We are excited to be partnering with Critical Distance Centre for Curation for our inaugural Dance Curation Working Group!

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.

Each curator has a project they will be working on throughout the year and will present on the development of their curatorial frameworks at a culminating event this coming July.

This cohort includes (top left across to bottom): Lukas Malkowski, abisola oni, Natalia Arancibia, Wai Liu, Kiera Forde, Kin Nguien, Roxy Menzies, Sarah Koekkoek, Holly Chang, Kage Wolfe, Meek & Bryce Taylor.

Lukas Malkowski (he/they) is a CODA(Child of Deaf Adult), performance maker and Aquarius based between Canada/Germany. He has performed in John Wick 4, CTM Festival(Berlin), the Rodeo Festival(Munich), Festival Trans Amérique(Montreal), dance: made in Canada(Toronto), and the Schrittmacher Festival(Holland). Lukas’s choreography & teaching is shaped by the embodiment of physics, voice, and American Sign Language. He has choreographed films, live performances, ambient sets, music videos, and films for Sam Slater(Joker OST), LBT, 7th Plain(Luke Slater), and with Jubal Battisti. In 2015, he was Canada’s 2015 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant recipient in Contemporary Dance. Since attaining his BFA in 2016 at Toronto Metropolitan University, he has worked with Guillaume Côté, Robert Lepage, Jefta Van Dinther, Wang Ramirez, Staatsballett Berlin, Sasha Waltz & Guests, James Kudelka, Ceren Oran/Moving Borders, Toronto Dance Theatre, Kate Hilliard, Jasmine Ellis, Diane Borsato, Heidi Strauss, Mocean Dance, Peggy Baker, D.A. Hoskins, Opera Atelier, and Deaf Spectrum.

abisola oni (she/her) is a Canadian-Nigerian video and performance artist and curator based in the Greater Toronto Area. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Culture and Studio Art at the University of Waterloo. Her visual discourse centers around spiritual and philosophical inquiries that range from the most mundane to the highly supernatural aspects of life. abisola’s autotheoretical reflections manifest through image-making processes often using performance for the camera. As a member of the Board of Directors at Pleasure Dome, abisola is proud to support the spirit of collectivity and experimentation in the media arts community. 

Natalia Arancibia (she/her)  is a Chilean performer / educator  based in Tkaronto. As a dancer She is interested in the instinctive movement of bodies and nature, emphasizing the search of continuous flow as the main axis of her body language. She looks for soft approaches and meaningful guidance as an educator for contemporary practices mainly through floor-work, focusing on an efficient and organic application of the ideas. Natalia is interested in media arts and architecture combined with movement; aiming to create fuller experiences for the audience. 

Wai Liu, a Hong Kong-born movement artist based in Toronto, blends diverse dance forms, including contemporary, modern, and Asian styles, with cross-disciplinary explorations in movement and physical theater. They are now pursuing their BFA in Dance at York University. Their recent works include dynamic group choreography, site-specific installations, and collaborative residencies that explore the interplay of sensation, imagery, and spatial awareness. Active in cultural festivals and intensive workshops, Wai integrates meaningful storytelling into their practice and seeks to use this curator cohort platform to connect with fellow curators for collaborative growth and artistic dialogue. 

Keira Marie Forde (Shey /They) is a multidisciplinary performer, creator, and community arts producer who has been working in culturally relevant pedagogy and arts for over nine years. Keira’s artistic contribution has focused on amplifying stories for people in Toronto who are under the Youth category (under 30) through various works as a performer, producer, sound artist, arts educator, and coordinator. Keira's recent performance credits include Suitable Climate with B Current for Summerworks, The Christie Pits Riot based on the Christie Pits Riot with Hogtown Collective, What's So Funny with Carousel Players, and her original digital work titled No More News for Nancy with Alberta-based company Major Matt Mason Collective. In 2023-2024, No More News For Nancy recently went through further research supported by The Creative Catalyst program at The NIA Center for the Arts. 

Kin Nguien, an award-winning choreographer and performer, originally from Ukraine and now based in Toronto, Canada, has earned acclaim for her impactful contributions to dance. As a first-generation Vietnamese-Ukrainian, she brings a unique perspective to her work, addressing cultural biases and mental health stigmas. Influenced by her European upbringing and Vietnamese-Asian heritage, Kin's choreography reflects bold storytelling, emphasizing compassion and mindfulness. As co-artistic director of KINAJ.co and a member of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, Kin is actively involved in the dance community. Her recent work and accomplishments include choreographing and performing for Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and choreographing for Red Bull Dance Your Style. Kin is currently working on some exciting project with National Ballet of Canada and is looking forward to meeting the fellow aspiring curators at Dancemakers. 

Roxy Menzies: Under the umbrella of Artist, Roxy seamlessly weaves the disciplines of dance, writing, and healing arts. These endless intersections branch off into research and storytelling that pay homage to all aspects of the human spirit. Roxy has performed, guest-taught, or presented around the world, with her interests predominantly related to forms within the African diaspora. 

sarah koekkoek is an ecology focused multidisciplinary artist working with movement, dance, flora and biomaterials from Tkarón:to (Toronto). Now based in London, England where she is a MFA student at Goldsmiths University in the Art & Ecology program. Her research examines movement as a language that can help cultivate greater understanding and compassion with our relationship to self, others and the earth. Often, her movements are generated by nurturing the reciprocal relationships of human-human and human-nonhuman through embodied offerings such as dance, text and flora collaborations. Since 2017 sarah’s work has been exploring our punctured relationship and existence within the abused and exploited natural world, developing an environment of (physical) emotions surrounding climate change and the anthropocene.   

Holly Chang is an artist and curator based in Toronto/Tkaronto. Chang – as a second-generation Jamaican Chinese Canadian – maintains ties with her cross-cultural identity and draws on her hybrid background for inspiration. Her curatorial work centers on facilitating alternative narratives in the arts and she has a particular focus on collaborating with Asian artists. She has been curating for over five years and in 2023, was the recipient of the Middlebrook Prize for Curation where she curated two exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Guelph. 

Kage Wolfe is a Boylesque performer and the Director of the QTBIPOC production brand Kreative Kulture. A Boylesque and Cabaret performer for over 10 years, they have performed at festivals all over Canada and have headlined shows from Nova Scotia to BC. As a queer award winning performer who is known for their on stage expression of black and Caribbean culture he lives up to the moniker "The Kulture King of Toronto Boylesque." 

Meek currently centers their practice on embodied movement, spiritual healing, truth and storytelling. As a mover living with invisible disabilities and existing within a fat body, their desire is to create spaces for transformative expression and connection with movement artists who may live within what is perceived as non-conventional dancer bodies. While the nuances of their curatorial desires may change as whims often do, the soul of it remains as space for freedom, risk-taking, honesty, and reflection. 

Bryce Taylor (They/He) is a Breaker, Dancer/Choreographer originally from Colebrook, ON, currently based in Tkaronto(Toronto)ON.  Bryce would start dancing as a Breaker at the age of 13, but would begin their career as a professional dancer with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 2019. Later becoming a company dancer for Ballet Edmonton in 2021, leaving the company after two seasons to return to the world of Breaking.