Tia Ashley Kushniruk (亚 女弟) is a Queer Woman of Chinese-Eastern European settler heritage from ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan), Treaty 6/Métis Territory or Edmonton. Since 2013 she has been affiliated with the Cirque Du Soleil and is a frequent collaborator of Jake W. Hastey of Toy Guns Dance Theatre (Edmonton). She has had the pleasure of performing works of Antony Hamilton (chunkymove), Paul Andre-Fortier, Benjamin Kamino, Heidi Strauss, Peggy Baker, Christopher House(TDT), Shay Kuebler (SK/RSA), Christianne Ullmark, Susie Burpee and Jasmyn ‘Jaz Fairy J’ Fyffe – touring Nationally across Canada and Internationally to Israel, U.S.A, Colombia, China, Austria and France. Her work has been presented by Festival Internacional Nomada (El Salvador, 2020), Dancing on the Edge (Vancouver, 2020), Fluid Festival (Calgary, 2020), Mile Zero (Edmonton, 2021), and the School of TDT (Toronto, 2022). Tia’s illustration and animation work has been commissioned by Plastic Orchid Factory (Vancouver, 2020), Two Big Steps (Vancouver, 2020/2021), and adelheid (Toronto, 2021). She is the first recipient of the Catalyst Confluence Fellowship (Edmonton 20/21) and was an EATF award winner in 2022. Her research has been supported by the Edmonton Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Canada Council for the Arts, since 2014.