Plug-N-Play Residencies
Throughout the Season
Through our Plug-N-Play residencies, Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT) is offering six local dance artists an opportunity to research and create in our rehearsal studios free of charge during the 2022/23 season. These will be 6 individual week-long, half-day residencies that are made available artists who were selected from an open call in September 2022.
We view these residencies as an integral part of TDT’s commitment to supporting the professional development of Toronto’s dance artists. The residencies are intended to provide the artists time and space to support the development of an artistic idea, to dig deeper into a project they have on the roster, or to have access to a large space that allows them to experiment with collaborators.
Resident Artists
Photo by Amanda Lee
Kwasi Obeng
Photo by Amanda Lee
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Kwasi Obeng
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Canadian dancer, choreographer, and instructor born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. After being accepted into the regional arts program at St. Roch Secondary School, Kwasi was able to expand his knowledge training in various styles that include ballet, jazz, hip hop, and modern and traditional African dance. Kwasi’s professional credits include the Pan-American Games, Lua Shayenne Dance Company’s Kira, The Path | La Voie, Esie Mensah Creations, the Raptors half-time show, and more.
Instagram: @kwasi.obeng
RedWorks Photography
Cody Berry-Ottertail
RedWorks Photography
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Cody Berry-Ottertail
Cody Berry-Ottertail, (ojibway/settler heritage) is a two-spirit dance artist from Lac La Croix, First Nation based in Toronto. Cody is a graduate from Conteur Academy and trained with Apolonia Velasquez after his studies. He’s had the opportunity to perform works by Frog in Hand Dance Theatre, Larchaud Dance Projects, Jera Wolfe, and Christine Friday. Choreographically he has presented works for Fall For Dance North, New Blue Dance Festival, Artworx TO, and Ayimach Horizons. Cody is also the recipient of the 2019 Metcalf Performing Arts Protoge Prize for choreography.
Instagram: @codyberry.o
Photo by Forest Van Winkle
Akash Inbakumar
Photo by Forest Van Winkle
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Akash Inbakumar
Akash Inbakumar is an interdisciplinary artist, primarily working in textiles, based in Tkaronto. Their practice explores personal racialized queer narratives and material kinship, grounded in craft methodology. Inbakumar graduated from OCAD University in 2020 and has since completed a residency at Xpace Cultural Center and is currently starting their second year of the Harbourfront Center: Craft and Design residency. They have shown work at Patel Brown, Harbourfront Center, Xpace, and Artscape Gibraltar Point.
Instagram: @akashinbakumar
Photo by Omar Al-Samadi
Mary-Dora Bloch-Hansen
Photo by Omar Al-Samadi
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Mary-Dora Bloch-Hansen
Mary-Dora (they/them) is a queer, neurodivergent, multi-disciplinary artist, careworker and settler based in Tkaronto. They show up in their communities as a dance artist, birth/postpartum doula, somatic movement facilitator, organizer, peer supporter and writer. Through their own experiences of transforming trauma and embracing gender fluid expressions, they explore the intersections of individual and collective healing. MD engages with healing arts and body-centered practices for a more liveable future and as a method for surviving in late-stage capitalism. Check out their work and offerings at www.somaticpractice.ca 💫
Instagram: @crystalwhispurr and @somaticpractice
Blessyl Buan
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Blessyl Buan
Blessyl Buan is a multigenerational, multidisciplinary artist whose expressions span from healing, visual and dance arts. Since 2005 she built a chiropractic practice for performing artists and has four decades of performance experience. Her choreography re-weaves Philippine diasporic narratives through the interplay of natural objects and the land, while reconciling with the biopsychosocial impacts of colonization and assimilation. This work informs her motherhood and influence on future generations navigating the embodiment of living beyond repression.
Instagram: @drblessyl and @buankissed
Photo by Same as Sister
Same as Sister
Photo by Same as Sister
Plug-N-Play Resident Artist
Same as Sister
Same As Sister (S.A.S.) is an award-winning performance collective founded in 2013 by Canadian-American choreographers, Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi. Based in NYC and Toronto, S.A.S. was initiated to make experimental narrative performance accessible to a diverse audience through collaborative and interdisciplinary practices. Their commissions have been presented internationally at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance; Base: Experimental Arts + Space; Archaeological Museum of Messenia; Danspace Project; Centre d’Art Marnay Art Centre; BRIC Arts | Media House; and New York Live Arts, among other venues. S.A.S.’s recent commission, “This is NOT a Remount”, was nominated for a TAPA 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (Dance). They were an Alternate and Finalist for the Jerome Foundation’s 2021-22 and 2019-20 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (Dance), and are the recipients of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ 2022 and 2017 Emergency Grant (Dance); Queens Council on the Arts’ 2020 Queens Arts Fund New Work Grant (Multi-Discipline); and a New York Foundation for the Arts’ 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship (Choreography).
Website: sameassister.com