OUR STORY

The evolution of TOES FOR DANCE has been an adventure of collaboration and community - and we’re just getting started! Immense gratitude to the incredible people and organizations who’ve supported us and helped shaped the vision for our organization and programming along the way. Scroll down to read our story, or use the jump links below!

NURTURING Beginnings

TOES FOR DANCE (TFD) Co-Founders David Norsworthy and Kristen Carcone met in high school at Cawthra Park’s Regional Arts Program. Both spearheaded educational initiatives prior to joining forces.

In 2007, David launched Fresh Dance Intensive, an artist-driven non-hierarchical workshop format through which peers could share movement inspirations. Simultaneously, Kristen founded the Youth Dance Artist Project in association with Dancemakers. Kristen began teaching for Fresh and shortly thereafter became Associate Director. We refined a teaching methodology for Fresh, focusing on holistic empowerment and the development of transferable life-skills, and in response, Kristen established the Fresh Teacher Training Program in 2011.

The first summer of Fresh Dance Intensive in 2007. Class led by Raymond Interior at Canadian Dance Company.

The idea for TOES FOR DANCE was sparked by a mutual interest in contributing to the cultural ecology of Toronto. Initial brainstorming between David and Kristen began during a Fresh workshop tour to Dawson Creek, BC. We felt energized to help foster engaged audiences and cultivate future advocates/ambassadors for the arts, and so, what is now TFD began in 2012 as an unincorporated general partnership called ‘knees and toes’.

Fresh 2010 at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre. Class led by Cristina Yuen.

Original Fresh logo (2007-2010).

L to R: Lea Ved, David Norsworthy, Cory Barnette, Scott McCabe and Kristen Carcone in Sleep by Garth Johnson (2012).

knees and TOES

Left to right: Kelly Shaw, Alvin Collantes, and Colleen Snell in Sleep by Garth Johnson. Alejandro Rodriguez, Kelly Shaw, Belinda McGuire in Now is the Time by Alejandro Rodriguez/Cindy Salgado. Eli Bauer, Kristen Carcone, Kelly Shaw in a work by Bynh Ho.

Between 2012-2015 (as Fresh continued), we produced annual mixed-bill performances, fostering artistic exchange between New York (or NY, pronounced as ‘knee’) and Toronto (or TO, transformed into ‘toe’ - hence the name). These productions, with various titles including knees and toes and entrances and exits, featured 16-20 artists each year and enjoyed enthusiastic reception from student/public audiences in Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, London and Ottawa. Funded entirely through earned revenue, in-kind/volunteer support, private sector awards/donations, and Co-Director investment, our total audience count exceeded 5700, including groups from local high schools.

A key feature of these productions was the brief spoken interludes between pieces to offer tips/advice for watching dance (i.e. offering somatic approaches for embodied witnessing through breath/sensation). Highlights: winning the Madrigano Award from The Juilliard School (David’s alma mater), featuring works by renowned artists like Bessie-award winning choreographer Camille A Brown and Order of Canada recipient Peggy Baker among others, mentoring workshop alumni as apprentices, and receiving praise from the Dance Current.

You can learn more about these productions in our archive.

Featured knees and toes artists 2013 (top) and 2014 (bottom).

Robbie Moore, Kate Holden in Without Notice by Bryan Arias.

Austin Diaz and Jonathan Campbell (MADBOOTS DANCE) in their work All Good Sons.

David Norsworthy and Belinda McGuire rehearsing for Baroque Suite by David Earle.

EXPANDED PROGRAMMING

Ignite! 2015 (left) photo by Alvin Collantes and Ignite! 2019 (right) photo by Kendra Epik.

In 2013, with the support of Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, we launched Ignite!. The program started as a residency for emerging choreographers and soon grew to become a popular summer intensive focused on creative process/collaboration and networking for emerging artists. Ignite! was an annual program reaching 30-50 students each year, and included a tuition-free stream for early-career professionals starting in 2018, made possible with the support of our donors.

Between 2014-2015, Kristen organized a popular Improvisation Jam Series, fostering cross-disciplinary exchange.

TFD Improvisation Jam in 2015 at the Actors Fund Arts Centre (New York City).

BUILDING A NON-PROFIT

We incorporated as a non-profit and officially changed our name to TOES FOR DANCE in 2015. Focusing on our home city, T.O.E.S. became an acronym for The Outreach and Exchange Strategy; highlighting the central tenets of our mission.

In this year, TFD officially adopted Fresh Dance Intensive, which had grown to become a national workshop tour engaging 45+ emerging instructors through 20+ events annually; reaching more than 1700 young people in 2015. Fresh offered both merit-based and need-based scholarships.

In December 2015, we presented the TFD Festival featuring Callahan Connor and Belinda McGuire; offering a total of six shows and two workshops at the Aki Studio Theatre in Toronto. The festival’s presentation of Belinda McGuire’s Three Muses was named one of the Top Five dance events of 2015 in the Globe and Mail. You can read more about these productions in our archive.

Fresh in Edmonton, Alberta.

Fresh in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Belinda McGuire performing Three Muses (2015).

Callahan Connor performing The Living Shhh (2015).

REFLECTING AND ReFOCUSING

After a few years of intense programming, TFD engaged in a strategic hiatus in 2016. David and Kristen felt compelled to re-invest in their own artistic careers and re-evaluate TFD’s activities. This curiosity manifested as a research project, Designing for Dance, in partnership with DanceWorks and funded by the Metcalf Foundation. Through prototyping sessions and focus groups, we experimented with how Design Thinking methodologies can be applied to the dance sector; informing a strategic planning process.

Fresh Dance Intensive re-launched in 2017, shifting to small-scale events to prioritize student-teacher relationships. Two alumni were hired as Faculty Members, including Chantelle Good. During this year, David was awarded the Inspiring Youth Arts Award from the Living Arts Centre and the funds supported mentorship for 3 local emerging dancers.

TFD’s focus shifted more towards a dance company format in the following five years. In mid 2019, TFD participated in Business/Arts’ sponsorship training program ArtsVest and then in December 2019 we expanded our leadership team by including Chantelle Good and JT Papandreos (both former students of Fresh Dance Intensive) as Artistic Associates.

TFD’s logo 2016-2022.

The cast of Dinner is Served by Kristen Carcone (2023). Photo by Aidan Tooth.

IMMERSIVE AND INTERACTIVE PRODUCTIONS

In 2018 we partnered with the City of Mississauga and the Small Arms Society to produce/present 4-7-8, an immersive dance-theatre work by Kristen tackling themes around mental health and anxiety.

Photo by Francesca Chudnoff.

In 2019 we co-presented Possibilities of Dialogue with North York Arts, a participatory event focusing on community-building through co-creation choreographed/performed by David and Marielis Garcia.

Photo by Kendra Epik.

In 2021, TFD presented Elusive Truths, created by David with Monèt Noelle Marshall. Elusive Truths was a participatory choreography dealing with radical honesty and the materiality of emotion.

Photo by Aidan Tooth.

In 2023, Kristen Carcone created/directed Dinner is Served; a full-length sold-out immersive dance-theatre work at Campbell House Museum, interrogating gender roles and white privilege.

You can read more about these productions in our Production Archive.

David Norsworthy in Elusive Truths (2021). Photo by Kendra Epik.

PANDEMIC RESILIENCE

Then, Covid-19 hit! Possibilities of Dialogue was selected as a North York Cultural Hotspot project and was re-imagined as a virtual presentation. Fresh and Ignite! both transitioned to digital platforms, and we offered a one-time program called Mentorship Month online.

In 2021, Fresh returned to in-person as an outdoor workshop and Ignite! was offered as a hybrid program. Kristen and Chantelle also launched Leading with Curiosity, a new online version of the Fresh Teacher Training Program. In response to a lack of indoor performance opportunities and a strong desire to create visibility for dance in public space, we founded Common Ground Dance Festival in October 2021. The festival’s intercultural mission has since become a significant part of TFD’s approach to all programming. You can read more about the festival here.

Ignite! became known as Ignite Movement Lab and enjoyed its 10th and final iteration in 2022, led by Chantelle Good. Also in 2022, TFD began conversations with the City of Toronto about the arts space crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Following this dialogue, we piloted Process+Practice (P+P) in partnership with the City of Toronto/Assembly Hall in Etobicoke in 2023. You can learn more about the P+P Dance Residency here and the P+P Series here.

Ignite! Online 2020 via Zoom.

Fresh took place in a parking lot in 2021. Photo by Kendra Epik.

A NEW CHAPTER

Kristen’s life-long dream of directing and choreographing for Broadway became reality and she stepped down from TFD in mid-2023, after more than 10 years of co-leadership.

Chantelle, who took over the artistic leadership of Fresh Dance Intensive as Program Director in 2023, became TFD’s Co-Artistic Director in 2024. We are now in the nascent stages of our new chapter; focused on the sustainability of our current programs and staff.

You can read more about the Leadership Transition here.

David and Kristen on tour in British Columbia where the idea for starting TFD was first discussed (2012).

David and Chantelle at TFD’s Infinity Cocktail Party fundraiser and season launch event (2024).

David and Chantelle co-hosting Common Ground Dance Festival 2023. Photo by Kendra Epik.