shector@yorku.ca
https://syreetahector.com
Syreeta Hector is a dance artist and educator in Toronto, Ontario. As a highly accomplished performer, she has worked for internationally recognized companies such as Adelheid Dance Projects, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, and Toronto Dance Theatre. She is a proud graduate of The National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and has achieved her Master of Arts in Dance from York University.
Her solo work “Black Ballerina” focuses on the dualities within one’s identity, along with Syreeta’s blackness and indigeneity in relationship to classical ballet. As a work in progress the solo gained recognition at the SummerWorks Festival (2019) and won the Stratford Festival Lab Award for Research and Creation. This condensed version of the piece was also performed at the Citadel Dance Mix and received a Dora Mavor Moore nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Individual. Most recently, the full length version was live streamed through the online dance series “Citadel Live,” garnering record viewership. Due to the overwhelming response it was rebroadcast on the Harbourfront Centre streaming platform. This full length work is now touring live across Canada.
Syreeta has participated in the Creator’s in Residence Program at Canadian Stage, the Creative Encounters Residency Program at ProArteDanza, and the Artist in Residence Program at Luminato.
Most recently, Syreeta has been commissioned by Mocean Dance (Nova Scotia) and ProArteDanza (Ontario) to create ensemble works. She is also currently supported by the Concept to Realization Program at the Canada Council for the Arts to create a new work which will act as the second chapter in her “Black Ballerina” series.
Keywords: Black Canadian Studies, Dance, Performance, Ballet, Choreography