Current Projects
Sangoma Documentary
2022 - present
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Dayle McLeod
Supported by the Toronto Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts, “Sangoma” is a documentary film detailing multi-disciplinary artist Dayle MacLeod’s journey to become a South African Sangoma (Healer).
CDS Movement Collective provides production support for the film, including successful grant writing services that helped filmmaker Dayle MacLeod secure funding for the project.
Short Film Creation Residency: Namibia
May 2024 - present
Windhoek, Namibia
Collaborator: OYO Dance Troupe
In collaboration with the OYO Dance Troupe, CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos travelled to Namibia for a month-long artist residency. She directed and choreographed dances for a short film. Made with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the film focuses on a love story between discordant couples where one partner happened to be HIV-positive. The film is intended to bring social awareness around HIV/AIDS to young people utilising contemporary dance and physical theatre.
This project is currently in the post-production phase in preparation for dissemination and distribution.
COMPLETED PROJETS 2022-2024
aCrossGEN: Roots Under / Routes Through
September - October 2024
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Collaborator: ADCID
Description in progress
SarakaFest
August 2024
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
As part of Toronto Arts Council’s “Animating Toronto Parks” program, “Saraka in the Park”, which took place on August 24, 2024 in Toronto’s Fountainhead Park, was a community event honouring the African feast of Thanksgiving. Dancers from Ballet Creole performed a ballet in eight sections, each one defined by a clear and specific cultural influence from the Caribbean. CDS Movement Collective provided project design, financing, and administrative services leading up to and during the event. The festival, which also included drumming and dance workshops, and food and craft vendors, drew participants from all over the GTA in worship of the ancestral spirits who brought freedom to the mother-land.
Spine + Afro-Caribbean Dance
April 2024
Fuerth, Bavaria, Germany
Collaborator: Roots of Light
In partnership with Roots of Light, CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos travelled to Fürth, Germany to instruct a workshop on Afro-Caribbean dance. Attendees learned a series of traditional movements to help promote both physical and emotional wellness.
“Spine + Afro-Caribbean Dance” also fostered a sharing of knowledge across cultures, creating a learning experience that transcended the discipline of dance.
Dance Connexions Expo
October 2023
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Collaborator: Creative Connexions Performing Arts Centre
In collaboration with the Creative Connexions Performing Arts Center, CDS Movement Collective designed and hosted the Dance Connexions Expo. Founder Samara Dos Santos, acting in a producer capacity, co-created the event, which connected black dance artists with aspiring young dancers.
Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, The Dance Connexions Expo was the first dance convention in Toronto to specifically focus on diversity in dance and succession within the industry, with the intention educate and inspire future generations of diverse dance professionals.
Ballet Creole's 'Naningo Calling'
October 2023
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and TD Ready Commitment, “Naningo Calling” was a celebratory dance production commemorating Ballet Creole’s 30th anniversary. The production ran over 3 days and featured 4 ballets from the company’s extensive repertoire.
CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos provided support throughout the entirety of the project starting with grant writing, project design, financing, and outreach, and ending with marketing and promotion. Using strong imagery, intentional movement, and gripping poetic words, “Naningo Calling” evoked heartfelt messages of truth, inspiration and unity amongst its attendees.
Artrepreneur: Funding Forum for Creatives in York Region
May 2023
Vaughan, Ontario, Canada
Client: York Region Arts Council
York Region Arts Council hosted a forum to inform the public of upcoming funding opportunities from organizations at the municipal, regional, provincial, and national levels of government.
CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos was a speaker at both the in-person and online editions of the forum, where she designed and presented a “Get Grant Ready” workshop for attendees to learn how to apply for some of the funding opportunities being offered.
Ballet Creole's 'Soulful Messiah'
December 2022
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, “Soulful Messiah” took place over two days at the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre at York University. Each year, the dance production exhibits a soulful combination of tap, jazz, afro-caribbean, ballet, contemporary, hip hop and free-style dance set to the themes of life, death, and love.
Acting as Marketing Coordinator, CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos created and ran a dynamic social media campaign to honour the milestone event.
Moving Inspirations Dance Festival
November 2022
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Client: NAfro Dance
The Moving Inspirations Dance Festival, hosted by NAfro Dance, took place over four days, and in celebration of their 20yr anniversary. Thrilling audiences with various dance and music dynamics and thought-provoking themes, NAfro established themselves early on as the only African contemporary dance company in Western Canada.
As part of the grant writing team, CDS Movement Collective helped to secure funding for the event, continuing NAfro’s mission of empowering both African/African-Canadian dancers and choreographers.
YENSA Festival - A Celebration of Black Women in Dance
August 2022
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: YENSA Festival
As Festival Coordinator, CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos liaised with visiting artists, created and distributed welcome packages, and coordinated the choreography for the lab dinner – an intimate event that hosted 20 Black Women practitioners.
“YENSA Festival” celebrates the history of the contributions of Black Women in dance with a focus on African Diasporic aesthetics – its histories and politics – from a female perspective
Photo Credit: Dahlia Katz
COMPLETED PROJETS 2019 - 2021
Let Do Us! Online Workshop Series
May 2021
Global Online
Host: Black Women in Europe (BWIE)
Description in progress
NuDanCE Online
July 2020
Global Online
Client: NuDanCE Performance Institute Canada
Supported by the Ontario Arts https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/a0165f7d-3141-4edd-b809-ec85f2aa7240/gallery-heading.jpg/:/rs=w:1200,h:600,cg:true,m/cr=w:1200,h:600Council, NuDanCE is a nonprofit organization formed in coalition with Ballet Creole and the Collective of Black Artists (COBA). It offers professional dance training and apprenticeship opportunities, with a focus on diversity in the arts.
During the pandemic, CDS Movement Collective provided Project Coordination for a series of free online dance classes hosted by various dancers from Canada’s most notable Black dance organizations. The series offered attendees access to the arts in a time when venues were closed and people were experiencing financial hardships from loss of employment. Samara was also one of the dance instructors.
'Carifesta XIV' - Caribbean Festival of Arts
August 2019
Trinidad + Toronto, Canada
Client: Canadian Caribbean Performing Arts Collective (CCPAC)
“CARIFESTA” is an international multicultural festival that gathers artists, musicians, authors to exhibit the folk and artistic expressions of the Caribbean and Latin American regions. This year’s ten-day festival took place in the nation of Trinidad & Tobago, and featured entertainment from some of the region’s top music and dance groups, steel bands, and artists.
CDS Movement Collective acted in a Coordinator role by assisting with travel arrangements, festival registration and attending to the needs of the CCPAC's artists throughout the festival.
'Karibischer Tanz' Caribbean Dance Workshops
annually from 2017 to 2019
Plauen, Saxony, Germany
Host: Merhaba Bellydance
Hosted by Merhaba Bellydance, CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos taught a series of dance workshops sharing Caribbean dance and music, and bridging the gaps across cultures. Styles taught include soca, contemporary, and folklore.
completed Projects 2016 - 2018
NuDanCE Summer Intensive Training Program
August 2018
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: NuDanCE Performance Institute Canada
NuDance’s Summer Intensive Training Program, held at Toronto’s Citadel + Company, took place over the course of two weeks in August. The program encouraged attendees to expand their dance vocabulary, improve their musicality, and diversify their contemporary dance practice, taking inspiration from dance traditions in the Caribbean and West Africa.
CDS Movement Collective provided administration services and helped design programming that challenged dancers to open their minds and bodies to a new way of moving.
Ballet Creole's 'Cry Freedom'
May 2018
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
Presented at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto as part of their NextSteps series, “Cry Freedom” was a dance production put on by Ballet Creole commemorating the story of Chloe Cooley, an enslaved woman in Upper Canada.
CDS Movement Collective raised funds for the production through grant writing and by leveraging various marketing initiatives. The production taught attendees about Chloe’s struggles, which were a catalyst for the passing of the first legislation restricting the slave trade in Canada.
Photo Credit: to be confirmed
'CARIFESTA XIII' Caribbean Festival of Arts
August 2017
Barbados + Toronto, Canada
Client: Canadian Caribbean Performing Arts Collective (CCPAC)
“CARIFESTA” is an international multicultural festival that gathers artists, musicians, authors to exhibit the folk and artistic expressions of the Caribbean and Latin American regions. This year’s ten-day festival took place in Barbados, and featured entertainment from some of the region’s top music and dance groups, steel bands, and artists.
CDS Movement Collective acted in a Coordinator role by assisting with travel arrangements, festival registration and attending to the needs of the CCPAC's artists throughout the festival.
CDS Movement Collective Founder, Samara Dos Santos, also presented research on Innovation in Cultural Industries at CARIFESTA's academic symposium at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus.
Kambule Fest (Canada 150)
July 2017
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
Description in Progress
Funded by Toronto Arts Council Animating Parks program in collaboration with Toronto Arts Foundation.
Ballet Creole's 'Kambule'
May 2017
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Ballet Creole
Taking place at the Fleck Theatre in Toronto, “Kambule” was a dance production paying homage to African Ancestors who marked the end of slavery by taking banned cultural expressions out of hiding and onto the streets. Choreography was set to the sounds of a live Creole drumming ensemble.
The event was a powerful manifestation of culture, spirituality, beauty, royalty, and pride. CDS Movement Collective founder Samara Dos Santos, acting in a producer capacity, raised funds via government grant programs. She also contributed project reporting and marketing support.
NuDanCE Winter Training Program
January 2017
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: NuDanCE Performance Institute Canada
NuDance’s Winter Intensive Training Program offered diverse dance training from an Africanist perspective. The program integrated the unique approaches of both companies (Ballet Creole and Collective of Black Artists) to offer one of the most diverse comprehensive training programs in Canada.
CDS Movement Collective provided project administration and also participated in the program!