[Review] Fall for Dance North 2025: HOMEGROWN Signature Programme 2

As a seasonal team member of Fall for Dance North in Toronto, I have the distinct privilege of having seen FFDN grow from its early days to what it is now – a multicultural, international dance festival that strives to put its city at its core.

With HOMEGROWN: Signature Programme 2, it's done exactly that. HOMEGROWN was the second mainstage programme of 2025's FFDN Festival. Unlike AFROFUSION and KATHAK & BALLET, this compilation featured only local artists in a variety of disciplines, from popping to traditional West African dance to contemporary ballet.

It's a callback to the heart of Toronto and FFDN's own core roots of always partnering with at at least one Canadian company in each festival iteration.

HOMEGROWN featured, in order,

• Lady C
• The National Ballet of Canada
• Lua Shayenne Dance Company
• Kwasi Obeng-Adjei & Percy Anane-Dwumfour (choreographed by Kwasi and Ambrose Tjark of Nigeria)

Lady C

Caroline "Lady C" Fraser is a street dance and popping sensation and international icon, with a large following on social media to boot. Talk about girl power.

She's also a musician and singer, creating tracks and tunes under her alternate stage name, CEE., or also as Lady C. She created the track herself to her piece, CYMATIX.

Opening the show to a cacophony of cymbals and grandiose, CYMATIX is a revival of its last year's premiere at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance. Lady C emerged from the darkness, center stage.

In classic Lady C fashion, she was dressed in an all-white flowy suit with a wide-brimmed hat obstructing her face, hair tied back in a low bun. It's hard to tell at first if she's a man or a woman. One might even call her The (Wo)man in White.

As soon as she popped that first muscle, the audience was hooked.

The piece conducts itself in three "acts," of sorts. The first act involves a show of good ol' traditional popping on a minimalist stage. You have to see it to believe it; Lady C's articulations are wild. You can never get a bad seat watching her perform because every vibration, every minute detail, gets passed to the back of the house like an electric current.

After a vibrant snap to black, the second act fades in with a more down-toned feel. A singular beam of light shining straight down from the grid is the only illumination. Lady C paces around, then gradually enters a more thoughtful, weighted popping section, as if each contraction was trying to tell us something. The mood is ghostly and airy. Throughout the whole piece, the lighting shifts from shades of hazy blue to purple and the occasional ambient red.

The third act begins when Lady C faces the back of the stage on a diagonal, entire body vibrating in time to the music, positioned like a cartoon on pause. A side light brings a hidden microphone on the other side of the diagonal into view.

Imagine everyone's wonder when Lady C slowly manoeuvred her way over, opened her mouth, and let out the most resonant, deep, soulful voice anyone had ever heard – my ears were drenched in nectar.

As Lady C performed an impressive display of "looping" – reversing and un-reversing a sequence of movements, like a record playing forward and backward – the haunting tune dispersed from lyrics to an echoing hum.

At one point, she grabbed the microphone from the stand and swung it around her body in calculated practice, bringing her to a final conclusion kneeling on the floor, arching her back in a slow circle as the lights faded to black.

The audience erupted in cheers, and Lady C got her deserved standing ovation.

CYMATIX won the TAPA Dora Mavor Moore Award in 2024 for Outstanding Choreography and Performance. At its simplest, it's about the synchronicity of body and tune – how every note of a track can be articulated and presented in physical form. But lurking beneath the surface is a multifaceted personification of the human journey, from life and vibrancy to sombreness and, eventually, a wistful conclusion.

It's the music of the soul.

After all is said and danced, what's left is only the haunting humming resounding through the air, and a voice softly singing...

Maybe we lost our minds, or am I the only one? Maybe we all just dizzy spinning round and round the sun...

The National Ballet of Canada

In a very smooth transition to another cinematic experience, The National Ballet of Canada (NBoC) presented Reverence, choreographed by Ethan Colangelo. Reverence is also a revival, having had its world premiere in 2024 on NboC's home stage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

There's a very raw power to it, eminent of its source from a young choreographer. Colangelo grew up dancing in Toronto (in fact, he trained with one of our staff members from FFDN) before pursuing a degree at Juilliard.

According to FFDN's website, it's "a work inspired by the Hieronymus Bosch painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. It explores how contrasting emotions like anxiety and euphoria can coexist in the body." The original score, haunting and luminous, is composed by Ben Waters.

I could describe Colangelo's work as powerful, dynamic, exciting – all the good stuff. But what I was most impressed with, stunning visuals aside, was how seamlessly he managed to piece the duets/trios together.

Reverence opened with a solo dancer standing onstage, arm swaying out to the side, back bent at such a physics-defying angle that his head wasn't even visible. The rest of the group slowly emerged, shifting and twitching in a cohort like they're uncomfortable to come forward. A huge AURORA LED light hung midway down from the grid, bathing them in a bright orange hue. Haze hung heavy in the air.

The dancers jolted with primal, animalistic moves before making way for smoother, suspended partner work featuring a variety of daring aerial lifts and, more excitingly, drops! At some point the AURORA light was removed and a long row of LEDs came down at the back.

This section with the lifts, duets, and trios was particularly aesthetic thanks to the hazy, orange atmosphere and the lights shining from behind. It looked like a scene from a 16:9 ratio movie.

One moment, the dancers walked forward as a group, and it was like seeing the sons and daughters of Adonis in the flesh, come down from the heavens to bless our unworthy souls (just kidding). But, seriously, whoever designed the costumes made sure to show off every rippling muscle on these people.

Reverence is definitely one of the stronger new pieces in NBoC's repertoire from up-and-coming or invited choreographers. As NBoC leans into a fresh era of boldness and neon signage, this piece seems perfectly in line with the tune they're currently singing to.

It's mesmerizing. Hypnotic. Cinematic.

It's a piece that can attract both dance-lovers and first-timers alike. The future of dance is exactly this.

Lua Shayenne Dance Company

After intermission, Lua Shayenne Dance Company (LSDC) started off Act Two with a humorous, theatrical display by breaking the fourth wall – peeping out from behind the wings like animated characters – and acknowledging the audience's presence. They invited us to make the journey with them from the Motherland to Canada and back, all to the beat of traditional African percussion.

LSDC is the pioneer of West African dance in Toronto. Lua Shayenne's piece was undoubtedly a different vibe from the rest, for good reason. Journey to the Motherland, while redone in a completely new way for FFDN, has been presented under the same name with different choreography and music for various community shows.

That means, in essence, the piece must be clear, understandable, and energetic. And energetic they were. The choreography LSDC presented were moves that technically anyone could do – that's the whole point. West African dance is rooted in community. Their dances are meant to be shared, danced on the street, danced around a bonfire. Gathering is their birthright.

It's also insanely tiring if you shake it like Lua Shayenne and her dancers did. The three of them gave it their all, stomping and pivoting barefoot and whipping their heads back and forth. They also used sticks in some sections and incorporated some history (eg. "plowing and planting the land" before breaking into another bout of frenzied dancing). Their feet never stopped moving.

The four live drummers no doubt enhanced the experience. Their drumming was deliciously precise, and during a quick-change interlude, they stepped forward for their own moment in the spotlight, hands beating faster and faster on the drum skin, never running out of power.

I heard an audience member say the drummers were their favourite part of the whole programme.

And the best part? Lua Shayenne's all about inclusivity. One of her dancers admitted to being very new to the style during the student matinee talkback (see below), having just graduated from dance school. But if there's anything African dance teaches us, it's that anyone can join with the right spirit.

Kwasi & Percy (Choreographed by Kwasi & Ambrose)

Kwasi Obeng-Adjei and Percy Anane-Dwumfour are the new kids on the block.

Sort of.

Both of them have been in the dance scene for a long time, and Percy has a social media following to rival Lady C's. Kwasi and Percy are also cousins! The work they performed, however, has a definite "new kid on the block" vibe.

echoes of the same tree was conceived and choreographed by Kwasi and Ambrose Tjark of Nigeria (another big social media star). Unfortunately, Ambrose was not able to make it to perform, so Percy took on the role.

Their dance was a fresh blend of traditional African, hip hop, and personal groove that's been a long time coming in the dance world. Never have I been so invested in a duet before these two.

Every pump of the chest, every cheeky swag, screamed, "This is me. This is my heritage." As a volunteer next to me described, this wasn't a show. It was them telling us who they were. And as they told us who they were, they accented the beat of the live drum in a melodic yet grungy way, eventually seeming to embody the music itself. It was rough sophistication in the best way.

Everybody loved it. Their costume pants were designed thoughtfully with layers and layers of fringe that showed off every shake.

The amazing part was, they heard the music for the first time every time they performed because the drummer improvised off of them, and the dancers fed off of the drummer. It's the circle of life, per se.

There's a very striking scene when Kwasi and Percy held on to each other by the waist, one facing the back, and turned in halves to first show one, then the other, to the audience. With the person facing the back's right arm extended, the person facing the front improvised a couple eight-counts, doing "whatever they're feeling."

The half-turns became faster, cutting out the improvisation, and it became a mirroring act of sorts. Kwasi, Percy, Kwasi, Percy. Something so powerful about identity and "look" was being said here. Who will face the light? Are these the same creatures or different?

I was lucky to see all four performances, including the student matinee, and I could hear Yohance the drummer changing it up, experimenting with different sounds (or no sound!). There was one moment near the end that Yohance played through the first two times and left a few blank notes the last two times. Both worked. I wondered if the boys had a mini heart attack the first time that trick was played.

No doubt, Kwasi, Percy, and Ambrose are the ones to watch in the dance world.

Bonus: Student Matinee

After the three official festival performances, FFDN held a private student matinee for high schools across Toronto and the GTA. Some of them were specialized arts schools or had arts divisions.

Let me tell you, the energy of those kids was unbelievable. It was louder and more charged than the Coca-Cola Colisseum concert I went to this year (and the only concert I've ever been to). When our festival director told them it was okay to cheer, they really took it to heart.

I originally wasn't going to be at the matinee because duty called elsewhere that afternoon, but I ended up making the time for it; I was curious to observe how a young audience would react to the same show.

Am I glad I did.

Adult audiences can often hold back their joy for fear of retribution or timidness --call it social conditioning, learned discipline, whatever. Staying quiet is their respect for the artists.

Students barely at the age of legality harbour a unique opportunity to cheer, scream, shout amongst their own peers. They're not afraid of competition – their school will obviously win Loudest Cheer, of course – and they are safe from the withering glances of elderly folks who might desire peace and quiet.

Neither audience is wrong, but the student matinee definitely gave a raw, powerful energy to the artists onstage. As performers always say, they feed off of the energy of the crowd. (And, in truth, this is why dance is sometimes so difficult – anything outside the bounds of "regular" dance is often faced with confused audience reactions.)

These kids were here to have a good time. They hollered and whistled at every drop in the music, at every crescendo movement. The artists loved it, and I, watching from the very last row with the Education Coordinator who'd invited all these schools, could see it. The shift in their postures, the extra playfulness peeking through – egging the students on – they were all for it.

I knew some of the artists needed this too, the hype. I often found one of them lying on the sofa in the backstage lounge before the show, completely tuckered out. He said his entire body hurt after performing the piece. But the ecstasy of a crowd like that can get an artist through anything.

Not to mention the kids actually were engaged. They asked thoughtful questions during the talkback and gave really professional comments. Once exited the theatre, they raved about how fun it was. A group of them waited outside the door to backstage for Kwasi to come out, and they crowded around him and took photos like he was a Broadway star. To them, he was. Kwasi graduated from that particular high school!

FFDN's mission has always been to inspire audiences to choose dance, and I think it's fair to say they really hit home with this student matinee.

(Although, haha, the Education Coordinator and I shared a knowing look in the middle of Kwasi and Percy's piece, knowing what they were all really cheering for ... two ripped guys pumping it up shirtless onstage? Yeah.)

Fall for Dance North is truly a signature to Toronto's dance scene, and I'm always excited to see (or work) what's next in store.

For more information on HOMEGROWN:

https://www.ffdnorth.com/homegrown-signature-programme-2

For more information on Fall for Dance North:

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