Community Programming
The Canadian Dance Assembly offers a variety of programs and services for members of the dance sector. All programs and services are open to both individual and organizational members but appeal to specific concerns.
Regional Activity
The Canadian Dance Assembly strives to meet often with the various regions to either, participate in local events, partner in an activity, host special meetings, or simply connect with regional members. Since 2004, meetings have been held in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, St. John’s and Halifax.
We’d love to hear from you! If you or your organization have the desire to partner with us, or have us come to your region please contact Membership Manager Oriana Pagnotta info@cda-acd.ca 416-515-8444. We’d be happy to chat with you about future possibilities.
Join Us
Q&A session coming!
📆 Monday, January 16th
⏰ Time: 1:00 – 2:15 PM ET
CDA is embarking on an exciting new digital journey with the Linked Digital Future Initiative (LDFI).
Led by CAPACOA and co-organized with the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/West Chapter (CADA/West), the LDFI has collaborated with membership-based art service organizations across Canada to link and open publicly available membership data. The aim of this data-sharing process is to make performing arts information findable to help build better connections in our sector – between dance artists and audiences – in the digital age.
There are many benefits to this type of data sharing and through CDA’s collaboration with the LDFI we hope to sustain the dance sector by making information about you and your work findable and accessible.
All dance organizations and individuals, members and non-members are welcome. Attendance is free, pre-registration is required.
We aim to offer an inclusive space to support what arises and work from a place of care.
ACCESS:
- Auto-captions available (in English and French)
- This is a caregiver friendly meeting; we realize the complexities of our living situations and welcome you to show up as you need.
👥 Why are the audiences not coming back to theatres and concert halls?
🤔 Is it just a matter of time, or do we need to make significant changes to re-connect with existing audiences – and build connections with new ones?
🎟 We’ve invited experts who have tracked arts and culture consumer attitudes and perspectives since very early in the pandemic to share insights on ever-evolving patron attitudes, and how we might best respond to what patrons are telling us.
📆 Webinar date: Friday, 25 November 2022
⏰ Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
💰 Cost: Free
🔠 Interpretation options: French-English simultaneous interpretation, ASL, LSQ and automatic AI generated closed captioning in English and French.
🔗 Register Now: http://bit.ly/3txLtQq
The AFC Reactivation Program serves independent and self-employed choreographers, dance dramaturges, rehearsal directors, lighting designers, technical directors, stage managers, production managers, costume designers, and more, in dance and other performing arts.
Please join us at the online info session Wednesday, November 30, with David Hope, Executive Director of The AFC. Please click here to register and share this info.
The Reactivation Program provides short-term financial help of $2,500 to cover living expenses/pandemic debt or professional costs such as training fees, licenses, memberships, equipment, or other expenses related to your work. You can be employed and apply! Applications are assessed as soon as they are submitted, so people are encouraged to apply now. The program is funded by Canadian Heritage, Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund (CPAWRF).)
✨ Lockdowns are behind us, mask mandates have been dropped, social distancing is no longer required, and the doors of concert halls and theatres in Canada are wide open. And yet in many venues, ticket sales are not picking up. What is going on?
🎟 We are inviting experts from Canada and the United States to share insights on box office data in the performing arts and provide some clarity on some of the burning questions on everyone’s mind: Where are our audiences? How do we bring them back?
- Eric Nelson, Client Engagement Officer, TRG Arts
- William César Lareau, Synapse C
- Cécile LePage, Manager, Arts Section, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, Government of New Brunswick
This webinar will be facilitated by Frédéric Julien, Director of Research of Development, CAPACOA.
Co-developed and facilitated by Kai Cheng Thom and Pam Tzeng
In this workshop, participants will gain the perspective and tools needed to enter, engage with, and exit conflict with greater confidence and ease. We will explore how conflict commonly develops in community and professional settings, with a specific focus on the Canadian dance context. The facilitators will also provide a simple framework for understanding how conflict impacts the body and the brain. We will practice using body-based tools such as breathwork, movement, and visualization can support us to meet conflict with less anxiety, as well as strategies to approach conflict as an opportunity for personal and relationship growth.
This workshop is a practically focused, experiential dive into what it means to practice consent in the world of dance. Participants will be offered useful “maps” and visuals that bring clarity to commonly used but often vaguely defined terms such as boundaries, limits and needs. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to practice developing one’s inner sense of consent through the body and a practical “toolkit” for creating consent-centric group dynamics and working agreements. These tools can be immediately integrated into a professional dance context. Presented by professional mediator, group facilitator, and somatic coach Kai Cheng Thom and conflict consultant and dance artist Pam Tzeng.
Tending to the spaces between us with Kai Cheng Thom
What is a trauma-informed practice, and how can we be in relationship with and learn from the complexities of our individual and collective experiences? We invite new ways of learning and growth through an awareness of the body and its connection to others. In this 2 hour session, Kai Cheng Thom will present a resilience-based approach to creating and nurturing communities from a trauma informed lens.
Build community through personal growth, and tending to the spaces between us.
Engaging in dialogue around the stories in our bodies
CDA invites you to an intimate conversation with Indigenous artists. Created and facilitated by Olivia C. Davies, we aim to welcome a space of open learning.
Curatorial Statement:
We all are carrying stories in our bodies. Choosing how these stories will be revealed through the act of choreography is an act of cultural continuation by Indigenous dance artists. Contemporary Indigenous dance provides a fluid container for the stories, myths, legends, and fantasies of the creator and their collaborators. Elements of blood memory interwoven with patterns from the natural and artificial worlds we live in often combine to bring about new ways of expressing self-determination. In this Talking Truths circle conversation, four exceptional Indigenous choreographers from across Turtle Island come together to share a discussion around their ways of incorporating care-centred practices in new creations. Witnesses are invited to join our circle and listen as ideas are shared in a spirit of generosity and openness to learn.
Facilitated by Olivia C. Davies
With guests: Jeanette Kotowich, Emilie Solstice-Tait, Brian Solomon, Lara Kramer
Empower Hour with the Canada Council for the Arts
Funding info for organizational applicants with the Canada Council
Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) and Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) hosts with guests from Canada Council for the Arts.
In this meeting the Canada Council will share updates and programming changes that affect the dance sector. Topics in this 2-hour meeting include:
Identifying re-opening funding
Providing context on the new Canada Council operations
Sharing the impact of the Canada Council’s strategic directions in terms of equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation
Open floor to have your questions answered
We recognize the different funding streams for organizations or individuals and offer separate meetings to serve both communities; you are welcomed to come to both!
Empower Hour with the Canada Council for the Arts
Supporting independent artists’ access to the flow of funding streams
Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) and Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) hosts with guests from Canada Council for the Arts.
In this meeting the Canada Council will share updates and programming changes that affect the dance sector. Topics in this 2-hour meeting include:
- Identifying re-opening funding
- Providing context on the new Canada Council operations
- Sharing the impact of the Canada Council’s strategic directions in terms of equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation
- Open floor to have your questions answered
We recognize the different funding streams for organizations or individuals and offer separate meetings to serve both communities; you are welcomed to come to both!
Empower Hour with SCALE
Activating the dance sector in the climate change conversation
Climate emergency is one of the greatest challenges confronting human society. How are artists and dance companies responding? How can we “connect the dots” between our work and the effects of climate change? What new roles can arts organizations play in leading the way to a culture shift and a more just, resonant, resilient future?
Join us for a discussion led by SCALE – a new “network of networks” activating the arts and culture sector in the climate emergency. In the first part of the session, Judi Pearl and Anthony Garoufalis-Auger will introduce SCALE and its vision for how artists and arts organizations can respond to the climate crisis. They will unpack with the audience new roles for dance companies and dancers in the face of the emergency. Participants will gain knowledge, resources and networks to enact change in your life, your company, and your community.