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VOL. IV | ISSUE IV<br />
MARGINS<br />
IN CONVERSATION<br />
WITH CO.LAB TORONTO<br />
Lyza Manalo<br />
by Zachariah Highgate<br />
For this issue of <strong>Margins</strong>, I had the opportunity to speak with Lyza Manalo, one of the<br />
founding directors of Co.Lab, a female-owned dance studio that is currently in its development<br />
stage. We spoke about the inclusive space Lyza and her team hope to create<br />
within Co.Lab and the personal experiences that lead to its inception. Lyza was candid<br />
when speaking about her experience as a dancer in Toronto and I appreciated her honesty.<br />
Zachariah Highgate: Thank<br />
you for sitting down to speak<br />
with us at <strong>Margins</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>!<br />
Before we begin, can we just<br />
get a quick bio [from you]?<br />
Lyza Manalo: Thank you<br />
so much for having me! My<br />
name is Lyza Manalo, I am<br />
twenty-three years old, born<br />
and raised [in] Toronto. I am a<br />
co-director of Co.Lab studios<br />
and I grew up dancing my<br />
whole life, since I was three.<br />
I literally don’t even remember<br />
my first dance class<br />
[but] basically I was a classical-trained<br />
studio kid growing<br />
up and then after high school<br />
I kind of transitioned more<br />
into the dance industry<br />
[and] drop-in class culture.<br />
[That was] where I was more<br />
exposed to the Toronto dance<br />
community and the Toronto<br />
dance scene. I’ve been on a<br />
couple [of] dance teams and<br />
dance companies since then.<br />
I’ve also trained on a HEELS<br />
dancing company as well,<br />
which was a pretty inspiring<br />
experience being in a room<br />
full of women [where] everyone<br />
[is] cheering each other<br />
on and non-judgemental.<br />
That was one of [the] most<br />
exciting companies that I<br />
was on. Fast forward, with<br />
COVID-19 and everything<br />
happening, everyone’s lives<br />
are kind of on pause so I had<br />
a little bit of time to think.<br />
Co.Lab [is a] project that’s<br />
been in my back pocket for<br />
a long time and you never<br />
expect your dreams to come<br />
into reality so soon. You<br />
always have these plans [that<br />
might happen] further down<br />
the line. This is my dream,<br />
this is what I want to do. I’m<br />
twenty-three years old, I<br />
never would have thought<br />
I would be a studio owner<br />
at this age, but here we are.<br />
ZH: Congratulations! When<br />
we get into it, [our readers]<br />
will see how much is going<br />
on. With that in mind, tell<br />
us about the Co.Lab creative<br />
space and what<br />
you are working towards.<br />
LM: Co.Lab is primarily a<br />
female-owned and femalerun<br />
dance studio. However,<br />
the idea that we have<br />
for Co.Lab is a little bit different<br />
than the traditional<br />
dance studio, in the sense<br />
that we want [a hybrid]<br />
creative space that welcomes<br />
all walks of art. We<br />
just want to create a space<br />
where artists feel welcome<br />
to come as they are, as their<br />
true selves, and we really<br />
want to promote multimedia<br />
collaborations. [Those<br />
multimedia collaborations<br />
could be] dance, poetry,<br />
visual arts, photography...<br />
we just want to bring all of<br />
those arts together because<br />
we feel like there is kind of<br />
a disconnect within the<br />
dance community. If you<br />
Studio Director<br />
40<br />
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