Tales of those who move.
A dialogue between music and dance.
Connecting. Reconnecting.
A community call.
NKABOM, Choreographic Works that push the boundaries of movement, culture, and community.
A dynamic dialogue between tradition and innovation, individual expression and collective experience.
Connecting. Reconnecting. Building community through movement
NKABOM brings together artists from Toronto and Montreal to support and celebrate African street dance in Canada, fostering collective expression through the blending of diverse movement forms and perspectives.
The local artists involved in NKABOM will engage in a residency that promotes the exploration of movement, with each artist contributing their individual expression rooted in African street dance to a collective choreographic work. Drawing from their unique movement languages and personal experiences, the artists will collaboratively develop a shared creation that explores themes of re-connection while pushing the boundaries of their creative journeys and artistic practices.
Curator Kwasi Obeng-Adeji
Dancers Athena Lucie Assamba & Leah Danga
Dancer Rose-Mary Harbans
Drummer Amosun Adeifa
DJ TrayBaby
Local Dancer Martin Prempeh
Local Dancer Monique Pascall
Local Dancer Janice Ellis
Local Dancer Bairen Oluwashola
Sound Technician Lamar Ferguson
Lighting Designer Theo Belc
Technical Assistants Jason Ball, Husseine Esmail & Rowan Campbell
Inspiration for this includes:
cUraTor & Artists
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist, emerging choreographer, and dance educator based in Brampton, Ontario.
Athena Lucie Assamba
Athena Lucie Assamba Montreal based interdisciplinary artist exploring dances of African source as living practices of ancestral memory, liberation, healing, and collective transformation.
Leah Danga
Leah Danga is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal, specializing in contemporary and traditional African dances, with a background in hip-hop and popping.
Rose-Mary Harbans
Rose-Mary “Rosie” Harbans is a Dora-nominated performer, choreographer, and dance educator based in Toronto. Rosie’s practice approaches movement as a vessel for liberation, healing, and storytelling.
Bairen Oluwashola
Nigerian-born Afro Fusion choreographer and educator inspiring global connection through movement, culture, and authentic African dance.
Janice Ellis
Janice Ellis is a first-generation artist of Jamaican and Ghanaian descent whose practice is rooted in African diasporic dance forms, including Azonto, Nigerian street styles, and traditional African dance.
Martin Prempeh
Born in Kumasi, Ghana and raised in Toronto, Canada, King Martin Luther Prempeh also known as PREMPZ.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
We prioritize wheelchair accessible spaces for all of our events. This venue is outdoors and is wheelchair accessible.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
A year-long working group exploring Dance Curation as a practice and role.
This group of independent dance curators will attend all of Dancemakers’ programming as well as other relevant programs across the GTA to experience, reflect, discuss and engage with dance curators working in the field.
Throughout the year, they will work with invited guests to discuss various emergent practices found within dance curation.
These dance curators were selected by our Call for Curators selection committee.
Events this year’s group participated in were:
A lecture with Emelie Chhangur
A lecture with Nicole Mion
A walking tour with Laura Nanni
Artists
Kaili Che
Kaili Che 謝祖弘 is a Vancouver-based interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, and movement educator.
Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan
Dr. Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan is an independent curator and writer.
Aisha Sasha John
Aisha Sasha John is a performer, choreographer and poet.
Megha Subramanian
A multi-disciplinary artist, Megha Subramanian practices several forms of storty-telling, constantly engaging with diverse thoughts that question her conditioning.
Wai Liu
Wai Liu is a Hong Kong-born movement artist based in Toronto.
Ralph Escamillan
Ralph Escamillan is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, teacher and community leader based on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations – on so called Vancouver, BC.
Tia Kushniruk
Tia Ashley Kushniruk (亚 女弟) is a Chinese-Ukrainian Queer dance/theatre artist based in ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) Treaty 6/Métis Territory of Edmonton AB.
Rachana Joshi
Rachana Josh i is an independent dance artist based in Tkaronto. She completed her Bharatanatyam arangetram under the tutelage of Lata Pada in 2017 and is currently a company dancer and teacher at Sampradaya Dance Centre.
Dhvani Ramanujam
Dhvani Ramanujam is a writer and emerging curator currently pursuing a PhD in Cinema and Media Studies at York University
Brianna Maltais
Brianna is a tap dance-based artist whose work explores textural soundscapes, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and fosters opportunities for youth in her hometown of Barrie.
Roxy Menzies
Roxy Menzies seamlessly weaves the disciplines of dance, writing, and healing arts.
Ranganathan Rajan
Ranganathan Rajan (He/Him) is originally from India and is currently based in Tkaronto.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
In partnership with
2016
Flowchart is a series of multidisciplinary performance presenting short works by artists engaging with the choreographic from the perspective of multiple fields; work which pays attention to organizing movement in space and having it be affected by/also itself affect time. By contextualizing non-dance works within and alongside the choreographic, an engagement with these ideas becomes newly visible. Flowchart is interested in works that centralize the body and offers a curiosity about what happens to non-dance works when they are presented in the scope of a field that inevitably does so.
Flowchart encourages artists to approach their process in a way that is new to them, and offers a platform for experimentation.
Flowchart began as a studio series in 2014 and has grown into a robust recurring series, now housed at Dancemakers, offering a critically needed resourced and supported presentation platform for artists.
Meg Foley,
Open Fortress,
Robert Kingsbury,
Syrus Marcus Ware,
Aliya Pabani,
Lo Bill,
Bridget Moser,
Fan Wu,
Thom Gil,
Peg and Buzz
Artists
Amelia Ehrhardt
From 2015-2019 Amelia Ehrhardt was the Curator at Dancemakers fostering international success for many of the artists engaged in the Incubation Production House model.
Fan wu
Fan Wu is a performer and poet working within the fields of Daoist cosmology, queer psychoanalysis and the ethics of transgression.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
2017
Flowchart is a series of multidisciplinary performance presenting short works by artists engaging with the choreographic from the perspective of multiple fields; work which pays attention to organizing movement in space and having it be affected by/also itself affect time. By contextualizing non-dance works within and alongside the choreographic, an engagement with these ideas becomes newly visible. Flowchart is interested in works that centralize the body and offers a curiosity about what happens to non-dance works when they are presented in the scope of a field that inevitably does so.
Flowchart encourages artists to approach their process in a way that is new to them, and offers a platform for experimentation.
Flowchart began as a studio series in 2014 and has grown into a robust recurring series, now housed at Dancemakers, offering a critically needed resourced and supported presentation platform for artists.
Meryem Alaoui,
Katie Ward,
William Ellis,
Aisha Sasha John,
Lo Bill,
Francesca Chudnoff/Justin de Luna,
Marisa Hoicka, and
Barbara Lindenberg/Allison Peacock
Artists
Amelia Ehrhardt
From 2015-2019 Amelia Ehrhardt was the Curator at Dancemakers fostering international success for many of the artists engaged in the Incubation Production House model.
Aisha Sasha John
Aisha Sasha John is a performer, choreographer and poet.
Francesca Chudnoff
Francesca (she/her) is a Toronto based millennial, with a BFA in performance, and paying rent as a multidisciplinary artist.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
2019
Flowchart is a series of multidisciplinary performance presenting short works by artists engaging with the choreographic from the perspective of multiple fields; work which pays attention to organizing movement in space and having it be affected by/also itself affect time. By contextualizing non-dance works within and alongside the choreographic, an engagement with these ideas becomes newly visible. Flowchart is interested in works that centralize the body and offers a curiosity about what happens to non-dance works when they are presented in the scope of a field that inevitably does so.
Flowchart encourages artists to approach their process in a way that is new to them, and offers a platform for experimentation.
Flowchart began as a studio series in 2014 and has grown into a robust recurring series, now housed at Dancemakers, offering a critically needed resourced and supported presentation platform for artists.
Jon McCurley
Kate Nankervis & Ann Trépanier
Nikola Steer
Jasmyn Fyffe & Alicia Nautu
Oliver Husain & Anni Spadafora
Carol Anderson
Lara Kramer
Sarah Aiken
Artists
Amelia Ehrhardt
From 2015-2019 Amelia Ehrhardt was the Curator at Dancemakers fostering international success for many of the artists engaged in the Incubation Production House model.
Lara Kramer
Lara Kramer is a performer, choreographer, and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Oji-cree and settler heritage
Carol Anderson
Carol Anderson was a founding member of Dancemakers in 1974 and she performed with the company for 15 years.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
Other Details
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
Other Details
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
What if improvisational musicians and freestyle streetdancers had a conversation in their own languages – and we were invited to watch?
Dancemakers Guest Curator Abel Hagos selects Toronto’s finest musicians, pairing them established Canadian dancers to explore the themes of play that thread through both improvisational music and dance.
Expect a night of stylish vignettes, inventive pairings and live battle culture. Witness technical explorations with lighting design from Emerson Kafarowski and James Feenstra, and projections from Brigita Gedgaudas and Nathan Bruce.
Notes about the location:
The Bentway’s Strachan Gate is located outside and is open to the elements. We ask folks to check the weather forecast and dress accordingly.
The majority of seating at Strachan Gate is on a grass hill. We encourage bringing blankets or small camping chairs for your comfort!
cUraTor & Artists
Abel Hagos
As a Street Dance artist and community advocate, my work is rooted in the belief that dance is a powerful tool for expression, storytelling, and cultural preservation.
Roshane Wright
Roshane Wright is a dynamic percussionist, drummer, composer, and educator hailing from Portmore, Jamaica.
Kosi Eze
Kosi seeks to promote a healthy knowledge of self and emotional intelligence – as it impacts the ways we engage within street dance culture as messengers, leaders and mentors for the generation to come – through her art.
Daniel Chang
Daniel is an eclectic and committed performer whose work spans dance, clown, and character-driven storytelling.
Anh Phung
Anh Phung takes the flute to space as she continually dives deep into the capabilities of the instrument.
Marc Manhertz
Marc Manhertz is a 35-year-old musician from the Greater Toronto Area.
Joanna Majoko
Joanna Majoko is a Toronto-based vocalist, composer, and lyricist known for her distinctive sound and dynamic presence.
Ash Chawla
Ash Chawla is a dancer
Caleb Klager
Caleb Klager has solidified his place in Toronto’s rich electronic music scene performing machine – driven techno, electro, and experimental live sets.
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist, emerging choreographer, and dance educator based in Brampton, Ontario.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include universal audio description. If you are interested in a whisper-guide experience, please email artistic@dancemakers.org.
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Inspiration includes:
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
XXX
xxx
Inspiration includes:
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.