BIOGRAPHY
Victoria Raskin grew up heavily influenced by music, dance, and the performing arts, as well as literature. Her mother, a professional opera singer and musician, would take Ms. Raskin with her to her singing classes where Ms. Raskin would play with toys while listening to her mom sing. Soon after, at the age of 4, Ms. Raskin auditioned for a children’s vocal ensemble (Kinor David) in Israel and made an exceptional debut as the youngest vocalist of the group. She spent a lot of time on stage after that singing and performing with the group. Around the same time, Ms. Raskin began training in rhythmic gymnastics in Israel, and then continued in Canada where she would compete and win 3 silver medals in BC in 2005.
From 2005 onwards, Victoria classically trained in piano and voice and won many awards, competing annually at the Russian Music Festival, Richmond Music Festival, and Kiwanis Music Festival. She also received several first class honors achievements from the Royal Conservatory of Music between 2005-2010. As a young teenager and near the end of her classical piano years, Ms. Raskin created and performed 2 original piano pieces just before parting ways with the classical piano in 2010. Ms. Raskin then shifted her focus to songwriting, dancing and acting on the stage. Ms. Raskin trained professionally in voice, dance, theatre and film, and continued to write over the next several years while completing a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations.
Ms. Raskin has trained, taught, and performed in dance since 2006 for the past 16 years. She trained in many styles including but not limited to: heels, jazz, ballet, hiphop, street jazz, salsa, bachata, casino rueda (specialized style of salsa), and Argentinian tango. From 2011-2013, she danced and performed in music videos, flashmobs, private events, and public dance showcases with her hip hop dance crew. One of her most notable dance contributions was in 2012, when she danced in the A World of Smiles music video and telethon featuring Mariana's trench, fundraising $360, 000 for the BC Children’s Hospital. In the last 5 years, her primary dance training has consisted of salsa, bachata, and heels dancing. Ms. Raskin has taught children in hip and street jazz styles, and adults in heels, salsa and bachata styles. From 2016-2019, Ms. Raskin performed annually both in Canada and the United States (in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles) with her Salsa/Bachata dance group at dance congresses, local events/showcases, and private events.
From 2005-2019, Ms. Raskin trained and performed at her local community theatre, which would put on plays for children and adults in Russian, and occasionally in English. Her most notable theatre credits include Nina from the Seagull, which had sold-out tickets, and Ophelia from Hamlet --- both performed fully in Russian with English translations available for English-speaking audiences. In 2011, Ms. Raskin began training in and started her career in film and tv working on feature films, tv shows, commercials, and short films. In 2011, she made her first debut on television in Good Morning Killer and from 2011-2014 trained every semester at the Actor's Foundry. Afterwards, she trained regularly at the Railtown Actor's Studio from 2015-2019 and in 2018 spent a full year auditing every class. Throughout her training, she has also studied at Haven Studios with Ben, and has had multiple 1:1 trainings with Tony Alcantar for dialect training. From 2021-2022, Ms. Raskin began studying with Andrew MclIlroy at McIlroy & Associates and continues to train there. She also trains in mixed martial arts weekly with Kirk Jacques.
Over the past 2 years, Victoria expanded her focus onto creating music, writing original songs, and collaborating with other musicians. She took a moment in 2020 to sort through life and figure out how to navigate through COVID restricting social interaction and shutting down everything; she began collaborating virtually with others when meeting in person was not possible. This allowed her to connect with artists, musicians, and coaches all across Canada. She has worked with Steve Maddock (Jazz Vocal Coach), Lorraine Reinhardt (Vocal Technique coach, NATS member), Miles Black (Vancouver Jazz musician/producer), Jonny Tobin (Grammy-nominated, multi-award-winning keys player and producer), Tyler Wagar (Producer, notable credits include Faouzia), Sierra Noble (Winnipeg singer-songwriter, musician, producer), Jenn Beaupre (Canadian Idol alum, singer-songwriter, vocal coach), and Elise Roller (Misfit Management and music advisor). Over the past 20 years, Victoria continues and maintains vigorous practice in original music production/songwriting, singing, dance, acting, and writing. With her artistic and academic educational background, Victoria creates a diverse array of high quality projects that showcase unique artistic expression and invigorate. Her mission is to continue to create, invigorate, and inspire.