2023 Ground UP Dance Festival

The Second year of the dance festival was an exciting one, with more events and a busier line up. The community outreach program was the “Community Chance Dance Creation”, lead by Movement Market Collective Artist and Festival Producer Camille Spencer. Community members gathers for three intensive and beautiful creation periods exploring Merce Cunningham’s Chance Dance creation method. Supported with live music by Ryan Stilwell, the group performed a live performance to the public followed by an open Q&A. The dancers ranged from 9 - 65 yrs old.

The Festival’s Opening night party was led by Sasha French, choreographer and Movement Market collective Artist who discussed the impact of dance within multidisciplinary projects and festivals in Kingston. Hosted at Mussiiki Cafe & Whiskey Bar, the panel welcomed Melissa Noventa, Mo Horner and Greg Tilson.

Free Dance Workshops were led by the festivals featured guest artist Devanshi Mishra(Bollywood) and Benedictus Mattson(Afrobreats) in the Amphitheatre in Market Square. The workshops featured styles of dance taught reflected the artists background and the choreography they performed at the Main Stage Event of the festival.

The annual main stage performance event for The Ground UP Dance Festival, at the paved performance pad of Lake Ontario Park, featured new dance works from featured guest artists Benedictus Mattson and Devanshi Mishra, plus a new creation from emerging choreographer, Ysabel Garcia, performed by Kingston Youth, as well as performed by the Movement Market Collective and a remounted work by The Bulb Collective(Montreal).