Ground UP Dance Festival is Kingston’s dance series focused on building community, giving dance focused performance platforms, and supporting artists throughout their journey in creation and development.
Launched in Summer of 2022, and has acted as the first annual festival for professional dance in Kingston, Ontario. Each year the festival is expanding... You can expect more shows, more workshops, and more opportunities for artists to get involved, all while taking up more space in YGK.
Ground UP Dance Festival was founded through the artists of Movement Market Collective, a group of professional dance artists, coming together to support and create opportunities towards local, professional dance in Kingston. The collective focused on building community, exposing dance as its own art form and celebrating the possibilities of movement through amateur, youth and professionals alike. Through its pop-up events, workshops, and professional performances, the group realized what was missing was a production platform geared towards dance in Kingston. The pilot year of the festival began in 2021, “GROUNDED”, was co-presented with a local festival The Skeleton Park Arts Fest.
Ground UP Dance Festival stands on 4 pillars:
Presenting works by choreographers from diverse backgrounds with unique artistic visions.
Selecting artists based on their artistic merit, while providing support throughout their creative process.
Providing a platform for community building through movement experimentation and collaboration.
Nurturing accessibility in public arts.
Dance Can Exist Here.
The arts and culture scene in Kingston has been evolving for decades. The idea of dance as its own art form was overlooked until the pandemic hit in 2021. Since Kingston’s stages are located in the heart of major dance hubs such as Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and locations across the country, many traveling artists can bring their art here. More and more dance professionals are relocating to Kingston because of rising housing costs, pandemic effects, and the beauty of the city. Ground UP Dance Festival aims to support our growing local professional dance community, while exposing the city to companies and artists that aren't usually seen at our main theatres. This kind of opportunity is so important for young people in our community to feel inspired and knowledgeable about the Canadian professional dance scene. Through the platforms that Ground UP offers, we are responsible for exposing as many variations of movement art, ideas, and inspirations as possible.