This summer, JDT is welcoming emerging choreographer Aryana Malekzadeh for a creative residency! Aryana will have dedicated time, space and funding support to develop her new work Swallow Your Name alongside her collaborators, Mina Zaghari and Nona Houshiarkhah. More to come as the residency unfolds!

Swallow Your Name examines the quiet transformations that occur while growing up between cultures in the diaspora. Rooted in the experience of being an Iranian woman raised in the West, the piece explores the ways we learn to conceal parts of ourselves to belong. The work combines movement, text, and Iranian-inspired imagery.

Aryana is an Iranian Canadian performing dance artist, choreographer and dance educator based in Toronto. She is a graduate of Dance Arts Institute (formerly The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University where she was awarded merit scholarships for her excellent work ethic.