Toronto Dance Theatre Reveals 2023-2024 Season
iPhoto caption: Video stills featuring artistic duo KINAJ (Kin Nguien and AJ Velasco) and Yuichiro Inoue. Designs by Driftnote.
Toronto Dance Theatre has unveiled its 2023-2024 season!
Anchored around two mainstage double bills, the upcoming season includes curated performance events, an expansive program of artist development initiatives, and fresh invitations to the community to explore the Winchester Street Theatre.
“This season at TDT reflects on the idea of sharing space,” said TDT artistic director Andrew Tay in a press release. “We are interested in artists working alongside each other, occupying stages together, and considering how the company can foster possibilities for the exchange of knowledge and resources…I invite everyone to come and be in space together with us!”
This year, TDT will also continue to expand upon their investment in artistic development with a variety of residency offerings and new programs for independent artists. A works-in-progress series, called Eyes on Beginnings, will allow audiences to play a role in the development process and provide feedback on new work.
TDT will additionally offer a technical residency program, which the company says will help artists “holistically integrate technical elements of their work with their artistic ideas,” as well as an artist affiliate program, which will make a two-year commitment towards the career of a local choreographer, in the form of a living-wage salary, benefits, studio time, and development support.
In its fourth iteration, the Pilot Episodes residency program will return to TDT this year, where six choreographers and creators will complete an immersive, one-week residency in the spring. The company also brings back and expands their Plug-N-Play residences, which consist of week-long, half-day residences in the studio free of charge.
Check out the full upcoming TDT season below!
refracting giants
A co-devised dance theatre performance
Curated by Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis
Created by the Praxis Of Possibility creative team & cast
October 5 – 7, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Pay-What-You-Can Tickets
Winchester Street Theatre
As a culmination of Leelee’s expressive residency at TDT, this 3-night only run is inspired by the creative exchanges and discoveries that were cultivated from Leelee’s research with the TDT ensemble last season and a curated group of artists that Leelee began working with in 2021’s Praxis Of Possibility micro-residency.
Winter Double Bill
feat. Face Rider by Fran Chudnoff and Odd-Sensual by Andrew Tay
February 8 – 17, 2024
Pay-What-You-Can Tickets
Winchester Street Theatre
Vibrant, colourful aesthetics and unique collective experiences shape TDT’s first mainstage production of the 2023-2024 season, a double bill featuring new works by Fran Chudnoff and Andrew Tay in collaboration with TDT ensemble members.
Spring Double Bill
ft. new works by Yuichiro Inoue and KINAJ
April 4 – 13, 2024
Pay-What-You-Can Tickets
Winchester Street Theatre
Long-time Company Dancer Yuichiro Inoue will choreograph his first full piece with members of the ensemble, reflective of his virtuosic career with TDT. Following this work, artistic duo KINAJ (AJ Velasco and Kin Nguien) will share a piece that incorporates their cross-genre practices in street styles and contemporary dance, building upon the ideas and conversations they began during their 2022/23 Pilot Episodes residency at TDT.
Short&Sweet: Toronto Edition
Summer 2024
Back by popular demand, the iconic live performance party returns to Toronto next summer! Short&Sweet features a large roster of artists from an eclectic range of styles and aesthetics who have the freedom to create whatever they want. But there’s a catch: each artist will only have three minutes on stage. If they go over the allotted time, a timekeeper will cut them off immediately!
2023/24 DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
Affiliate Artist Program
A Long-Term Artist in Residency
Deadline to Apply: Thursday September 7, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
For the first time at TDT, the organization will make a 2-year commitment towards the career development of a local choreographer through its Affiliate Artist program. The program provides a guaranteed living wage salary for a choreographer to create a project with TDT while simultaneously pursuing their independent research and work. On top of dedicated hours of studio time and development support, this program offers an independent artist access to the stability, health benefits, and working conditions that are usually only available at large dance companies.
Eyes on Beginnings
A Works-In-Progress Series
November 2023 & March 2024
Once in the fall and again in the spring, Toronto artists have the chance to share 10 minutes of new material followed by a facilitated audience feedback session. Come to discover fresh choreographic propositions and play an important role in the development of artistic works in our community by offering your perspectives!
Pilot Episodes
November & December 2023
Application Deadline: Wednesday September 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET
Six creators will have their first opportunity to collaborate with TDT’s company dancers in the fourth edition of TDT’s Pilot Episodes. In a series of immersive one-week residencies, each creator will get to experiment and take artistic risks in the studio without the pressure of producing a finished work.
Plug-N-Play Residencies
Throughout the Season
TDT is expanding the size of its popular Plug-N-Play program to support even more projects throughout the 2023/24 season.
Consisting of week-long, half-day residencies in the studio free-of-charge, Plug-N-Play is beneficial for choreographers or creators in body-centred practices who are looking for dedicated time to dig deeper into a current project or idea, or who are seeking access to a large space that allows them to experiment with collaborators.
Technical Residency
May 2024
To address the rarity of technical residencies in Toronto, TDT is presenting a new initiative where artists can have the space and resources to develop technical aspects of their work, such as lighting and sound design. Consisting of two one-week residencies this season at the historical Winchester Street Theatre, this program aims to help independent artists in the community holistically integrate the technical elements of their work with their artistic ideas, all with the goal of heightening production values of independent artists’ work in the community.
If you are currently working on a project where you would like to explore and expand upon its technical production elements, keep an eye out for the Call to Artists, which will be posted in August 2023.
You can learn more about Toronto Dance Theatre and their upcoming season 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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