Curatorial note

KUDA was the official after-party for KATMA, curated in partnership with Luminato Festival and Fall for Dance North. DJs, live music and freestyle dance carried the evening onto a shared dance floor.

A shared freestyle performance paired a dancer from Toronto’s street dance community with one of the visiting dancers from Australia, accompanied by live musicians. The exchange was intended as a greeting from one community to another through dance, with the dancers and musicians responding to one another in real time.

Throughout the night, spontaneous showcases featured pairs of dancers from the Waacking, Krump and Afro dance communities. A moving spotlight guided each pair through the party, offering them the opportunity to reshape the room through the lens of the cultures they represented.

The dancers were invited to play with their presence and draw people into the dance as the party continued. As each showcase moved through the room, the party began to absorb the movement, physical mannerisms and attitudes of these cultures.