.png)
Showtimes & Tickets
Oct 17 at 7:30PM | Oct 18 at 2:00PM (Pre-Show Artist Talk at 1PM)
Running time: 90 mins
Single Tickets: $25.00 base fare (plus applicable fees)
Festival Pass (choose between 4-6 shows): See four or more Festival performances and save 15%! Choose from the six Festival programmes. Packages available while quantities last, so be sure to book early!
Program
HEARTBEATS features dynamic street dance works layered with African, contemporary dance, and cinematic influences. Each is personal, each is heartfelt in their quest to satisfy universal human desires - intimacy and belonging, freedom to move throughout the world, fairness and justice.
_2.png)
A Body of Rumours by Liam Francis Dance Company
Toronto Debut | North American Premiere
A Body of Rumours is a provocative exploration of music, the body, and brotherhood choreographed by the sensational Liam Francis who has been described as “fuel for [a] new pulse.” The work is a hybrid composition of hip hop and contemporary dance, one that is reflective of Liam’s professional experience and resists forces that would impose a hierarchy across the two forms. Similarly, Body of Rumours is a reflection on how Black dancers are often set up to be in competition with one another within companies — as though there is space for only one to shine. Through invitation, resistance, acceptance, and pleasure, the piece charts a journey from isolation and rivalry toward trust, intimacy, and friendship. The work asks what it means for an individual to truly belong.
With a soundscape mixed live on stage by Chloe Mason.
Liam Francis is an award-winning choreographer, dancer, and movement director working across dance, theatre and film. He has performed with leading companies including Rambert, Lost Dog, and ZooNation, and has taken on principal roles in works by choreographers such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Merce Cunningham, Sharon Eyal, Ben Duke, Wayne McGregor and Hofesh Shechter.
As a choreographer, Liam’s work explores hybridity, drawing on his background in contemporary dance, ballet, and hip-hop to create a distinctive movement language. His practice is driven by an interest in the body as a site of memory and transformation, often blending movement with text and theatrical structures.
Liam has presented his work internationally in cities including London, New York, Rotterdam, and Paris, and has been commissioned by organisations such as Rambert, Skånes Dansteater and Ballett Theater Trier.
Echoes of the Same Tree by Kwasi Obeng-Adjei & Ambrose Tjark
In Echoes of the Same Tree, two dancers, born of the same earth, walk parallel paths shaped by distant borders. Brothers by land, divided by nations, they move in dialogue through movement—an unspoken language bridging space and silence. While opportunity has kept them apart, their art becomes a meeting place: a stage where boundaries blur, and kinship moves freely. Through rhythm and gesture, they explore identity, separation, and the invisible threads that tie us together.
Echoes of the Same Tree was first presented at FFDN 2025 and returns for an encore presentation!
Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Brampton-based multidisciplinary artist, emerging choreographer, and dance educator whose practice is rooted in traditional African forms and African street dance. With over a decade of experience in the dance community, Kwasi has built an impressive performance and creative resume, including appearances with the Pan Am Games, Giants of Africa Gala, Raptors Halftime Show, Asake Canadian Tour, AfroFest, Luminato Festival, Kultureland Festival, and many more.
Kwasi’s choreographic journey expanded in 2023 when he presented an original work at Night Shift, produced by Citadel + Compagnie and co-presented with Fall for Dance North. Drawing on a free-form, exploratory approach, his work is driven by connection, cultural lineage, and curiosity.
Ambrose Tjark is a Nigerian-born dance / performance artist, choreographer, fashion stylist / designer, and community organizer. He is a member of the trio The Supa Rich Kids and is a founding member of Westsyde Lifestyle where he promotes Afro Urban culture. He is a recipient of the MacDowell Fellowship and has collaborated with artists Skepta, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Olamide, Tiwa Savage, Asake and Major Lazer. His kinetic art piece, Soot Yourself, premiered in Toronto with dance Immersion at FFDN’s International Presenters Program 2024.
Roses by Compagnie KH
Inspired by cinematic storytelling, this work begins with the heist of a large jewelry store where an elixir is hidden. Those who smell it dream, allowing them to escape their reality. In a story within a story that evolves into the fantastical, a sensitive dreamer travels to an upside down place where the duality of his character is revealed. He is capable of the worst to get by, but his talent for poetry, his elegance, his inspiring presence, and his soul inspire people to join him in dreaming of a better life.
A dancer, choreographer, and founder of KH, Karim KH finds his inspiration in the culture he comes from: hip hop. Combining his presence in the underground scene and international battles with his involvement in the choreographic scene, Karim KH quickly stands out through his flow and gestures. Karim has also carved out a place in the commercial world, collaborating with artists such as Stromae, France Gall, Aloïse Sauvage, Anna Kova, and Zack Reece at the Zénith de Paris.
Having grown up in a working-class neighborhood in the Paris suburbs and having lost loved ones who dreamed of a better life by taking illicit paths, such as robberies and drug dealing, Karim KH felt the need to grieve by creating a universe around this. Roses is a way for him to restore honor to these lost souls who only dreamed of escaping a society where they had no favorable place.
In co-curating HEARTBEATS, I want everyone to feel like they belong. To feel excited, inspired, and embraced. I believe that when individuals feel seen and supported, we are able to build deeper, more meaningful, and long-lasting connections.
- Kwasi Obeng-Adjei