Credits
Support Team
The Mensah Family
Valerie Moss
Collette Murray
Iris Nemani
Kevin Ormsby
Kafi Pierre
Kimberley Rampersad
Audrey Rose
Chris Russell
Robert Sauvey
Tika Simone
Tyler Shaw
Mark Stevens
Gratitude to the Creator and the Ancestors for clearing the path and making this possible
Quentin VerCetty
Poster Image Design
Felix Russell-Saw
Graphic Design
Tony Tran
Website Design
Nicole Crozier
Translation (French)
Francine Labelle
Colourist
Walt Bijan
Colour
Publicity
Thank You
Kobéna Aquaa-Harrison
Vashti Arthur
Zahra Badua
Nathalie Bonjour
Michael Caldwell
Keleshaye Christmas-Simpson
Brendan Jensen
Jason “S-Quire” Johnson
Teagan Cook
Carmelo Galle
Ilter Ibrahimof
Colanthony Humphrey
Virgilia Griffith
Marissa Magneson
Ravi Jain
Christina Giannelia
The Cast
Kevin Fraser is a queer, Jamaican-born dance artist, actor, creative director, activist, and multidisciplinary artist). As a creative director, his mission and dream are to create more opportunities for marginalized and oppressed communities and underground artforms. His art encompasses questioning/ reimagining how various cultures and communities collide, the duality between the preservation and evolution of culture through movement, fashion, music, theatre, visual media, film. Dismantling Eurocentric ideas of creating work/ high art vs low art/ the body as a political vessel/the witnessing of art and work created by QT-BIPOC individuals and communities. Kevin Fraser also is host to many queer events in western Canada including being the main host and commentator for the balls presented by VanVogueJam (YVR), VogueYYC, Pink Flamingo (YYC), The Coven ( YVR x YYC x YVR), and The Bad Girls Club ( YYC).
KEVIN FRASER
VANCOUVER, BC /
Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh Territory
(he/them)
THE CREATIVE TEAM
SONYA MWAMBU
EDITOR
MEG ROE
SOUND DESIGNER / MUSIC
Wayne Burns (he/him) is an actor, producer and writer from Wagobatik/Truro, Nova Scotia. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Acting program. He has worked across the country with companies like Soulpepper Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre, the National Arts Centre and Summerworks and can currently be seen on Syfy/Netflix’s Olympus and OUTtv’s Award-winning series’ Avocado Toast and Slo-Pitch. His short films have been supported by The National Film Board of Canada, the Toronto Arts Council, Inside Out Film Festival and CBC. He is the recipient of two Theatre Nova Scotia awards, an ACTRA Award nomination, and was chosen as a breakthrough artist by Now Magazine for his performance in Michael Ross Albert’s Miss and his creative leadership through the acclaimed conversation series Dark Nights.
Sonya Mwambu (she/they) is an experimental filmmaker and editor based in Toronto. Born in Kampala, they grew up in Canada and their work centres on the intersections of their identities through the exploration of race, language and the connections they find through their cultural identity and the experimentations of analog film. Their films The Shirley Card (2018) and On Embracing the Stranger (2020) are currently showing as part of the McMaster Museum of Arts exhibition The Cut, The Tear & The Remix: Contemporary Collage and Black Futures, and their film Banange! (2016) as part of The Archive of Forgetfulness presented by the Goethe- Institut in Johannesburg. Their recent work also includes a screening as part of Cinema Politica’s Being Black in Canada programming, and in 2020 they directed and edited circa. as part of the City of Toronto’s History Museums Awakenings program. Mwambu holds a BFA in Film Production from York University.
Meg Roe (she/her) works as an actor, director, dramaturg, composer and sound designer. She has been seen across Canada at Crows Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, PuSh Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Junction, Citadel Theatre, Ruby Slippers Theatre, Electric Company Theatre, Blackbird Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Arts Club, Belfry, Theatre SKAM, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Catalyst Theatre, RealWheels, Intrepid Theatre, Elbow Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Western Canada Theatre, National Arts Centre, Centaur Theatre, The Banff Centre, Yukon Arts Centre, Why Not Theatre, Savage Society, internationally with the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), Center Theater Group (Los Angeles), and as a collaborator with Crystal Pite's renowned dance company Kidd Pivot.
WAYNE BURNS
PRODUCER
TESSEL: A Community Conversation
"It's time we talk"
This gathering is a way to continue the conversation by asking ourselves what has changed. From June 1st, 2020, until now, have we seen a change in our communities? Many committees have been formed but have we seen the change we desire to see?
12:00 pm
FREE ON FACEBOOK LIVE (Harbourfront Centre)
Feb 26
Join the Conversation
A Co-Presentation With:
Co-Executive Producers and Lead Commissioners
Lead Project Supporter
Co-Commissioners
Supporters
Esie Mensah is an artist whose creative footprint extends into many genres, disciplines and regions. As a dancer, choreographer, director, educator and public speaker, Mensah's mastery of storytelling is as diverse as her experience. From working with megastars like Rihanna, Drake and Arcade Fire to historic brands like Coca-Cola, TIFF and the Toronto Raptors, this powerful woman shows no sign of slowing down. She was a featured speaker at TEDxToronto 2019, where she spoke about her experience as a dark-skinned dancer and the process of creating her Dora-nominated production Shades. Her short film, A Revolution of Love, opened Toronto History Museum’s ongoing Awakenings initiative alongside works by celebrity Chef Roger Mooking and Director X. She has led equity and inclusion work at Sheridan College, the Royal Academy of Dance, the University of Calgary and is an Artistic Advisor at The National Ballet School. She is a faculty member of George Brown College and is a mentee of acclaimed dance artist Akram Khan through Why Not Theatre’s Fellowship Program.
ESIE MENSAH
WRITER & DIRECTOR
TORONTO, ON
(she/her)
NATASHA POWELL
TORONTO, ON / Tkaronto
(she/her)
Natasha Powell is a Toronto native who has been working in the dance industry for 17 years. Her soulful approach to movement that transcends genre can be seen and felt in her dancing, choreography, and teachings. In 2016, she founded her company, HOLLA JAZZ as a forum for developing and presenting artists that work and improvise together, to create harmonious and transformative experiences. The company aims to reinvigorate jazz dance with its sister dances including hip hop and house, as innovative and important vehicles for expression, while showcasing freedom and one’s own identity through the spirit of jazz.
"Black artists are not monolithic. From different experiences and varying practices, living in different parts of the country, while many of us experience some of the same challenges, many of us are experiencing challenging lifestyles in different ways. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with those in different cities and begin that relationship building that I so desperately desire."
YVON "CRAZY SMOOTH" SOGLO
OTTAWA, ON / Adawe
(he/him)
Crazy Smooth is one of Canada’s top street dancers, performers, choreographers, instructors, judges, and community leaders. He is the founder and artistic director of Bboyizm, an award-winning street-dance company that has been instrumental in the preservation and proliferation of street dance in Canada. In 2004, three of his full-length creations, The Evolution of B-boying, IZM, and Music Creates Opportunity toured throughout Canada. The company has been nominated for a Dora award (2012) and won both the Atlantic Presenters Association Touring Performers of the Year Award (2013) and the Ontario Presenters Network Emerging Touring Artist of the Year (2012). Crazy Smooth was named the 2020 Clifford E. Lee award recipient by the Banff Centre for the Arts for his work-in-progress, and Long Term Artist in Residence at the Centre de Création O Vertigo in Montreal. In My Body is currently in creation as the 2019-2021.
"I am so grateful to have shared in the experience of making this film. Connecting with other Black artists to speak candidly about our lives and making art in Canada was a refreshing reminder of the depth and breadth of our lived experiences. While we can be perceived as a monolithic group, we are in fact a diverse chorus of unique voices. I am left with a heightened sense of excitement and motivation to continue my work, with a solid dose of optimism about what we will accomplish going forward. "
EUGENE "GeNie" BAFFOE
WINNIPEG, MB / Win-nipi
(he/him)
Eugene "GeNie" Baffoe is a freestyle dancer, educator, actor, choreographer and filmmaker originally from Montreal, Quebec. GeNie has been training, instructing and studying hiphop culture for over a decade. As the Director of B.O.S.S Dance Team since 2011, GeNie has brought his community several battle events such as DANCE 4 MS, The Artist Within, Who’s the iLLEST, BeatMakeUSDance and more. He has choreographed 2 Blue Bomber halftime shows, 3 opening numbers for WeDay at the Bell MTS Place, and was selected to be 1 of 2 Canadian choreographers to create the Sharing Dance flash mob-style routine for Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2018. Last year, GeNie created and directed a documentary called Our Scene The Movie, a film about the history of hiphop dance in Winnipeg. Honoured by the City of Winnipeg with the Youth Role Model Award in 2009 and now a CBC Future 40 under 40 finalist, GeNie is a dedicated artist passionate about his community and continues to educate and spread the culture through dance and film.
“Upon being asked to be apart of this project I was excited and felt empowered. The opportunity to tell our stories in an authentic, personal way. A chance to demonstrate our experiences over the last year and beyond, to share those experiences, feelings, thoughts, ideas and dreams with the country and each other. My hope is the project will represent the resilience and strength Black Canadians have running through their veins. Their passion, their art and their story. My hope is not for it to simply resonate, but shine the necessary light to create dialogue and insist on self reflection needed by us all. I cannot wait to see the final product and hopefully continue to collaborate with my fellow Canadian artists. "
Gabrieille Martin is a choreographer and contemporary and aerial dancer, originally from the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples (Vancouver). As a choreographer, she is in perpetual study of tenacious, defiant bodies and those autonomic states that rapture the body. She obtained her BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University (Montreal, 2009) and presented her own choreographies nationally from 2009-2011. The body’s ephemeral subversion of gravity drew her to aerial dance; Gabrielle performed over 1,400 shows internationally as an aerial acrobat and dancer with Cavalia (2011-2015), and as a principal character and aerial soloist with Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK - The First Flight (2015-2019). In 2019, she presented Limb(e)s, a co-choreography under Company Ci, at Montreal Complètement Cirque and Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Assembly Festival. Gabrielle completed a certificate in Circus Dramaturgy at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (France) in 2020.
GABRIELLE
MARTIN
VANCOUVER, BC / Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh Territory
(she/her)
The invitation to bring myself to the camera, authentic and unchoreographed, inspired a deep exhale from within. I am so used to working with my body to meet extrinsic objectives and replicate others' aesthetic forms that I felt graced with the right to be unapologetic. With all the criticism that’s internalized as a dancer, compounded by being Black, being a woman and not having a foundation in ballet, this kind of invitation, as part of a collective movement, becomes a celebration.
LILIONA QUARMYNE
(she/her)
HALIFAX, NS/ K'jipuktuk
"To be a part of this project is to remember, reach out, and rejoin. To long and call for community and connection, and to have that call answered. As one of very few professional contemporary Black dancers in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, this project is a gift. It is a reminder and a celebratory affirmation that we can journey through space, put down what we carry, and meet each other in our wholeness, full of our beautiful and contradictory complexity."
Liliona Quarmyne has an eclectic background that has taken her through many performance styles on four different continents. Liliona is a dancer, choreographer, actor, singer, community organizer, and activist. She performs across the country and internationally, creates original works as an independent artist, facilitates community programming, and is the Artistic Director of Kinetic Studio. The scope of Liliona’s artistic work is broad, but is particularly focused on the relationship between art and social justice, on the body’s ability to carry ancestral memory, and on the role the performing arts can play in creating change. Liliona loves to work in collaboration and community and is mom to two wonderful kids.
Both Canadian (from Calgary) and a New Yorker, Lisa La Touche’s credits include Broadway’s Shuffle Along, choreographed by Savion Glover and Directed by George C. Wolfe, receiving both the Fred Astaire Award and the Actor’s Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. She appeared on 70th Annual Tony Awards and Amazon’s Original “Z, The beginning of everything” and also toured with Savion Glover in Stepz. She was in both the New York and North American touring casts of STOMP. She currently runs her own performance company Tap Phonics and has been commissioned to present for such organizations such as The Brooklyn Museum, 92Y and Fall For Dance North. As an educator and Professor she has taught for PACE University, NYU, The School of Jacob’s Pillow, University of Calgary, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and on the creative council for the American Tap Dance Foundation. Above all, her proudest achievement is the gift of being a mom.
LISA LA TOUCHE
CALGARY, AB / Mohkínstsis
(she/her)
"This project is an answered prayer. As a black woman moving from Harlem back to Canada, specifically Calgary, during such a heightened sensitivity and an enlarged global movement towards black lives… I felt extremely alone. Working on this project with these empowering black artivists, gives me a hope and a sense of belonging in this country which I realize I have never felt until now. Just maybe, more lives can be saved, and more lives will actually matter as we bring light and awareness to our full human selves as people of color reach out towards one another across this land."
"Black artists are not monolithic. From different experiences and varying practices, living in different parts of the country, while many of us experience some of the same challenges, many of us are experiencing challenging lifestyles in different ways.
I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with those in different cities and begin that relationship building that I so desperately desire."
"Black artists are not monolithic. From different experiences and varying practices, living in different parts of the country, while many of us experience some of the same challenges, many of us are experiencing challenging lifestyles in different ways.
I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with those in different cities and begin that relationship building that I so desperately desire."
Livona Ellis is a dance artist based in Vancouver on the unceded Coast Salish Territories. She danced with Ballet BC from 2010-2018 and returned again this past October. Independently she has collaborated with Jennifer McLeish-Lewis for the EDAM Spring Series and Rachel Meyer and Jennifer Mascall for Dancing on the Edge Festival 2019. This past year Livona was a guest artist with Konzert Theater Bern in Switzerland. Livona has performed in international venues such as Sadler’s Wells, Movimentos Festival Wolfsburg, Jacob’s Pillow, Fall for Dance NYC and North, and International Dance Festival Birmingham UK. She created works for Small Stage, Dance Deck Trois, Public Salon 2019, CAG Gala 2018, and Arts Umbrella Season Finale. In 2017 she received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist. She completed a residency at Left of Main this January and is developing a new work which will be seen in the BC Movement Arts Society Dance Series.
LIVONA
ELLIS
VANCOUVER, BC / Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh Territory
(she/her)
"This project has allowed me to connect with some beautiful souls during this trying time. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to speak and share virtual space with these artists. I felt a sense of home even though we started out as strangers. There is beauty and pain in our individual and collective experiences and I believe this film will have a profound effect on its viewers.”
From main stage Theatre to world-renown battles, Raoul Pillay has become a staple name in these communities. His passion for learning and educating has become his prompt and looks to further introduce, a new approach to learning. He is now a part of a Dora award-winning company, Holla Jazz as well as a local dance collective The Moon Runners. He is a multifaceted artist, whose love for fashion has opened up many doors from being a lead male actor to modelling print for Walmart and E-Commerce for vintage clothing stores. He approaches life, as a constant journey but its path forever changing.
RAOUL
“JIGGY MAN”
PILLAY
TORONTO, ON / Tkaronto
(he/him)
"Taking on this project helped me self reflect and carry my message. It allowed for space to showcase my truths without limitation and have the creative freedom to portray my story. My hope is that communication comes out of it, and an openness to the message. Collaborating with this group was more than refreshing especially when we relate in so many ways but each message so vastly opposite."
RAVYN WNGZ
TORONTO, ON / Tkaronto
(she/her)
Ravyn Wngz “The Black Widow of Burlesque” is a Tanzanian, Bermudian, Mohawk, 2Spirit, Queer and Transcendent empowerment storyteller. Ravyn is an abolitionist and co-founder of ILL NANA/ DiverseCity Dance Company. She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada, a Canadian best selling author, Top 25 Women on Influence in Canada 2021 recipient and on the steering team of Black Lives Matter Toronto Chapter, a group who are committed to eradicating all forms of anti-Black racism, supporting Black healing and liberating Black communities.
“Connection in its wildest most expansive form, is love. Dance is a deep ancestral language of love. When we come together to grieve, to share, to expand, we heal. This project is a gift of healing that I am grateful to have experienced. So much of society makes us believe that we must get over everything and in these conversations and movement tellings we interrupt that narrative very directly giving voice to our fear, to our tiredness, to our hopes, and to our His/Her-story.”
RONALD A. TAYLOR
TORONTO, ON / Tkaronto
(he/him)
Ronald A. Taylor is the Artistic Director of the Toronto-based company Ronald Taylor Dance (formerly known as Canboulay Dance Theatre. After leaving his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, he attended the renowned Juilliard School in New York, on scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. Ronald is the recipient of the Maxwell and Muriel Bluck Scholarship and the Dance Theatre of Harlem Scholarship Award. Ronald has focused on training emerging artists in theatre and dance, while collaborating with Dance Ontario/Dance Works and later Dance Immersion. His choreography fuse modern, Caribbean Folk, ballet and improvisation in a distinctive style which he best describes as Caribbean Contemporary. Taylor graduated with his Master’s degree from York University, Toronto. He has been invited to teach dance at the University of The West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago and York University's Faculty of Fine Arts Dance Program.
"While honoring and acknowledging those who came before us I see fire days moon lit nights streams of shooting stars, valleys, ponds, rivers inverted limbs like branches living water weight roundness oceans, fresh, softer herds of unknown mammals chanting in the distance to the Buddha sun kiss mountains at morning soft ground rumbling in passion, seeds transforming in the rush of light hissing from trees bounce, durability, continuous flow fortunately all come back in balance again with a state of well being these ancient teachings remind us to be mindful of the past, present and future generation."
"Black artists are not monolithic. From different experiences and varying practices, living in different parts of the country, while many of us experience some of the same challenges, many of us are experiencing challenging lifestyles in different ways.
I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with those in different cities and begin that relationship building that I so desperately desire."
"Black artists are not monolithic. From different experiences and varying practices, living in different parts of the country, while many of us experience some of the same challenges, many of us are experiencing challenging lifestyles in different ways.
I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with those in different cities and begin that relationship building that I so desperately desire."
Lua Shayenne is a 2016/17/18 K.M. Hunter Dance award nominee, and weaves stories, through dance, song and word. Her art practice is embedded in her African roots and her Faith. Her goal is to “effect a spiritual conquest” by establishing a relation with the human hearts and create original, inspiring and relevant art. As the artistic director of Lua Shayenne Dance Company (LSDC), Lua commissioned, produced and danced in Dora-nominated KIRA, The Path | La Voie (Luminato Festival & Ontario tour). She is the creator and performer of the dance theatre children series Tales and Dance Around the Baobab. She proudly tours with Lars Jan’s (NYC/LA) HOLOSCENES (Toronto/ Florida/ Miami/ New York/ London,UK/ Abu Dhabi/ Australia tours), a multidisciplinary water installation on climate change. Lua was recently featured in Fall for Dance North, Dusk Dances/Canadian Stage in High Park, JAMII’s eclectic programming including SEVEN and is co-choreographer for National Ballet School’s Sharing Dance 2021. A recipient of the 2013 BMO seeds Fund Award for Artists working in community, Lua brings African dance, music, storytelling and culture to grassroots organizations and schools and loves to produce engaging programming.
LUA SHAYENNE
TORONTO, ON / Tkaronto
(she/her)
I hope this project is an example of unity of vision and work, and of how impactful the unified support of arts organizations from all over Canada can be. To me, this project, is a reflection of the many insightful conversations we’ve had as Black artists and proves that, when Black artists are given space to share their truth healing can truly begin. I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with such talented artists across Canada, listen and share. This was a wonderful opportunity for learning.
ALEXANDRA "SPICEY"
LANDÉ
MONTREAL, QC / Tiohtià:ke
(she/her)
Alexandra "Spicey" Landé is one of the most respected street dance choreographers in Canada. Her first piece Retrospek, was co-produced by the M.A.I. In 2005 she founded the Bust A Move competition presented at la Tohu in Montreal. In 2009, she created a full-length piece Renézance for Tangente. In 2011 Spicey worked on the Michael Jackson Immortal tour of Cirque du Soleil as a street dance instructor and consultant. That same year she took part in Nico Archambault’s Ils Dansent on Radio-Canada as a teacher and choreographer. Spicey returned to the small screen as a judge for Eurovision Young Dancer in Czech Republic. In 2015. Spicey founded Ebnflōh Dance Company and has built a language that reflects her vision of dance and surrounds herself with peers who inspire her. The company’s first creation, Complexe R, was inspired by our human obsessions. In-Ward, a work co-produced by CCOV was presented in the gallery of the MAI in January 2019. Now with Ebnflōh, she is crafting a unique choreographic language reflecting her artistic vision.
This project was very very special to me. I decided to participate for so many reasons. First, I was going to connect with other Black artists across Canada which doesn’t happen very often. I've known Esie for many years now and I've never had the chance to work with her. This was an incredible opportunity to connect with this incredible artist again in a deeper and more meaningful way. Also as a choreographer we don't often allow ourself to be “a dancer”. This was a great way of being just that - a dancer - and reconnect with my body and artistic practice. I was able to embody dance the way my spirit wanted to embody it that day; in constant search for FREEDOM.
NICOLE INICA HAMILTON
FACILITATOR
KWASI OBENG
ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR
ALESSANDRO JULIANI
MUSIC
SAMSON BONKEABANTU BROWN
SPIRITUAL ADVISOR
Nicole Inica Hamilton (she/her) is the Founder and Artistic Director of Inica Dance Industries. An award-winning choreographer and a Dance Educator, Hamilton serves as a certified Teaching member of Dance Masters of Canada and Dance Masters of America. She has operated as a Guest Teacher, Mentor and Speaker at institutes across Canada including but not limited to; George Brown College, University of Toronto and York University. As a touring Educator and Speaker, she has presented in national and international conventions and championships including; En Avant - RAD World Convention, Toronto Dance Teacher Expo, Creation Dance Championships, the Performing Arts Medicine Association and more. Hamilton is an On-Air Radio Host on “The Career Buzz Show” and is the Producer/ Host of “Turn Out Radio” broadcasting on CIUT 89.5 FM. Hamilton is also a Co-Host on Fall For Dance North’s “Mambo” Podcast and Hamilton serves as a Counsellor and actively works with organizations, schools and on nationwide platforms to advocate for and promote healthy practices for Dance Artists.
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei (he/him) is a Canadian dancer, choreographer and instructor born in the Greater Toronto Area. After being accepted into the regional arts program at St. Roch Secondary School, Kwasi was able to expand his knowledge training in various styles that include Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Modern dance. He became a member of the Black Star Collective where his afrofusion and traditional african dance training began. Kwasi has had the opportunity to assist Esie Mensah at George Brown college and teaches at many popular dance studios in the GTA including; The Underground Dance Centre, City Dance Corp, and Kreative in Dance. Kwasi’s professional credits include the Pan American Games, Lua Shayenne Dance Company’s Kira, The Path | La Voie, Esie Mensah Creations, and The Raptors half time Show.
Samson Bonkebantu Brown (he/him) is a South African-Portuguese Toronto-based sangoma, inyanga & hoodoo, ancestral anthropologist, and playwright. His primary focus is on spiritual healing, ancestral veneration and anthropology, trans advocacy and the arts. He has been tasked by his ancestors to shed light on how ancestral veneration can assist with healing the self and living in one’s purpose. A multidi