Toronto Dance Theatre reveals exhilarating 2024-25 season
iPhoto caption: Photo of Toronto Dance Theatre by Marlowe Porter.
Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) has unveiled their 2024-25 season, featuring a lineup of programming that will see the company experiment beyond the walls of the Winchester Street Theatre.
The season will see the return of audience favourite The Magic of Assembly, as well as new work produced in partnership with local institutions such as Nuit Blanche and the Toronto Biennale.
“This season at TDT, you’ll notice the overarching themes of site, duration, and interconnectivity running though all of the programming,” said artistic director Andrew Tay in a press release. “Multiple projects will interact with unique locations and environments outside of our theatre, and remounts of two recent productions will be performed outside the city for the first time since I arrived as artistic director. Choreographers this season are also asking audiences to sit with specific ideas of time, manifested in part, through durational performances that break away from traditional concert dance formats.”
TDT has also released a promo video for the upcoming season, available to view here.
The full 2024-25 season is listed below. For more information, visit the Toronto Dance Theatre website.
Toronto Dance Theatre 2024-25 Season
Coalescing Towards
Presented by Nuit Blanche Toronto in partnership with TDT
Choreographed by Michele Rizzo (Milan)
October 5-6, 2024
An international partnership with Italian choreographer Michele Rizzo, Coalescing Towards is a site-specific, durational performance, playing in Toronto near the city’s waterfront. This one-time-only performance features 15 dancers and runs from October 5 at dusk until October 6 at dawn.
The Magic of Assembly
Choreographed by Ashley ‘Colours’ Perez with Andrew Tay and LAL
November 7-9, 2024, Winchester Street Theatre
November 15, CINARS official programming at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens — Studio-Théâtre, Montreal
Following its five Dora Nominations in 2023, Toronto Dance Theatre will remount the Magic of Assembly for four performances in Toronto, before touring the show to Montreal as part of the international dance festival CINARS.
Ness Lee x TDT
Presented by the Toronto Biennale of Art
November 23, 28 and December 1, 2024
32 Lisgar Street, Toronto
Following on their 2020 partnership, TDT will collaborate with Toronto visual artist Ness Lee on a new durational event, set to be performed three times at 32 Lisgar Street as part of the Toronto Biennale. The work will feature the company ensemble.
The Pool
Created by Aisha Sasha John
February 19-22, 2025, daytime presentations
March 5-8, 2025, evening presentations
Winchester Street Theatre
The Pool is a new work featuring the company ensemble of Toronto Dance Theatre. Featuring three distinct suites, the work explores notions of togetherness and individuality.
Face Rider @ MAI
Presented by MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
June 18-21, 2025
3680 Rue Jeanne-Mance, Montréal
Created by Fran Chudnoff in collaboration with multimedia artist Driftnote and fashion designer Angela Cabrera, Face Rider explores iconography and tropes, resulting in “a queer indie sleaze swamp dump celebrating gender deviance, glittery resurrection, and the chaotic joy of togetherness.”
A major international dance commission, details TBA
Presented by The Bentway in partnership with TDT
June 2025
250 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto
TDT will premiere a site-specific dance piece that engages with The Bentway’s unique location under the Gardiner Expressway. This work will be created by a leading international choreographer, culminating in four public performances in June. More details, including the name of the choreographer, will be announced soon.
Residencies and Programs
EntryWaves
Fall 2024
TDT has announced a new partnership with CanAsian Dance. EntryWaves is a pilot project that will offer free rehearsal space through six residencies, open to any artist who identifies as being from the Asian diaspora.
Eyes on Beginnings
Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
Eyes on Beginnings invites audiences to participate in the early stages of work in development. The series hosts dialogues between audience members and artists, with 10-minute showcases of new material by six Toronto artists, followed by a facilitated feedback session.
From the Back
Facilitated by Danah Rosales
Fall 2024
From the Back is a ballroom-based project that draws upon the connection of ballroom artists across three Canadian dance scenes.
Niswa
Jasad Dance Projects
Spring 2025
Niswa, meaning women in Arabic, is a full-length choreographic creation by Meryem Alaoui, featuring female performers from the Middle East and North Africa.
Pilot Episodes
Spring 2025
Pilot Episodes is a residency series that offers six emerging creators the opportunity to work with a group — in this case, the company of Toronto Dance Theatre. These week-long residencies are designed to facilitate artistic experimentation and risk-taking without the expectation of producing a finished work.
Plug-N-Play Residencies
Spring 2025
Plug-N-Play offers week-long, half-day residences to support research and dance creation projects. The call for artists will be launched in September, inviting choreographers and creators in body-centered practices to apply for free studio time.
You can learn more about Toronto Dance Theatre here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the New York Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
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