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About Us

ABOUT FFDN 

10 Year Highlights at a Glance:

  • 82 Mainstage Performances
  • 56 Mainstage Canadian Companies or Independent Artists
  • 35 Mainstage International Companies or Independent Artists
  • 20 FFDN Original Dance Commissions
  • 87,212 Audience Members
  • 220,689 Free Public Outreach Attendees
  • 20,326 Free Digital Programming Reach (2020 - 2024)
  • 328,227 Grand Total Reached

Post-Pandemic Finance Snapshot (2022 - 2024)

  • Average Expenses (2022-2024): $1,624,477
  • Average Earned Revenue: 11%
  • Average Private Funding: 52%
  • Average Public Funding: 27%


2024: The 10th Anniversary

In November, 2024, FFDN was thrilled to welcome new Festival Director & Co-CEO Lily Sutherland and Artistic Director & Co-CEO Robert Binet, along with incoming Board Chair Karen Sparks, to lead FFDN into its next decade!

This exciting news came on the heels of a vibrant festival that celebrated FFDN’s 10th Anniversary and honoured Founding Artistic Director Ilter Ibrahimof, for whom the 2024 festival was his final curation.

Before going any further, we should give a shout out to departing FFDN founder/artistic director, Ilter Ibrahimof, the visionary behind this important dance festival. His legacy is monumental in terms of making Toronto a dance city of note.

During this first decade, FFDN has become one of the most important dance festivals in Canada for the sheer length and breadth of its programming, which includes ticketed events, live freebees and digital fare. In other words, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 6, Toronto is awash in wall to wall dance. 

Paula Citron, SCRUTINY | Fall For Dance North Homecoming Program Offers Dazzling Trio Of Works, Oct 2, 2024

Energized audiences were inspired by 23 performances presented across 6 venues over 11 days!  
10 years and the donors, dancers, board, volunteers and staff who were instrumental to the festival’s success were celebrated with toasts, performances and a disco at Studio 24.
 
11 local and national partners joined FFDN in presenting an expanded International Presenters Program (IPP), an industry marketplace that had previously been held in conjunction with the festival (2017 - 2019). 138 delegates from around the globe attended five days of showcases, performances, and information/networking sessions to discover the work of over 65 Canadian dance artists. 

2023:

As performers, their personal journeys from an impoverished township to
international dance fame gave “My Mother’s Son” a depth of meaning no other
artists could hope to achieve.
Michale Crabb, Toronto Star, December 23, 2023 in naming Siphesihle and Mthuthuzeli November’s performance at FFDN one of the 10 best dance performances of the year

FFDN branched out into the presentation of full-evening works with 11 performances of Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot performed by Charlotte Ballet at Ada Slaight Hall. Two Signature Programmes were on tap. Overall, the festival featured the work of dancemakers from 8 countries! 

Tkaronto Open, an Indigenous dance competition, premiered at Union Station on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Co-produced with Indigenous artists Freddy Gipp and Thunder Jack, the event featured virtuosic dancing, live music, an artisanal market, and a profound spirit of community.

Barney Bayliss brought his considerable skills to the festival as Director of Production and Felicia Myronyk joined the FFDN Advancement team.

2022:

I have LOVED and deeply APPRECIATED FFDN - thank you for all you do, and for the great energy from your team. In my experience it's an outstanding festival.
FFDN Audience Member

Despite adversity, FFDN never lost the passion and faith that made the first festival a reality. In 2022, we returned to theatres full-scale. Jera Wolfe’s magnificent Arise, performed by 146 students from Canada’s National Ballet School closed the Signature Programme, moving people to tears every night as they once again experienced the emotive journey of live dance performance.

Dance artistry in film was highlighted in the premiere season of 8-Count, FFDN’s short film series.

2012-2022 Artists in Residence Natasha Powell and Kimberley Cooper brought their expertise in vernacular jazz to the FFDN stage.

Melina Osorio joined the FFDN Finance team.

2021:  

As this festival inevitably always does, it gave us new perspectives and cracked open the world of dance a little more.

The 7th FFDN festival featured five mainstage digital performances that established a cross-Canada and international following - viewers from 32 countries in 2021! FFDN also boldly yet carefully returned to in-person programming by launching an outdoor performance series, Heirloom, beyond the GTA in partnership with regional presenters. 

Vikram Dasgupta joined FFDN as Renette and David Berman Filmmaker-in-Residence and brought his exceptional cinematic eye to FFDN’s international 2021 Signature Program, shot on location in India, Cuba and the UK. Vikram also directed FFDN’s season-opening livestream, Côté Danse’s X(Dix). 

Five of the films produced in 2021 are currently streaming on the international streaming platform, Marquee TV

Valerie Wilder was elected Chair of the Board of Directors and Aviva Fleising joined FFDN as General Manager. 

In all, FFDN created paid work in mid-pandemic 2021 for 275 artists and behind the scenes arts workers.

2020:

Fall for Dance North festival doesn’t miss a beat in pivot to online program.
Review by Penelope Ford, Globe and Mail, Oct 6, 2020

Buoyed by the 5th anniversary celebrations and ambitiously working toward future expansion, the FFDN team was shocked by the force with which the COVID pandemic slammed the door on our plans. But perhaps it is no coincidence that 2020’s word of the year, “pivot”, is also a dance term. The FFDN 2020 digital festival, The Flip Side, positioned itself as the cool alternative to a #1 hit, delivering a more personal view of the art form through new, original content and, in particular, highlighting Toronto-based artists.

Artistic Director Ilter Ibrahimof was named the recipient of the Sandra Faire Next Generation Award by the Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame.

Milana Glumicic joined the FFDN team. 

 

2019: The 5th Anniversary

The title really does it justice, as I fall in love with dance (again) every single year! The amount you pay for the talent you see is unbelievable. I will continue to go every year.
FFDN audience member 

In its 5th Anniversary Season, FFDN was honored to share the transportive movement of Skånes Dansteater. Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa commanded the Meridian Hall stage, and FFDN’s first world Indigenous dance programme drew rave reviews. 

Anne Plamondon was named FFDN’s first Artist in Residence. 

2018:

Fall for Dance North is a magnificent, eclectic festival these days.
John Doyle in selecting FFDN as a cultural event of the year, Globe and Mail, December 22, 2018


By 2018, FFDN had added two new venue partners: Toronto Metropolitan University in what is now The Chrysalis theatre and Union as the station’s original dance programming partner.

With the ability to present works in spaces best suited to the dancemaker’s intent, FFDN deepened its connections with the Toronto dance community through: 

  • 36 hours of free Open Studio programming at Union Station
  • Female choreographer and world Indigenous focused programmes at TMU

Lily Sutherland joined FFDN as Festival Coordinator, her first of many roles with the organization.

2017:

The audience is equally diverse and multi-generational. That's not what I normally encounter at dance performances. The FFDN audiences are also vocal and enthusiastic and I appreciate that.
2017 Audience Member

The founding board, chaired by Barbara Frum, with Directors Stephen Delaney, Robert Lowry, Heather Ogden, Sonia Rodriguez and Gretchen Ross elected Joan Lozinki as Chair in 2017 to steer this new smash-hit dance festival with big dreams.

Christina Giannelia joined as General Manager in 2017 when Madeleine Skoggard stepped down.

2016: 

Globe and Mail Dance Critic Martha Shabas named FFDN’s presentation of A Picture of You Falling by Crystal Pite as one of the top 10 dance performances in Toronto in 2016!

FFDN grew its team: Melissa Forstner (Director of Advancement) and Nicole Crozier (Marketing Manager) joined in 2016.

2015: The Inaugural Festival

“It felt like the audience’s collective enthusiasm and joy would blow the roof off the Sony Centre.”
2015 Audience Member

Fall for Dance North (FFDN) launched in 2015 on passion and faith. Founding Artistic Director Ilter Ibrahimof and founding Executive Director Madeleine Skoggard joined forces to co-present, with what is now TO Live, three sold out performances at the then Sony Centre, with the support of Mark Hammond (Sony Centre), and Michael Caldwell (Artistic Producer) and Simon Rossiter (Director of Design) at FFDN. 

The Fall for Dance North model was born*: mixed bill evenings of discovery featuring international and Canadian work for a supremely affordable ticket price. For 10 years, this model has inspired the growth of a more diverse and invested dance audience that supports professional dance throughout the year.

*Modeled on the New York festival, running at New York City Center since 2004 – and with the blessing of then City Center President and CEO Arlene Shuler