmick. With a background in retail management, John has been happily working as the Gallery Shop Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria since 2017. Currently, John is also pursuing a Diploma of Public Administration through Camosun College. John is thrilled to join the Broken Rhythms Board of Directors and to bring his multifaceted local arts experience to this organization that he deeply admires and appreciates.
Heather Jarvie – Board Member
Heather (she/her) is the Artistic Director / Co-Founder of hapax theatre and has an extensive background in music, theatre, and dance . She has been an avid contributor to the Victoria Theatre scene for many years with selected highlights of her performance experiences including, Hello, Dolly!, La Traviata, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Nevermore, Children of Eden, The Crucible, Woyzeck, A Beautiful View, The Magic Flute, and Dog Sees God. Heather’s directing highlights include Harvey, Company, Nevermore (2019 Pick Of The Fringe Winner), The Boy In The Chrysalis (2018 Pick Of The Fringe Winner), A Beautiful View, In On It, Be Still, and the world-premiere of new Canadian play Castle On The Farm.
Heather was the Guest Producer of the 29th annual Victoria Fringe Festival and then immediately moved into the Artist-In-Residence position with Pacific Opera Victoria where she was the Assistant Director on Otello, Mary’s Wedding, The Barber of Seville, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and La Voix Humaine. Leaving her residency at Pacific Opera Victoria, Heather became the Artist-In-Residence for the Icelandic Opera where she was the Assistant Director on the award-winning production of Eugene Onegin.
During the pandemic, Heather focused her attention on her community and creating safe and inclusive opportunities for artists to create, work, and feel supported. She is thrilled to join the Broken Rhythms board of directors so she can more officially cheer from the rooftops for this fabulous company.
Patty Chop-Director Emeritus
Patty Chop has been involved in the arts in one way or another since she was young. In the 70’s Patty was able to inspire young minds as an art history teacher at Mount Royal College and an art teacher in public high schools and in Calgary and Winnipeg. Additionally, she ran supplementary volunteer ceramics programs in elementary schools in Ontario. Growing up, Patty studied tap, ballet, public speaking, piano and voice.
These days, Patty enjoys gardening, golf, bridge, traveling, cooking, the symphony, theatre and especially Broken Rhythms Dance. Patty also works independently as a visual artist with glass and printing on clay in her studio. Her experience being a wife, mother and grandmother has given Patty life skills and passion that will add to the multi-talented board of Broken Rhythms Dance.
Broken Rhythms 