First Immersion Festival slated for November

By Neil Armstrong

As it celebrates its 33^rd season as Canada’s only full-time, year-round supporter of dancers and dances of the African diaspora, Dance Immersion will present its first Immersion Festival from November 8 to 22 at The Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto.

On Tuesday, the charitable, non-profit organization that has been around since 1994 held a media preview at Canada’s National Ballet School showcasing performance excerpts from some of the artists who will be featured at the festival.

Among them was KasheDance that will be featured in the National stage presentation which showcases six Canadian Black-led dance companies from Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Nova Scotia, and Calgary. The dance group, Diversity, will participate in the Next Gen presentation which will have ten performances by Canadian Black-led youth groups on a professional stage. Tap dancer, Travis Knights, will perform a duet with award-winning Canadian R&B and soul singer, Divine Brown, at the Vanguard stage presentation which features commissioned duets between seven of Canada’s renowned dance artists and musicians.

Noting that Canada has never produced an event like the Immersion Festival with this level and many Black artists coming together, Timea Wharton-Suri, curator and executive director of Dance Immersion, said there will be 24 performing groups, four generations, and performances by internationally-renowned artists of the African diaspora who have never before gathered at the same event.

“It was October 2024 when we did one of our usual showcases of artists. We had several artists on stage and folks said to us, come on, this is getting bigger; just go for a festival. Of course, that sounds wonderful but it takes us two years to build the resources and the connections,” said Wharton-Suri. There will be delegates from South Africa, Ghana, the UK, The Bahamas, and the United States who have never attended a dance festival before in Canada.

Jillia Cato, associate artistic director of KasheDance, said it is a full circle moment for the company because it was first presented 18 years ago at Dance Immersion. “It’s impactful, it’s emotional, it’s reflective; it’s a whole lot within those 18 years.”

Artistic director Kevin Ormbsy confermed that the dance movements will draw on upbeat soca and calypso rhythms from Trinidad, while reggae influences reflect his Jamaican background. Research for the production also explores how Jamaican and Trinidadian communities helped shape calypso in Toronto and Montreal.

Coach TK of Diversity competitive dance team added that entering one competition and seeing the dancers’ potential, she decided to create more opportunities to showcase their abilities. The community lacked guidance and wanted to support young women by creating a space where they could express themselves and create.

There will also be 12 dance workshops for different ages and levels, a dance education roundtable, an artist-presenter networking lunch, and a closing party.

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