About

Born and raised in the RM of Stanley near Melville, Saskatchewan, Shannon Litzenberger, MA, is an award-winning contemporary dance artist, choreographer, director, programmer, creative facilitator and producer based in Tkarón:to/Toronto. Known for creating imaginative performance experiences, her innovative collaborations come to life at the intersection of dance, theatre, literary, and visual art. Her perspective is decidedly feminist, philosophical and socially conscious. Her roots in Canada’s rural prairies inspire recurring themes of connection to land, environment, belonging, identity and place. Her work has been presented across Canada and the US, in collaboration with some of Canada’s leading artists. She has been an invited resident artist at Banff Centre, Soulpepper Theatre Company, rRemai Modern, Toronto Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Atlantic Ballet Theatre and the Gros Morne Summer Music Festival. She is a member of Dark by Five and the Wind in the Leaves collective.

As a collaborator, strategist and facilitator, Shannon also works with many cultural and educational institutions including Cultural Pluralism Movement in the Arts - Ontario (CPAMO), Business/Arts, the Canadian Arts Summit, Western University’s Ivey Business School, University of Toronto, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation, among others. She designs and facilitates workshops on creation, innovation and leadership within organizational settings, using perception-based practices to foster effective collaboration and productive team dynamics. She has been an invited guest speaker at a multitude of universities, events and conferences across Canada and internationally and has published over 100 articles on dance, creative process and arts policy. Shannon was the first ever Arts Innovation Fellow at the Metcalf Foundation. She is the recipient of the Jack McAllister award for accomplishment in dance, the recipient of a 2019 Chalmers Arts Fellowship, a Trudeau Foundation Mentor and a twice-shortlisted finalist for the prestigious KM Hunter Award. Her most recent work World After Dark was nominated for a 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Award.