Meet the DanceWeekend’25 Artists: Susannah Haight

I am Susannah Haight, an artist of Ukrainian descent, creating work across multiple disciplines in Toronto. My practice, informed by my neurodiversity, forges connections between diverse artistic fields, creating a synthesis of photography, performance, installation, film and theater. My work examines the interplay between emotional states ,physical movement and metaphysical space, using strategic placement of objects to create both natural and synthetic milieus. My education in the field of performance started at Etobicoke School of the Arts where I was the recipient of the “The Edward Lam Memorial Scholarship” in dance, I later relocated to Montreal to further refine my dance training at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, graduating in 2017. Upon graduating I confronted the reality that conventional dance spaces often overlook neurodiverse narratives, inspiring me to pursue innovative forms of expression on my own. In 2018, I initiated my exploration of movement through the creation of unique environments within dance studios, informed by concepts from evolutionary science. This approach posits that, like organisms adapting to their habitats, movement can evolve in response to the spaces it inhabits. This method of creation attracted the attention of the arts collective and fashion brand Paloma Wool, (Barcelona, Spain) who commissioned me to develop virtual performance pieces for their digital platforms. This led to the creation of one of my first performance works “Fruits of our Labour” which delves into the spatial unconscious via dissociative states, employing simple objects like clementines as physical tools for compositional exploration. In the spring of 2023, I deepened my exploration of movement at NES Artist Residency in Iceland, using the natural landscape to generate performance and solidify connections between the brain and body and environment, rather than working in a standard dance studio. It was there that I created my first duration dance installation “Untitled – Clock piece” which will be presented at 2024 Nuit Blanche.

I will be sharing a very short excerpt that is from my work titled PACING which is a 45 minute work featuring a sound responsive light, falling sand and a old photo projector.

meeting other dance artists and being able to finally share a piece I have been working on for the past couple of years!

Dance is alchemy. The ability to create beauty from nothing but human spirit