2024-25 Season
DanceWorks Season 48, the first under the artistic leadership of Co-Executive Artistic Producers Dedra McDermott and David Norsworthy, is here!
Our 2024-25 Season will include the DanceWorks Signature Series (formerly Mainstage Series), inclusive of three Toronto premieres and three new pilot projects that will cultivate deeper connections between and amongst diverse audiences, and uplift historically marginalized voices. Building on historical frameworks and exploring the possibilities of choreographic research and performance, we are shifting our programming to further synergize education and outreach as integral to our choreographic performance series. In alignment with our evolving curatorial vision and the intentions set by our recently updated mission and vision, we will route a way forward that expands and solidifies our commitment to public engagement; amplifying local histories, supporting the choreographic development of artists, and providing a platform for the changemakers that make Toronto a vibrant cultural capital.
The word ‘Reclamation’ presented itself as the all-encompassing thematic for the 2024-2025 season. Defined as the act of returning something to a former, better state, this term aligns with our internal organizational discussions about returning to the self amidst global precarity, re-educating communities on mis/underrepresented marginalized histories, cultivating spaces for critical conversations that advance choreographic performance practice, and our ability to be present with the evolving socio-political landscape locally and beyond. Our Signature Series programming explores multifaceted conceptions of identity, challenges the pervasive erasure of queer and racialized stories, and revalorizes the continued presence and stewardship of Indigenous caretakers across Turtle Island.
As we continue to navigate the ongoing leadership transition as an organization, we are motivated to share that this season is a seed. A seed planted in an effort to ground our iterative growth and establish the frameworks of why and how we are bringing you, multifaceted artists and audiences, together in Tkarón:to.
We look forward to welcoming you!
The three Toronto premieres of the Signature Series include:
Raven Mother is a newly choreographed dance work by Dancers of Damelahamid (Gitxsan/Cree) in honour of late Elder Margaret Harris (1931 – 2020). A matinee performance in collaboration with Harbourfront Centre School Visits and an evening performance of Raven Mother will be presented at the Fleck Dance Theatre on November 29, 2024. A culmination of generations of artistic and cultural work, Raven Mother is a tangible remembrance of a woman’s spirit that interweaves movement, song, regalia, sculpture, and design with the embodied narrative. Raven Mother illuminates the profound leadership of mothers, their essential contribution in this resurgence, and the force and transformation of this awakening. Raven Mother was programmed by Founding Dance Curator Mimi Beck, and was created with support from DanceWorks through the CanDance Network Creation Fund.
DanceWorks will be supporting dance Immersion’s presentation of BOW’T TRAIL Retrospek by Rhodnie Désir Créations (Tiohtià:ke/Montreal). Following dance Immersion’s 2023 presentation of the studio excerpt of this work, BOW’T TRAIL Retrospek will be presented at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre on April 4-5, 2025. DanceWorks will be partnering to support a matinee on April 4, 2024 as well as contributing to outreach efforts. The choreographer, driven by a desire and a need to transcend her origins, has been exploring the Americas in search of Afro-descendant cultures and immersing herself in the African cultures and rhythms of the peoples who were taken to these lands since 2015. In the resulting performance piece, a conversation between the present and the past, Désir transcends polyrhythmic and majestic textures and sonorities while her body is mysteriously enveloped by video projections and plural memories.
Inspired by submissions to our Artistic Introductions + Ideas Form, we will be piloting a mixed-bill presentation titled Sweet Ephemera on June 25-26, 2025, featuring artists from across Canada with strong ties to the Toronto area who are uniquely exploring themes of queer identity, queer intimacies, and the ongoing process of reorienting the self in relation to the evolving world around us. Sweet Ephemera 2025 will feature Sometimes the Sex is so Good by Near & Far Projects/Tavia Christina and only child by Calder White.
The three pilot projects of our 24-25 Season have been created in response to observed sector needs and informed by our past year of community conversations and consultations:
This year, we’ll be launching our Affiliate Artist Program in two distinct streams.
The Affiliate Artist Program - Teaching Stream, is an initiative that aims to engage artists separate from our presentation programming to lead guest workshops at/in partnership with schools and dance studios across the Greater Toronto Area. Led by Education & Outreach Manager, Catherine Romano, this program will further facilitate cross-cultural and intergenerational knowledge exchange while contributing to the development of choreographic/movement literacy for the young people in attendance. An artist announcement will follow in the coming weeks and workshop bookings will commence in late August.
Our Affiliate Artist Program - Choreographic Development Stream includes the DanceWorks’ Emerging to Mid-Career Fellowship that is geared towards supporting artists who are at a crucial point in their career development and working towards expanding the scope of their reach. Each 6-month fellowship will be founded on bespoke partnerships that provide access to and collaboration with relevant organizations that can support the selected artist’s choreographic interests and professional development—championing their unique inquiries and aspirations. Led by DanceWorks’ Co-Executive Artistic Producer, Dedra McDermott, we plan to facilitate this fellowship every two years through open calls.
The inaugural fellow, Nickeshia Garrick, is currently exploring the socio-political, cultural and artistic influences on Black Performance Art from the 1960s to now across Turtle Island, with an initial focus on Toronto. Her research will inform her work-in-progress, the ties that Bind Us, the ties that Bond Us (working title). Fellowship partners include The Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora (OCAD University), Nia Centre for the Arts, and The Toronto Biennial of Art, with support from Vtape, FADO Performance Art, and ArQuives. Please save the date of September 14, 2024 for the first public engagement event; an Artist Talk with Nickeshia Garrick at 401 Richmond St W (401 Commons), and stay tuned for more information.
The third pilot project of our 2024-25 Season is SWIRL / UNFURL; a mini works-in-process festival that will invite activities led by Ontario-based choreographers and co-organizers to exist in a shared space alongside DanceWorks-curated discussions, workshops, and showings. In this context, ‘swirl’ is an invitation to orbit together around a central theme of choreographic practice, while ‘unfurl’ invites shared learning and mutual growth through an exchange of knowledge, inspiration, and questions. Led by DanceWorks’ Co-Executive Artistic Producer, David Norsworthy, SWIRL / UNFURL will take place May 7-10, 2025 with co-production support from Dancemakers. An artist and co-organizer announcement will follow in the coming months.
Outreach initiatives this year also include a presentation as part of the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series!
Our 2024-25 Season is made possible through collaboration with the following partners:
Photo and video credits on this page include: Season 2024-25 video edited by Kaylee McCullough. Raven Mother photo credit: Chris Randle. BOW’T TRAIL Retrospek photo credit: Rhodnie Désir Créations. Sweet Ephemera photo by Kaylee McCullough featuring Tavia Christina (left) and Nickeshia Garrick (right). Affiliate Artist Program - Teaching Stream photo by Kaylee McCullough featuring (left to right) Tavia Christina, Sukriti Sharma, Miggy Esteban, and Nickeshia Garrick. Fellowship photo by Colin Boyd Shafer featuring Nickeshia Garrick. SWIRL / UNFURL photo by Kaylee McCullough featuring Sukriti Sharma (back) and Miggy Esteban (front).