Dance audiences in Toronto will have the opportunity to experience an evocative evening of contemporary performance when DanceWorks’ Sweet Ephemera arrives at The Theatre Centre from June 18 – 20, 2026. The double bill brings together two distinct choreographic voices — Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane and Jose Miguel “Miggy” Esteban — in a programme centred on queer intimacies, diasporic ritual and emotional transformation.

Two Works Connected Through Ritual and Care

Sweet Ephemera pairs two contemporary dance works that approach identity, memory and embodiment through highly sensory and immersive performance styles. While each piece maintains its own aesthetic and choreographic language, both productions investigate themes of care, vulnerability and cultural inheritance.

The programme reflects DanceWorks’ continued commitment to showcasing contemporary artists whose work challenges conventional performance structures while creating deeply personal audience experiences. Hosted at The Theatre Centre, the production invites viewers into intimate worlds shaped by movement, sound and ritual practice.

Peel Me Examines Release Through Physicality

Choreographed by Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane, Peel Me uses experimental Western contemporary dance to explore emotional release and catharsis. The work features performers interacting with grapefruits and fortune cookies, creating a visceral stage environment where destruction, mess and touch become part of the choreography itself.

Through a series of theatrical vignettes, the performance investigates states of control, greed, care and surrender. The physical imagery and tactile materials create a highly sensory atmosphere that blurs the line between performance art and dance theatre.

Shin-Culhane, a Tkaronto-based queer mixed-Korean artist, has previously presented choreography through organisations including Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Citadel + Compagnie and Toronto Dance Theatre’s Pilot Episodes Programme.

pahinga ka muna Centres Mourning and Rest

The second work in the programme, pahinga ka muna by Jose Miguel “Miggy” Esteban, approaches performance through improvisation, mourning rituals and disability-informed artistic practice. Translating loosely to “take a rest first,” the piece explores Filipinx diasporic memory through movement, poetic audio description and multisensory storytelling.

Performed as an improvisational ritual of mourning, the work examines rest as a space for dreaming, care and collective reflection. Esteban’s choreography incorporates access-centred performance methods that treat audio description and sensory experience as creative tools rather than supplementary elements.

The production also reflects Esteban’s broader artistic and academic practice, which explores disability arts, queer embodiment and improvisational movement traditions.

Performances and Accessibility

Performances of Sweet Ephemera take place June 18 – 20, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. DanceWorks has also incorporated accessibility supports into the production, including ASL interpretation and an interpreted talkback during the June 20 performance.