it’s back & better than ever.

April 25 - 27th, 2025
L.R. Wilson Hall, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton
a multi-tiered platform for choreographic work

Presented by Aeris Körper, Here&Now is a three-day festival celebrating the vibrancy and substance of the dance community in Hamilton and beyond. Join us for fresh performances, behind-the-scenes insights on the creative process, and interactive workshops, all set in a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere where artists and audiences can connect. 


Centred around the choreographer, Here&Now festival presents new dance works that reflect ideas that are relevant and timely. Working with emerging and mid-career choreographers, the festival features short length finished works (mainstage), works-in-progress (prospects), and open-level workshops (move). Each event features an opportunity for audience discussion and connection with the choreographers.

This years festival contains three signature events…

  • mainstage: Here&Now, features bold, dynamic performances from the unique artistic voices shaping the future of dance in Canada. The mainstage line-up includes: 

    • Drown by Fareh Malik. Dance, sound, and hip-hop collide to explore the reality of displaced peoples and their struggles through generations. 

    • Feast of Fishbones by Camille Huang. Through a kaleidoscope of bodies and imagined fictions, Feast of Fishbones blends visceral movement and ancestral stories, delving into the complex dynamics of diaspora.

    • Now and at the Hour by Julia Garlisi. In this poignant and intimate piece, audiences are invited to connect with the universal, haunting emotions of grief across time and space.

    Audiences are invited to stay following the performance for a Q+A with the choreographers and performers. 

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    Friday April 25, 2025 @ 7:30pm

    Saturday April 26 2025 @ 7:30pm

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    General Admission: $35

    Subsidized Ticket: $15

    "True Cost" Ticket: $195

  • prospects: Here&Now offers an exciting platform for local, emerging choreographers to share their evolving creations and receive valuable audience feedback in a collaborative, supportive environment. prospects features three different choreographers for each performance: 

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    Saturday, April 26 at 2:30pm: Priyanka Tope, Julianna Greco, and Jenna Harris

    Sunday, April 27 at 2:30pm: Deepti Gupta, Karissa Barker, and Soraya Lee Wo

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    General Admission Ticket: $20

    Subsidized Ticket: $10

    "True Cost" Ticket: $101

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  • move: Here&Now is the final installment in the 2024-25 move workshop series, inviting movement-curious folks ages 16+ to move and groove in community. This workshop is facilitated by mainstage: Here&Now choreographer Camille Huang.  

    Based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal, Camille is a second-generation immigrant and interdisciplinary performer whose work blends dance, scenography, and experimental performance. As a choreographer, they explore themes of identity, memory, and fiction, aiming to archive and shape the present through feeling and existence. Camille’s work has been showcased at festivals like SummerWorks and OFFTA, and they have collaborated with artists such as Dana Gringas, Lucy M. May, and Sarah Rossy.

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    Sunday, April 27, 11am-1pm: AWE IS NOT PRECIOUS AWE IS EVERYWHERE with Camille Huang

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    This workshop is Pay-What-You-Can.

choreographers / mainstage:

Photo by Julie Artacho

  • Camille (she/they) is a performer making physical and visual works. They are a second generation immigrant of the Asian diaspora, making works unfolding between the realms of dance, scenography and experimental performance. As a choreographer, they want to perform feeling, existence, memory and fiction into the archive and emergent present.

     Guided by attention and agency, Camille explores plural making sense of identity, relations and possible futures.

    Their choreographic works have been presented at SummerWorks Festival, OFFTA, Festival Entractes and Tangente.  They have worked on the teams of Dana Gringas (Animals of Distinction), Lucy M. May, and Sarah Rossy. Camille received her training in contemporary dance performance at L’École de Danse Contemporaine de Montreal and now works as a freelance dancer, all the while engaged in making dance related works. She also has a background in anthropology and is based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal.

  • Fareh was a co-founder and choreographer for Hamilton's Vie Division, a co-founder and choreographer for Mississauga-based collective GLUM, and is currently a co-founder and director of the Hamilton competitive company RXD.

    He’ll be presenting his piece, “Drown,” at the upcoming Here&Now Festival, presented by Aeris Körper in April 2025.

  • Julia is a nationally and internationally acclaimed dance artist, performer, and choreographer based in Hamilton, Ontario. She is a graduate of the Dance Arts Institute Canada (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre Professional Training Program). Julia performed, danced, and toured extensively as a company member of Dancetheatre David Earle for over 15 years. Currently, Julia is an active freelance performer and choreographer. Independently, she has had the pleasure of performing and working with Katie Ewald, Denise Duric, Newton Moraes, Suzette Sherman, Lacey Smith, Imageo Artworks, Toronto Heritage Dance and The Niagara Dance Company. Choreographically, her work has been commissioned for Art of Creation, Guelph Dance Festival, Stratford Spring Works Indie Theatre & Art Festival, Dancetheatre David Earle, The Suzuki String School, Dusk Dances Hamilton, Art Spin Hamilton, Short&Sweet (Guelph) and Internationally (Austria, Germany, Italy) for the SIBA Performance Tour. Julia is the founder and Artistic Director of Dance Contemporary. A platform to educate, create, and express our bodies through classes, workshops, and performances based in Modern and Contemporary dance.

prospects:

  • Deepti (she/her) is a dancer/choreographer of the elegant Kathak style of dance. A prolific dance artist, Deepti studied theatre and dance in Canada from an early age and has been a working artist for over 30 years. Deepti is artistic director of Arzoo Dance Theatre, a company creating and promoting traditional and contemporary South Asian dance.

    Deepti has over 25 major choreographic works to her credit which range from traditional Kathak and Chhau to contemporary works which explore South Asian dance in a global milieu. Her choreography has received consistent critical acclaim for cutting edge experimentation, high technical achievement and broad audience appeal.

    A relentless experimentalist with a variety of theatrical interests she has received the Dora Mavor Moore award for outstanding costume design for the play UMRAO by Rasik Arts. She also received the city of Hamilton Arts Award in 2023. Deepti is currently working on writing a play that combines Kathak, poetry and dialogue.

  • Jenna (she/they) is a Hamilton-based dancer and choreographer. They have over a decade of training in West African, Caribbean Folk, Modern, Ballet and Hip Hop dance from their time at the Collective of Black Artists (COBA). Since moving to Hamilton in 2018, Jenna has been a member of various competitive dance crews in the city, including Republic and RXD. Through their time with these teams, they have also gained experience in street dance styles such as House, Locking and Popping. 

    As an artist, Jenna uses choreography as a means of processing their personal experiences, while maintaining a sense of openness that invites audience members to see themselves in their stories. Her work is fuelled by love - for dance, for her culture and for her community - and she strives to share this with everyone that interacts with something she creates.

  • Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Julianna is a contemporary dance artist who focuses on improvisation and modern movement. She holds a Bachelor of honours from York University's BFA Dance program specializing in choreography and performance, a Bachelor of Education, and certification in Performing Arts from Sheridan College. She is currently involved in the performing arts through dance teaching, facilitating, and choreographing. Some of her affiliations have been with Syreeta Hector, Tracey Norman, Aeris Körper, Dreamwalker Dance Company, Meaningful Movement, and Theatre Aquarius. Julianna is currently an Arts Educator with Tiger Princess Dance Projects and a Dance Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.  Julianna hopes to inspire and be inspired by others while expressing her passions among the community.

  • Karissa (she/her) is a neurodivergent and queer emerging dance artist from Burlington, Ontario. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Calgary in 2021. During her time at university, Karissa performed in works by established choreographers such as Melissa Monteros, Marie France Forcier and Michele Moss. She also participated in the Redux Series by Springboard Performance YYC, performing in “Quadruped” by Reese Wilson. Her creative practice focuses on somatic and improvisational movement as a way to process and release trauma and emotions. Karissa showed her work at the Meaningful Movement’s @profile event in both 2023 and 2025, performing solo works-in-progress and participating in group improvisational scores. She is committed to developing her artistic voice through movement and choreography, while fostering connections and collaborating with fellow artists.

Photo by Stefan Sago

  • Priyanka (she/her) is an emerging dancer, choreographer, vocalist, and dance educator with over 10 years of Kathak training under Parul Shah, a disciple of Kumudini Lakhia. As a choreographer, Priyanka challenges traditional formats, aiming to create a deeper connection with Kathak that resonates with contemporary audiences. This has led her to work with mentors from diverse dance forms, including award-winning artists Denise Fujiwara (Toronto), and Kristina and Sadé Alleyne (UK). Priyanka continues her traditional Kathak training with Vaishali Sangati in Ahmedabad, India. Priyanka’s previous solo “Pendulum” was featured at NightShift - part of Fall For Dance North - and Sampradaya Dance Creations' "Horizon” series. Priyanka adapted her work to a short film as part of the hArt Film Series with HAC. Her debut film has screened at festivals in India, Italy, Hamilton and Montreal.  As a dance educator Priyanka is building a community via Kathak classes in Waterdown, Hamilton, and at McMaster University.

  • Soraya Lee Wo (she/her) is an emerging dance artist, teacher and student from Mississauga. Soraya is a graduate of the Cawthra Park Secondary School Dance Program. At Cawthra, Soraya developed an understanding of the creative process and choreography. Soraya trained at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre in Toronto under the direction of Deborah Lundmark and Natasha Poon Woo. Soraya completed her R.A.D Advanced One exam and performed in works by Carol Anderson, Hanna Keil, Sasha Ivanocho, Giaconnda Barbuto and Deborah Lundmark. Soraya is an Arts and Science student at McMaster University and a member of McMaster's competitive dance team. Soraya is a dance teacher at Steel City Dance Company for children with different abilities. Soraya is especially interested in dance’s intersection with other domains of knowledge. These intersections inspire Soraya to explore the bridge between dance, science and the humanities to unpack what moves us and make the world go round.

In an effort to make Here&Now financially accessible to most, our ticket pricing is based on the Green Bottle Method, an economic justice tool developed by Alexis J. Cunningfolk, that enables patrons to adjust payment based on access to resources. With this in mind, we’re offering three ticket prices: 

 

  • The highest tier, or a True Cost Ticket, reflects the true cost of running this event and indicates what we would need each audience member to pay to completely cover a living for artists, staff, as well as the venue fees, and more assuming every ticket was sold. 

  • The middle tier, or a General Admission Ticket, reflects the understanding that the highest tier is inaccessible to many people and offers an option that we hope will meet the majority of our audience members’ needs. 

  • The lowest tier, or Subsidized Ticket, reflects the understanding that there are folks whose economic circumstances prevent them from being able to participate in our event.

 

Please choose the ticket option that is best suited for you.

If this tiered pricing still presents a barrier to your attendance at Here&Now, please fill out the form by CLICK HERE

Festival Support: