Upcoming Fellowship Events
the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us (Showing)
January 9, 2025 from 12-1pm at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre
This performance will focus on the physicality and energy surrounding Black socio-political movements and their impact on Black performance art from the 1960s to now, across Turtle Island. This work will embody specific gestures and expressions from these historical moments through the lens of Garrick's blackness, queerness and ancestral blood memory. the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us emerges as a virtuosic movement story that will connect the audience to Garrick's lived experiences through song, dance, and spoken word. After the performance, the audience will be invited to participate in a movement activity and Q&A with Nickeshia Garrick.
Presented as part of the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series
Nickeshia Garrick: In Dialogue - where artists meet audiences
January 11, 2025 from 1-3pm at Nia Centre for the Arts
Co-hosted by Dedra McDermott (DanceWorks) and Sanique Walters (Nia Centre for the Arts), audiences will experience a first look at multidisciplinary performance artist Nickeshia Garrick’s, the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us. After the performance, the audience will be invited to engage in vibrant dialogue with Nickeshia Garrick about her evolving performance and research practice.
In partnership with Nia Centre for the Arts
About the Emerging to Mid-Career Fellowship
Affiliate Artist Program - Choreographic Development Stream
Nickeshia Garrick, Inaugural Fellow
July 2024 - January 2025
As part of DanceWorks’ Affiliate Artist Program - Choreographic Development Stream (AAP-CD), we are launching an ambitious Emerging to Mid-Career Fellowship designed to empower artists at a pivotal point in their career trajectories. Each six-month fellowship is meticulously crafted through bespoke partnerships, providing selected artists with unparalleled access to relevant organizations for collaborative support tailored to their choreographic interests and professional growth. At DanceWorks, we strive to support makers who prioritize play and curiosity. We shape creative environments intending to impact an artist’s way of working beyond their initial investment – allowing for a longevity of practice that supports artists in their process. To realize this vision, we are committed to cultivating partnerships within and outside of dance-specific spaces that align with our creative values, such as collaboration, public engagement as a creative practice, and interdisciplinary and iterative ways of working.
Each Fellow will receive a $10,000 honorarium, in addition to administrative, research and dramaturgical support from Executive Artistic Producer, Dedra McDermott to build their 6-month Fellowship.
This Fellowship will continue on a biennial basis through open calls with the next iteration commencing in 2026 (Open Call will take place in Summer 2025).
About Nickeshia and their Fellowship Project
Photo by Kevin Jones.
Nickeshia Garrick is a settler on the stolen land of Tkarón:to and has performed on this land for over 25 years. They are unapologetically a Black, Queer Artist, who believes in the healing power of breath through raw emotion and movement. Nickeshia received their dance training at the Carousel Dance Centre (Kitchener), the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), the National Ballet School of Canada (Tkarón:to), Toronto Dance Theatre (Tkarón:to), and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). Nickeshia has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, Tara Butler, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre.
Nickeshia is a Dora Mavor Moore, winning and multi-nominated artist who holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University, is an Equity Programming Advisory Committee member with Kaeja D’dance, and a Co-Founder of CinnaMoon Collective, a Central American and Afro-Caribbean contemporary dance duo that is dedicated to reclaiming and honouring ancestral stories from a decolonial perspective.
Nickeshia is currently exploring the socio-political, cultural and artistic influences on Black Performance Art from the 1960s to now across Turtle Island. the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us (working title), aims to excavate the context of the aforementioned influences and the role they potentially play(ed) in shaping Black performance art movements. Through this inquiry, Nickeshia is interested in locating any sites of disruption or a critical challenge of the traditional theatre milieux in Canada beginning in 1960.
Throughout the fellowship period, there will be several opportunities for public engagement including artist talks, a workshop, and a showing. Please join us to follow Nickeshia’s fellowship journey!
“I have always been deeply connected to performance art as the form often challenges its witnesses to think in new and unconventional ways, breaking conventions of traditional arts, and questioning ideas of "what art is". This ultimately is the inquiry at the core of this project; knowing that Black art is political, it is impactful, it is disruptive and challenges how one perceives ‘Blackness’. As a Queer, femme-presenting Black artist, I connect with those who held the stories of my ancestors—as many of those who held this responsibility of knowledge-keeping were Queer.” - Nickeshia Garrick
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.
Past Fellowship Events
Artist Talk with Nickeshia Garrick
September 14, 2024 from 1-2pm at 401 Richmond Street W.
Nickeshia will be in discussion with DanceWorks Co-Executive Artistic Producer and Fellowship Facilitator, Dedra McDermott, to talk about the initial months of the Emerging to Mid-Career Fellowship, her archival research interest and recent discoveries supporting her developing research and choreographic project.
the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us (Workshop)
November 16, 2024 from 1-3pm at The Power Plant Art Gallery
Led by Nickeshia Garrick, this workshop will be an embodied exploration of the bonds that physically and emotionally bind lived experiences. Participants are invited to explore these experiences and perceptions of the world through shared pasts and present connectivities or crossings.
Co-produced with Toronto Biennial of Art.
