2026/27 Season is here!

2026/27 SEASON
A SEASON OF SUPPORT AND NEW POSSIBILITIES

TORONTO, ON — September 3, 2026 — Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) announces its 2026/27 season, bringing together new creations, ambitious experimentation, artist-led support programs and residencies, community exchange, and opportunities to encounter dance in unexpected ways.

From the historic architecture of Toronto’s Old City Hall to the studios and stage of the Winchester Street Theatre, the season reflects TDT’s ongoing commitment to contemporary dance as a space for curiosity, risk-taking, collaboration, and connection. Across the season, audiences will experience new works by TDT’s company dancers and guest artists, while independent dance artists will have expanded opportunities to research, experiment, develop and share their practices.

The season opens with Ephemera: The Art We Didn’t Make, a new site-responsive work by multidisciplinary artist and choreographer Blessyl Buan, presented in collaboration with TDT and Nuit Blanche Toronto. Taking over Toronto’s Old City Hall from October 3-4, 2026, the work transforms public space into a living archive of unfinished dreams, abandoned ideas and unrealized expression. Through choreography, sound and an evolving participatory installation, audiences are invited to consider what creative ideas are given the conditions to grow—and what gets left behind.

The season continues at Winchester Street Theatre with Rose’s Ghost Stories, a special Halloween fundraiser, created by the TDT team. Over three nights, October 29–31, 2026, the entire building will be transformed into an immersive haunted experience. Featuring performances by TDT company members and guest artists, and combining dance, live music, theatrical storytelling, audience participation, and elements of traditional ghost lore.

In early 2027, TDT’s seven company dancers take centre on the mainstage in Wandering Star, a new TDT production at the Winchester Street Theatre, bringing together 7 company dancers with 7 electronic musicians in a series of newly created solos. Inspired by the seven classical planets—the “wandering stars” that have captivated human imagination for centuries—the work pairs each dancer with an electronic musician for an individual cross-disciplinary collaboration. Movement and sound orbit around one another, creating unexpected encounters between bodies, rhythms and sonic worlds. With Artistic Direction by Andrew Tay and Music Direction and Curation by New Chance, Wandering Star becomes a space for collective dreaming; a gathering of bodies, signals, rhythms and imaginations, constellating and re-constellating in the dark.

Closing the season in June 2027, the iconic Short&Sweet Toronto returns for its 4th edition in the city. Originally created in Montreal by Andrew Tay and Sasha Kleinplatz, the performance party brings together more than 25 artists working across wildly different styles and aesthetics, each given complete artistic freedom—and just three minutes—to present whatever they desire. Expect bold experiments, unexpected encounters and the adrenaline of live performance under pressure, followed by a full dance-floor takeover.

CREATING SPACE FOR ARTISTS TO TAKE RISKS

Alongside its mainstage programming, TDT is significantly expanding its role as a home for artistic research and development in Toronto.

Now entering its seventh edition, Pilot Episodes expands this season to provide more choreographers with opportunities to work directly with TDT’s company dancers through multi-day residencies. Rather than requiring artists to produce a finished work, the program creates time and space for experimentation, artistic risk and deeper engagement with the choreographic process. Audiences will also be invited into open rehearsals to witness works in progress and engage directly with the artists about their research and questions.

The 2026/27 Pilot Episodes artists are Emily Duckett, Alana Elmer, Jessie Garon, Darryl Hoskins, and Kass Prus bringing distinct practices across contemporary dance, performance art, theatre, and interdisciplinary performance to explorations of identity, embodiment, heritage, belonging, transformation, accessibility, and new ways of being.

Through Eyes on Beginnings, artists at the early stages of developing new work will share up to 10 minutes of material with the public before participating in facilitated feedback sessions. Returning twice this season on November 28, 2026 and April 17, 2027, the program positions audiences not simply as spectators, but as active participants in the development of new choreographic work.

TDT will also continue Plug-N-Play Residencies, offering free week-long, half-day studio residencies to independent artists seeking dedicated time and space to develop projects and practices. Technical Residencies provide another vital resource and support, giving selected artists access to the theatre and technical resources needed to explore lighting, sound and other production elements that are integral to their work.

BUILDING CONNECTION THROUGH PARTNERSHIP

TDT continues its partnership with CanAsian Dance through two opportunities supporting artists from the Asian Diaspora.

EntryWaves provides free rehearsal space and development time to artists working across traditional, contemporary, experimental, street and other dance practices, while Magic Mixing pairs two Asian Diaspora dance artists working in different forms for a week of exchange, experimentation and collaborative creation. Together, the programs foster artistic dialogue, mutual mentorship and connection across dance communities.

TDT also continues its partnership with Moonhorse Dance Theatre, which will host classes and workshops at the Winchester Street Theatre for dance artists aged 45+. Dedicated to enriching the careers of older dance artists, this exchange creates opportunities for exploration, education and community while challenging assumptions about ageing bodies and the value of lifelong artistic practice.

TDT’s Open Door Project also returns for 2026/27, offering subsidized studio access to eligible artists at $10 per hour, supported through the Toronto Arts Council/Open Door grant program. The initiative continues TDT’s commitment to making its spaces more accessible to artists who face barriers to affordable rehearsal space.

MORE SUPPORT AND TRAINING FOR DANCE ARTISTS

TDT’s commitment to the dance community extends beyond performance and residency programs. Throughout the season, the organization will offer professional development opportunities, special intensives and pay-what-you-decide open classes, allowing dance artists to train alongside TDT’s ensemble and engage with a range of contemporary and interdisciplinary practices.

The season begins with Score to Dance Infinite Realities, a series of classes and choreographic workshops led by Montréal-based dance artist Katie Ward, inviting dance artists to explore improvisation, embodied imagination and new compositional approaches through a practice grounded in attention, sensation and possibility.

TDT is also expanding its education work through Move Makers, an official extracurricular program in partnership with the Toronto District School Board. The immersive program brings high school students into the Winchester Street Theatre for a full day of contemporary dance, including a warm-up with live accompaniment, choreographic exploration, performance opportunities and an introduction to TDT’s professional ensemble.

A SEASON BUILT AROUND POSSIBILITY

At a time when artists and arts organizations are navigating increasingly complex conditions for making and experiencing work, TDT’s 2026/27 season puts the conditions for creativity at the centre.

It is a season about what happens before the finished work: the experiments, questions, collaborations, failures, discoveries and encounters that allow new ideas to take shape.

From a 12-hour installation performance inside Old City Hall to intimate studio rehearsals, seven new eclectic collaborations in one production, to the iconic performance party, TDT’s 2026/27 season invites audiences and artists alike to step into the process—and see what becomes possible.

Toronto Dance Theatre’s 2026/27 season begins September 2026. Program dates, ticket information, studio availability and booking requests will be announced through TDT’s website and official channels. Artists and audiences are encouraged to subscribe to the TDT newsletter (https://tdt.org/about/newsletter/) for the latest programming announcements, ticket releases, open rehearsals, classes and events.

For more information:
Visit tdt.org or follow @torontodancetheatre on all social media platforms

For media inquiries:
Please contact Katrina Medalle
Communications Director, Toronto Dance Theatre
80 Winchester Street Toronto, ON M4X 1B2
Email: katrina@tdt.org
Phone: 416.967.1365 x 123

About Toronto Dance Theatre
TDT is an iconic name within the Canadian dance landscape. Founded in 1968, the company was instrumental in ushering in a new era of modern dance to Toronto and national audiences. Today, TDT is one of Canada’s leading innovators in dance while being one of the very few contemporary companies in the country with a full-time ensemble of dancers.
Supporting imaginative programming that places creative risk-taking and artistic development at the forefront, TDT creates initiatives that address relevant issues within our field, stage high-
caliber stage productions, and instigate thoughtful activations in the community.