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Here&Now is an annual three-day festival of bold and urgent dance performances in Hamilton from June 5-7, 2026.
Witness something unfolding in real time and notice what shifts - in the performers, and in yourself.
You don’t just watch dance here.
You’ll experience it up close.
You meet artists.
You move.
You transform.
$50 - FULL festival pass
$28 - Single event ticket
$18 - Arts worker/student/senior single event ticket
Festival At-A-Glance
Whether you’re a longtime dance fan or seeing dance live for the first time, Here&Now is a vibrant, welcoming weekend to be moved. Catch incredible performances, chat with the artists, ask questions, and explore the ideas and emotions behind the work.
Mainstage
Bold. Immediate. Unforgettable.
Boundary-pushing artists from Hamilton and across Canada take the stage, delivering performances that move, challenge and inspire.
Prospects
See dance in process.
Hamilton choreographers test new ideas, and you get to be apart of their journey. Stick around for a post-show discussion and shape what comes next.
Workshop
Move. Explore. Connect.
Experience the festival from the inside out, as a Mainstage choreographer guides you through playful prompts and new ways of moving. Come as you are. No experience needed. Ages 16+
Mainstage Choreographers
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Aikā is a Kathak-based work that shifts the responsibility of generating mood, lyricism, tempo, and rhythm onto the dancer, rather than relying on live musicians or pre-composed scores. This experimental approach challenges Kathak’s traditional dependence on external accompaniment, placing the body at the center of both movement and sound.
Responding to the homogenization of the South Asian diaspora, where diverse identities across countries, religions, and value systems are often collapsed into a single category, the work reflects on visibility, and shared space. It considers how we move without truly seeing or being seen, and what it means to assert individuality within collective identity. Informed by this theme, the piece intentionally incorporates diverse dance practices to expand its expressive and embodied vocabulary.
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Priyanka Tope is a Kathak artist, choreographer, vocalist, and educator based in Hamilton. She trained under Pandita Archana Joglekar and has continued for over a decade with her mentor, Parul Shah.
Grounded in the understanding that art is inherently political, Priyanka’s choreographic practice seeks to extend this idea by centering human experience and empathy. Bridging traditional Kathak with contemporary perspectives, she explores how shifts in format, storytelling, and movement can inspire diverse audiences toward responsibility and meaningful change. Her work has been shaped by guidance from Denise Fujiwara and Kristina and Sadé Alleyne.
Priyanka is also actively building a Kathak community in Hamilton, a city that has not historically had a robust presence of the form. She held her first student showcase last year and continues to expand her school and student base.
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Digging is a duet of a peculiar character and a cauliflower partner. It makes allusion to the “Gravediggers Song” from Hamlet’s, Act 5. What is it all about? Life, death, youth, aging, love, joy, loss and the absurdity, irony, tenderness and humour with which to stroll along the path. And if you have a cauliflower to sing along with you, of course it’s even better!
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Montreal choreographer Lina Cruz is a two-time Dora Mavor Moore Award recipient for Outstanding Original Choreography (2012 and 2017). She was also nominated in 2025 as choreographer and performer for the same award and as choreographer in 2015. She received a second place award in the 1998 international choreographic competition of the St-Sauveur Arts Festival (Quebec). She founded her company, Fila 13 Productions, in 2003 and has presented her work in festivals and events at local, national and international levels. In Montreal, most of her works have premiered in coproduction with Agora de la danse and have been presented by Tangente in earlier years.
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The stage is set as an inescapable arena filled with shared memories, imagined incidents, and difficult things left unsaid. Two dancers face off within this liminal space, learning to navigate change without letting go – because family is forever, right?
Garon's signature athleticism is pushed to the max as the dancers play, explore and ultimately test the limits of their connection. This spirited and unflinching duet questions the pliability of our closest relationships and the cultural push toward setting rigid boundaries. -
Jessie Garon is a performer/choreographer working in dance theatre. They are a graduate of Dance Arts Institute and interned for Ate9 Dance Company (Los Angeles) under Danielle Agami. Garon now collaborates with Canadian and international artists as a freelance dancer while continuing to cultivating a distinct choreographic voice.A 2024 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes nominee, Garon's recent work, everything i wanted to tell you, won Dora Mavor Moore awards including Outstanding Production, Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Performance.They continue to explore how live performance can ignite empathy and curiosity, and disrupt normative narratives around the body and belonging.
Prospects Choreographers
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Root Rot is a piece created and performed by Abby Yates in collaboration with Vincent Enorme. This work was created by piecing together incomplete works to create a mosaic that reveals the through line of all of these separate parts. Root Rot is an exploration of change inspired by the ever changing ecosystem of the natural world. Change is a part of everything that exists on this planet. We change each other in ways we can’t even imagine. It is destructive to resist it. The duet discovers the necessity of change and navigates what it means to uproot and replant and grow with one another.
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Abby Yates
Abby Yates is a queer and trans, Toronto based multidisciplinary dance artist and performer originally from Hamilton Ontario. Abby trained in George Brown College’s Dance Performance program as well as their Commercial Dance program. His schooling has given him intensive training in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, acting and singing. Having such a wide lexicon of movement experience has led him to a variety of different spaces. A large part of his practice is rooted in improvisation. Abby has performed with many improvisation-based collectives such as retrograde: dance in motion, Meaningful Movement and Wind in the Leaves Collective. Another side of his artistic practice is his work in musical theatre. Abby has worked with the Hamilton based company, Theatre Ancaster as dance captain for their 2024 production of Spring Awakening. As well as performing in many of their community shows such as Oliver! (Featured Dancer) and Pippin (Featured Dancer). Abby’s work is an amalgamation of an ever growing vocabulary that informs his way of dance. He strives for the connection and the catharsis that is formed in the creation of art.
Vincent Enorme
Vincent Enorme (He/They) is a queer Filipino-Canadian based in Toronto. This is the city he continues to learn, work, and play in as a dancer, creator, and performer. He moves with emotion, physicalizing the world around him. He is eager to use the whole body to share stories on both contemporary and commercial stages. An honours graduate from George Brown College’s Commercial Dance Program, where they had the opportunity to train in contemporary, ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, acting, singing, and musical theatre. Vincent’s commercial and concert style training allowed him to expand his vocabulary and sharpen his artistry. Along with his technical practice, Vincent has an interest in creating immersive works, making movement with meaning. He continues to collaborate with local artists and collectives within the GTA exploring their work. They are a committed performer, prepared to use any style to create art. He is ready to enter any universe he is invited into. To be limitless.
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Sisterhood goes through a sister bond that starts with a memory of when they were playing together as children then goes on to see their individual struggles with things like loss and addiction and how that changes and shapes their relationship. It is a representation of how strong a sister’s bond is and it is really a love letter to all of the women in my family.
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Jane-Leigh Jamieson is a dancer and choreographer from the Six Nations Reserve. Jane-Leigh has always been passionate about the arts, specifically dance. She enrolled in various dance classes at different studios in her area growing up. She took many classes related to her field of interest in high school while obtaining her stage and screen SHSM. She then moved on to graduate from the George Brown College Dance Performance Preparation Program in 2023. She then participated in the Paprika Theatre Festival in the Indigenous Arts Program in 2025 and showcased her work titled Forget Me Not. She was also the Apprentice Choreographer for Frozen the musical with Theatre Aquarius. Most recently Jane-Leigh Choreographed and performed in her own piece titled Sisterhood in the Paprika Theatre Festival in 2026. She is very excited about what's to come and hopes to continue learning and growing in her career.
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Everyone, everywhere, at every time is on a phone. The disconnection in our daily environments is staggering. I witness what could be beautiful intimate moments plagued by technology and distraction. We are losing our ability to be truly present. The constant flood of notifications, messages, emails, reels, social media, and videos chats have taken us out of personal intimate connections.
Four choreographic phrases have been created based on connection, isolation, and social engagement. These phrases were filmed and uploaded for participants to view and learn. Each participant took the phrases and made their own narrative to be used in time and space with other people. This is a study about community and connection and the desire to create relationships outside of your phone.
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Julia Garlisi 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 with Dance theatre David Earle for over 15 years. Currently, Julia is an active freelance performer, choreographer, and certified personal trainer. Independently, she has had the pleasure of performing and working with Sid Ryan Eilers, Katie Ewald, Denise Duric, Janet Johnson, Newton Moraes, Suzette Sherman, Lacey Smith, Imageo Artworks, and Toronto Heritage Dance. Choreographically, her work has been commissioned for Aeris Körper, 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.
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$ is a dance theatre work-in-progress, choreographed by Skye Rogers (she/her) and Vik Mudge (they/he), in collaboration with Kestra McCurry (she/they) and Soraya Lee Wo (she/her). Inspired by the lyrics and musicality of “Money” from Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, we explore the impossibility of the artist’s life under capitalism:
How can true creativity take place in a system that values competition, exploitation, and greed?
How can we reimagine our systems of value?
Can meaning-making be a currency we can live on?
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retrograde: dance in motion is a dance theatre collective based in Hamilton and Niagara, ON, led by Skye Rogers (she/her) and Vik Mudge (they/he). Our work centers on embodied storytelling through performance and community-engaged practice. We create dynamic dance works and offer accessible workshops that prioritize connection, curiosity, and shared experience.
Our recent projects include BLOOM, an improvised score presented at Fringe on the Streets (2025); Community Garden, a research-driven community work developed through Ontario Culture Days’ Creatives in Residence program (2024); and The Body and The Brain, an anthology exploring gender presented at the In the Soil Arts Festival (2023).
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Scar Tissue is a dramatic experimental dance film that follows the rehabilitation of a teenage dancer after hip surgery, and the process of rebuilding trust in one’s identity.
The choreography uses restriction, instability, tension, and release, drawing from The Ramirez Sisters’ personal experiences of hip injury and recovery. It is in contrast to the picture-perfect precision of the competitive dance world where our character resides. The dance communicates a blurring of the line between ambition and obsession.
This piece is being presented during the early development of a larger dance film, this performance introduces audiences to the movement language that will ultimately shape the cinematic world of Scar Tissue.
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Vanessa Ramirez and Veronica Ramirez are the founders of The Ramirez Pictures, where they create original work dedicated to a female-forward narrative that synthesizes film, and physical storytelling.
Raised in Hamilton, Ontario, the sisters began working together at a young age, developing a shared artistic language grounded in a physically expressive process. Their creative partnership has grown into a multidisciplinary practice spanning choreography, filmmaking, and producing.
Through The Ramirez Pictures, they merge physical performance with film. Choreography is used as another language, their movement often exploring themes of identity, resilience, and transformation.
Their current project, Scar Tissue, is an experimental dance film in development that draws from both sisters’ lived experience of injury and recovery throughout their dance careers. The film translates the perseverance required for such an endeavour into an honest immersive experience.
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Panchatatva: Carrying the Earth Home is a contemporary South Asian solo choreography exploring migration, belonging, and ecological consciousness through Panchatatva—an ancient South Asian philosophical concept describing the five elements (air, water, soil, fire, and sky) that form all living beings. These elements are universal to human existence; regardless of where we move, they remain vital forces we carry within us. Each element is explored through distinct movement qualities, rhythms, and emotional states rather than literal representation. The work reflects my lived experience of relocating from Bangladesh to Hamilton, and how a new land can support artistic evolution without severing one’s roots.Rooted in Bharatanatyam and Manipuri, the choreography draws from classical vocabulary, rhythm, and storytelling. Bharatanatyam offers structural precision and rhythmic grounding, while Manipuri brings circularity, softness, and flow, allowing space for transformation. The soundscape is influenced by Sanskrit slokam—rhythmic poetic verses traditionally used for invocation—and Tagore-inspired music, whose lyricism and relationship to nature help identify and embody each element.This work is currently in development. I plan to deepen the choreography through element-based movement research, musical exploration, improvisation, and spatial experimentation, shaping a piece that honours ancestry while responding to Hamilton as my present home.
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My dance journey began in 2009 in Bangladesh. My initial training in classical movement started at Chhayanaut under the guidance of Belayet Hossain, where I was introduced to the discipline and expressive depth of classical arts. During this formative period, I also trained in Manipuri dance and completed a three-year foundation under the guidance of Sonia Hossain. These early years laid the foundation for my passion, artistic sensitivity, and discipline in dance.
I later pursued Bharatanatyam under Amit Chowdhury and continued my training with Rajdeep Banerjee and Kirti Ramgopal. I was further shaped artistically through Kolpotoru, a branch of Shadhona – A Center for Advancement of South Asian Culture, under the visionary guidance of Lubna Marium. Through Shadhona, I performed in acclaimed productions and represented Bangladesh on international platforms, grounding my practice in both discipline and purpose.
My training in Manipuri dance deepened further through workshops and stage productions with Wardha Rihab and Sweety Das Chowdhury, including notable productions such as Bangshi Anurag and Premamatam.
While Bharatanatyam remains the foundation of my work, I also draw from South Asian folk and Tagore-inspired dance forms, reflecting a wide tapestry of cultural expression. My artistic voice is deeply rooted in tradition, storytelling, and the lived experiences of my heritage.
Since moving to Canada in 2021, I have continued my artistic journey through performances at intimate concerts and community arts events, including Ontario Culture Days and HCA Dance Theatre’s Fear No public dance performance. Additionally, as an artist educator, I have contributed to after-school programs, engaging children in neighbourhood communities through creative movement and dance. I am currently continuing my Bharatanatyam practice and training with Arno Komolika. These experiences continue to shape my evolving artistic journey while fostering cultural connection, inclusion, and expression across generations.
Join us.
Take your seat.
Be part of Here&Now.
past performances
Here&Now Festival 2025
Apr 25 - 27, 2025
It’s back and better than ever. Presented by Aeris Körper, Here&Now Festival 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.
Produced by Aeris Korper.
Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh
Here&Now Festival 2024
Mar 20 - 22, 2024
Here&Now Festival premiered March 20-22nd 2024 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. A culmination of years of performance series, Here&Now is primarily a presentation platform for finish short length works from choreographers across the country. As one of the only live professional performance platforms, Aeris Körper aspires to showcase diverse stories the reflect the here and now.
Produced by Aeris Korper.
PROSPECTS
2018 - 2023
PROSPECTS was our initial presentation series which evolved into Here&Now festival in 2024. PROSPECTS showcased works-in-progress, bringing together local enthusiasts of art and dance with choreographers from the local, regional and international dance community to cultivate creative community dialogue. Audience members witnessed dance works whose themes provide the foundation for the evening's dialogue. Each work was followed by a Q&A.
Produced by Aeris Korper
Here&Now is made possible thanks to the generous support of Ontario Arts Council, Government of Ontario, TD Bank, Government of Canada / Canadian Heritage and OCAF/Incite Foundation.
