Profile — Holly Buckridge

Biography

Holly Buckridge is a an emerging freelance dance artist based in Toronto and a graduate from The School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University with a BFA in performance/choreography. Originally from Vancouver, she started her training in Ontario with the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts and The Hamilton City Ballet specializing in Vaganova ballet. Since starting her dance training in Toronto, she has expanded her artistry in contemporary modern and choreography while studying and collaborating with dance artists/choreographers Julia Sasso, Susan Lee, John Ottmann, Tracey Norman, Carol Anderson, Darryl Tracey, Belinda Mcguire and Peggy Baker. In addition to participating in summer/winter training programs (School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Alias Dance Project, Danse K par K, TO Love In, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Adelheid Dance, the National Ballet of Canada) she danced two seasons with the York Dance Ensemble (2016-2018).

Her original works Rubatosis and OPIA were shown in Dance Innovations (2017) and York Dances (2017). She produced and remounted her first professional work of Rubatosis at Dance Makers as a part of Bloom (2018). In 2019, she danced in Escape to Paradise, an augmented reality multimedia show in collaboration with artist Tony Viera and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. She performed her piece Halcyon (2022) in collaboration with Priyanka Tope combining aspects of traditional Kathak and contemporary dance for an outdoor showcase with a the Toronto based group Meaningful Movement. Throughout 2023, Holly worked and collaborated with companies in California such as Flockworks, The Conscious Dancer and most recently in January 2024 DARTS Foundation. Along with performance, she is actively engaged with youth outreach arts programs in south western Ontario looking to enrich, cultivate and inspire children and youth through dance.

Holly is looking to develop new ways of moving with a strength and curiosity in improvisation pursuing a career in performance and choreography.

Artist Statement

As a performing artist and choreographer I am always asking the question; how? How can I grab the audiences attention, how can I push the limits of movement, how can I address relevant topics and translate their importance through dance? I aim to not only explore but to deepen the relationship between ones self, other bodies/minds and the space in which these inhabit and how these affect one another. My work based strongly in improvisation, explores unpacking emotional history in the body thriving in the energy of ephemerality, vulnerability, and the idea of letting go. Being willing to go to places in the mind and body that may be uncomfortable speaks to why I do what I do. How can I break my patterns and how can I harness them? Is there a separation between the physical body and mind? All of these questions keep my curiosity and drive to perform, create and transform spaces the body lives in.

Caged Bird — Rufi O. Rodriguez Photo by David Hou — *Caged Bird* — Rufi O. Rodriguez Photo by David Hou

Adelheid Winter Workshop Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh