How can we creatively grow audiences for dance and live performance audiences that include the Blind and Low Vision community?
Dancemakers Guest Curators Arts Assembly hosted an introductory workshop for dancers and embodied performance artists to familiarize themselves with the foundations of audio descriptions for dance & movement practices.
Participants practised their new found skills as a whisper guide for performances in the Summerworks Festival in August 2025.
Inspiration for this includes:
Artists
Arts Assembly
Arts Assembly is a not-for-profit, community-centric arts organization that emphasizes artistic collaboration.
Amy Amantea
Amy Amantea (she/her) is a white settler on the stolen lands of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-waututh first peoples.
Annemarie Cabri
Annemarie Cabri is a Senior Teaching Artist for the National Ballet of Canada and Canadian Opera Company, along with performing and creating opportunities for the growing Silver Swans® community as a licensee through the Royal Academy of Dance.
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 workshop will teach participants how to described dance for Blind and low vision audience members (but the workshop will not be audio described).
Exploring the personal and expansive intersections of race, madness, and choreography through the framework of reenactment.
Same As Sister completed a 4-day choreographic intensive, Reimagining Madness through Reenactment, part of Workman Arts’ 2024 Winter Course Catalogue.
The intensive was co-facilitated by interdisciplinary performance collective, Same As Sister (S.A.S.)/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi and disability arts advisor, Rachel da Silveira Gorman to explore the personal and expansive intersections of race, madness, and choreography through the framework of reenactment.
Participants learnt material from S.A.S.’s larger body of work covering these themes, in addition to crafting their own movement phrases inspired by sources including popular television and cinema.
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.
An annual symposium exploring the craft, practice and plurality of dance curation.
Thursday July 17 2025:
11:00 – Arrival
11:30-1:00 – Curation Under the Surface (with Celia Green & Rumi Jeraj)
1:00-1:30 – Break
1:30-3:00 – Curating in Unconventional Spaces (with Shani K. Parsons & Abel Hagos)
3:00-3:30 – Break
3:30-5:00 – Research as Curatorial Method (with Christina de la Cruz & Sanjukta Banarjee)
5:30-7:00 – Call for Curators Q&A and Info Sessions
Friday July 18 2025
11:00 – Arrival
11:30-1:00 – A Decade Since ACAQ (with Dena Devida)
1:00-1:30 – Break
1:30-3:00 – Collaborative Dance Curation (with Nomadic Curatorial Collective & Parks N Wreck)
3:00-3:30 – Break
3:30-5:00 – Access in Dance Curation (with Arts Assembly & Shay Erlich)
5:30-7:00 – Cinq a Sept hosted by members of the CDA-DanceWorks IBPOC Artist-Curators Inaugural Cohort
Artists
Celia Green
Celia Green’s practice spans choreography, writing, creation, and performance. Within their work they often consider gender, the fragility of identity, and freedom as guiding forces.
Rumi Jeraj
Rumi Jeraj is an Ismailli muslim hailing from Sherwood Park Alberta.
Shani K. Parsons
Shani Khoo Parsons (she/her) is an independent curator, designer, mother, and founding director of Critical Distance Centre for Curators.
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.
Christina de la Cruz
Christina de la Cruz is a Hip Hop dancer, artistic producer, curator of dance and performance and waitress.
Sanjukta Banerjee
Dr. Sanjukta Banerjee is an acclaimed Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali dance artist.
Dena Davida
Contemporary dance curator, anthropologist, educator, artist; also co-founder and managing editor of the TURBA Journal.
Cara Spooner
Cara Spooner is a choreographer, caregiver and caretaker as well as one of the Co-Artistic Producers at Dancemakers.
Erin McCurdy
Erin Joelle McCurdy is a writer, maker, and curator based in Toronto.
Emily Law
Emily Law is an artist, choreographer, producer, lifelong student, and mother.
Sarah Tumaliuan
Associate Curator, Public Programs and Learning at Museum of Toronto, co-producer of Parks N’Wreck and Dance artist with Mix Mix Dance and Holla Jazz.
Arts Assembly
Arts Assembly is a not-for-profit, community-centric arts organization that emphasizes artistic collaboration.
Shay Erlich
Shay Erlich (they/them) is a disability justice world builder living in Tkaronto.
Ibpoc Curators
The Canadian Dance Assembly, in partnership with DanceWorks, hosted a project that invited 10 Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and Person of Colour Artist-Curators in dance to gather in Toronto between May 12-17th, 2025.
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?
Audio description will be available upon request.
Step into the world of tap dance with Rumi Jeraj and Travis Knights as they take you on an engaging journey through the history, artistry, and innovation of tap shoes.
Step into the world of tap dance with Rumi Jeraj and Travis Knights as they take you on an engaging journey through the history, artistry, and innovation of tap shoes. From their origins as humble wooden-soled footwear to the vibrant designs and styles seen today, tap shoes tell a story about the evolution of the dance and the dancers who wear them.
Discover the creative process behind modern advancements in tap footwear, including insights from the duo’s recent work through Shoe Dreams, curated by Rumi Jeraj. Through lively conversation, rhythmic demonstrations, and personal anecdotes, Rumi and Travis will bring the world of tap to life in this presentation.
Learn, laugh, and listen to the mesmerizing sounds of tap dance and the shoes that help define the art form.
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.





