Choreographers: William Lau/Emily Cheung
Little Pear Garden Collective
Photographer: Rick O'Brien

Dancers/choreographers: Jenn Goodwin and Sarah Doucet
Photographer: Chris Wahl

Dusk Dances’ History

Program History

1993 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

With a bold vision to bring dance into the lap of an urban community, dancer/choreographer Sylvie Bouchard created Dusk Dances in 1993, using the natural beauty and magic of Trinity-Bellwoods Park's ravine (Toronto) for a site-specific dance event. The event was part of the Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists (fFIDA) and united six local choreographers. Dusk Dances was successful beyond her expectations. A large number of people saw the show, and most audience members came from the community surrounding the park, people who rarely attend modern dance performances.

Two years later, David Danzon reminded Sylvie Bouchard of this wonderful event and urged her to produce it again with him, for the summer of 1996. These two first productions were entirely self-produced, relying solely on the support of the local business community and the voluntary work of its producers and artists. After much support and encouragement from the communities surrounding the park, government funding agencies and artists alike, Bouchard and Danzon decided to make Dusk Dances an annual event. From 1997 to 2005, Dusk Dances was produced by CORPUS under the artistic direction of Bouchard and Danzon.

Dusk Dances received public funding from all levels of government for the first time in 1997, as well as a grant from the Laidlaw Foundation: the event featured twelve choreographers, two programs and ran throughout fFIDA. Once again, it proved to be an artistic and public success. The following year, Dusk Dances separated from fFIDA, and expanded to two parks (adding Withrow Park). That year, Dusk Dances also toured a selection of past choreography to Ottawa, in a co-production with the Canada Dance Festival.

In 2000 the festival expanded to a third park in Toronto (Dufferin Grove Park), went to Ottawa for the Canada Dance Festival and was co-produced with the Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver. In 2002, Dusk Dances scaled down to two parks, making a commitment to pay participating artists higher fees. The monitoring of new pieces was also introduced. These additions were a reflection of our desire to provide high quality programming. The festival kept growing in popularity, playing a significant role in increasing the visibility and accessibility of the art form. Dusk Dances has helped promote the works of choreographers such as Danny Grossman, Peter Chin, Collective of Black Artists (COBA), Bill James, Esmeralda Enrique, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Jenn Goodwin, Mi Young Kim, Ballet Jörgen, Yvonne Coutts, Carmen Romero, Nova Bhattacharya, Lisa Odjig, Sashar Zariff, Santee Smith, Louis Martin-Charest, and Michael Greyeyes to name a few.

2004 marked the 10th season of Dusk Dances. A retrospective programme of nine remounted pieces from past Dusk Dances programmes and one commissioned work, was presented in downtown Toronto. With the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council, Dusk Dances also toured to six regional centres around Ontario (Kingston, Chatham, Guelph, Deep River, Ottawa, Peterborough). In 2004, over 10,000 people attended Dusk Dances.

In 2005, Dusk Dances grew dramatically. Informed by lessons learned in taking the event into new communities on the 2004 tour, the festival became recognized as an undeniable force in audience development for dance, and as a catalyst for capacity building in communities that do not have the advantage of a developed arts infrastructure.

As a result, a Dusk Dances pilot project took place in the Jane/Finch neighbourhood in 2005. Our organization co-produced a week-long season with the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre at Driftwood Park, in the heart of the Jane/Finch neighbourhood, which was a terrific success. Local band Drum Theatre Togetherness and choreographers Teddy Masuku and Selam Teclu performed alongside four remounted Dusk Dances pieces. The 2006 season marked the first of a three year project, funded by Ontario’s Trillium Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council, in which Dusk Dances tours to five regional centres (Kingston, Mindemoya, Chatham, Haliburton and Deep River) and the Jane/Finch neighbourhood, based on the 2005 pilot project. See the 2006 history page for more on the first year of the tour.

In 2008, David Danzon resigned as Co Artistic Director and Sylvie Bouchard was made Festival Director of Dusk Dances Inc. The festival's organizational structure was altered to include more staff members.

In 2009, Dusk Dances initiated an exciting new project: for the next four years (between now and 2012), the festival will be working closely with co-presenting partners and communities across the GTA, with an aim to build capacity in underserved GTA neighborhoods. With lessons learned from Dusk Dances' three-year touring project around the province (2006 to 2008), this new initiative will endeavor to bring our experience closer to home.

1993 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009