Ground UP Dance Festival is Kingston’s dance series focusing on building community, providing performance platforms for emerging and established choreographers, and supporting artists throughout their journey in creation and development.
Launched in summer of 2022, Ground UP has acted as the first annual festival for professional dance in Kingston, Ontario. Each year the festival features Second Stage live performances in a black-box theatre, dance workshops with leading industry artists, free community performances in Springer Market Square, and Mainstage sunset show on our paved performance pad at Lake Ontario Park.
2026 Season is live! Click the schedule image below for full festival details.
The Festival
What’s On
Join us for monthly advanced contemporary classes with local dance educators! February 23, March 9, April 13, and May 4 at 10:00am-11:30am at Kingston School of Dance in the Tett Centre. $15!
Let’s Get Moving
Montreal company Grand Poney will be performing ON/OFF for Kingston on June 10 at 7:00pm with a masterclass June 11! Tickets for both events are PWYC!
ON/OFF by Grand Poney
We’re Hiring: Festival Coordinator
This is a CSJ 6 week contract up to 180 hours total ($20/hour). We are looking for someone responsible and motivated to furthering the exposure of dance across the city through festival organization, communication, and in person community engagement.
Open Call: Community Performance
Ground UP is looking for local dance groups/collectives to perform on July 4th in a Community Performance at Springer Market Square. This opportunity will include free performance space, documentation, technical support, and more!
Choreographic Thinking for Artists
with Christopher House
*Early bird rate until May 6*
Canadian choreographer, performer and educator Christopher House leads a playful weekend workshop that explores the elements of choreographic thinking in relation to all artistic disciplines.
This workshop is for professional and experienced amateur artists making work in forms other than dance (e.g. visual arts, theatre, architecture, theatre, writing, music or cinema) who are curious about the potential of choreographic thinking in their practice and for choreographers working in dialogue with other art forms.
The goal of the workshop is to explore how the elements of choreographic thinking– spatial, temporal and sensory –can enhance a diverse range of creative gestures. We will work together with an optimistic rigour that foregrounds play, risk, pleasure and the generative nature of failure.
Participants must be willing to take turns engaging as performer-collaborators in the work of their peers. As such, it is helpful to have experience in a physical practice (not necessarily dance-based) and an appetite for the pleasures of movement.
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