Dominica/Canada
Aisha Sasha John is the only daughter and youngest child of the late Catherine Iris (John) Callender, the sixth of seven children born in La Plaine, Dominica to Ignatia John (Mama Babe) and Ludovic John (Papa Joe). Aisha is a dance artist and a poet. The Pool (Toronto Dance Theatre 2025) is her most recent choreographic work, and total (McClelland & Stewart 2025) is her most recent poetry collection.
I am a multi-disciplinary artist, living in Etobicoke for over 15 years. I facilitate art workshops that engage the whole community. My art is inspired by nature and the people around me. I am also a digital creator. I love going for walks and visiting landmarks in this neighbourhood. I plan to keep working here and contribute to developing a rich artistic community.
© Roxy Menzies, 2026. Photo Djenabeě.
Canada
Roxy is an artist with two decades of experience who seamlessly blends dance, writing, and healing arts in her multifaceted practice. With a deep curiosity about the human body, mind, and spirit, she advocates for optimal health and holistic well-being. She has taught online Chair Fitness for New York City employees, movement and dance through community arts for seniors, in the Canadian educational system, pre/post natal bodies and Cirque du Soleil artists.
Roxy has performed, guest-taught, or presented around the world, with her interests predominantly related to forms within the African diaspora. As a published author you can find her musings online, spot her on television dancing on furniture or in a stadium, reading poetry or just plain old creating.
India
Ranganathan Rajan (He/Him) is originally from India and is currently based in Tkaronto. He is an artist with performance art and contemporary dance, working with stress and strength in the body; Ranganathan is finding ways to work by creating a split in the images as they relate to him. Ranganathan graduated from the Professional Training Program at Dance Arts Institute Canada (2025) and has completed a Diploma in Movement Art and Mixed Media from Attakkalari Center of Movement Arts in Bangalore, India (2021). Ranganathan believes in socially engaged acts, focusing on participation and collaboration through his initiative Aspect_P.O.D.
Canada
Nyda Kwasowsky A multi-disciplinary artist/maker of mixed heritage situated in Tkaronto. She orients towards abolitionist approaches rooted in experimentation, improvisation and community. Her work centers around grief, hybridity and belonging in racialized diasporic experience. Studied in somatics and trauma informed practices, a practitioner in TCM cupping and Auricular Acupuncture and training in Harm Reduction, Restorative Justice, Polyvagal Certified, craftworks, Earthwork and studying as a Birth Doula. Her most recent explorations look at the intersections of cultural materiality and the moving dancing performing body.
Canada
H(annah) Kryworuchko (they/she/he) is an emerging textile artist/designer and facilitator completing their BDes at OCAD University in Material Art and Design. H’s practice is grounded in making with others, in their body, with land, and in water through quilting, weaving, printing, and dyeing. They develop relational and community-engaged work aligning with their values in abolition, solidarity, and care. H has over 15 years of experience in competitive artistic swimming and longer as a water lover.
© Hannah Palmer, Summer’s Over, 2026.
USA
Hannah S. Palmer is an American writer and artist from the Southside of Atlanta.
Through her essays, lectures, and collaborative projects, Palmer reconsiders urban rivers, neglected spaces, public swimming pools, environmental justice, and the forms of nature that persist within urban environments. Among these projects is Finding the Flint, an investigation into the headwaters of the river flowing underneath Atlanta’s mega-airport. In 2024, she published The Pool Is Closed: Segregation, Summertime, and the Search for a Place to Swim, which examines the social, racial, and political dimensions of access to water in the United States.
Her work is distinguished by its attention to the stories embedded within urban landscapes and by a nuanced reflection on the ways infrastructure, water, memory, and the living world shape our everyday experience of the city.
POOLBODY is a new multi-site performance series unfolding across Toronto from August 6–9. Pools are complex spaces—sites of leisure and competition, public gathering and private escape, play and surveillance, intimacy, memory, access, exclusion, and joy.
POOLBODY brings together performances, conversations, workshops, and site-responsive projects that move through these tensions. Featuring Aisha Sasha John, Aysia Tse & (H)annah Kryworuchko, Hannah Palmer, Mikiki, Nyda Kwasowsky, Ranganathan Rajan, and Tess Martens. PLUS, a Seniors Movement Workshop with Roxy Menzies, and a Kids Pool Art Exhibit & watercolour workshop with Richa Baghel.
This series is made possible with support from Toronto Arts Council | Toronto Arts Foundation – Arts in the Parks, FADO Performance Art Centre and Dancemakers Curators in Community Fund.
PROGRAM – all events are FREE and OPEN to all
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
(1) FADO Performance Art Centre, The Commons, 401 Richmond St. W. (MAP)
6:00 PM: Performance Lecture & Opening Reception
Pool Maintenance by Hannah S. Palmer
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
(2) Flagstaff Park, 42 Mercury Rd, Rexdale (ACCESS INFO & MAP)
12:30–1:30 PM: Kids’ Pool Art Exhibition & Kid’s Watercolour Workshop with Richa Baghel
1:00–2:00 PM: Seniors’ Movement Workshop led by Roxy Menzies
2:30–4:00 PM: Performances
Lifelines (a pilgrimage with, to and for the waters) by Nyda Kwasowsky
Phantasmagoria by Ranganathan Rajan
PAPER. BAG. SAG. DOLL… by Tess Martens
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8
(3) Hart House Pool, University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle (ACCESS INFO & MAP)
6:30–8:30 PM: Performances
pool notes and (mis)alignments by Aysia Tse & (H)annah Kryworuchko
SPLASH PAD by Mikiki
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
(4) Private Pool (Baby Point Road)
6:00 PM: Performance
my astonishing wealth by Aisha Sasha John
ACCESS INFORMATION
(1) The Commons @ 401 has a barrier-free entrance on the northeast side of the building, with an automatic door. The Commons is on the fourth floor and can be reached by elevator. Accessible washrooms are available on the first and fourth floors.
(2) Flagstaff Park and pool deck is wheelchair accessible. Some activities will take place on grass, which may be uneven or difficult to navigate with a mobility device. The pool washroom has one step at the entrance and is not fully wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation will be available for the seniors’ movement workshop and the pool performances.
(3) Hart House Aquatic Centre has barrier-free entrances and an elevator that serves all floors. The pool is on the lower level. A universal washroom is available on the basement level, near the Arbor Room. On weekends, visitors using the barrier-free entrance should enter from Tower Road. ASL interpretation will be available for the performance.
(4) Baby Point Road location is a private home and backyard pool. Unfortunately, the venue is not wheelchair accessible.
For access questions or to request additional accommodations, please contact Shalon at shalonwh@gmail.com
© Poster image: Manny Trinh (@mannytrinh), Acrylic on paper, 2026.
This fragrance opens us to the question, has the show started? It's winter, the theatre is colder than the street and the room is filled with people and all their winter smells: wet faux leather, down, too much shampoo, and beer breath. The atmosphere is a trickster. Am I late, am I early?
yellow mandarin, mimosa
honey, chamomile, salt
narcissus, guaiac wood, piss, beer
