Connection Dance Works is a non-profit professional contemporary dance company located in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Our vision is to establish a nationally recognized contemporary dance hub in New Brunswick, connecting artists and audiences through outstanding original works of dance art.
We engage people in the expressive language of human movement.
We create, present, and facilitate professional contemporary dance performance in our region.
We nurture a dynamic community of collaborative artists in New Brunswick and beyond.
Connection Dance Works was founded in 2010. The company's efforts and initiatives have engaged a growing audience in an active discussion about contemporary dance. Their multi-disciplinary collaborations — with musicians, choreographers, writers, composers, visual artists, and multi-media creators — affirm a new era of cross-pollination and a profound commitment to the notion of community.
Connection Dance Works provides opportunities for artists to share knowledge and learn from each other through its PERSPECTIVE series and annual Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival. The company has established itself as an educational forum for audiences and students alike, offering workshops, artist talks and professional development for both local and visiting artists. Connection Dance Works has worked with Julia Aplin, Marie-Josée Chartier, Tedi Tafel, Meagan O’Shae, Darryl Tracy and Lesandra Dodson. The company creates new work, collaborates with multi-disciplinary artists, and presents dance.
Company Directors
Originally from Saint John, Sarah has been working as a professional independent dance artist and teacher since graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2001. She is a founding member and current Artistic Director of Connection Dance Works.
Her career has included collaborations with musicians, dancers, filmmakers and visual artists. She has received grants for Professional Development, Residencies and Creation projects through the Canada Council for the Arts and artsnb.
Sarah continues to learn and develop work through her practice of Authentic Movement, a way of discovering movement inherent in the body instead of inventing it.
"I’m interested in intuition itself and how it can unfold. For me, it is a process of witnessing and waiting for something to happen. I see it as sitting in the middle of the creative experience, paying attention."
Joanna Bryson is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Connection Dance Works. A registered ballet teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance, she began her dance training in Saint John and continued training in ballet, contemporary, jazz and creative movement, attending seminars, classes and workshops in Halifax, Montreal and Toronto. Joanna provides instruction for the Artist in Residency School Program through CDW and the Province of New Brunswick. She has taught ballet at Rothesay Ballet School, InterAction School of the Performing Arts and is currently the Director of Dance for KidSing Performance School. She has danced in works by Darryl Tracy, Stefanie Mayhew, Meagan O’Shea, Sarah Power and Marcia Dysart. Joanna is proud of the work Connection Dance Works has produced and created since its inception in 2010.
Connection Dance Works acknowledges that it carries out its work on the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and
Peskotomuhkati peoples. We, the staff and members of the board, pay respect to the elders, past and present, and descendants of this land. We honour the knowledge keepers and seek their guidance as we strive to develop closer relationships with the Indigenous people of New Brunswick.