“Dancemakers is a professional contemporary dance company that brings to its audiences dance of sophisticated physicality and emotional impact. Driven by a unique choreographic vision, the company’s creations draw on the diverse talents and individual strengths of its artists to develop and support works which both provoke and entertain. 

 

 

Dancemakers Centre for Creation is a place where creativity and creative exchange are fostered and nurtured through programs such as residencies, choreographic labs and master classes. It is a dynamic place of encounters between artists and public where the perception of dance is enriched and developed.

Both Dancemakers and its Centre for Creation work to improve the standard of living of its artists."

 

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

In 1974, a group of independent dancers joined together to create and perform new choreography. Peggy Baker and Robert Desrosiers were among the early company members. In the 70s and 80s, artistic directors such as Anna Blewchamp, Carol Anderson and Bill James led the company in pushing the boundaries of creation.

It has now been three decades, and Dancemakers remains on the leading edge of contemporary dance in Canada. Under the artistic direction of Serge Bennathan from 1990 to 2006, the company's reputation has continued to spread throughout Canada, the Americas and Europe.

In August 2006, award-winning dancer/choreographer Michael Trent was invited to take the lead as the Company's and Centre's Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer. Over a career spanning 20 years, Trent has created physically provocative work that revels in the beauty and power of the moving body in space.

At the core of the Company's and the Centre's re-envisioned philosophy is the desire to promote and facilitate new creation, and professional and audience development activities that are rooted in contemporary aesthetics, cross-disciplinary dialogues and collaborative engagement.

2002 was a monumental year for Dancemakers, with a major move to the new Dancemakers Centre for Creation in the Distillery Historic District. Establishing the Centre gave the company permanent physical roots in one of Toronto's newest and most dynamic cultural settings.

 

The Dancemakers Centre for Creation offers dancers and other artists a rich working environment — a home devoted to the act of creation where different art forms collide and co-exist. Beautifully designed with state-of-the-art features, the Centre is a place of encounters between artists and the public, a place that puts engagement with multiple communities at the heart of its mission

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