Dance Together Festival

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Toronto, ON
Dance Together Festival

Free outdoor workshops and community events that celebrate positive and accessible dance experiences

07/28/2025

Soooo many moments of joy to share with you in this year's recap by Kendra Epik Photography

Taking the opportunity to thank all who made this year's festival possible:

DANCE ARTISTS
Rajvi Dedhia (Bollywood) Rajvi Dedhia
Jaws Siriano Balenciaga (Vogue)
Lua Shayenne (Dances and Rhythms of Africa)
Clara Steinhagen (Brazilian Forró)
Alexandra “Niyi” Tauhid (Hip Hop)
Chan of Carnival Spice (Soca)
Victoria "Vicky" Yeung (Swing)
Miha Matevzic (Vernacular Jazz)
Shakkoi Hibbert (Master of Ceremonies)

GUEST PERFORMERS
Anita Pandey (Kathak)
Nichole Leveck (Fancy Shawl)
Dance by Khruzina (Kids Disco)

MUSIC ARTISTS
Carlos Cardozo Band Carlos Cardozo Music
The Pepper Shakers Hank Fox

MURAL ARTISTS
Frannie Potts
Savannah Samuels
Shea Nemeth
Natalie Szewei .szewai
(with help from community volunteers)

SOUND
Gerald Said

PHOTOGRAPHY
Mirna Chacín

ARTISTIC PRODUCERS
Katya Kuznetsova .ya.kuz and Mel Hart

FUNDING AND SUPPORT
Arts in the Parks Toronto
Toronto Arts Council
Toronto Arts Foundation
Lakeshore Arts
Mimico-by-the-Lake BIA

07/10/2025

Dance the night away!

DAY 4 of Dance Together Festival 📸 by
We had a blast with and with Vernacular Jazz and Swing, and line danced to tunes from The Pepper Shakers!

It was amazing dancing with everyone!

07/09/2025

We were vibing!!!!!

DAY 3 of Dance Together Festival 📸 by
We had a blast with and of with Hip Hop and Soca in the square!

It was amazing dancing with everyone!

06/27/2025

Day 2 of Dance Together Festival! 🎉👯💃🏽🕺🏽

Here are more amazing captures by from Mimico Square!

Shoutout to our awesome instructors/ performers💕
Nichole Leveck, , .stein

Serving up Dances and Rhythms of Africa, Fancy Shawl, Jazz Funk, Brazilian Forró!

More dancing to be had this weekend with part 2 of the festival! Friday June 27 & Saturday June 28!

06/26/2025

We are DANCING! 🎉👯💃🏽🕺🏽

Here are some amazing captures by on our first day of Dance Together Festival at Mimico Square!

Shoutout to our awesome instructors/ performer💕

Serving up Bollywood, Vogue and Kathak in one evening!
Host by the talented ✨

And another big thanks to and her whole team of assistants and community volunteers for making an epic dance floor!

06/19/2025

TADA! What a masterpiece! 😱🤩🥳

HUGE congrats and gratitude to and to all the assistants and community volunteers who came by to help bring this mural to life! Thank you to our community partner for your support in making this a success!

Design & Lead Artist 🎨
Frannie Potts -

Assistants 🫟
Savannah -
Shea -
Natalie - .szewei

Community Volunteers 🖌️
Dani -
Esther -
Celeste -
Collin -
Max -
Keisha -
Adriana
Mads -
yoana -
Camila
Pavlo -
Irene
Shamiya
Mike - .smart.realestate
Liza
Rhea
Justin
Leanne
Isabel -
Dayna -
Eleanor
Sree -
Ronnie
Camila
Emma
Dj
Herner
Sophia

Photos by: 📸
Keep an eye out for more gorgeous photos coming up!

Join us this weekend and next (June 20, 21 & 27, 28) on this gorgeous dance floor for free community dance workshops and live music. Full event schedule in our bio!

06/18/2025

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Mel Hart, Co-producer 💃🏽🎤💡

Mel is no stranger to Dance Together Festival as she has facilitated workshops last year and co-produced DTF York Region. Catch her hyping up the crowd and getting down in the square with all the movers!

Born and residing in Scarborough, Mel Hart is a passionate dance artist, educator, and emerging curator. With a BFA with Honours specializing in Dance from York University, she is the co-artistic director of SaMel Tanz and Lead choreographer for Bix Co. Events. When Mel isn’t on stage dancing her heart out she is bringing joy, fostering unity and improving accessibility to dance for diverse communities across Canada in safe and inspiring environments. By focusing on inclusion and community-building she aims to provide marginalized groups access to dance spaces and build connections between artists and audiences.

Mel is a faculty member of City Centre Dance where she teaches Hip Hop and Western Contemporary, an associate artist with Nova Dance, and has curated events for Toronto Community Housing, StreetARTToronto, Dancemakers and Dance Together Project.

06/18/2025

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Katya Kuznetsova, Co-founder & Co-producer 🧠💃👯🎉

Katya is always seen dancing, smiling and passionately encouraging people to dance together! This festival is as impactful because of her dedication and mission to continue to make dance accessible and fun for all ages!

A dancer since the age of eight, Katya loves inspiring people to dance anywhere and everywhere. Katya spent her twenties in Anchorage, Alaska and enjoyed an active career as a performer, choreographer and educator while on faculty at the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In 2007, she produced the first Dance Together Alaska Festival to help build an active network between dance communities state-wide. Since moving to Toronto, Canada in 2009 and earning a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Dramaturgy and Choreography, she has worked as an independent artist, educator and cultural producer. She founded the Dance Together Project () in 2017 as a platform to create positive dance experiences for adult learners. She has developed and facilitated mixed abilities dance programs for Wheel Dance, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Sarah Elizabeth Centre and over a dozen retirement residences across the GTA.

06/12/2025

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Mirna Chacín, Photographer 📸

knows how to capture the best moments at Dance Together Festival! She has been a vital team member who brings amazing energy to our festival!

Mirna Chacín is a Venezuelan-born Canadian visual artist passionate about people and telling their stories through photography. Her artwork reflects on concepts around loss and grief, uprooting, belonging and people’s traditions through the engagement of communities from a perspective of diversity and inclusion. Mirna has received grants from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Art Council, and the RBC access found by Toronto Art Foundation. She is also very proud of being awarded the Community Impact award by the Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto for her outstanding volunteering contributions and telling the stories of newcomer inclusion through photography. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Mirna has been working on a poetic Memorial devoted to loss and grief in pandemic times called Elegy for Souls on Hold with the support of ArtworxTO, the year of the city’s public art 2021-2022 of Toronto; exhibited once as part of the collective “Homeland, Bodies of Water.” She is a member of CARFAC Ontario, Bereavement Ontario Networking, Arts Etobicoke and gallery 44.

Thank you to and for helping us bring the Dance Together Festival to Mimico for the last 8 years!

📸

06/10/2025

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Shakkoi, Master of Ceremonies 🎤

We are so excited to have the fabulous Shakkoi back to host Dance Together Festival 2025b!

Shakkoi aka is a dancer, author and spoken word poetry artist. Her business Floetry Fitness focuses on creating spaces for movement and poetry and has been seen on Breakfast Television’s Movin in the Mornings, as well as at the Nia Centre, Black Women in Motion and the City of Pickering. Shakkoi’s unique, raw, inviting and powerful presence encourages many to “Release their Doubts & Step Out!”. With plenty of experiences to share, there is no doubt that everyone needs some Koi in their lives! Shakkoi has been with the Dance Together Festival since 2021 both as a dance artist and Master of Ceremonies.

06/09/2025

ARTIST LEAD SPOTLIGHT: Frannie Potts

is leading our team of volunteers this week to repaint the Mimico Square into an imaginative, interactive dance floor to bring vibrant energy to the space!

Frannie Potts is a Toronto-based artist, muralist and educator with over a decade of experience. Her creative work lives at the intersection of whimsical and surreal, captivating viewers with brightly coloured figures and abstract backgrounds.

Frannie believes that art-making should be accessible to everyone, and strives to make this a reality in her home community of Scarborough. This led her to become the cofounder and artistic director of Scarbrite, a grassroots community arts organization whose goal is to brighten the streets of Scarborough through co-creating works of art.

Frannie has also made her mark in the arts community through her work with numerous organizations, including but not limited to VIBE Arts, StArt Toronto, Scarborough Arts, Mural Routes, Urban Arts, and Workman Arts. Her work has been featured on the TTC, CP24, The York Guardian, Toronto.com and more.

Address

Toronto, ON

Website

http://dancetogetherfestival.com/

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