Performance fuels research as festival celebrates the depth, breadth of dance

Four years ago, faculty members of the dance program at the University of Calgary's School of Creative and Performing Arts imagined a platform where their many initiatives would come together at the end of the Fall semester. 

As they kept brainstorming, enriching those events to offer opportunities for students and the community to engage with a wide diversity of dance forms became a focal point. Providing a space for all to engage with in-depth dance research rarely shared with the community was also identified as a goal.  

Less than a year later, they launched the University of Calgary Movement Research Festival (MoRF), a two-week event involving two performance series, a screening of dance films, and a dance-research conference. 

The festival later grew to involve community partners such as the Calgary Hip Hop & Streetdance Festival (HHSDF) and Dancers' Studio West (DSW).  

Back for its third year, the 2025 edition of MoRF runs Nov. 20 to Dec. 3. 

Partnered with the HHSDF, DSW and the Faculty of Kinesiology, the growing festival now includes performances, dance-science panels, lecture-demonstrations by internationally active dance artists, workshops offered as part of the Thomas Poulsen Symposium on Disability and Mixed-Abilities in the Performing Arts, and much more.  

MoRF 2025 launches with MORFLIX, a highly anticipated showcase of dance films by UCalgary students, alumni and faculty, as well as from the HHSDF. The showcase is hosted at the West Village Theatre, 2007 10 Ave. S.W.

The festival continues over the weekend at the University Theatre with TransFoRM, an evening of innovative works by local and international choreographers, including works by Dr. Eva Macias, PhD, Meghann Michalsky, De-Anne Weekes, 7Starr and Lady C.  

The Dance Research Conference follows from Nov. 23 to 28, having expanded into a five-day program including mid-day lecture demonstrations, panels and workshops by artists and researchers, such as Harmanie Rose (Thomas Poulsen Symposium); Rufi Oswaldo and Dr. Joseph Mercier, PhD (Get Gay Dance); and Dr. Heunjung Lee, PhD (UCalgary postdoctoral fellow: Cultural Dance for Dementia); among several others.       

The festival concludes with the popular afternoon program, Dance@Noon, featuring choreography from third-year BFA dance students. This is a free event held in the University Theatre from Dec. 1 and 3.

For full festival information, visit the MoRF webpage.