CHILDREN / YOUTH DANCE THEATRE (CYDT) Artistic Director | Andrea Douglas Founded in 1993, CYDT offers recreational and pre-professional classes in Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Caribbean and West African Dance, Acro, Tap and Modern dance. Its dancers have partnered with York University, TDSB and Buffalo Academy for the Performing Arts; Performed for Harry Jerome Awards, BBPA’s & TDSB’s MLK Jr Gala, Caribana and Carrassauga Festivals, and AHEN Black Students Award. Dance awards include: Canada National Dance “Best Ethnic Dance Award” Starcatchers Judges choice ”DIAMOND’ Choreography, & Costume Awards, Caribbean Junior Folklore Most Creative Choreography and Most Outstanding Dance Group. Members have attended Jamaica School of Dance, COBA, Ballet Creole, Ontario Ballet and Project Dance in the USA. Students were accepted at Earl Haig School for the Arts, Etobicoke School for the Arts in Toronto; Cawthra, Thomas Aquinas, and Mayfield Regional Arts Programs in Peel. Our graduates have also been accepted as arts majors and minors at Humber, Windsor, Ryerson and York University and apprenticed at COBA, La'Riatsila Dance Theatre and KasheDance. Other exciting highlights of CYDT include Dance Festivals in Mexico, and Germany, Guyana Folklore Festival, and Dance Symposium New York,(IABD) Conference, Dance and the Child International Conference (DaCi) in Jamaica, the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival in Scotland in 2014, and represented Canada at CARIFESTA XIII, Barbados 2017. For more info visitwww.cydttoronto.com
ROOTS AND BRANCHES Artistic Director - Tamla Matthews Created in 2011 by Director Tamla Matthews to recreate her rich childhood experience of cultural dance, sisterhood and artistic excellence. Growing up in the Scarborough Caribbean Youth Dance Ensemble, Tamla personifies the transformative power of cultural performing arts and what happens when children get together to dance. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Roots & Branches started with one teacher and two Family Dance days sponsored by the Dance Umbrella of Ontario in Malvern. We have grown to having a director, two administrators, three dance teachers and one drum teacher. We are now operating in Malvern & Brampton and have been supported by City Of Toronto’s Spark Program, Toronto Arts Council, Toronto Arts Foundation. The group also boasts, The Roots and Branches Performing Core, an award winning dance team that has performed to great audiences across Ontario and currently holds the GTA’s Got Talent Competition Best Dance Crew Award (2017). For more information visit www.rootsandbranchesdance.com