Ottawa Dance Directive is a contemporary dance centre located on the second floor of Arts Court in downtown Ottawa.  The centre opened its doors on September 1, 2011.  ODD houses four tiers of innovative dance programming featuring resident Compagnie ODD, Series Dance 10, training, and inclusive resource sharing.  Four local artists of distinction created Ottawa Dance Directive, Natasha Bakht, Yvonne Coutts, Sylvie Desrosiers, and Lana Morton.

Why Support Ottawa Dance Directive?

Ottawa Dance Directive has evolved based on an inclusive mandate and vision.  It is a multi –streamed organization that is creating partnerships in the community, creating employment for local artists, developing engaging outreach for children and youth, and creating new choreographic works that are being acknowledged for their artistic excellence. (Vancouver Presents July 5, 2014 "The Ottawa Dance Directive is daring and skilled…..")

Compagnie ODD Highlights

• 2016 ODD is OFF / CDF: World Premieres by Artistic Director, Yvonne Coutts and emerging artist, Marilou Lépine
• 2015 NAC Ontario Scene: Invited to perform in prestigious National Inter-Arts festival
• 2014 Dancing on the Edge in Vancouver: Opening night with two sold out performances
• 2013 Canada Dance Festival: Invited to present four site specific events
• 2012 Canada Dance Festival: Most sold performance in the 2012 CDF 

Series Dance 10 / SD10

ODD’s professional presentation series with four presentation events per season.  ODD has presented a diverse group of national and international artists and has been a partner of the National Arts Centre Dance Department since 2013. 

SD10 Artists to Date

Marc Boivin (Montreal), Brian Webb (Edmonton), Kate Hilliard (Toronto), Julie Anne Ryan (Gatineau) / Deborah Hay, Annie De Pauw / Ireni Stamou, (Montreal, Costa Rica), Heather Lynn MacDonald / Vanessa Michaud (Montreal), Marilou Lépine (Montreal), Yvon Soglo AKA Crazy Smooth (Gatineau), Simon Renaud (Ottawa), Claudia Moore, Dan Wild (Moonhorse Dance Theatre-Toronto) / Tedd Robinson, James Kudelka (Ottawa, Toronto), collective(gulp) dance projects (Ottawa), Sonia St- Michel (Gatineau), Meagan O'Shea (Toronto), Susie Burpee, Linnea Swan (Toronto), Chartier Danse (Toronto), Ame Henderson (Toronto), Matja Ferlin (Croatia) / co-presented with NAC Dance, Governor General Performing Arts Award Winner, Paul-André Fortier (Montreal), Robin Poitras (Regina), Laura Taler (Ottawa), Heidi Strauss (Toronto), Clément Layes (Berlin) / co-presented with NAC Dance, Caroline Barrière (Ottawa), Sarah Williams (Montreal), Dorsale Danse (Gatineau), Laurence Lemieux (Toronto), Natasha Bakht (Ottawa), Jennifer Dallas (Toronto), Bienvenue Bazié (Burkina Faso) /co-presented with NAC Dance, Shannon Cooney (Berlin) / co-presented with CDF, Danse Carpe Diem-Emmanuel Jouthe (Montreal), Chiara Frigo (Italy), Governor General Performing Arts Award Winner, Peggy Baker and Peggy Baker Dance Projects (Toronto), Daniel Linehan (Belgium), Johanna Kotze (United States) /co-presented with NAC Dance, Noam Gagnon (Vancouver)

MASC / Artists in the Schools Program 

ODD is extremely proud of its outreach for children with "Read to Move" combining literacy and movement and “Chance Dance” for youth.  ODD has been invited to deliver workshops all over the community in its two years of partnership with MASC. 

"I liked when we all danced in a circle and did anything we wanted to because dance is all about being yourself."  Maggie-elementary student

"It doesn’t matter what people say about your dancing, you’re you and you’re spectacular." Ella-elementary student

"It’s ok to let out your weirdness when you’re dancing!"  Drew-elementary student

Outreach Initiatives

ODD is one of the founding partners with MASC, école secondaire publique De la Salle, and The School of Dance for the Festival de Danse en milieu scolaire bringing French- speaking youth from across the province to participate in an engaging weekend festival of dance creation and performance.

ODD intersects with several high school dance programs in Ottawa and Gatineau.  ODD works with the Professional Training Programme for Contemporary Dance at The School of Dance to build bridges in the community and support emerging dance artists.