Dancemakers

We have added 25 more tickets for today's 3pm performance in High Park!

Standing room only & link on our website

Dance & Freedom invites Misha Petrenko to join the final studio session as Director of Photography—
a dialogue between camera, body, and music.
Misha Petrenko is a Canadian/Ukrainian cinematographer known for his collaborations with directors such as Zaza Urushadze, Cuong Ngo, Aircastle, and the Perlorian Brothers.

For his work on Pearls of the Far East (2011)—one of the first films shot on a RED Digital Cinema camera in Asia—he received awards at the California Independent Film Festival, the Geneva Film Festival, and others. He also shot Anton (2019), the final film by acclaimed Georgian director Zaza Urushadze, known for his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

Moving fluidly between narrative, commercial, and hybrid cinema, Misha adapts his visual language with precision and sensitivity. In this collaboration, he brings his vision into the realm of dance film, capturing the final studio session of Dance & Freedom.

This collaboration unfolds within Dance & Freedom, a workshop series hosted by Dancemakers and designed and facilitated by Alireza Keymanesh—where participants explore dance and resistance through the lens of the camera.

If you’d like to be part of this journey,
read more or register via the link in bio

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Dance&Freedom invites Ilyse Krivel (Xicada) to join the final studio session for a live electronic set—a dialogue between music, body, and camera.

Xicada crafts immersive sonic worlds shaped by ritual, transformation, and altered perception. Through spectral vocals, shifting rhythms, and textured distortion, her work moves between the futuristic and the ancestral—hallucinatory, raw, and deeply embodied.

A key voice in Canada’s experimental underground, she has shared the stage with artists such as Dreamcrusher, Dis Fig, and Jessica Moss, with releases on Halocline Trance, Foxy Digitalis, and Borscht Records. She is also co-founder of Borscht and part of Degeneral Strike, contributing to community-based experimental sound practices.

This collaboration unfolds as part of Dance & Freedom, a workshop series hosted by Dancemakers, and designed and facilitated by Alireza Keymanesh, where participants explore dance and resistance within a shared live environment.

If you feel called to be part of this process,
registration is open via link in Dancemakers bio.

Image description in the comments ⬇️

Dance&Freedom invites Ilyse Krival (Xicada) to join the final studio session for a live electronic set—a dialogue between music, body, and camera.

Xicada crafts immersive sonic worlds shaped by ritual, transformation, and altered perception. Through spectral vocals, shifting rhythms, and textured distortion, her work moves between the futuristic and the ancestral—hallucinatory, raw, and deeply embodied.

A key voice in Canada’s experimental underground, she has shared the stage with artists such as Dreamcrusher, Dis Fig, and Jessica Moss, with releases on Halocline Trance, Foxy Digitalis, and Borscht Records. She is also co-founder of Borscht and part of Degeneral Strike, contributing to community-based experimental sound practices.

This collaboration unfolds as part of Dance & Freedom, a workshop series hosted by Dancemakers, and designed and facilitated by Alireza Keymanesh, where participants explore dance and resistance within a shared live environment.

If you feel called to be part of this process,
registration is open via link in Dancemakers bio.

Dance to Freedom

In alignment with our Dance& series, artist and facilitator Alireza Keymanesh asks us to look at the ways that dance, history and politics are inseparable.

To learn more about how Alireza is using his dance practice to understand his Iranian identity and the current political moment, go to the link in our bio and learn more about his upcoming workshop series, Dance&Freedom

How are you living your values?

Image descriptions in the comments ⬇️

WORKSHOP: Dance&Freedom with Alireza Keymanesh

Saturday May 9, 16, 23, 30

As part of our Dance& series, we invite Alireza Keymanesh to guide participants through an intensive four-session workshop that blends sorcerer-inspired movement with contemporary dance practices to explore embodying resistance.

Open to both trained dancers and non-dancers, the workshop examines how dance and the human body have been suppressed across cultures and how they continue to re-emerge as powerful tools for freedom.

This is our first multi-part Dance& workshop, we are so excited to dive deep with you all!

Learn more and register at the link in Dancemakers’ bio 🔗

Image descriptions in the comments ⬇️

RSVP for CrossPlay next Thursday April 16 at 7pm & 9pm!

”It’s a pleasure to be in the studios with these 30 gifted artists and their curiosities and approaches. The 9 groups have each found convergences, each group following its own course, some digging into expressiveness, some expanding ways of interacting, some riffing on themes, images.  Working from knowledge, experience, sensation, inspiration, each partnering is original.” - Curator Maxine Heppner

7pm sharing in Intergalactic Studio:

– Alicia Grant, Aisha Sasha John, George Stamos + Ali Massoudi

– Chantelle Mostacho, Ori Chacon + Fedor Bondar

– Rachana Joshi + Luis Anselmi

– Mafa Makhubalo + Honey Paw

– Oriah Wiersma + Grace Sheele

9pm sharing in Small World Music:

– David Norsworthy-Shibatani, Rakeem Hardy, Patrick O’Reiley + Just Prince

– Rumi Jeraj, DIVKA + Ooldouz Pouri

– Pulga Muchochoma, Newton Moraes, Andrea Kuzmich + Shalva-Lucas Makharashvili

– Brianna Maltais, Tarek Ghriri + Gandhaar Amin

Sign up for one (or both!) events to experience CrossPlay!

In this workshop, we explore the alchemical potential of a mixture of practices from the repertoires of and , including: qigong, taijiquan, narrative meditation, calligraphy, poetry, and somatic translation. 

Monday April 13
4pm-7pm
Cinecycle
In collaboration with

https://dancemakers.org/events/dance-alchemy/

Share this post to receive a discount code to attend our Danny Grossman workshop Dance&Housing this Sun March 29 from 2-4pm at .stlukesto

Participants will be led in a focused repertoire exploration of Triptych (1977), choreographed by Danny Grossman.

Created during a period of heightened social awareness, Triptych confronts themes of homelessness, marginalization, and the stripping away of illusion to reveal essential humanity.

After the workshop, participants are invited to volunteer at .stlukesto community meal.

Open to dancers & non-dancers

https://dancemakers.org/events/dance-housing/