The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced that this year’s recipient of the George Luscombe Mentorship Award
is Karen Kaeja. This award recognizes an individual for “mentorship in performing arts” and is awarded every two (2) years.
Ms. Kaeja is the Co-Artistic Director of renowned dance company Kaeja d’Dance, and is
an award-winning performer, choreographer, educator, community builder and project
instigator. With over 30 years of gracing the stage, Kaeja has a remarkable track record
of mentorship and has demonstrated her ability to challenge and nurture future
generations of young dancers. She empowers her mentees and holds space for agency
and individuality, which results in poignant work that resonates with the artists as well as
enthralling audiences.


A Leader On and Off the Stage
Karen Kaeja is recognized by her contemporaries as a leader and mentor for artists both
inside and outside the studio. She invests her time and knowledge and is a strong pillar
of support for the artists she collaborates with. With a generous spirit and open heart,
she encourages them to explore their individuality without imposing her own ideas.
Naturally, many of her mentor/mentee relationships have evolved and blossomed into
new and fruitful collaborations. Kaeja is noted to have shaped the confidence of
generations of young artists, inspiring them to take risks and lead with conviction.
“I truly love mentoring and dramaturgy and have had the pleasure of doing so with many
dance artists from all walks of life over the past two decades. Mentorship relationships
permeate a lifetime of connection and communication. It gives me great pleasure to
unravel, learn and deepen curious artists ’practices, while tending to the correlation of
thinking, imaging and the moving body, within the creative process. For me, the
mentor/mentee equation leans into an intimacy of minds that flourish, a kind of two-way
symbiosis. I am always learning with my senses and my heart from the next generation.”
– Karen Kaeja, 2022 George Luscombe Award Recipient

About the Award
Revolutionary theatre founder and artistic director George Luscombe began Toronto
Workshop Productions (TWP) in 1959, marking the beginning of the Canadian
alternative theatre movement. His 27 years at TWP marked the longest tenure of any
artistic director in Canada. The George Luscombe Mentorship Award recipient is chosen
by a designated committee and receives a framed print by Theo Dimson, a copy of the
book Conversations with George Luscombe: Steven Bush in conversation with the
Canadian Theatre visionary and a cash prize of $1,000 through the generous
sponsorship of the Kingfisher Foundation.
For more information visit tapa.ca