Artistic Director / Roshanak Jaberi
Profile
Roshanak is a choreographer, director, performer, and producer, creating work for the stage, screen and public spaces. She is the founding Artistic Director and choreographer of Jaberi Dance Theatre. With a career spanning over 25 years, she has performed in numerous productions and created an expansive body of work across disciplines. Her practice is research-driven and interdisciplinary, unfolding at the interface of socio-political inquiry and contemporary dance-theatre.
Through movement, narrative, and visual language, Roshanak crafts works that are emotionally resonant and physically rigorous. She invites audiences into a space of suspended tension and connection through her thoughtfully nuanced and conceptually layered creations. Centering collaboration and risk-taking, she continues to shape a body of work that embraces curiosity and strives to push the boundaries of her artistic expression.
Roshanak’s stage productions and films have toured nationally and internationally, earning numerous awards and nominations. Highlights include six Dora Mavor Moore nominations, among them Best Original Choreography for No Woman’s Land (2019); Winning Best Screendance Short for Slipping (Indie Short Fest, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, 2022); and Best World-Changing Doc for The Woman in White (FilmHaus Berlin, 2022).
A two-time ISPA Global Fellow (2020, 2021) and recipient of the Chalmers Arts Fellowship (2019), Roshanak holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University. She has been an invited guest lecturer and speaker, sharing her perspective on creative practice at post-secondary institutions and public forums. Her work has also been referenced in adult education courses and critical pedagogy at the University of Toronto.
Photo: Ashley Irwin
Profile
Roshanak is a choreographer, director, performer, and producer, creating work for the stage, screen and public spaces. She is the founding Artistic Director and choreographer of Jaberi Dance Theatre. With a career spanning over 25 years, she has performed in numerous productions and created an expansive body of work across disciplines. Her practice is research-driven and interdisciplinary, unfolding at the interface of socio-political inquiry and contemporary dance-theatre.
Through movement, narrative, and visual language, Roshanak crafts works that are emotionally resonant and physically rigorous. She invites audiences into a space of suspended tension and connection through her thoughtfully nuanced and conceptually layered creations. Centering collaboration and risk-taking, she continues to shape a body of work that embraces curiosity and strives to push the boundaries of her artistic expression.
Roshanak’s stage productions and films have toured nationally and internationally, earning numerous awards and nominations. Highlights include six Dora Mavor Moore nominations, among them Best Original Choreography for No Woman’s Land (2019); Winning Best Screendance Short for Slipping (Indie Short Fest, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, 2022); and Best World-Changing Doc for The Woman in White (FilmHaus Berlin, 2022).
A two-time ISPA Global Fellow (2020, 2021) and recipient of the Chalmers Arts Fellowship (2019), Roshanak holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University. She has been an invited guest lecturer and speaker, sharing her perspective on creative practice at post-secondary institutions and public forums. Her work has also been referenced in adult education courses and critical pedagogy at the University of Toronto.
“My art is both personal
and political."
My Story & Creative Practice
I was born in Iran and raised in Toronto, where I currently live and create. Growing up in a family of artists, I’ve always delighted in following my curiosity and joyfully losing myself in the world of imagination.
As a first-generation refugee and war survivor, my creative impulses have been deeply influenced by themes of human connection, survival, and hope. I find contradictions compelling and try to reflect them in my work. Though the subjects I explore are often serious and complex, I try to approach them with lightness, humour, and honesty. Nature, family, and wandering through unfamiliar cities help me stay grounded and open, reminding me of the importance of holding onto a spirit of playfulness.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with political prisoners, migrants and refugees, unhoused women and youth, survivors of gender-based violence, and families affected by war, state executions, and forced disappearance. These relationships have profoundly shaped my practice, reminding me that art can be a space for listening, collective resistance, and imagining new possibilities.
Selected Credits
Education
Awards and Nominations
Fellowships
Publications
Certifications
Residencies
Boards and Committees
Teaching & Speaking
Honours
Other Experience
Selected Credits
Education
Awards and Nominations
Fellowships
Publications
Certifications
Residencies
Boards and Committees
Teaching & Speaking
Honours
Other Experience
“Roshanak Jaberi is a force
to reckon with.”
—Kathleen Rea (REAson d'etre dance)
