Dance Talks

Photo of  Deepti Gupta during In Good Time by Fran Chudnoff

Dance Talks brings together Asian diaspora artists to share insights, questions, and excerpts from their current practices, which offers a glimpse into the vastness and complexity of the diasporic experience. These gatherings may take place as an addendum to a performance or production, creating space for deeper and more expansive conversations beyond a traditional post-show talk, or as standalone events in their own right.

With a focus on honest exchange, Dance Talks invites artists, audiences, and the broader public into conversations that honour lived experience, artistic practice, and nuanced perspective. Each session engages artists around a central question or theme, while audiences participate as active listeners, with opportunities to contribute midway through the event.

We aim to host Dance Talks in accessible community spaces outside of traditional performance venues, such as public libraries and community hubs. In addition to engaging broader publics and cultivating new dance audiences, the series encourages honest reflection, shared learning, and the exploration of both difference and common ground. Some conversations may include facilitators who help guide and hold space for the discussion.

Photo of Dance Talks: Meryenda by Ryan Buan, @ivivi media

Dialogue - centered on honest, open conversation

Reflection - encouraging shared learning and deeper understanding

Exchange - emphasizing mutual participation and shared insight

Previous Dance Talks

  • In partnership with Dancemakers, Meryenda is a facilitated conversation with artists from the Philippine Diaspora who are creating performances in response to and through the lens of diasporic experiences.

    Inspired by Fishbowl-style conversations, this format fosters a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that prioritizes dialogue over lecture or “artist panel”.

    Meryenda starting points: How are contemporary practices in conversation with traditional forms? How do we curate works sensitively with awareness to contexts of migration, colonialism and modernity?

    Invited artists include: Candace Kumar, Ralph Escamillan, Danah Rosales, Andrew Tay, Patrick Alcedo, and Blessyl Bean. Conversation led by Bee Palomina

  • In partnership with Make Banana Cry, Toronto Dance Theatre and Buddies in Bad Times, CanAsian Dance, hosts Dance Talks: Parallel Works, Pluriperspectives Embodied. Four Toronto-based Asian artists will share insights, questions, and excerpts from their current practices, offering a glimpse into the vastness and complexity of what “Asianness” can encompass.

    Dance Talks is an addendum event inside Tallulah’s Cabaret at Buddies, that fosters dialogue among Asian diasporic dance artists and between other artists and the public. The series encourages candid exchange, exploring both difference and common ground across lived experience, artistic practice, and perspective.

    Invited artists include: Blessed Bean, Charley Tan, the artists of Returning River Dance, and Neena Jayrajan

  • In partnership with DanceWorks, Rituals of Queer Belonging lives alongside DanceWorks: Sweet Ephemera by Eilish Shin-Culhane and Piggy Esteban.

    Inspired by Fishbowl-style conversations, this format fosters a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that prioritizes dialogue over lecture or “artist panel”.

    Rituals of Queer Belonging starting points: From whom do we inherit rituals? With whom do we create and practice them? How can we navigate gender roles and queerness within practices shapes by colonial binary frameworks? How do diasporic experiences shape our snese of belonging and not belonging? How can we practice rituals in performance with care and integrity , despite the Euro-Western conventions to be productive and profitable?

Dance Talks - Meryenda Recording
Dance Talks - Rituals of Queer Belonging Recording
Photos of participating artists in Dance Talks: Meryenda, Parallel Works - Pluriperspectives Embodied, and Rituals of Queer Belonging by Ryan Buan, @ivivi media, Marlowe Porter, and Wai Liu

CanAsian Dance is situated in Tkaronto, a Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.” It is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and it continues to be the home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.

This land is under the Dish with One Spoon covenant, an agreement between the Anishinaabeg and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This land is a dish to be shared and cared for and we all share one spoon; the spoon is to be used to take only what is needed and to leave enough for others, thus ensuring a viable and abundant future. We recognize the enduring resilience of Indigenous peoples and we acknowledge that we are accountable to these relationships and these agreements. 

We carry these values of responsibility in sharing and caring in abundance with consideration of not only ourselves but of our communities that we share together.

Land Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the following funding partners for their ongoing support