Native Earth Performing Arts will present Syreeta Hector’s piece Black Ballerina from May 23-25, 2025 at Aki Studio. The work is based on Hector’s own experiences in the world of classical ballet as someone who is both Black and Indigenous, and explores issues of identity and fitting in.
“Black Ballerina can be for anyone that has struggled to fit into society or a particular community,” said Syreeta Hector in a statement. “It’s not just about race, it is also about reimagining what we can do for the sustainability of dance performance in our future.”
Black Ballerina is Part 2 of Native Earth’s Niimi’iwe Dance Series, which began with What We Carry by Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo in February 2025.
Syreeta Hector
Dance artist and educator Syreeta Hector is an Assistant Professor in Dance at York University. As a performer, she has worked with prominent companies such as Adelheid Dance Projects, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Citadel + Compagnie, and Toronto Dance Theatre. She earned as Masters degre in Dance Studies from York University, and is a graduate of The National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre.
A Mi’kmaq, African-Canadian and French Acadian, she is based in Toronto, Ontario. Syreeta is currently working on a second chapter in the Black Ballerina series, and recent commissions include ensemble works for Mocean Dance (Nova Scotia) and ProArteDanza (Ontario), and a new work for Kittiwake Dance Theatre (Newfoundland).
Syreeta Hector’s Black Ballerina: The recording of this performance was showcased at the Building an IBPOC Touring Network: A Conference, May 29-30, 2023 at the Citadel + Compagnie (Toronto, ON, Canada)
Black Ballerina
Black Ballerina began as a short work, and has taken the stage in various shorter versions since 2017. Hector has been performing the gradually evolving piece at the SummerWorks Festival, and in a digital version during the pandemic in Stratford, where she won the Stratford Festival Lab Award for Research and Creation in 2019. Hector and Black Ballerina also garnered a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination in 2020.
It’s been performed for live in Halifax, St. John’s, and Winnipeg, and Hector launched a city tour in Calgary in February 2025. Music for the performance includes Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures, Marie Davidson, Richard Reed Parry, A Tribe Called Red, and Kendrick Lamar.
“In past seasons, we presented Niimi’iwe as a double-bill evening of dance. This season, we chose to expand the offerings to each hold their own space in our season, and so that we can honour the individual stories that both contain,” said Joelle Peters, Artistic Director of Native Earth.
“Each piece works on its own, but in connecting them in our Niimi’iwe Series, we are inviting audiences to explore the nuances of Indigenous identity stories and highlighting the importance of self-expression in dance.”
Native Earth Performing Arts is Canada’s oldest professional Indigenous theatre company, and is currently in its 42nd year dedicated to creating, developing and producing professional artistic expressions of the Indigenous experience in Canada.
- Black Ballerina takes the stage May 23, 24 and 24 at Aki Studio. Find more details and tickets (prices on a sliding scale) [HERE].
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