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FROG IN HAND
stories that move

Creation, Performance & Education

Join the movement.

Video footage onUP & Digital Aperture

what's on

... At the Art Shelter

2025 Summer Company Call for Dancers Now Open

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About The Art Shelter

Online Offerings

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FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP
with Rehearsal Director Alice Cavanagh
Produced by Jaberi Dance Theatre

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GRANT WRITING BASICS
An online digital workshop with Colleen Snell

ABOUT US

Two sisters, one backyard, and many frogs.
So our story begins...

Contemporary dance in a costume performs in a park

Image: Zachary Bastille by Tamara Romanchuk

Our story begins with the story of our name...

Frog in Hand began with a cast of frogs performing tricks under the artistic direction of two sisters, Noelle Hamlyn and Colleen Snell, who were three and seven years old at the time. From this whimsical debut springs our firm belief that art begins in humble places – including the mud and grass of our own backyard. Although we are now a diverse collective of dancers, choreographers, musicians, actors, spoken word poets, designers and visual artists, we are still inspired by where we find ourselves.

We are storytellers. We are inspired by local tales, people, and communities that now extend beyond our backyard to include professional training at The Banff Centre, École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, London Contemporary Dance School (UK), Shiseikan Budojo (Tokyo) and Barefoot College (Tanzania). 

 

We create, perform and teach dance in unusual spaces where there is potential for community engagement, site-specific performance and positive social change. We work in full public view. We seek to blur boundaries that separate art forms, artists, audiences and communities; we collaborate with people and organizations who share these aspirations. In 2023, we hand-built and opened a geodesic dome in the new Lakeview Mississauga community. It’s called The Art Shelter. We share this home with our community. Artist-run and solar-powered, it is an intentional act of climate leadership. Its limited footprint, flexibility and collaborative operating model makes space for new ways of working - ways that are socially inclusive, environmentally proactive, and better aligned with an unpredictable future. In 2023 we also became a registered charity.

Statement & Actions in Solidarity

Frog in Hand stands with Black and BIPOC communities in the fight against systemic racism. On June 28th, 2020 we released a statement affirming this stance, and outlining actions we would take to address these oppressions. In September 2020 we released a follow up and update on the actions taken so far. You can read our statement, and the steps we are taking to follow up, on the page below. We are open to feedback and listening. We understand this learning process is ongoing and lifelong.

Image by Magdalena

SUPPORT FROG IN HAND

THROUGH CANADAHELPS
Charity Number: 743642290 RR 0001

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Land Acknowledgement

We are privileged to work, live and play on the traditional territories of the Anishinabek, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples - Treaty 13A territory. This territory is included in the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which is an agreement to peaceably share and care for the land and its resources. The standard of living we enjoy in Canada is a result of thousands of years of stewardship by the original inhabitants and the inequitable taking of the land from them. We acknowledge that in order to have reconciliation, we must first understand truth; we commit to move forward in an effort to achieve both. Our CoFounders, Colleen and Noelle, are settlers from Welsh, Ukrainian and English roots, and their heritage is but one piece of the tapestry that is Frog in Hand. Frog in Hand is a collective of artists with diverse backgrounds and histories, heritages and family stories of their own. 

 

We are all Treaty People. On September 30th each year we mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Every day we are mindful of broken covenants and we strive to make this right. We commit to collaboration based on the foundational assumption that Indigenous Peoples have the power, strength, and competency to develop culturally specific strategies for their communities. We are dedicated to honouring Indigenous self-determination, history, and culture, and are committed to moving forward in the spirit of reconciliation and respect with all First Nation, Metis and Inuit people.

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Charity Number: 743642290 RR 0001

Frog in Hand receives operating support from the City of Mississauga

Read our Privacy Policy  @2024 frog in hand. logo design Syd McManus

outline of a white frog sitting

Creation 
Performance
Education

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