History

Photo of Atri Nundy from Arcadia Community Activation 2026

In 1997, in the final days of Toronto’s Asian Heritage Month Festival, members of its Dance Committee created CanAsian Dance Festival, later known as CanAsian International Dance Festival.

Under the leadership of founding artistic director Denise Fujiwara, the festival was the centrepiece of CanAsian Dance’s programming, running for 18 years.

Eventually, the festival exposed a need: to nurture local, emerging, and mid-career choreographers. Shifting our focus, we created two new programs. In 2012, we launched KickStart. We gradually prioritized KickStart’s development while winding down the festival, which ended in 2015. In 2021, we launched Grit: Short Dances. Through these programs, we commission and present new works from local choreographers, and provide dramaturgy, mentoring, and other support. The programs now run in alternating years, with Grit focussing on emerging choreographers and serving as a seed program for KickStart.

After Denise Fujiwara departed in 2022, we engaged consultants to consult with community members, including our core contributors. Among our aims? To investigate models of co-leadership in which the artistic vision does not rest with a singular individual.

We also began revisiting our vision, mission, and values, taking an activist turn in keeping with the urgencies of our time. Prioritizing the creativity of Asian diasporic dance artists and practitioners of Asian dance forms, we aim to support dance artists who are working against the grain of white supremacy.

Photo of In Good Time 2025 artists by Fran Chudnoff

Founding Members:

Denise Fujiwara, Sudha T. Khandwani, Allen Kaeja, Jahanara Akhalaq, Menaka Thakkar, Jennifer Watkins, Carly Wong

​Past Board Members:

David Gonzalez, Sam Chaiton, Joanna de Souza, Menon Dwarka, Chan Hon Goh, Allen Kaeja, Hari Krishnan, William Lau, Susan Lee, Abhishek Mathur, Ursula Nahatchewitz, Kristina (Tina) Park, Noora Sagarawala, Eve Schifman, Gary Tai, Carly Wong, Anne Yourt, Coman Poon​

Photo of Entry Waves 2025 artists by Fran Chudnoff

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