About Porch View Dances
Globe & Mail “Best Site Specific Award (2012)”
Canadian Dance Assembly’s “I Love Dance Community Award”
Porch View Dances (PVD): Real People Dancing In Real Spaces is an award-winning community dance event that engages everyday people as creators, storytellers and performers – many of whom have never danced before. Audience members travel from house to house to see new dance works created with professional choreographers and performed by local families and residents on the front porches and lawns of their own homes. The performance culminates in a Flock Landing at the local park where audience members of all ages and abilities are invited to become active participants in the dance. PVD was designed to celebrate the stories of neighbourhood residents and to bridge the gap between professional art and everyday people. Taking dance out of the theatre and in to our daily lives, Porch View Dances engages real people dancing in real spaces, making dance accessible to the families who perform in it, as well as the audience members who come to watch. It is in this way that PVD sends the strong and powerful message that art is for everyone.
"The world's a stage with Porch View Dances"
-Toronto Star
"Pure artistic gold"
-Apt 613, Ottawa
"[Porch View Dances is] a poster child for site-specific dance done right."
-Paula Citron, Globe & Mail
“Rarely has such ordinary public property been so wonderfully converted to artistic use."
"The most moving choreography of 2012, exploring the very essence of what makes us human."
-Adam Vaughan, Former MP
-Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail
Running Time
Porch View Dances
Credits
Concept by Karen Kaeja
Developed by Karen and Allen Kaeja
Porch View Dances was first produced in Seaton Village, Toronto in 2012.
Past Creatives
Past Participants
Upcoming Performances
Past Performances
PVD 2020: Online
WATCH IT HERE!
Seaton Village, Toronto
2012, 2013, 2014,
2015, 2016, 2017,
2018, 2019
Mimico, Etobicoke
2019
New Toronto, Etobicoke
2018
Long Branch, Etobicoke
2017
Kitchener
2016, 2017
Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa
2015, 2016
/60m
Porch View Dances Community Participants
Porch View Dances engages community participants of all ages, skill levels and abilities. Previous dance experience is not required and, in fact, the majority of past PVD participants have no prior dance training. Porch View Dances is a profound experience for participants, who have reported deeper connections with friends, family members, and neighbours as a direct result of their involvement. To get more information on being a PVD Participant contact outreach@kaeja.org.
“Porch View Dances is community-building, bringing people together in groundbreaking ways."
- Vivien Carrady, 2014 PVD Participant
“The Kaejas make dance accessible, exploding barriers between art and life, making dance public in unexpected locations"
-Toronto Star
Porch View Dances Participant Videos
PORCH VIEW DANCES
Community Partners Testimonial Videos
Porch View Dances Photo Gallery
Fitzsimmons Frey Family. Photo by Monica Salazar Arcila. Chor. by K. Alton for PVD 2016.
Photo by Diana Renelli. Chor by A. Kaeja for PVD 2015.
Fitzsimmons Frey Family. Photo by Monica Salazar Arcila. Chor. by K. Alton for PVD 2016.