Find that balance between confidence and humility and surround yourself with people who inspire you.

The art and theatricality of dance continue into the 25-26 Toronto season.

Recently, I received a press release detailing the 5^th anniversary celebration of the Common Ground Dance Festival presented by TOES FOR DANCE at Lee Lifeson Park, 223 Gladys Allison Place in North York, from September 18-20, 2025.

This celebration of dance is a free outdoor festival. It will feature a diverse line-up of mainstage and site-specific performances.  Patrons will also have the opportunity to attend artist talks and interactive workshops for all dance levels, presented by both established and emerging artists with roots in Toronto, beyond, and across Turtle Island.

According to the release, five years is an important milestone for the festival.  To mark the occasion, the opening night, September 18, will feature a program that brings together past and present festival artists to explore the evolution of the Common Ground Dance Festival.  This opening night celebration will inspire reflection on the significance of intercultural dance dialogues in public spaces.  To continue developing the program in welcoming diverse audiences, the mainstage program will be co-hosted in Farsi on September 19 and Mandarin on September 20.

I’m grateful David Norsworthy, Co-founder and Director of The Common Ground Dance Festival, took some time to discuss dance, its theatrical elements, and the themes of this fifth annual event via email.

A Juilliard School graduate, Norsworthy started in 2009 and graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Performance.  He considers himself grateful for living in New York City, where he was exposed to rigorous and deep knowledge in his studies, while experiencing performances at The Joyce, Judson, and Fall for Dance, among other venues. Learning from the Juilliard faculty was a true transformative experience for him as a wide-eyed young dance artist. In retrospect, David says he was not really a ‘Juilliard dancer’ in terms of his physical capabilities or creative aspirations. He says he was far more skilled at grounded, fluid, expressive modern and contemporary forms than ballet. Back then, he couldn’t, and today he still can’t lift his legs above 90 degrees to save his life. As an artist, he has always wanted to defy the rules of what dance could be.

David speaks fondly of some mentors he had while living in New York City. Alexandra Wells’ and Andra Corvino’s ballet classes both had a strong influence of his perception of his body and notions of ballet technique. JoAnna Mendl-Shaw was his composition teacher in the second year, and her work, which focused on physical listening, interspecies dialogues, and choreographic necessity, also had a significant impact on Norsworthy’s artistic voice as a choreographer.

As someone without formal dance training or study, I always like to begin a conversation by asking how the artist sees this specific art form.

Norsworthy offers an interesting analogy about dance that prompted further personal thought.

In simple terms, David says dance is also movement with intention. It’s an art form of change and transformation. On one level, moving the body is about getting from A to B, a journey. Then the mover can continue from B to C, or back to A (perhaps involving repetition).

When a dance artist goes back to the starting point of A, something new has emerged. That original and initial movement is changed with a bit of heat or sweat. There is a different relationship to the audience. There is a new sense of time and the memory of what came before and/or a slightly altered emotional state.

David explains further:

“Sometimes, when I teach, I describe dance as a ‘practice of changing’ that involves a dialogue between movement, thought, relation and sensation. [An artist or group] can start with any of them, and if you really commit, then one of the others will inevitably be produced or altered, giving [the artist and audience] a new sense of inspiration or a new direction to explore.”

Norsworthy’s favourite dance includes a poetic or philosophical element, along with a sprinkle of joy, and the energetic embrace of a thoughtful community.

In anticipation of the upcoming celebratory weekend for Common Ground in September, the artists will explore how dance emerges across different contexts and cultures, drawing from diverse values, traditions, and expressions of lived experience.

David hopes that the September weekend festival attendees will be able to experience the joy of community and that their participation in the festival will invigorate their curiosity. It’s an invitation to witness each other in fullness and to consider how a shared sense of belonging can be co-created. The Common Ground Dance Festival is about intercultural exchange – bridging the lines of difference to cultivate mutual understanding, appreciation, and respect. That doesn’t mean that we all need to agree to be together. It’s important not to forget that the weekend is an invitation to witness each other.

Does Nosworthy have inspirational words and mentorship to assist young dance artists eager to pursue and follow their dreams in the performing arts industry?

Without wanting to sound cliché, yet supposing it’s cliché for a reason because there’s truth, he says:

“Show up for yourself. Dare to do the uncomfortable, take care and take your time, commit and recommit to your artistic interests.”

David says it’s so easy in this profession to get sidetracked by what an artist thinks will get funding or what an artist thinks will please an audience. If the funding doesn’t exist, then the artist must make it happen:

“A healthy dose of do-it-yourself energy is very useful. Find that balance between confidence and humility and surround yourself with people who inspire you.”

Nosworthy supports that an artist’s finding his/her/their circle is more than half the battle. One doesn’t know what one doesn’t know after all.

Once the Festival concludes its September weekend celebration, what’s next for David Nosworthy?

Well, he’s going to follow the advice he gives to artists after intensive work: “Rest! Celebration! Gestures of gratitude!”

While there will always be administrative, financial management and grant reporting following the festival, TOES FOR DANCE will be preparing for the annual presentation of our Process+Practice Double Bill at Assembly Hall in Etobicoke on November 7-8, 2025. This year features Boys’ Club Tap Dance Collective and Kiera Breaugh. These works have been incubated through the residency program at TOES FOR DANCE and both deal with notions of femininity through sonic expression (tap dance and jazz music/spoken word) and embodied movement.  Nosworthy thinks it will be a really compelling event.

As a dance artist, David is currently in rehearsals for a repertoire piece with ĀNANDAM Dance Theatre and starting a new creative process with an emergent collective called In Good Company (Rakeem Hardy, Katherine Semchuk, and Judy Luo). In the autumn, I will be choreographing a new work for the students at Dance Arts Institute, a post-secondary professional training program here in Toronto. Being back in the studio comes with its challenges (sore muscles being one!), but he is reminded of the great privilege of being a professional dance artist.

David concludes our email conversation with:

“I am so grateful for the ways that dance calls me back into my body, and into presence.”

To learn more about Toes for Dance and the upcoming Common Ground Dance Festival, please visit: www.toesfordance.ca.

Headshot Credit: Colton Curtis