Kaeja d’Dance‘s beloved summer community dance project, Porch View Dances (PVD), returning for its 13th year on July 17-21, 2024. This year’s site-specific, outdoor dance event in Toronto’s historic Seaton Village neighbourhood will explore the healing power of play, curated by Mayumi Lashbrook, a Japanese Canadian artist whose practice spans performance, choreography, production, and education.
PVD, founded by Karen Kaeja and developed with Allen Kaeja, will launch at the corner of Seaton Village’s London Street and Porch View Dances Lane – recently renamed by the City of Toronto in honour of the annual dance event – and audiences will be led through a series of Seaton Village streets, homes, and spaces by tour guide Kunji Ikeda, a theatre artist and entertainer.
This year’s roving PVD will feature porch performances choreographed by Toronto dancemakers, including Sid Ryan Eilers, Fer Camacho, and Zita Nyarady. The works, performed by non-professional participants, will be interspersed with short dance vignettes, choreographed by Esie Mensah. The open-air experience will conclude with the premiere of a multifaceted work by longtime PVD collaborator and Indigenous creator, Jim Adams, in partnership with Heryka Miranda (Saturday and Sunday only), and the return of PVD’s beloved, interactive finale, Flock Landing – an audience-inclusive gentle movement installation, led by Kaeja d’Dance dancer Mio Sakamoto.
