It's About Time: Dancing Black in Canada 1900-1970 and Now

It’s About Time is a nationally touring exhibition that brings long-overlooked histories of Black dance and performance in Canada into focus. Grounded in the socio-political context of the early to mid-20th century, in the decades preceding changes to Canadian immigration laws, the growth of Black diasporic communities, and the introduction of multicultural policy, the exhibition traces how dancers, choreographers, communities, and cultural movements shaped social life across the country. From concert stages and dance halls to studios, clubs, protests, and public gatherings, dance emerges as a vital site of cultural expression and social connection.

 

Curated by scholar, artist, and educator Dr. Seika Boye, the exhibition pairs archival research and materials with commissioned responses by contemporary Nova Scotia–based artists including Ibe Ananaba, Anja Clyke, Allen D. Crooks, Kay Macdonald, and Preston Pavlis. Their works reflect on how the past reverberates in the present, demonstrating how dance, music, and performance continue to serve as sites of memory, resistance, joy, gathering, and self-determination.