COMMON GROUND DANCE FESTIVAL

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About

Common Ground Dance Festival produced by TOES FOR DANCE is a free, outdoor, intercultural, and participatory celebration of movement and community that includes interactive workshops for all levels, artist talks, site performances, and mainstage performances. In 2025, our 5th anniversary year, Lee Lifeson Art Park (North York) is our main festival location, with performances and workshops taking place between September 18-20. Through our festival offerings this year, you will be able to witness artists working across a wide range of dance practices including Hip Hop, Bharatanatyam, Western Contemporary, Garba, Indigenous Hoop, Flamenco, and dances of Indigenous Latinx and Afro-Caribbean influences.

The festival’s mission is intercultural, with programming that gathers a diverse constellation of Toronto’s artists and community members for the purpose of creating connection. We invite you to witness the beauty and power of multiple artistic expressions moving through a shared space, and to contribute your energy and presence to the experience. It is our hope that our friendly vibe, matched with the incredible talent of the artists on stage will move you, uplift you, challenge you, and inspire you.

Whether you’re an experienced dancer or you have an unexplored curiosity for movement, let’s breathe deeply, meet each other amongst the greenery, practice curiosity, and revel in the joys of movement - together! We are looking forward to welcoming you!

Links

• Website toesfordance.ca

Organizer

TOES FOR DANCE

Founded in 2012 by Kristen Carcone and David Norsworthy, TOES FOR DANCE (TFD) is an artist-run non-profit dance organization based in Tkaronto. As of 2024, the organization is now co-led by Chantelle Good and David Norsworthy. Our mission is to share art and connect people through workshops and performances; fostering a community inspired by shared values of curiosity and collaboration. We contribute to the well-being and vibrancy of our society by creating unique and valuable platforms for artistic development, creative process, and public engagement. Our programming spotlights the current, while acknowledging the importance of working within lineage, and with respect to history and context. Our understanding of “current” emerges from the wide range of artists who lead and contribute to our programming; an expansive definition that includes a diversity of practices working in the ever-changing ecology of dance. We prioritize leading with care, vulnerability, and rigour while attending to the needs of our relationships with artists, participants, and audience members. TFD has presented performances for over 13,000 students and public audience members in the GTA, Ottawa, and London, including festivals, mixed touring programs, featured presentations, and site-specific work. Furthermore, our educational classes/programs have a cumulative participation count of almost 14,000 people. In addition to Common Ground Dance Festival, our 2025 season also includes Process+Practice (a series of dance events at Assembly Hall in Etobicoke), as well as Fresh Dance Intensive (a fun-filled weekend dance intensive for youth ages 8-18). www.toesfordance.ca