Unfinish / Unfurl

a mini-festival focused on creative practice and choreographic process

Presented by DanceWorks, in collaboration with Meaningful Movement, Sara Porter Productions and Nina Milanovski, and CanAsian Dance, with co-production support from Dancemakers

May 7-10, 2025 at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and Online (Zoom)

Unfinish / Unfurl is a mini-festival focused on creative practice and choreographic process. We invite dance-makers, dance-enthusiasts, and curious community members to gather, share, question, and learn together. All are welcome regardless of previous experience within and around artistic environments!

Guided by the notion of ‘low stakes, low tech, deep dives, deep breaths’, Unfinish / Unfurl invites activities led by partners to exist in a shared space alongside DanceWorks-curated discussions, workshops, and showings. The mini-festival will gather divergent approaches to conceptualizing, making, practicing, and supporting dance; encouraging the intermingling of communities with shared values of reciprocal exchange and supportive challenge. 

Click on the images below to learn more about each event!

All audience members, participants, and artists are welcome to join us for the Unfinish / Unfurl Closing Reception at The Theatre Centre on Saturday May 10th, starting at 10pm!

The aims of Unfinish / Unfurl are to support the development of new dances by local artists, cultivate dance-making practices for emerging, mid-career and established artists alike, and nurture cross-cultural choreographic literacy amongst audiences. The festival’s structure follows a journey of dance-making from initial understandings of what choreography is/can be, to bringing emerging artists together for improvisational exploration, to nurturing fresh choreographic proposals, and finally showcasing semi-developed works-in-progress.

Artists and audience members alike will be encouraged to see everything as practice, and to the extent possible, focus on the rigour and creativity of artistic interests, instead of ruminating on the various sectoral issues that impact the careers of artists and can so often detract or distract from the work itself.

Tickets

Pay-what-you-can tickets between $0-24 can be purchased/reserved through The Theatre Centre Box Office for all in-person events and through Zeffy for the online workshop, Cripping the Full Out/Marking Binary.

If you have questions about attending an in-person event, ticketing, or would like assistance purchasing tickets for an in-person event, your best option is to email [email protected]. You can also reach the Theatre Centre box office by phone at (416) 538-0988. Please leave a message and they will endeavour to return your call within 48 hours. 

Access Information

If you have any Access Needs, please reach out to Cass Cabral Pucci, Festival Coordinator.

  • The Franco Boni Theatre at The Theatre Centre is accessible via a single-user accessibility lift on the main floor:

    • The lift is key-operated and must be operated by a staff member. Upon arrival, please notify the Box Office or Café/Bar staff for lift assistance. When leaving the venue, the lift includes a blue call button to request staff assistance to go down.

    The second floor provides level access into the theatre, with reserved seats on the ground level to accommodate accessibility devices.

    An accessible bathroom is located on the second floor.

Banner photos (top and below) by Kaylee McCullough, featuring Miggy Esteban and Sukriti Sharma.

Unfinish / Unfurl logo by Kaylee McCullough.

Festival Team

Festival + Access Coordinator (Intern)

Cass Cabral Pucci is a printmaker and movement artist based in Toronto. Their practice is informed by a desire to connect with others through creative processes and sharing of lived experiences through a surrealist lens. A recent graduate of York University’s Visual Arts and Cultural Practices for Social Justice programs, Cass is currently studying at Centennial College’s Art Management program where they aspire to further develop their skills in order to contribute meaningfully to the arts and culture industry in Toronto as an arts administrator.

Cass Cabral Pucci

Production Manager

Remington North is a career Technical Director and Production Manager. He derives his professional mandate from the word facilitate via the Latin facile (easily). Making art is hard and Remington endeavours to make it easier, in some measure, for those working through their craft. Remington has worked with Tapestry Opera, Nightwood Theatre, J-Mar Electric, Canadian Stage, Crow's Theatre, The Theatre Centre, Soulpepper, Volcano Theatre, YES! Theatre, Why Not Theatre, Against the Grain, and many other companies in the GTA. 

Remington North

Learn more about the artists and partners on the event pages!

Learn more about the DanceWorks staff here!