In Dialogue: where artists meet audiences

On January 11, 2025, DanceWorks and Nia Centre for the Arts are pleased to present Nickeshia Garrick: In Dialogue – where artists meet audiences. 

Audiences will experience a first look at multidisciplinary performance artist Nickeshia Garrick’s, the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us, a new work that is informed by the physicality and energy surrounding Black socio-political movements and their impact on Black performance art from the 1960s to now, across Turtle Island. This work will embody specific gestures and expressions from these historical moments through the lens of Garrick’s blackness, queerness and ancestral blood memory. 

the ties that Bind us, the ties that Bond us emerges as a virtuosic movement story that will connect the audience to her lived experiences through song, dance and spoken word. After the performance, the audience will be invited to engage in vibrant dialogue with Nickeshia Garrick about her evolving performance and research practice. Join us and witness her detail the explorations and discoveries that occurred during her 6-month Fellowship with DanceWorks and her plans for her ever-expanding performance practice. 

This event is done in partnership with:

About the Artist

Nickeshia Garrick is a settler on the stolen land of Tkarón:to and has performed on this land for over 25 years. They are unapologetically a Black, Queer Artist, who believes in the healing power of breath through raw emotion and movement. Nickeshia received their dance training at the Carousel Dance Centre (Kitchener), the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), the National Ballet School of Canada (Tkarón:to), Toronto Dance Theatre (Tkarón:to), and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). Nickeshia has received the privilege of performing in pieces by TDT, Tara Butler, Kaeja d’ Dance, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Ballet Jorgen, the Newton Moraes Dance Theatre and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre.

Nickeshia is a Dora Mavor Moore, winning and multi-nominated artist who holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University, is an Equity Programming Advisory Committee member with Kaeja D’dance, and a Co-Founder of CinnaMoon Collective, a Central American and Afro-Caribbean contemporary dance duo that is dedicated to reclaiming and honouring ancestral stories from a decolonial perspective.        

DanceWorks’ Inaugural Emerging-to-Mid-Career Fellow, Nickeshia Garrick, is supported through partnerships with the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora, the Toronto Biennial of Art, and the Nia Centre for the Arts, with archival support from Vtape, FADO Performance Art, and ArQuives.

DanceWorks would like to extend a special thank you to their funders: 

Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Canadian Heritage, as well as our incredible individual donors who so generously contribute to the sustainability and evolution of the Canadian arts sector.