Mushtari Afroz is a classical dancer trained in the North Indian classical dance form called ‘Kathak,’ and is director of the Kathak Bandi Dance Collective. For her project, Mushtari will work with dancers to surprise and engage the audience through a series of dance performances that will interact with Pickering’s public spaces and invite public participation. The project will raise awareness of the importance of these shared spaces as gathering points and places of pride within diverse communities.
Mushtari Afroz is a dancer and choreographer based in Pickering. She has trained in the North Indian classical dance form ‘Kathak’ and has been practising within the South Asian diaspora since the early 2000s following her immigration to Canada from Bangladesh. Mushtari continues to train in various contemporary dance, martial arts and performance styles. In 2016, Mushtari established her dance collective ‘Kathak Bandi’ which through collaboration with Canadian musicians and performance artists, has created and presented original works for the stage in Canada and the US. While she continues to create work for the stage, she is gradually carving out a new path off stage through choreographic interventions in public spaces. This experimentation investigates the relationship between the human body and built urban environments.
Imran Noor Mohammed, Dancer
Christine Samuel, Dancer
Alina Mehra, Dancer
Taskin Anha, Dancer
Dhaivat Jani, Musician
Vraj Patel, Musician
Dewan Masud Karim, Photographer
Located on the picturesque shores of Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region, Pickering is a rich and diverse community with natural beauty, vibrant downtowns and quaint hamlets.
The Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund is a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.
