Festival Press Release 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 19, 2025
Fall for Dance North Announces 11th Annual Festival Lineup, Anchored by Three Dazzling Signature Mixed Programs
Festival highlights include performances from The Royal Ballet,
Kathak sensations Tanveer Alam and Barkha Patel,
and a world premiere from Artist-in-Residence Esie Mensah
TORONTO, ON – Fall for Dance North (FFDN) unveils its 11th annual lineup, featuring a vibrant mix of more than 30 Canadian and international artists across eight distinct mixed programs, from October 15-26, 2025. Under the festival’s new leadership of Co-CEO’s, Festival Director Lily Sutherland and Artistic Director Robert Binet, and co-curated with FFDN 2025 Artist-in-Residence Esie Mensah and renowned Toronto Kathak dancer Tanveer Alam, FFDN’s 2025 season builds on its roots with an exciting new vision. Grounded by three dynamic signature mixed programs and supported by a series of intimate performance offerings, this year’s festival increases accessibility for the art form and moves with evolving audience preferences, inviting Torontonians to experience the transformative power of dance.
“Curating this festival in collaboration with the FFDN team and co-curators Esie Mensah and Tanveer Alam has been a thrill,” says Binet. “Artists I admire deeply from Toronto and all over the world will meet on stage in explorations of history, human experience, and the future we create when we move together. Every program is an invitation into the joy and community dance creates.”
The festival’s three signature mixed programs will be presented at the Bluma Appel Theatre. Featuring a fresh curatorial approach that weaves a cohesive story across interconnected works, FFDN 2025 kicks off with AFROFUSION: Signature Programme 1, October 15-18, bringing together elements of Traditional and Contemporary West African Dance, Street Dance, Afro-Latin Dance, as well as Modern, Jazz, and Salsa. Three distinct works will be presented in this program, including the world premiere of Esie Mensah’s new large scale commission ESHI, alongside two works by international artists curated by Mensah and Binet – Dickson Mbi (Cameroon/UK) and Sekou McMiller (USA).
HOMEGROWN: Signature Programme 2, October 18 & 19, celebrates the global connectivity of Toronto choreographers and artists with the presentation of four works, including Ethan Colangelo’s Reverence for The National Ballet of Canada, the Dora Award-winning solo CYMATIX from international Street Dance sensation Caroline “Lady C” Fraser, Traditional West African Dance from Lua Shayenne Dance Company, and a moving, cross-cultural world premiere from Canadian and Nigerian African Street Dance collaborators Kwasi Obeng Adjei and Ambrose Tjark.
KATHAK & BALLET: Signature Programme 3, the festival’s third mixed program, October 23-25, will include duets, solos and ensemble works that interweave the virtuosic commonalities between two historic dance forms from eastern and western traditions: the classical Indian dance form of Kathak and the western art form of Ballet. Co-curated by Tanveer Alam, the striking program will feature the UK’s The Royal Ballet, who will perform a selection of solos and pas de deux from their repertoire, India’s Nad-Roop and Dheerendra Tiwari, and Alam with Barkha Patel.
“This year’s FFDN festival looks to the vibrant future of dance in Toronto with hope and admiration,” adds Sutherland. “We are thrilled to present our three distinct signature program presentations at the beautiful Bluma Appel Theatre, while simultaneously creating opportunities for uniquely intimate encounters with dance across the city, including a brand new dance series at The Citadel, and an up-close-and-personal dance experience with Toronto’s next generation of dance luminaries at OCAD University.”
The festival will introduce a new 45-minute dance series, Intimate Pairings, an easily enjoyable front row experience for audiences new and returning at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance from October 21-23. The series features two distinct programs over three nights: Braids & Heritage, featuring Montreal’s Jossua Satinée and Stacey Désilier; and Gutted and Pendulum, showcasing a pairing of solo works created by female artists Katie Adams-Gossage and Priyanka Tope. The Citadel will also partner with FFDN to co-present its beloved annual late-night dance series Night Shift from October 16-18, curated by FFDN 2021-2022 Artist-in-Residence Natasha Powell.
New this year – Up Next, October 25 & 26, at OCAD University’s The Great Hall. Timed entry, with freedom to move through the space, allows audiences to direct their own experience of these groundbreaking artists. The program will feature a rotation of cutting edge works from Esie Mensah with FFDN Scholar-in-Residence Devon Healey, Sekou McMiller, Sydney-based street and club dance choreographer and performer Azzam Mohamed, who will perform GLAD, and champion dancers of FFDN’s 3rd annual Tkaronto Open Indigenous Jingle Dress competition, which takes place on September 27 at Union Station, in recognition of Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
A variety of free in-person workshops and activities will also be offered throughout the festival, to be announced in August 2025.
Single tickets and festival packages are now available at ffdnorth.com. Single tickets are $25 + fees. The Signature Programme Package, including all three signature programs, is $65 + fees. Tickets for Up Next will be offered on a sliding scale.
For FFDN ticketing information, please visit: ffdnorth.com
About Fall for Dance North (ffdnorth.com)
Now under the leadership of Co-CEO’s, Festival Director Lily Sutherland and Artistic Director Robert Binet, Fall for Dance North Festival wants to get more people seeing more dance more often. Whether it’s your first date with dance or you are in a long-term relationship, dance is a joyful way to experience cultures and perspectives from all around the world, connecting us to our bodies and to each other. Across two weeks of fall festival programming, FFDN increases accessibility for the dance art form, elevates Canadian dance artists on the global stage, and moves with evolving audience preferences. FFDN is inspired by Fall for Dance in NYC.
LISTING INFORMATION Fall for Dance North 2025
Dates: October 15-26, 2025
Festival Venues: Bluma Appel Theatre
27 Front St East, Toronto, ON
The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance
304 Parliament Street, Toronto, ON
OCAD U’s The Great Hall
100 McCaul Street, 2nd floor, Toronto, ON
Union Station
65 Front Street West, Toronto ON
Ticket Prices: Signature Programme Package (includes 3
signature mixed programs): $65 + fees
Single Tickets: $25 (+ fees)
Tickets: ffdnorth.com
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For further media information, contact
Angela Poon | C. 604.569.5343