upcoming

PROJECTS

Ottawa Fringe Festival (Ottawa, ON)

June 13-23 2024

TOES For Dance Process and Practice Residency ​ 2024/2025 Cohort (Toronto, ON)

Aug. 13-23 2024

Workshops in Ottawa

June 14th 2024

ABOUT US

Boys' Club comprises 3 female tap dancers (Veronica Simpson/Toronto, Laura Donaldson/Calgary, and Elise ​McGrenera/Vancouver) who are deeply passionate about exploring tap dance as a vehicle to examine power dynamics ​and the female experience. Our work strives to be a celebration of female voices in tap dance and jazz music.

Meet the Boys

Calgary, Alberta

Toronto, Ontario

Vancouver, British Columbia​

LAURA DONALSON

Co-Founder

Laura Donaldson is a tap dancer, teacher and ​choreographer from Calgary, Alberta. Laura ​continues to develop her artistic voice through ​practice, research, creation, teaching, and ​performing in Canada and abroad. Laura has ​performed in works by Lisa La Touche, Danny ​Nielsen, Tasha Lawson, Derick Grant and more. ​Highlights include Fall For Dance North, Fluid Festival, ​Tap Dance Days at tanzhaus nrw, Tap Liege Festival ​and is an alumnus of The School at Jacob’s Pillow ​as part of the Tap Dance Performance Ensemble. ​Laura also performed in (in)sight dance’s ​commissioned piece Mirror/Water/Doorway at the ​Toronto International Tap Dance Festival. Most ​recently she was on tour as a principal dancer with ​Danny Nielsen’s On Foot in BC. Laura is also ​researching a new work which has been supported ​by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and The GRAND.

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VERONICA SIMPSON

Co-Founder

Veronica Simpson is a dancer and theatre artist based ​in Toronto. Performance credits include projects with ​Dorrance Dance, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, ​Rhythm and Sound, (in)sight dance, Dianne ​Montgomery at Fall For Dance North, Michelle ​Dorrance at New York City Center, and Danny Nielsen’s ​2023 tour of On Foot. In 2021, she attended the ​School at Jacob’s Pillow as part of the Tap Dance ​Performance Ensemble studying closely alongside ​Michelle Dorrance, Derick Grant, and Dormeshia. Most ​recently, Veronica joined the cast of Dorrance Dance: ​the Nutcracker Suite on their US tour which premiered ​at the Kennedy Center. Veronica continues her ​freelance and creation work in Toronto and travels ​regularly to New York City to study with and work ​alongside prominent tap dancers.

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ELISE MCGRENERA

Co-Founder

Elise McGrenera is a tap dancer from Vancouver, ​Canada. She has traveled around the world to ​participate in dance festivals in Vancouver, ​Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and ​Stockholm where she trained with some of the ​masters in tap dance. Elise is an alumna of the ​School at Jacob's Pillow where she was accepted ​into the 2019 tap dance program and graduated ​with the Professional Advancement in Dance Award. ​She was a featured dancer in the 2019 Vancouver ​premier of Danny Nielsen’s On Foot as well as both ​the 2021 and 2022 productions of Jeffrey Dawson ​and Friends presented by the Vancouver Tap Dance ​Society. Most recently, Elise joined Danny Nielsen’s ​cast of On Foot as a principal dancer for a BC tour.

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OUR WORK

Boys’ Club I

is an exploration of femininity, the male gaze, and experiences of ​womanhood throughout time. Highlighting women in jazz music and tap ​dance, the piece is an expression of our individual stories as we relate to ​those who came before us. All of the music used is created and/or ​performed by women

Run time 50 min.

OUR WORK

Boys’ Club & his Orchestra

is a celebration of our favourite Toronto women in Jazz. In collaboration with ​vocalist Ale Nunez and an all-girl band, this work will explore jazz standards ​reimagined, and original music. This new work is being researched and created ​over the course of 2024/25

Footage coming soon...

Run time 25-30 min.

Do you want to support Boys’ Club?


We are extremely grateful for the support we’ve received from the following organizations;


The Claquettes Club