Who We Are
The CanDance Network is a vibrant national arts service organization made up of Canada’s dance presenting organizations. Together, we are the country’s largest presenter of Canadian dance. We strengthen the dance milieu through cooperating on dissemination, advocacy and research initiatives. Among our innovative programs and services are: commissioning and touring projects for dance artists, centralized tour facilitation, fee negotiation workshops, statistics gathering, and professional development training for dance presenters.
2009-2010 Board of Directors
- Chair
- Jeanne Holmes (Dance Programmer, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto)
- Vice-Chair:
- Barb Clausen (Producer, DanceHouse, Vancouver)
- Treasurer:
- Pierre Des Marais (Co-Director, Danse Danse, Montréal)
- Members of the board:
- Mimi Beck (Executive Director, CanDance Network and Dance Curator, DanceWorks, Toronto) Paul Caskey (Artistic Director, Live Art Dance Productions, Halifax) Joyce Rosario (Executive Director, New Works, Vancouver)
Mandate:
As presenters, our primary value is to encourage audiences to attend and thus positively consider dance as an important expression of contemporary Canadian culture. We recognize our broader responsibility for arts development. We support dance that challenges and educates audiences. As members of the CanDance Network, we seek partnership opportunities and actively support open communication and information sharing. We are also inclusive in our approach to expanding The CanDance Network and welcoming new members.
Mission:
To strengthen Canada’s presenting and artistic community by encouraging cooperation in the dissemination, public appreciation and commissioning of contemporary dance that reflects our diverse cultures and aesthetic points of view.
Vision:
The CanDance Network's vision for Canada is for a nation where dance performances are increasingly valued by informed, enthusiastic audiences in communities in every region of the country. Our task as a network is to use our collective resources to influence and enhance the appreciation of dance performance in Canada.
Diversity:
The CanDance Network considers…
Diversity to be the recognition that artists take as their inspiration a multiple of culturally-derived sources, either in a exclusive (one source) or mixed (or hybrid) sense. This specificity may be based on language, ethnicity, race or religion, and may include cross-cutting characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, and range of ability and age. It is a recognition that Canadian professional dance has historically been dominated by Anglo-Saxon and French-Quebec culture, with First Peoples and non-Official Language immigrant cultures occupying a rather invisible presence on Canadian stages, until relatively recently.