A woman hangs upside down, her legs wrapped in arial silks. She is suspended gracefully several feet above a pool of blue light.

As a playwright, Talia has had many performances, several publications and a C.B.C.radio commission. Her plays have been performed by theatre companies, high schools, and in fringe festivals in Canada and the USA. Her book, STAGES: Creative Ideas For Teaching Drama was published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc. in 2002 and is now in its sixth printing.

A colour photo of Talia Pura, a woman with short dark hair, medium brown eyes, and bright smile. She is wearing a bright blue scarf around her neck, and a dark jacket.

Talia has written/produced/directed three short dramatic films: I Dream of You, Collections and The Strawberry Confession, which can be viewed as part of the NSI online film festival.

Her latest video, Aerial Artistry, was commissioned by CODE (Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition) and will be shown at the Vancouver Olympics, 2010. It can also be viewed on the official Olympic website.

Talia's performances in aerial dance have included solos with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Elemental Sircus and at gala fundraising events. She has also integrated aerial dance on 'silks' into several theatrical pieces, including Demons of the Mind, Metamorphosis, and as Puck, for SIR's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Talia is a member of ACTRA and EQUITY and has appeared in many feature films, television shows and independent shorts. Highlights include working with Guy Maddin in The Saddest Music in the World and Sombra Dolorosa. She has also performed on stage for such companies as the Manitoba Theatre Center, Shakespeare in the Ruins and in Fringe Festivals in Winnipeg, Toronto, Minneapolis and New York.

As well as teaching drama and theatre production at the University of Winnipeg, Talia is the Coordinator of a Youth Mentorship Program in the Arts, through ACI (Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba).

You can visit Talia's website to find out more about her work.

To see Talia's short film "Arial Artistry", please click through to the Vancouver Olympic's site.