Dance Canvas is working to diversify professional dance.

In 2020, like many theaters and arts organizations, it was forced to cancel most of its programming. But in the midst of the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and a breathtaking degree of economic uncertainty, the organization knew that artists and audiences needed a place to process all that we were grappling with.

That summer, Dance Canvas partnered with Atlanta Contemporary to offer a summer choreographic residency. Eight choreographers would create solos or duets in response to the times. At the end of the summer, their works would premiere in Atlanta Contemporary’s outdoor pavilion, a beautiful space in a former truck repair depot, before a small, distanced audience.

Dance Canvas commissioned Xerophile Studios to document the entire creative process. The resulting film, Art Is Our Response, premiered at Atlanta Contemporary in the fall of 2021 and had a festival run in 2022. The release of this documentary also marked the launch of the organization’s new series, Dance Canvas on Film.