Our home
George Brown College’s dance students train at the Casa Loma Campus of George Brown College in Toronto’s midtown neighbourhoods of Casa Loma and the Annex. Our four dance studios plus one vocal and coaching studio are shared with our professional partner in dance education – Jörgen Dance.
Studying dance at George Brown College means training in the heart of one of Canada’s top cultural centres. With hundreds of theatre, dance, and production companies, Toronto offers extraordinary opportunities to aspiring performers. You will become part of the city’s vibrant dance community as you perform in public shows and work with leading dance professionals.
“George Brown Dance is home to me and I am truly grateful for every day I spend in the safe, supportive environment that the faculty and administration have created for us. I can’t imagine training, growing and finding my artistic voice anywhere else at this point in my life.”
- Courtney Roelofsen, Student Dance Performance Preparation Program (P101)
Student Performances
George Brown Dance students perform every year on professional stages in Toronto, including the Betty Oliphant Theatre, Fleck Dance Theatre, and Toronto Centre for the Arts. Students also have the opportunity to perform in studio shows featuring student creations and Jörgen Dance company repertoire.
Public performance opportunities are built into each George Brown Dance program. Performances include:
UNLEASHED and NEXTSTAGE
Students perform works created on them by specially invited distinguished artists and faculty choreographers.
Learn more about George Brown Dance industry connections.
EMERGENCE
This show features works that students create on each other as mentored by award-winning faculty member and choreographer, Hanna Kiel.
George Brown Dance Ensemble
Students seeking additional performance opportunities can audition for the George Brown Dance Ensemble.
Students can audition for the George Brown Dance Ensemble in September of each year. Ensemble provides opportunities for students seeking extra performance experience, such as at high schools, community festivals and George Brown Dance’s show, Unleashed. The year’s repertoire is comprised of works from Jörgen Dance and commissions from up-and-coming Toronto area choreographers. Members of the ensemble are required to attend extra evening rehearsals during the school year.
The George Brown Dance Ensemble performs the annual IN HÄUS show.
“George Brown Dance offers many unique opportunities to their dancers. Students are consistently challenged and perform in a wide variety of venues, from intimate environments to formal theatre houses. Students experience working with each other, GBD alumni choreographers, as well as distinguished professional choreographers. I have seen students grow very quickly throughout this unique program. By graduation, these dancers are more than ready to enter the professional world physically, mentally and emotionally.”
- Hanna Kiel, George Brown Dance Professor
Our family and our values
Students and faculty build a strong community that offers continuous support and encouragement at school and beyond. We believe that strong, polished professional dance technique sets you free to express yourself as a dance artist. At George Brown Dance, expect to be challenged and empowered to fulfill your dance potential.
"George Brown Dance brings together a community of dancers and provides a technical foundation and platform where students are empowered and challenged to reach their technical, artistic, and personal potential; it's a place where the value of personal commitment, artistic integrity, and individual expression is instilled in each dancer and valued by the GBD community."
- Hannah Drover, Student Dance Performance Program (P105)
JÖRGEn Dance
Jörgen Dance delivers programming in all 10 of Canada’s provinces as well as into the United States. Every year the Company tours from coast to coast travelling over 50,000 km to reach underserved communities. Jörgen Dance enriches our lives by bringing professional ballet to communities — large and small, urban and rural.
Known for the warmth and beauty of its productions, CBJ reaches every province, delivering more than 1,500 performances, ballet classes and community engagement events involving over 60,000 participants annually. Check out their blog & e-newsletter, ranked as a top Dance blog in Canada by Feedspot.
