About DANCE IMMERSION

Boldly Raising the Bar in Canadian Performing Arts

dance Immersion is a charitable non-profit organization established by Vivine Scarlett in 1994 to produce, promote, and support dancers and dances of the African Diaspora*.

Our award-winning programs offer presentation, artistic skill development, and networking opportunities for Black artists, serving those who practice contemporary and traditional movement forms from Africa, the Caribbean, North America, South America, and Europe.

With decades in service, dance Immersion experiences considerable success in connecting dance artists across Canada and around the world.

*The African Diaspora refers to communities around the world that are descended from the historic, primarily forced, movement of peoples from the continent of Africa.

Vision: To inspire understanding, opportunity, and meaningful change through dance.

Mission: dance Immersion advances and connects communities through producing, promoting, and supporting dancers and dances of the African Diaspora.

We provide our services via three interconnected platforms:

Presentation of dance works to the public
Incubation of choreography by emerging and established artists
Education for artists and communities of all ages, while encouraging intergenerational engagement.

This work is all part of our expanding role as a home for the development of exceptional new Black Canadian dance works.

ARTISTIC VISION STATEMENT

dance Immersion’s curatorial and programming practice is driven by the rhythm cultures that continue to be developed around the world by African and African Diasporic artists. We present performance works and educational and mentorship programs that embody the fluidity of the past, present, and future, viewing a connection to cultural traditions as a grounding base from which contemporary expression can take root to fly. Our work connecting people is founded in the spiritual, intergenerational nature of learning, sharing, and community. We platform artists with a view of passing on wisdom through art, and our primary medium is dance. May everyone touched by our work dance to the music of these universal rhythms.

31 Years

of Service in the Arts

85 +

Stage Presentations

350 +

Dance Education Events

2 000 +

Black Artists Served

40 000 +

Community Members Engaged

WHAT DO WE DO?

Video by Jillian Greyson featuring footage by Eric Smith from the 2023 IABD Conference & Festival of Blacks in Dance.

MEET THE TEAM

Board of Directors

Kai ner Maa Pitanta – Chair

Solange Fermin – Secretary

Valerie Augustine

Junior Alexander Francis

Yvonne Francis

Abdulla Hassan

Nawa Simon

Kay-Ann Ward

dance Immersion Board of Directors: July 2025

Staff

Timea Wharton-Suri

Curator & Executive Director

Timea Wharton-Suri serves communities through her work as a dance mentor, curator, producer, and executive. For decades she has studied, performed, taught, curated, produced, programmed, administrated, and advocated for the ancient art of embodied communication – dance – in Canada. While gaining this experience, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance from York University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Arts and Media Management Graduate Diploma from Schulich School of Business. In addition to her role at dance Immersion, Timea is a sessional faculty member at Yorkville University’s Bachelor of Creative Arts program teaching project management, a faculty member at Dance Arts Institute teaching the graduating post-secondary students about cultivating a dance career, and a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Humber College’s Arts Administration & Cultural Management Program. She also provides strategic consulting for individual artists and groups and continues studies in dramaturgy, waacking, and Black liberation.

Timea performed for several years with dance companies such as Ballet Creole and Ronald Taylor Dance, eventually serving as Rehearsal Director for each, before opening a dance/fitness studio – one of the first that now proliferate in urban centres. She has produced events for TO Live, North York Arts, Holla Jazz, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the Remarkable Women Awards, and curated dance performances for dance Immersion, TO Live, and Canadian Stage. Performances she created, curated, or co-presented have garnered a total of 27 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations and seven wins to date. A frequent moderator, Timea has conducted on-camera artist interviews and panels for Toronto International Festival of Authors and Harbourfront Centre Performing Arts, CPAMO, Canadian Stage, The Dance Current, and On The Move.

Timea served as the Interim Managing Director of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2020, and previously in administrative roles for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, TVOntario, and Toronto Arts Council (TAC), where she managed the dance and literary arts portfolios. At TAC, she successfully advocated for significant increases to dance funding and co-developed the What’s Your Story?, Toronto Lit Up, Long-Term Dance Projects, Cultural Leaders Lab, Performing Arts Facilities, and Animating Toronto Parks programs. In 2019, Timea co-developed and facilitated curriculum delivery for dance Immersion’s Legacy Leaders Arts Project Management course. She served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Dance Media Group (The Dance Current) from 2019-2021 and is a Board member at Work In Culture. Timea is a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance, Ontario Non-Profit Network, and Black Founders Network. www.timeawharton.ca

Statement from Timea: “I step into the leadership of dance Immersion with a passionate vision to contribute to our liberation from the confines of colonial understandings of African Diasporic arts/life, and to expand our role as a home for the development of exceptional new Black Canadian dance works.“

Email: timea AT danceimmersion DOT ca

Jillian Greyson

Programming & Communications Coordinator

Jillian Greyson is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University who majored in social work and minored in acting and dance studies. Additionally, Jillian holds certifications in Video Editing from OCAD University and Content Creation from Capacity Interactive. She actively participates in community workshops and conferences focused on accessibility in the arts, continually enhancing dance Immersion’s marketing impact and outreach. Through this work, along with employment with other youth programs, she has aided organizations in the building of social media platforms, outreach initiatives, and communications materials.

Passionate about dance, she has experience in hip-hop, contemporary, jazz, ballet, kizomba, and several Latin dance forms. Through the Coco Collective mentorship program, Jillian gained knowledge of various West African dance forms. This wide-ranging education helped her gain tools to support her passion for giving back to the community. In addition to her role with dance Immersion, Jillian is the assistant program manager of Girl Power’d a gymnastics and cultural dance program aimed at providing young girls identifying as Black an education in gymnastics and dance.

Jillian continues to seek out ways to combine her passion for social justice with arts-based programing and ensuring that those within the community have access to adequate resources.

Email: communications AT danceimmersion DOT ca

Zahra Badua

Production & Engagement Coordinator

Zahra Badua is a multifaceted artist whose work is deeply rooted in her love for dance, education, and the rich cultural heritage of the African diaspora. As a dance educator, administrator, movement coach, and choreographer , Zahra’s diverse skill set has allowed her to make a profound impact in communities across Canada and the U.S.

At dance Immersion, Zahra serves as Production & Engagement Coordinator. She completed stage management and production training through the National Arts Center Apprenticeship Program for Technical Production, Producing and Design under the mentorship of senior production stage manager and lighting designer, Sharon Digenova. Her behind-the-scenes production work includes assisting with and shadowing Sharon on several productions with dance Immersion – National Showcase of Canadian Blacks in Dance, Djata: Conversation of the Manden by Aly Keita, and BOW’T TRAIL Retrospek by Rhodnie Désir Créations, as well as an external production with Wind and the Leaves – Allies and Friends.

With extensive training in various West African and Caribbean dance forms, Zahra has performed, taught, and choreographed for numerous dance companies, schools, and events across the Greater Toronto Area, Kingston (Ontario), Montréal, Winnipeg, Pittsburgh and Memphis. Her work is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the vibrant traditions of African and Caribbean based dance forms. She is the founder of an educational and performance-based company called ZahraMoves. The educational component emphasizes on the historical, cultural, and artistic significance of African diasporic dances, while the performance aspect provides a platform for emerging artists of color to develop their craft.

Email: zahra AT danceimmersion DOT ca

Emilie Jabouin

Financial Advancement Officer

Emilie “Zila” Jabouin, PhD, is a dance artist and researcher with 10+ years of grant writing, community relations and non-profit experience. Her philosophy of creative financing, centering the collective, wellness and the arts in funding stems from years of service and her position as Funding & Grants Coordinator at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa (SASC). She then initiated and co-founded a yoga organization for women, Trans and non-binary folks of colour, Yoga.Unity in Ottawa in 2015, as a commitment to social transformation and collective organizing. Emilie’s dance practice is grounded in Haitian folklore – dancing, drumming, and singing—as a foundation for her life and work through her apprenticeship with Haitian dance and drum elder Peniel Guerrier and his KASE DANS program. Burgeoning in and navigating intellectual and artistic projects for 15 years has gifted Emilie with the skills of managing her career financially, resulting in her winning multiple academic, community and artistic scholarships, fellowships, and grants to support her work over the years. Emilie is a storyteller at heart making her the creator of two still expanding choreographic dance works, The Release (2023) and Jérémie, au Coeur de ma vie (2025); and the author of peer-reviewed journal articles—including “Black Women Dancers, Jazz Culture, and “Show Biz”” (2022),—magazine articles and a blog. In 2020, Emilie merged her art and research practices to create a research, consulting, performance and production company, Do Gwe [Dow Gway] dance & research, helping creatives fulfill their artistic vision: www.emiliejabouin.ca.

Email: fundraising AT danceimmersion DOT ca

Vivine Scarlett

Founder & Global Engagement Advisor
Executive Director Emerita

The Founder of dance Immersion, Vivine Scarlett is an administrator, choreographer, and instructor, whose artistic goals and aspirations are rooted in the love of dance.

Vivine’s contributions to the field of dance are generated from an energy that has led her on a journey for over 35 years of giving and serving through the arts. As former Artistic Director and performing member of the Usafiri Dance & Drum Ensemble, Vivine created and presented works in both traditional influenced African and contemporary dance styles. Drawn to all forms of dance expressions and movement, Vivine’s passion has manifested many experiences that have served Canadian artists of African descent. She has taught for numerous institutions and organizations throughout Canada and continues her creative explorations as a freelance choreographer.

Vivine is a recipient of a Dance Ontario Lifetime Achievement Award. Her choreographic endeavours in the theatre production of “The Adventures of a Black Girl in search of God” won her a Dora Mavor Moore award in 2002, and her work in “The Freedom of dreams: The Story of Nelson Mandela” received a Dora nomination in 2003. Vivine is the recipient of the 2011 Planet Africa Heritage Award for her contributions to dance. In 2008 she received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship to work with youth in Ghana, West Africa. She is the 2005 K.M. Hunter Dance Artist award winner, and the 2021 Toronto Arts Foundation Muriel Sherrin award winner for her outstanding contribution to the arts. See our profile on Vivine HERE.

Statement from Vivine: “My journey has been one of service to my love of dance and the excellence of who we are. The creation of the organization was done at a time when it was needed, driven by an understanding that no matter who or what tried to discourage me, I would continue to serve within this vision. The organization has created space for dancers to work from their own experiences and environment; to be exposed to new experiences, gain development opportunities, and expand their networks and much more, all while acquiring tools that enhance and support careers in dance. dance Immersion has witnessed the growth, expansion and contributions of many artists who have connected with the organization over the past 30 years.”

Email: vivine AT danceimmersion DOT ca

Nicole Inica Hamilton

Event Moderator

Nicole Inica Hamilton is an award-winning choreographer and the Founder/ Artistic Director of Inica Dance Industries. A certified educator and teaching member of Dance Masters of Canada / Dance Masters of America, Hamilton has served as a guest teacher, mentor and speaker at institutes across Canada including; George Brown College, University of Toronto, York University and University of Calgary.

Hamilton is a counselling member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, and Vice President of Healthy Dancer Canada. She works actively in the dance health and science sector. Her creations and research have examined and explored diverse realities and experiences of the human condition, healing practices, and care centered ecosystems. Hamilton’s research on injury prevention, holistic teaching practices and impacts of psychological stress has been presented at national and international conventions including; the En Avant-RAD World Convention, the Toronto Dance Teacher Expo, and the Performing Arts Medicine Association. Hamilton is a counsellor at Jörgen Dance.

Hamilton is the host and producer of TUЯИOUT Radio, and reports on the current news affairs of our time with special focus on arts, health, career, and business news at CIUT 89.5 FM. She is the in-suite moderator for the Dora Mavor Moore award-winning dance Immersion, and has operated as a guest correspondent and host on media and discussion platforms across Canada including the Career Buzz Show, Evi-Dance Radio, the AMANI Project, and Fall for Dance North’s Mambo Podcast. Her voice has been featured on national commercials, film, television networks and stages where she has moderated, and facilitated conversations with leaders across the world.

Follow Nicole @nicoleinicahamilton

Images of Vivine, Timea, Zahra, and Jillian by Crated Dozen Photography.

Image of Nicole by AR4Photography