Process+Practice
DANCE Series
etobicoke, ontario
AUGUST - November 2025
Presented by City of Toronto in partnership with TOES FOR DANCE, with support from ĀNANDAṀ
Welcome to the Process+Practice Dance Series at Assembly Hall, offering exciting and thought-provoking dance experiences in the Lakeshore-Etobicoke area!
Featuring talented local dance artists and choreographers from across Toronto who are part of the Process+Practice Dance Residency, the Series includes Community Workshops for all levels of movement experience, Open Rehearsals showcasing works-in-process, insightful Artist Talks/Q&As, and awe-inspiring Double Bill Performances.
All events are free or pay-what-you-can with $0 ticket options.
VENUE PARTNER
Process+Practice Dance Series events take place at Assembly Hall, located at 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr, Etobicoke, ON M8V 4B6. Click here for a Google Map.
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Assembly Hall has been an important part of the Etobicoke Lakeshore community for over a century. It was built in 1898 as part of the Mimico Lunatic Asylum, designed to serve as a place of recreation and worship for the patients and hospital staff. Patient labour was used to construct Assembly Hall and various other hospital buildings. The hospital’s first superintendent, Dr. Nelson Henry Beemer, was a strong believer in meaningful work as a form of rehabilitative therapy.
The original purpose for Assembly Hall was to meet the social and spiritual needs of the hospital. However, because there was no comparable facility in the area, Assembly Hall soon became the principal gathering place for a multitude of community events, dances and concerts. The Asylum changed names repeatedly over the years, becoming the Mimico Hospital for the Insane in 1911, the Ontario Hospital, New Toronto in 1919 and finally renamed as the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, but Assembly Hall maintained its name and central role throughout the entire history of the hospital.
After the closure of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in 1979, Assembly Hall fell into disuse for two decades. The combined efforts of local activists and politicians helped to support the City of Toronto’s restoration of this facility, which reopened on in June 2001. The renovated Assembly Hall has been designed to meet a variety of cultural and community needs. The beautiful 250+ seat Performance Hall is a venue for music, theatre, dance, receptions and special events. The community rooms are used for art classes, meetings, workshops and rehearsals. Gallery spaces for visual arts are located throughout the building. Assembly Hall is a rental facility for both public and private use.
Assembly Hall is fully accessible. An elevator is onsite for access to the second floor Performance Hall, and accessible parking is available both at the front of Assembly Hall and in the Green P Parking lot (located on the south side of Assembly Hall). An accessible washroom is also available.
Learn more at: assemblyhall.ca
Community consultation
In 2024, we launched a community consultation program aimed at shaping the future of Dance at Assembly Hall. Our inaugural Community Consultation Cohort included twelve community members who have a connection to the Etobicoke Lakeshore area.
Led by Keira Marie Forde, TFD's Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, the Community Consultation Cohort will contribute to an ongoing dialogue around topics such as barriers, types of programming, scheduling of programming, ways to align programming with community interests, ideas for resourcing the sustainability of the programming and more. Each member of the community cohort will receive an honorarium for their involvement.
If you're interested in participating in this year’s Community Consultation Cohort, please email us.
This community consultation is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
About the Artists AND Projects
2024-25 ARTISTS
Photos by Sam Gaetz, Amy Gardener and Melissa Bahrami .
Boys’ Club Tap Dance Collective
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Boys' Club is a tap dance collective which comprises 3 women tap dancers (Veronica Simpson/Toronto, Laura Donaldson/Calgary, and Elise McGrenera/Vancouver) who are deeply passionate about exploring tap dance as a vehicle to examine power dynamics and the female experience. The inspiration for creating work arises from personal reflections and conversations about roles as female-identifying tap dancers. Recognizing the historical dominance of men in the form, the aim is to challenge this paradigm by amplifying feminine voices and experiences. Through tap dance, Boys’ Club seeks to reclaim space, express our identities, and shed light on the often overlooked contributions of women in the history of tap dance and jazz music.
Boys’ Club began in residence in May 2022 at tanzhaus nrw (Germany), followed by an invitation to return to Europe in 2023 to present a full length work at the The Claquettes Club (Belgium), and at Golem’s Theatre (Barcelona). In May 2024, Boys’ Club is returning to the Claquettes Club and tanzhaus nrw to perform a new iteration of this work. During development, Boys’ Club has been welcomed as a company in residence at national and international residency spaces including; Leña Artist Residency, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and the Claquettes Club.
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“Boys’ Club is extremely excited and grateful to be part of the Process+Practice 2024/25 cohort. We will be researching and creating a new work entitled Boys’ Club & his Orchestra. This work will be a celebration of our favourite Toronto women in Jazz. In collaboration with vocalist Ale Nunez, pianist Alexa Belgrave, and an all-girl band, this work will explore jazz standards reimagined, and original music. “
Photo by Alkan Emin Photography.
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Kiera is a dancer/choreographer whose style lives at the intersection of contemporary and hip hop. She holds a BA in Dance from LMU in Los Angeles. While in LA, she was a member of LA dance companies: the Young Lions, Immabeast, Immabreathe and MashUp Contemporary Dance Company. She has performed in Dance Matters, A Woman's Work, the Toronto Fringe Festival, the Orlando Fringe Festival, the Vancouver Fringe Festival and Dusk Dances, Hamilton. Kiera has choreographed for PRESENCE, a site specific series commissioned by Peggy Baker Dance Projects, ProArteDanza in their Choreolab, and an original piece during the half-time of a Raptors Game. She has worked with and danced for artists including Ian Eastwood, Brian Friedman, Janelle Ginestra, Kylie Thompson, Mary Ann Chavez and Monika Felice Smith. Kiera’s work often explores themes such as racial identity, female upward mobility, and other ideas that aim to empower the unheard.
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“My project will focus on exploring femininity's multifaceted nature and its impact on individuals across diverse backgrounds. Guided by the question, "How can dance and spoken word illuminate the authentic nature of femininity in the face of its historical distortion and redefinition?" I aim to create a dance project that delves into the complexities surrounding femininity and its expansive interpretations.”
KIERA BREAUGH
2025-26 ARTISTS
Photo by Curtis Alvaro.
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KINAJ is a cross-genre dance company founded in 2020 by Kin Nguien and AJ Velasco. Known for blending the raw energy of street styles like hip-hop, popping, and house with the elements of contemporary dance, KINAJ incorporates improvisation, freestyle, and partnering techniques to craft dynamic and innovative works. At its core, KINAJ thrives on collaboration, drawing inspiration from diverse art forms such as film, poetry, and visual arts. Their storytelling-based choreography explores pressing social issues, including mental health, inequality, and climate change, inspiring audiences to reflect and act. KINAJ’s work has been featured internationally, with highlights including their critically acclaimed ALIENS, commissioned by Toronto Dance Theatre, which captivated sold-out audiences with its sci-fi aesthetic and cross-genre brilliance. Currently, the company is preparing for the year full of productions and community engagement initiatives.
KINAJ
Photo by Michael Mortley.
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Mid-career dance artist, educator and choreographer, Atri Nundy completed her arangetram (graduation) in 2005 after years of continuing her passion for dance molded through learning Bharatanatyam at Sampradaya Dance Academy under the tutelage of Lata Pada CM (Order of Canada). An advocate for sharing knowledge, Atri continues to work as a teacher at Sampradaya Dance Academy. She has toured extensively in India, Indonesia, UK and USA and has performed in various prestigious venues across Canada. She continues to hone her craft through professional development in various forms, workshops etc. with acclaimed artists Harikrishna Kalyanasundaram, Priyadarshini Govind, Leela Samson, Mavin Khoo among others. In November 2023, Atri took part in Seeta Patel’s rehearsal process of her work Rite of Spring in London, UK with the Seeta Patel Dance Company. Technically diverse in her training, Atri professional practice includes work in a variety of contemporary practices. She has performed with many companies in Toronto including KasheDance and Ronald Taylor Dance. Commissioned by Anandam, she created her first ensemble work, Mindful Chatter, for Contemporaneity 4.0. Her work helix was commissioned by Toronto Dance Theatre in 2023 for Convergent Divergency.
Atri Nundy
Our 24-25 and 25-26 Artists were selected through a competitive Open Call process.
The 2026-27 Open Call will be released later this year!
