The CanDance Network is an association of specialized dance presenting organizations across Canada that serves dance presenters’
needs, and supports their work with the dance community and its marketplace.
Members of the CanDance Network present seasons and/or festivals of new works in dance and related performance. Through
presentations, residencies and outreach, the CanDance Network helps to develop a growing audience for contemporary work. Members of
the CanDance Network offer the highest production values possible and pay local, national, and international artists to perform
and/or teach at theatres and site-specific venues across Canada.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Download the CanDance Network Code of Ethics