It’s real dance performed by residents in open spaces to audiences that number as many as 400. In its fourth year, Porch View Dances returns to Seaton Village this summer offering spectators a rare and delightful celebration of the neighbourhood and engaging “real people in real time in real spaces.”

Freeman Real Estate is proud to be a gold sponsor of Porch View Dances, the brainchild of Karen and Allen Kaeja, owners and operators of Kaeja d’Dance, a 25-year-old contemporary dance company that performs, tours and teaches.

“Events like Porch View Dances are unique and uplifting,” says Elden Freeman, president of Freeman Real Estate. “Not only does it serve to edify the residents of our neighbourhood but it inspires and promotes community engagement.”

Kaeja d’Dance has always been interested in community engagement and promoting people’s interest in the world of dance and it capability to tell a story. The concept for Porch View came about during a meeting in which the dance studio director wondered what it would be like if the neighbour she could see out her window in Seaton Village danced down the street to tell a story.

“The first Porch View Dance simply blew up,” says Shana Hillman, general manager at Kaeja d’Dance. “We thought there might be 30 or 40 people and we got 400 people each night. We also got a lot of press and it’s become so big and crazy.”

The event pairs professional choreographers with families and they create a dance and the audience is led through the neighbourhood with a guide, who shares anecdotes and tales about the area. Performances always conclude in Vermont Square Park, where the audience is led in an inclusive Flock Landing finale that looks like tai chi set to music.

The event has garnered so much attention that organizers now need to apply for a parade permit since spectators are coming from all over the city to see it, says Hillman.

Porch View Dances this year will involve three families. Performances run from August 19 to 23.

“The feedback we’re hearing from our families is that with everyone being so busy it’s a pleasure to have dedicated time with other family members to create something,” says Hillman. “A family last year was having a difficult time with their 13-year-old daughter and after being involved in Porch View Dances she’s taken on more of a leadership role and has a newfound sense of confidence.”

Porch View Dances has won a number of awards and recently received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, allowing the dance company to spend the next three years taking Porch View Dances to three other communities around the province. Organizers are heading to Ottawa’s Westboro neighbourhood this month to mount a Porch View Dances as part of the Canada Dance Festival June 11-13.

“This has been a game-changer for us,” says Hillman. “Exposing the public to ‘dance by accident’, inspired us to increase our footprints in communities where the creation is shared with the participants and the audience is essential to the experience.”

Kaeja d’Dance hopes to help blur the line between art and the public by going beyond exposing new audiences to dance by involving all ages and abilities as performers to make for a more dynamic and vibrant city, while building people’s curiosity and trust in an experiential and meaningful way, to be engaged with the arts.

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