Short&Sweet: Toronto Edition

Abdulle Hassan

Abdulle Hassan is a versatile dancer known for his unique blend of styles, including house, hip hop, animation, and popping. With a foundation built entirely on self-taught skills, Abdulle discovered his interest in dance through a computer game in a library.

Abdulle’s dedication to freestyle dance has led him to compete in dance battles, showcasing his creativity and adaptability on various stages. His talent has also been featured in music videos, where he collaborates with artists to bring their visions to life through movement.

In 2022 and 2023, Abdulle was part of the Nuit Blanche festival, where he joined forces with other dancers to create captivating dance pieces that mesmerized audiences. His journey from informal beginnings to professional performances highlights his commitment to the art of dance and his ability to inspire others through his innovative style.

Aisha Sasha John

Aisha Sasha John is interested in the power of reception as creative methodology and in choreographing performances that occasion real love. John is the 2023-2025 Toronto Dance Theatre Affiliate Artist. Her duet with Devon Snell, DIANA ROSS DREAM (Danse-cité 2022), was developed during a 2019-2022 Dancemakers choreographic residency. Her first full-length solo work debuted as the aisha of oz at the Whitney Museum in 2017, and in 2018, iterations of the aisha of is were presented at MAI and Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival. From 2015-2017, John choreographed, performed and curated as a member of the collective WIVES, presenting ACTION MOVIE at La Chapelle (2017). John’s video work and text art have been exhibited in galleries (Doris McCarthy, Oakville Galleries). A celebrated poet, John is the author of the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize nominated collection, I have to live. (McClelland & Stewart 2017), THOU (Book*hug 2014), and TO STAND AT A PRECIPICE ALONE AND REPEAT WHAT IS WHISPERED (UDP 2021). Her fourth collection, total, will be published in spring 2025.

Bryce Taylor

Bryce Taylor(They/He) is a Queer, Non-Binary Dancer/Choreographer originally from Yarker, Ontario. Bryce would begin their career as a professional dancer with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 2019, later becoming a company dancer for Ballet Edmonton in 2021. 

 In February of 2019 Bryce along with their colleague and friend would co-found Winnipeg’s Summer Dance Collective, a professional company of dancers that operates seasonally every summer. Since 2019 Bryce has remained the Choreographer in Residence for the company, each season returning to create new works with the dancers of WSDC, including “8 hr Shift” (2019), “Til’ Next Time”(2021), and “Anagram”(2023). 

In August 2023 Bryce premiered a duet entitled “Sun-bleached Keith’s” for Dance Made in Canada’s 2023 festival show “What You See Is What You Get”, to much audience acclaim. Bryce’s experience as a professional dancer in multiple genres creates a rich fusion of movement and a nearly limitless vocabulary for creation. 

Cori Giannotta

Cori Giannotta is a tap dancer based in Toronto and is heavily involved in the city’s tap dance scene teaching, performing, choreographing and producing. She grew up training in multiple disciplines including Tap, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Jazz and Acro, which has taken her all over North America including BC, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and New York. 

Highly sought after for her teaching and choreography, she has been on faculty at the Toronto Rhythm Initiative’s youth intensive, Performing Arts BC: Provincial Festival, Dance Masters of Canada, and MOVE Dance Convention. Assisting different artists has been a privilege of hers, having been the Assistant Choreographer for the North American Tour of “EVIL DEAD the Musical,” and assisting world renowned tap dancer, Lady Dianne Walker, on multiple occasions, courtesy of the Toronto International Tap Dance Festival. 

Cori was a featured artist at the TD Toronto Jazz Festival and the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival. Other performing credits include The Whole Shebang: Taken By Night, the Toronto International Tap Dance Festival, Dusk Dances, Fall For Dance North’s Perspectives in Rhythm, and the 2023 Fall For Dance North Festival in Dianne Montgomery’s piece, “Softly Losing Softly Gaining.” Most recently, her choreography was featured in the 2023 production, Night Shift, produced by Citadel + Compagnie, and co-presented by Fall For Dance North.

In 2015, Cori, alongside her partner Johnathan Morin, established tap dance company, Rhythm & Sound. The company has annual performances in Toronto and has been featured in festivals across Canada, such as the Edmonton Feats Festival and most recently, the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival.  

Dainty Smith

Dainty Smith is a Toronto based Actor, Burlesque Performer, Playwright, Producer, and Speaker.
Dainty believes that through the art of storytelling and a willingness to be exposed that genuine human connections can be made. Her performances often tell deeply vulnerable stories regarding race, religion, sexuality and challenging social boundaries.
Dainty studied performing arts at George Brown College and is a powerful self taught storyteller, performer, and orator.
She performed in the acclaimed independent theatre group Les Blues. She was a co-producer in the independent performance art collective Colour Me Dragg.

Some of her work includes:
Allyson Mitchell’s performance art piece Killjoy’s kastle: A Lesbian Haunted House.
Victoria Mata’s multidisciplinary Callejon de Memoria: The Embodiment Of Memory.
Assistant director for Shaunga Tagore’s play Letters To The Universe.
Principal actor in katie Sly’s play Serenity Wild.
She wrote and self produced a multidisciplinary play titled Daughters Of Lilith .
​The second play by Dainty Smith is titled Blood And Memory.
Her diverse array of stage performances include the Mayworks Festival, Rock. Paper. Sistahz for B Current Theatre, Caminos Festival for Aluna Theatre, The Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Artscape, and Daniels Spectrum Theatre.

She is the founder of Les Femme Fatales: Women of Colour burlesque troupe, the first  burlesque troupe for women of colour in Canada.  In addition to producing and acting, Dainty is also an accomplished and engaging Emcee and an accomplished Speaker. Her speaking engagements have included workshops with women and youth on themes of empowerment, glamour, beauty, self love and self care as revolutionary acts. She has taught workshops at Ryerson University, University of Ottawa, and York University on radical body positivity, survival and thriving.

Evan Webb

Evan Webb (they/them) hails from Calgary Alberta, and is based in Toronto Ontario. They graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University in the Performance Dance program. At TMU Evan worked with artists such as Anne Plamondon, Peggy Baker, Jera Wolfe, and Dylan Crossman. Evan’s passion for multiple mediums such as recorded video, immersive/site specific dance art, performance art, and sculptural design, inspires them to grow a multidisciplinary art practice. With an inclination for philosophy and sociology, as well as being a water sign, Evan naturally engages intellectually and emotionally within dance Art. Outside of academia, they’ve worked professionally with Leslie Telford, William Yong, Syreeta Hector, and Nicole Von Arx, among others. Evan has always been fascinated by the ways people interact with each other,  naturally understanding relational healing and complexity of the human emotional experience. They navigate collaboration and art spaces with perspective and maturity. They also hold fascination for the larger systems we experience as a collective, holding critical perspectives for the flaws and injustices that spawn from these systems. Ultimately, Evan’s experience of growing into an a-gender, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse artist has given them a unique perspective and influenced their artistic values.

Jaz 'Fairy J' Simone

Jaz ‘Fairy J’ Simone, is an extraordinary Barbadian-Canadian multi-hyphenate artist, illuminating the creative landscape from her base in Toronto. Commencing her journey in 2007, she has spent the last 15 years crafting a remarkable career as a performance artist, choreographer, movement director, dancer, singer/musician, outside eye/creative mentor, and, more recently, as the visionary proprietor of a handmade skincare small business.

She was the artistic director and choreographer for her dance company “Jasmyn Fyffe Dance” for 10 years and her company work ‘Pulse’ won the Frankie Award at the Montreal Fringe Festival. With an impressive repertoire spanning diverse artistic realms, she has birthed over 30 original dance compositions that have graced stages in Toronto, Montreal, North Bay, Brooklyn NY, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Berlin, Birmingham UK, and Sinop, Turkey. Her choreographic genius has garnered prestigious commissions from esteemed institutions such as Toronto Dance Theatre, the Art Gallery of Ontario, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Cawthra Park Secondary School, Dance Immersion, Etobicoke School of the Arts, and the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival. She is currently studying an MA in Performance Research at the University of Arts London.

A luminary in the truest sense, Fairy J infuses every facet of her artistry with boundless passion and innovation. Her captivating performances and evocative choreography transcend boundaries, inspiring audiences across the globe. A dynamic force, she continues to push artistic frontiers, leaving an indelible mark on the world of creativity.

Mafa Makhubalo

Movement poet trained in folk forms from the Regions of African tradition, African contemporary, and Western-Contemporary. I am influenced by my understanding of dance as an accumulation of memory and the history of my culture. I believe dance is an invisible evolution that becomes visible through movement, music and singing. My work has been presented in varies events, Ontario Dance Weekend, International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in Toronto, Body Percussion Festival, Dance Immersion Show Case, TEADA 2019 CUBA, FFDN signature program 2020, Toronto International Dance Festival 2019/2020. I am actively involved in community engagements & arts education programs, and completed a mentorship placement with Younge People Theatre as part of Arts Management program at Centennial College post grads certificates 2019-2020, mentor for  Vibes Arts Cahoort 2, 2020-2021, in resident choreographer with Ballet Jorgen Canada 2020-2021, Theatre Passe Murialle 11:11 production 2020-2021, Movement Director at Soulpapper Theatre Production The Death of Sizwe Banzi 2023, The 2023 Nominated for The Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, 2023 Commissioned choreographer Ballet Jorgen Canada, 2020 Commissioned for Fall For Dance North Signature program 2020,  recipient of the Ontario-Quebec cohort program 2019-2021 presented by (La DSR)   La danse sur les routes du Québec and Ontario Presents .  I have jury for Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Toronto Arts Foundation, TAC Open Door grant.

www.mafadancevillage.ca

Miss Coco Murray

Collette “Coco” Murray is a multi-award-winning artist-scholar, cultural arts programmer, dance educator and arts consultant. With over 20 years in the Canadian arts sector, she specializes in Afro-diasporic dance forms from the West African region, Caribbean Folk, carnival arts and stilt-walking explorations. Born in Toronto with South American heritage, she studied with master teachers from West Africa, the Caribbean, and the USA and performed with several Toronto-based dance companies. As an advocate for equity in the arts, her artistry extends beyond performance to teaching, arts education, mentoring, doctoral research, curation, community arts engagement and publications. Miss Coco Murray is her mobile dance education business, informed by her research and praxis in advancing cultural dance education, anti-racism in dance and inclusion of African diasporic arts knowledge. She is the artistic director of Coco Collective, an intergenerational team of artists offering culturally relevant and responsive projects to connect participants to African and Caribbean arts. Murray received international recognition by the National Dance Education Organization’s 2023 Outstanding Leadership in Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Dance Education. Murray’s dedication to the dance sector extends to significant contributions of collaboratively working with culturally diverse communities and creating access to arts and culture.

Neil Lordson

Neil Lordson is a Toronto-based artist, choreographer, and Creative Director dedicated to uplifting others through dance, community engagement, and purpose-driven art. He believes in the potential of people and aims to inspire them to grow into their most authentic selves through safe and inclusive practices. As a current member of ADDO Company, founder of the creative entity OneTwoUs, and an undergraduate student in the Creative Industries program at Toronto Metropolitan University, Neil strives to develop as an educator and a director within various multidisciplinary arts.

Philip Nozuka

Phily is a performer and musician, his newest ep Bring The Kite comes out later this summer | @philipnozka

Rosemary James

Rosemary James assumed the role of Rehearsal Director in 1992 after a successful career performing with Toronto Dance Theatre. Among many responsibilities, she was pivotal in remounting the choreography of Christopher House, former Artistic Director of TDT (1994-2020). Since 1987, James has taught in the Professional Training Program at The School of TDT and was the Training and Performing Associate from 2009-2021, under the expert leadership of Patricia Fraser (1993-2021). She has taught modern dance courses at York University and is currently a contract lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University. James is passionate about sharing the Martha Graham Technique to future generations of dancers. She is also teaching this valuable and foundational movement vocabulary at Performing Dance Arts. In 2021, she initiated and interviewed former TDT colleagues for an audio series entitled, Reconnecting with Black Dancers from the 80’s and Early 90’s. As well in 2021, James collaborated with Mary Jane Warner to produce the film tribute, Celebrating Patricia Beatty: Artist, Choreographer, Teacher. In 2022, she was the rehearsal director for Christopher House’s solo evening work entitled New Tricks, and the rehearsal director/dramaturge for 100 Years of Cinematic Solitude in 300 Moving Pieces for the Immer Collective. James holds a Bachelor and Master of Arts in dance from York University.