VOX: Biographies

March 24, 2025

Amanda Kind

Amanda Kind is a voice teacher, singer, songwriter, and performer. She teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University, and has been a guest lecturer for many other music education programs. She is the Artistic Director of Pop Nation Canada and the Chief Vocal Officer of Vocal Versatility, Inc. As an artist, Amanda has recorded a wide variety of music including recent country singles “The Good Fight,” and “Slow Dance” (which peaked at #1 on SiriusXM Top of the Country), and two duets with James Downham – “We’re Okay” and “Another Round.” She is a member of the Songwriters Association of Canada, SOCAN, the Canadian Country Music Association, and is the Interim President of the board for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) in Ontario. Awards: Waterloo Region Arts Award, Rogers Television Woman of the Year Award, and recognition as one of the region’s Top 40 Under 40. She is endlessly proud of these brave performers. Huge thanks to the incredible VOX team. For more about Amanda, visit www.amandakind.com.

Eric Da Costa

Eric Da Costa is a singer/actor/musician from Cambridge, Ontario, and a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where he studied Musical Theatre in New York City and Los Angeles. He has also been a voice teacher and coach for many years, is a faculty member at KW Glee, the Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy, and Renaissance School of the Arts. Selected stage credits include: Step by Step, Hollywood Hits (Stage West Calgary), Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (2b theatre International Tour), Jersey Boys, Annie, Snow White: the Panto, and Peter Pan: The Panto (Drayton Entertainment), and more.

Dayna Manning

JUNO award-nominated, award-winning, and internationally renowned contemporary folk artist Dayna Manning has been recording and touring for over 25 years. She released her first album with EMI Canada and Nettwerk Music Group in 1997 and has written and recorded four solo albums and three with the acclaimed folk trio Trent Severn. Dayna recently received the 2023 Forest City London Music Award for Ontario Independent Recording Artist of the Year, and was nominated for Producer of the Year at the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Awards for her latest album, Morning Light. The video for her song, “You You You" won the 2021 FCLMA for video of the year.

Dayna’s first book Many Moons: A Songwriter’s Memoir includes a foreword by Col. Chris Hadfield, and was listed as one of the best books of the season by Canadian Living Magazine. The accompanying soundtrack is a 'greatest hits' of Dayna’s works.

Dayna is a community arts leader, mentor, singer/songwriter, producer, engineer, and author. She now resides primarily in Kentville, Nova Scotia, and part-time in Stratford, Ontario.

Holt Stuart-Hitchcox

An accomplished electric bassist, Holt Stuart-Hitchcox plays across Canada in the country, jazz, R&B, funk, and rock genres. Holt has had the honour of performing with many prolific artists, including Grammy Award-winner Joe Lovano, Grammy award-nominee Mike Stern, Juno Award-winner Kirk MacDonald, and CCMA award winners Jade Eagleson and Meghan Patrick. Currently, Holt tours with several national acts, including High Valley and Jason Blaine. He has been nominated for three consecutive Bass Player of the Year awards (2022-2024) at the Canadian Country Music Awards.

Holt has a Bachelor of Music from Humber College, a Master’s in Music Education from the University of Toronto, and is currently working on a doctorate in education at York University. He has been awarded both a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Scholarship and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. He works for the Public Education Exchange (PEX), a SSHRC-funded research project studying underfunding and privatization in Ontario public education. Beyond his work with PEX, Holt’s independent scholarship examines neoliberalism’s increasing marginalization of music study in education, and considers how music and arts study might serve to resist neoliberalism in society at large.

Christine Watson

Christine Watson is a dynamic professional dancer, choreographer, and stage performer with a diverse career spanning theatre, film, and live entertainment. As dance captain for the American National Dance Team, she traveled to Italy and Spain, winning back-to-back world titles. She also toured Europe and the Caribbean as a dancer and aerial artist with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Christine’s on-screen work includes portraying the Demon Hipster Chicks in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Universal Studios) and appearances in multiple music videos. A proud member of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, she has worked with many professional theatre companies. Selected performance credits include Mamma Mia!, Grease, The Little Mermaid, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, All Shook Up, Anne of Green Gables, Footloose, The Wizard of Oz, and 9 to 5: The Musical (Drayton Entertainment), Rock of Ages (Fallsview), Monty Python’s Spamalot (Theatre Aquarius), Dance Legends (Grand Theatre), and A Chorus Line (Rose Theatre). As a choreographer, Christine has worked on Jersey Boys and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Drayton Entertainment). She has also served as Assistant Choreographer for Kinky Boots and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Drayton Entertainment).