Performance Dance: Post Grad with Natasja Macdonald
Performance at The Creative School focuses on preparing our graduates with a range of skills they can use to succeed in any industry. For Performance Dance, students train in multiple forms of dance, including ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, West African, street styles and partnering. Additionally, students receive opportunities to collaborate and perform with highly acclaimed guest artists and arts organizations. With graduation on the horizon, we are focusing on the different paths our students take upon graduating.
This week upcoming Performance Dance grad Natasja Macdonald shares some of her favourite moments from her time in the Dance program! 
I took the opportunity to create a collective for my graduating capstone, with two of my close friends and collaborators that I was lucky enough to meet in this program. Together with Gisele Ardosa and Olivia Okonkwo, we founded District 6 Movement Labs (@district6ml) as a capsule for our collaborative choreographic and creative works that also strives to offer valuable and accessible services to emerging artists in the Toronto dance community. While it is very much in its infancy, I am so excited by all the possibilities we envision for this collective, and I’m so grateful to have this vessel for collaboration and expression, as well as a purpose to work towards while I transition into the working world. The collective brings me one step closer to my dreams of becoming a full-time choreographer, although hopefully after some time spent performing around Toronto, Canada, or even beyond.
My time at Performance was very special for many reasons, one being it started entirely online. I was grateful that all of our faculty was very supportive in that time, and while dancing was limited to our personal spaces, we were able to adapt into making really interesting dance media projects for our assignments and performances. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed exploring dance on film, and I know my experience from those projects will serve me in whatever media projects I may be a part of in my professional life.
Some standout courses for me were acting for dancers and CPS (Creative Performance Studies). I loved how CPS allowed me to have dedicated creative learning because academics can get overwhelming, and it was nice to always have a dedicated creative outlet as part of the curriculum to keep me grounded in what I loved. Acting for dancers was a great way for me to push myself and try new things that ultimately expanded my future career opportunities and gave me great perspectives and tools to use in any directing or audition setting.
I am so grateful for all of the performance opportunities and processes I was a part of here at the school. I had the pleasure of working with several outstanding choreographers in the industry, including Hanna Kiel, Valerie Calum, Alysa Pires, and Guillaume Côté. Some of my performances here directly led to other opportunities beyond the school including dancing in Fall for Dance North’s Inflorescence, Common Grounds Festival presented by Toes for Dance, and Dance Ontario’s DanceWeekend’24. The variety of performance opportunities has given me the experiences and skills to adapt and feel confident in a variety of professional settings. I even had the privilege of fulfilling an Apprentice contract with ProArteDanza in my final year.
I am so lucky to say that picking one favourite memory from my time in Performance Dance is difficult and that is because the friendships I’ve made in this program are incredibly special. The connections I’ve made with such beautiful artists over many hours spent together almost every day is really exceptional and I know these dancers are sure to accomplish extraordinary things around the world. If I had to pick one, I’d say that Choreographic Works 2023 was a standout moment for all of us. We really took the chance to showcase ourselves and work together to create some wonderful pieces of work. Looking back, I think it was a turning point for me that all the time and effort that we are putting into this program was so worth it because it allowed us to reach new heights for ourselves in both choreography and performance. With lots of laughs and certainly lots of hard work, that show carries many fond moments and I will cherish that time with my friends forever.
You are (finally) working towards a dance career, which is your passion: lean into it! Take some time to explore what makes you excited/motivated and move towards those things! This is a time of learning so take advantage of it and don’t be afraid to try new things. Once you figure out what is important to you, and that can look different from other people, prioritize as you see fit. The more intentional you are in how you spend your time and energy, the less drained you’ll find yourself.
All photos by Jeremy Mimnagh