PERFORMANCE HISTORY
September 2021 - Halifax Fringe Festival
Summer 2022 - Maritime Tour
24 free pop-up performances across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick!
We performed in theatres, parks, libraries, breweries, and even a hockey rink!
Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts
April 2023 - OutFest
Atlantic Canada’s largest queer theatre festival!
Presented by Page1 Theatre
May 2023 - Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
Presented as professional development, in partnership with the Healthy Workplace Committee
SEPTEMBER 2021
The Skeleton Dance had its world premiere at the Halifax Fringe Festival!
Sold-out run!
Received the ‘Show I Wish I Could Have Seen Twice’ award from Fringe chair, April Hubbard.
Photo by Stoo Metz
SUMMER 2022
In 2022, thanks to the support of the Canada Council of the Arts, The Skeleton Dance went in tour!
We performed free, pop-up performances across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Locations included:
Halifax, NS:
The Bus Stop Theatre
Halifax Central Library
Peace & Friendship Park
Alderney Landing
Halifax Waterfront
Good Robot Brewing Co.
Cole Harbour Place Arena
and more!
Fredericton, NB:
Partners for Youth
Charlotte Street Arts Centre
Parrsboro, NS:
Fundy Geological Museum
Truro, NS:
Truro Farmer’s Market
Photo by James MacLean
DEVELOPMENT
The Skeleton Dance has undergone several phases of development, beginning in 2019.
In 2021, The Skeleton Dance made its world premiere at the Halifax Fringe Festival. It was a scrappy, 15-minute, proof-of-concept presentation that received a sold-out run and the ‘Show I Wish I Could Have Seen Twice’ award from Fringe chair April Hubbard.
In 2022, we received funding from the Canada Council of the Arts to develop The Skeleton Dance into its current, 50-minute version, which we then toured across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
In 2023, we were the inaugural YA stage at Page1 Theatre’s Outfest: Atlantic Canada’s largest queer theatre festival, receiving dramaturgical support from festival dramaturge Annie Valentina and artistic director Isaac Mulè.
As of 2024, we are grateful to be artists-in-residence with Jim Morrow, thanks to a generous investment from the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.
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THE SKELETON DANCE
The Skeleton Dance began development in 2019 as a vocal masque assignment in theatre school between emerging artists Ella MacDonald (she/her) and Emma James (they/she). Thanks to the support of their faculty and many other community partners, The Skeleton Dance is able to take on new life while it explores death in a new way.
This project is possible thanks to the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
The creation, development, and presentation of The Skeleton Dance has taken place in K’jipuktuk, the ancestral and unceded land of the Mi’kmaq people.
Find us on Instagram: @theskeletondancehfx
© 2022 Ella & Emma
