Dancemakers Symposium
July 17, 2025 - July 18, 2025Thursday, July 17, and Friday, July 18, 11am to 7 pm
Critical Distance Centre for Curators
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 122
Toronto, Ontario / M5V 3A8 / Canada
Critical Distance is pleased to partner with Dancemakers for their inaugural symposium, What Can Dance Curation Do? This two-day gathering brings together artists, curators, and researchers to explore emergent practices in dance curation through a series of talks, panels, and provocations.
Among the many sessions—on topics such as Curation Under the Surface, Research as Curatorial Method, A Decade Since ACAQ, Collaborative Dance Curation, and Access in Dance Curation—CDCC Director Shani K Parsons will present Curating in Unconventional Spaces, a session focused on Ronnie Clarke’s Echo Sequence, a site-responsive performance that connected two groups of dancers livestreamed across 6 km of downtown Toronto.
The symposium marks the culmination of Dancemakers’ new Dance Curation Working Group, a six month-long initiative that brings together independent curators to critically engage with dance and curatorial practice across the GTA. Critical Distance is proud to support this ongoing exploration into what dance curation can be—and do—today.
Please read more about the Dancemaker’s Dance Curation Working Group here.
Image: Mark Nakamura Back In Five (coloured pencil on paper), 2009. Installation on door of Or Gallery as part of Science Fiction 01 (27 June − 1 August 2009)