Community Programming

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.