Music for the Eyes: DJD’s 2025/2026 Season
Following an unforgettable 40th anniversary year, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Calgary’s celebrated jazz dance company, is moving boldly into its next chapter.
Rare Beauties
January 15–25, 2026
Rare Beauties is a highly theatrical dance piece exploring extreme emotional states and transformation. The piece is danced to a score featuring a multitude of jazz music from various eras. Created in collaboration with Hannah Fisher (costumes) and Steve Isom (lights) the piece uses costume and light to morph and sculpt the space, themes and dancers throughout the work. Danced by the DJD company, rare beauties themselves, choreographed and directed by DJD Artistic Director Kimberley Cooper, this new piece is part of One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo and promises to be physical, groove driven, moody, strange, and of course, beautiful.
Matters of Rhythm & Harmony
April 23–May 10, 2026
Join us for an exciting double-bill performance celebrating our first 10 years in the DJD Dance Centre.
The show features the beautiful DJD company of 9 dancers, live original jazz music composed by Carsten Rubeling and played by an ensemble of 5 remarkable musicians, spectacular costume design by Hannah Fisher, and magical lighting by Steve Isom.
Act 1 is a vibrant journey inspired by sounds and images from the most southern and northern parts of the Caribbean—Trinidad and New Orleans. Carne Vale is a brave new piece by longtime DJD dancer Sabrina Naz Comănescu, exploring the transition of the spirit into the afterlife and how, in this story, the spirit flows like water from the river to the sea.
Act 2 explores the crucial, rooted and sacred relationship between jazz dancer and musician. Created by Kimberley Cooper, Between the Bandstand and the Dancefloor dives deep into this relationship through improvisation, spoken word and fabulous physical and musical conversations between the dancers and musicians.
A Message from Artistic Director Kimberley Cooper
“What lifts you? What makes your heart sing? What do you do when you feel lousy? Sad? Lonely?
Music is what does it for me—it can change my mood instantly. And of course, for me, music then becomes dance.
Some may ask, how can we dance when the world is as it is? How can we not? Dance is necessary, dance is medicine, dance is resistance.
We passed our 40th milestone last year and now we blast into the future with bold new ideas, movement and music. As you plan your path for the next several months, why not join us for a beautiful season of new work?”
Join Us for the Season
Our 2025/2026 season invites audiences to experience dance as medicine, as resistance, and as pure celebration. A season of music for the eyes.
