Ground Dance Festival will take place on October 8th and 9th in North York’s Lee Lifeson Art

Park, easily accessible from North York Centre subway station. Festival programming will

explore diverse expressions of contemporary dance through site-specific performances,

mainstage performances, workshops for all levels of dance experience, freestyle dance jams,

and a community co-creation experiment. All dance and movement enthusiasts in North York

and its surrounding area are invited to attend!

Festival details will be available at www.toesfordance.ca/common-ground as they are confirmed.

This is a free, ticketed event. Online ticket reservation will commence September 26th. A limited

number of walk-up tickets will also be available.

Workshops will be taught by Elke Schroeder and Jaz Fairy J and will offer opportunities for

people of all levels of dance experience to participate. Site-specific performances by emerging

dance artists, Lilly Giroux and Zuri Skeete, will offer a compelling dance-viewing experience by

highlighting the park’s terrain and sculptural installations.

In collaboration with the Composer/Sound Designer Declan Baker, Zuri Skeete will explore the

questions: What is the responsibility of art? Is there a co-dependent relationship between the

viewers and the artist? Lilly Giroux will invite audience members to take a closer look at who she

is, entirely, while exploring the themes of vulnerability and inevitable change. Lilly will

collaborate with Composer Renée Giroux and Sound Editor Sophia Eleftheria.

Evening mainstage performances in the park’s amphitheatre will feature students from local

dance schools in a new work by Brianna Clarke; TOES FOR DANCE repertoire by Co-Artistic

Director Kristen Carcone; a world premiere by choreographer and dancer Chantelle Good; a

community co-creation event led by TOES FOR DANCE Co-Artistic Director David Norsworthy;

and additional works by other local artists to be announced. Festival days will end with a

socially-distanced freestyle Improv Jam dance party in the park.

Kristen Carcone’s work, a duet between dance artists Nicholas Ruscica and Kevin Lau,

explores belonging, and the impact social programming has on our relationships,

behaviours, and belief systems. Chantelle Good’s solo explores self-identity and

autobiography as performance, featuring soundscapes by Sound Designer Marc

Cardarelli. David Norsworthy’s community co-creation experiment will invite audience

members to follow choreographic instructions accessed through their mobile devices.