Characterized by a radical departure from our past shoots, the MPG Fall editorial campaign is markedly different from anything we’ve done before. We’ve expanded our reach to include not just dancers but have also included a decathlete, yoga instructor and acrobat/trapeze artist. By adhering to this season’s theme of ‘My Performance, My Lifestyle’, we took our shoots to the streets and the beach to capture the essence of our athletes in unconventional milieus. And this season’s campaign has leapt from just mere images to include profile videos capturing the kinetic beauty and fluidity of these athletes doing what they do best.


Allow us to introduce you to this season’s newest models and MPG Messengers:


Kelly McDonald is an NCAA championship gymnast currently performing as an acrobat/trapeze artist in Le Rêve at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Short in stature but standing tall in strength and ability, Kelly’s addition to this year’s campaign left us literally awestruck.





Whitney Stern is a Seattle-based yoga instructor at friend of the brand studio, Urban Yoga Spa, and the owner and designer of her own line of jewelry pieces of which have appeared in premiere outlets across America. Not only practicing and teaching yoga, Whitney applies yoga philosophy to all aspects of her life and her business workings. She definitely brought a Zen-like aura to this season’s shoot.





James Moore, a soloist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, represents our traditional approach to our editorial campaigns but having transposed him from the studio to the street, we were still able to distort expectations and keep his shoot fresh.





Up next, we have long-time Messenger, first time model, Mark Jellison. Ranked 6th in the US men’s decathlete standings, Mark was pure athletic energy in this season’s photo shoot. Also working as a personal trainer and fitness specialist in Berkeley, California, Mark, not unlike Whitney, is constantly striving to help others reach their maximum potential.





And last, but definitely not least, we have Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Maria Chapman returning for her second consecutive shoot. Bringing grace, elegance and fluidity to her photographs and video, Maria, like James, represents our past but the environs in which she was placed beautifully juxtaposes her intrinsic poise with life on the street.

The 19th Annual Mondetta Charity Classic Golf Tournament, held at Glendale Golf and Country Club on August 8th, turned out to be a resounding success this year. With 152 golfers participating the event, as always, was completely sold out. Despite the inclement weather, the rain didn’t seem to stop anyone from enjoying a great day of golf. The tournament managed to raise $75,000 which will be split evenly between the Mondetta Charity Foundation and KidSport Manitoba. This year’s tournament was especially notable given the fact we raised the second highest amount ever in the nearly 20 years the event has been running and substantially added to the $500,000+ we’ve raised since the first golf tournament was held.

We would like to sincerely and ardently extend our most grateful thanks to all 32 sponsors involved in this year’s outstanding tournament. We’d especially like to thank Audis Canada Ltd. for their generous role as our dinner sponsor, WOW Hospitality for setting up two tents on the course which included eats and treats from 529, Terrace Fifty-Five, Muddy Waters, Peasant Cookery and Dacquisto, and The Fairmont Hotel for donating prize stays in Toronto, Maui, New York as well as St. Andrews in Scotland. We’d also like to extend a very warm thanks to everyone who graciously provided prizes and coordinated hole activities, as well as to all the volunteers who helped out the day of. We simply could not have done it without all the great support; your your hard work and generosity has not gone unnoticed nor appreciated.

If you missed out this year, be sure to get your name in early for next year’s event which will undoubtedly be another highlight of the summer golf tournament season!

Jaime Nosworthy, one of our MPG Specialists, shares some of her thoughts and impressions from nearly a month spent on the road meeting new customers, attending trade shows and as always, spreading the word about the hottest activewear label out there: MPG!

It’s been crazy out here on the road for the past month. Starting in early July, I traveled to Saskatchewan to visit Slice Athletic Wear and conduct some product knowledge seminars with their awesome buying and retail team in addition to visiting some other retailers in the area. Next up, I was off to Toronto to pop in on a number of prestigious fitness club and activewear retailers. I’m quite excited for MPG to really start growing its brand presence in the East! From there, I was down in the midwest, visiting existing customers in Chicago while also finding an exciting new partner, Catalyst, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Out in Salt Lake City, Utah, as I’m sure you learned from our Facebook page, I along with Lynsey, my co-MPG Apparel Specialist, and Tony, our brand director, attended the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show. We’ve always fared exceptionally well at OR, having been featured on trending website Stylesight following an appearance there to meeting and forming solid partnerships with customers with whom we continue to do business today.

This time around, we created quite a buzz as the must-see, European-style brand of the show. Based on word of mouth only, we received a great deal of drop-in visits and although we would have liked to honour our visitors’ requests, we were unable to sell the samples we had on hand because we’re a Canadian brand and didn’t have the necessary clearance to do so.

Overall, our experience at OR was a resounding success. We formed some new partnerships with a diverse array of retailers, created some buzz for our Spring 2012 Collection and continued to bolster our reputation as one of the most cutting-edge and exciting activewear brands in the marketplace today.

And to wrap up an hectic month of non-stop traveling, I headed up to Alaska to visit the lovely ladies at Bodyphlo in Anchorage. Charity and Bettina welcomed me with open arms and together we hosted a Fall 2011 Collection showcase for an exclusive group of guests. We had snacks to nibble and wine to sip as we offered pre-booking for Fall ’11 as well as a sneak peek at our Spring 2012 Collection. I was also afforded the opportunity to meet up with many of the Alaska Dance Theatre teachers and students who popped by!

Stay tuned for more exclusive, behind-the-scenes news from MPG!

We were thrilled and delighted to have the team members from One Nation Run, who we covered back in June here on Cliq, stop by the office this afternoon! Winnipeg marks the two-thirds point of their trek and despite the immense distance they’ve covered so far, the team were upbeat, congenial and an absolute pleasure to meet. After a friendly chat with Bryce Dymond, Zaya Kuyena and Brittany Dickson, the original One Nation team, plus Scott and Greg, their Winnipeg host and supplemental runner, respectively, we offered the team a quick tour around head offices before outfitting them with some additional gear for the rest of the run.

To date, the team has traveled for 100 days, 87 of them spent actually running. Spreading their goal of 71km a day across the three main runners plus also enlisting the help of participants from local communities across Canada has allowed the team to raise $33,000 thus far. That amount is short of Bryce and Zaya’s goal of reaching $200,000 by the time donations will no longer be accepted after December 31st but they’re confident that word of mouth will continue to spread plus they are hopeful speaking engagements and media after the actual running is done will help reach their target. A large part of their post-run activities will be focused on raising awareness of the growing gap between the haves and have-nots across Canada by fostering dialogue and building bridges.

During our chat, we had an opportunity to ask Zaya, Bryce and Brittany what keeps them motivated when faced with miles of highway stretched out in front of them. Here are some of their thoughts:

Running, for me, has the power to be very therapeutic: focusing on my breathing, maintaining a constant rhythm and pondering the various things on my mind, from the small things to the bigger issues keeps me going and helps keep my mind off what can, at times, be a very daunting challenge. Running 20-25 kilometres a day allows me to also further strengthen my discipline and bolsters my will to overcome whatever fatigue, aches or external factors that may come my way.
- Zaya Kuyena

The opportunity to run alongside friends with whom we’ve all created strong bonds adds an element of camaraderie to the day’s run. Chatting, sharing stories and knowing we’re all in this together are all welcome distractions from the task at hand: reaching our daily kilometre count. Because I’m running 30 kilometres a day, I like to divide my run into two segments which allows me to break the full distance into smaller more manageable lengths. Plus, knowing the good we’re doing is really the best thing to get us going and to keep us going.
- Bryce Dymond

Because our support vehicle drives ahead to wait for us at scheduled, 5 km intervals to provide water stations, knowing I can take a rest at the car is a big part of motivating me to keep going!
- Brittany Dickson

If you would like to learn more about how you can contribute to this very worthy cause, please check out their website here.

We here at MPG are proud to announce the launch of a completely revolutionary step forward in our line of activewear apparel: Yogatoner by MPG!

The line of styles, from a racer back tank to sport tight, help strengthen the core while simultaneously creating a slimming, flattering effect on a woman’s body. Achieved by increasing the tension on our current technical functional fabrics during the knitting process and also adding warp knit panels in strategic anatomical points, the Yogatoner line is constructed from 88% nylon and 12% spandex fabric and is also moisture wicking like nearly all of our MPG styles. Other beneficial features include a tagless label for added comfort, medium support built-in bras in our tops, body supporting designs, durable flat-lock seams to reduce chafing and shaped waistbands for added comfort on our bottoms.

Our initial program will feature 8 styles, all available in black with more colours to be added at a later date. Ranging in sizes from XS to 2XL, the pieces will retain our signature fashion-forward styling and will look unmistakably ‘MPG’ in appearance.

Available wherever MPG is sold, we’re certain MPG Yogatoners will elevate your yoga practice, workouts or training exercises to the next level!

As we earlier reported on our facebook page, we were in Seattle all last week, working with photographer Marc von Borstel, to capture a wide array of arresting and dynamic pictures for our Fall 2011 Collection editorial campaign. This time around, we enlisted individuals from diverse athletic pursuits to help us illustrate the vibrancy, cutting-edge styling and performance enhancing properties of our newest MPG line.

And in another departure from the norm, we took our shoots outside the studio and out on the street, at the beach and in the heart of industrial America to create some truly breathtaking and stunning images. The backdrops and settings we scouted for this collection will be unlike anything you’ve seen us do before and will aptly illustrate the manner in which we are constantly evolving as a company, never merely content with past accomplishments.

Finally, in what is an especially radical move for the company, we enlisted the services of Seattle-based videographer, Michael Ganyo, to help us create a series of videos to introduce you to the very dedicated, motivated and accomplished ‘models’ we worked with this time around. Check out a behind-the-scenes clip of gymnast and acrobat, Kelly McDonald, showing us just a smidgen of the truly incredible things of which she is more than capable of doing:

We’re virtually brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation to see how our hard work turned out and are certain you’ll be equally enthralled! Stay tuned to Cliq for updates!

MPG recently finalized a partnership with Sibarth Villa Rentals, based in St. Barts. Situated in the French West Indies in the Caribbean, St. Barts is a beautiful volcanic island surrounded by shallow reefs and crystal clear, azure beaches. Sibarth Villa Rentals handles the management of 200 magnificently designed holiday properties around the island and MPG’s partnership with the property management firm will allow us to place catalogues in their villas to offer MPG activewear to Sibarth’s guests.
We’re very excited to embark upon this opportunity that will provide us with a direct avenue to introduce our brand to an international clientele and look forward to further collaboration with the fine people at Sibarth.

All of us here at MPG are excited and thrilled to welcome two new Messengers to our steadily growing stable of outstanding dancers, athletes, yogis and fitness trainers. Our first new Messenger, Tricia Ptak, is a yoga teacher and blogger from Plymouth, Michigan. Following an automobile accident that left her with chronic back pain and unable to find relief through traditional methods such as physical therapy, Tricia turned to yoga and found the solace she had long sought. Inspired by the philosophy behind yoga, she threw herself into her practice to eventually become a teacher at several locations in her community. Ever since we first contacted her to conduct an MPG review on her blog yoga-poses-and-beyond.com, she has become a fast friend of the brand and we look forward to collaborating with her much more in the near future!

Our other new Messenger joins us from Acton, Ontario where she owns and operates her own gym, Staying Alive Fitness. Hers is also a truly remarkable story: Always an avid fitness enthusiast, Leanne Monaghan made exercise and active living even more of a priority after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. Her healthy lifestyle, she believes, was an integral part of helping her overcome her ailment and she is proud to report she has been cancer free since 2003! In order to help better serve her clients, Leanne is continually striving to further educate herself and has completed a wide variety of classes, training and certifications. We first met her at the Yoga Show and Conference in Toronto earlier this year and were inspired by her very special story!

Stay tuned to MPGCliq for interviews and feature stories about these two dynamic individuals!

MPG is proud to honour the career and artistic accomplishments of one of our most recognizable Messengers, Chalnessa Eames, as she retires from the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Bellingham, Washington, where she discovered her love of dance at the age of 5, Chalnessa later moved to Boca Raton, Florida to study at the newly established Harid Conservatory where she and the rest of her class were endowed, in a manner not unlike Dickens’ Great Expectations, with full scholarships from an anonymous donor. A short time later, she traveled to Winnipeg, Canada to study at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and would eventually join the company’s corps de ballet upon graduation. A short 5 years later, inspired by principal dancer Olivier Wevers who had also made the move from Winnipeg to Seattle, Chalnessa received a position with the Pacific Northwest Ballet where new challenges awaited her and where, after being away from the age of 14, she was finally able to be close to her family. After initially joining the corps de ballet in 2001 she was later promoted to soloist in 2007.

Although she received her formal education elsewhere, it was at PNB that Chalnessa truly matured as a dancer and created her unique stage persona that was most distinctly defined by the humour, charm and cheeky playfulness that captivated and delighted audiences for the 10 years she spent at the company. A list of favourite ballets in which she danced major roles includes: Rubies, Jardi Tancat, Serenade, Nine Sinatra Songs, In the Night, The Piano Dance and Roméo et Juliette.

From Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, former artistic directors at PNB:
“Chalnessa has been a vital member of the Company since the day she arrived – a versatile, wonderful dancer, a sparkling personality and a favourite of dozens of choreographers. It can truly be said that her absence will be felt onstage and off, especially by the dancers, but also throughout PNB.”

Although the curtain has been drawn on her career at PNB, Chalnessa will continue to work with fellow MPG Messenger Olivier Wevers’ Whim W’Him contemporary dance company as she also takes some time off to plot the next direction her career will take. Whilst in Seattle recently to catch the performance of Whim W’Him’s latest show reSet we had a chance to sit down with Chalnessa to ask her to reflect on a long and storied career:

MPG: What attracted you to ballet in the first place?

CE: Actually, my sisters were taking ballet class to help them with their figure skating and I, as the youngest, just followed along. Little did I know at the precocious young age of 5 that I would be taking the first steps to what would eventually become my life’s calling.

MPG: What are some of your career highlights?

CE: Dancing the lead during the opening night of William Forsythe’s ARTIFACT while I was still in the corps de ballet definitely ranks up there. And performing a world premiere ballet for Twyla Tharp with a great friend and amazing dancer, Charlie Hodges at a gala in Dallas alongside some other ballet greats.

MPG: Favourite ballet to perform?

CE: I loved dancing the lead in George Balanchine’s Rubies which I was able to perform with three different partners and Twyla Tharp’s Afternoon Ball, which was physically the hardest ballet I have ever danced. It was a complete cardio-endurance push!

MPG: What was your best on-stage moment?

CE: Most recently, my last few shows with PNB were especially rewarding wherein I was able to take a few moments while I was dancing and look to the audience and feel so completely at peace with myself as a dancer and proud of my long journey to get where I am today.

MPG: What will you miss most about dancing at PNB?

CE: I will most probably miss spending 9 hours a day with some of my best friends. I have been so fortunate to make such a strong connection with many of my colleagues whom I consider not only friends but also family. As dancers, we move away very young which often takes us away from not only our immediate family but also our extended family. Ballet becomes our family filled with brothers, sisters, cousins and even a few of the crazy aunts and uncles.

MPG: What’s next?

CE: Good question. After my Whim W’Him shows I will be taking a few months off as I have been dancing almost nonstop for nearly 5 years straight. But in the long term, I plan to pursue health and fitness, most likely by starting off with personal training certifications. I think there is so much power in being healthy and fit and I would love to be able to pass that on to others. And who knows? Maybe there are a few more performances left in me!

All of us here at MPG are truly grateful for everything Chalnessa has done for us as a Messenger and wish her the best of luck and a world of success in whatever comes her way next. Bravo on a brilliant career, Chal!

We were recently in Seattle, Washington to catch the latest performance of MPG Messenger and artistic director Olivier Wever’s dance company Whim W’Him perform at the Intiman Theater. Featuring other Messengers such as Kaori Nakamura, Kylie Lewallen, Lucien Postlewaite, Chalnessa Eames and Ty Cheng, the show was a veritable cavalcade of MPG Messengers doing what they do best on stage. As we mentioned previously in our recent article on Olivier’s retirement, the show, titled reSet combined the reworked 3 Seasons, the hauntingly, tragically and poignantly beautiful Monster and the premiere of the company’s newest piece, It’s Not About the Money, which was breathtaking, inspiring and stirring all at once.

The dynamism and dramatic energy palpable in the collected dancers’ performances are, as Olivier explained at an informal Q & A following Friday night’s unveiling, a direct result of the interplay of the traditions in which the dancers were trained and currently practice. The diverse dance disciplines come together to create new ways of approaching dance, establishing new vocabularies to provide instruction and above all else, drawing on the individual strengths of each dancer to allow them to truly and genuinely express themselves in the framework of Olivier’s artistic vision.

We felt privileged and fortunate to attend the performances and applaud all the dancers in Whim W’Him, Messengers and not, for the hard work and dedication they have shown in lending their talents to Olivier’s efforts, in addition to their own work with their respective companies.
Check out images from the performances below. All photographs appear courtesy of Seattle-based, Adam and Kim Bramberg of La Vie Photography: