About

To dance is to journey into the secrets of intuition, memory, dreams; to encounter and express the mysteries of human nature as they are manifest in the body, before words. I believe in the ability of art to move people, to change people, to put people in touch with the best part of their humanity, to remind people of the complexity of their humanity and to cultivate compassion.

At Fujiwara Dance Inventions, we aspire to create dance theatre that resonates with meaning, inviting audiences into experiences that move body and spirit. Our work begins with research and evolves through training to enable the performers to embody precision and presence. We extend the reach of our creations through live and digital performance, and share the transformative power of dance through workshops, mentorship, and dialogue.

Our history and influences

Fujiwara Dance Inventions was formed in 1991 to cultivate the creation and production of Denise’s burgeoning solo concerts. Each of the company’s 6 solo dance concerts including Spontaneous Combustion, Vanishing Acts, Elle Laments, and Brief Incarnations have toured extensively. The creation of each concert exposed Denise to master choreographers and new ways of creating and performing. In the mid-90’s, Fujiwara worked intensively with Japanese Butoh master, Natsu Nakajima who created Sumida River for her, a solo that toured for 15 years, to four continents and inducted Fujiwara into a profoundly rich paradigm of dance that changed her life and artistry.

In the 2000’s, Fujiwara pursued a compulsion to investigate how to apply what she had learned from the rigours of solo choreography into the creation of ensemble choreography. The opportunity to work in relationships with other dancers in the return to ensemble work led the choreography to be most curious about that very thing, relationships. Over the following decades Denise worked with dancers within FDI to create, No Exit, Conference of the Birds, EUNOIA, and Moving Parts, as well as large commissioned works for la Compania Nacional de Costa Rica, eX…it!’11, Schloss Broellin, Germany, and duets for BoucharDanse and SiNS Dance. 

Our work is driven by the ideas and questions that emerge throughout the creative process, which often lead us to incorporate elements such as literature, song, voice, and site-specific approaches. Consequently, each work challenges us and the performers to develop new creation and performance skills. We share the learnings of our research and the kinds of performance training we do with the broader dance and theatre community through our workshops which are in steady demand both locally and internationally. The performers in our work are chosen from the artists who attend our workshops and find the work to be of intrinsic interest. The company’s work in dramaturgy and in our 1:1 mentorship relationships, value the artist’s development along with the development of their work-in-progress and uses Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process to that end.

Many people have been influential in the company’s development. A few of the most impactful to the work include Butoh master Natsu Nakajima, Elizabeth Langley, a mentor and dramaturg of deep wisdom, Ron Snippe who created magic with light and managed all of the technical and production elements of the work with aplomb, the music wizard, Phil Strong, and Gerry Trentham who trained us to use our voices in performance. The dance artists have been a huge part of the artistic evolution of the work, each one a choreographer and artistic director in their own right. Myles Warren’s general management through DUO and his mentorship gave the company a solid organizational foundation. From 2005 to 2022, Adina Herling significantly developed the company’s activities and infrastructure as General Manager. From 2023 and currently, Rosanna Lowton brings her expertise in production and administration to the position. The Board of Directors has been stalwart, bringing stability and good governance to the company throughout its history.

Over the years, we’ve picked up a few nominations and awards. Denise received the Toronto Arts Foundation Future Winners Award (2006), Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Dance (2013) and most recently, the Canada Council for the Arts Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performance Arts and distinguished career achievement (2024). Eunoia had 3 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Ensemble Performance and Outstanding Music and Sound Design, in 2020 Noppera-bo won the One-Reeler Short Film Competition Award of Excellence in L.A., and Valley of Shadows has won 5 international film festival awards for Best Cinematography.