Sand Flight at The Bentway

Experience a dystopic dance piece on a sand dune under the Gardiner

Photo by Hans Ravn

Sand Flight

June 12 – 15, 2025
The Bentway, Toronto
Tickets: $10 – $30 | Get tickets

Experience the world premiere of Sand Flight, from internationally renowned choreographer Ingri Fiksdal. Eight dancers and a 50-person choir descend on a massive sand dune under the Gardiner Expressway for a powerful performance that speculates on climates-to-come, where shade-worshipping is the new normal.

“The Norwegian choreographer Ingri Fiksdal turns the city space into an open stage.” – Dance Art Journal

In a future-Toronto, an immense sand dune appears under the Gardiner Expressway, encroaching on the concrete columns that support the busy highway above. As the city heats up and our wind patterns change, desert-like formations materialize and move throughout parks and public spaces with regularity, creating new landmarks. Under the shade of the highway, this particular sand dune becomes a place of sanctuary in the city.

Photo by Hans Ravn

Sand Flight explores our changing relationship to the urban world due to global warming. Developed in response to the rapid heating of our urban centres, and long-standing rituals in Scandinavian cultures including the sun-worshipping dances of the Bronze age, this new performance piece by Ingri Fiksdal and Jonas Corell Petersen (Oslo, Norway) imagines a speculative mythology for climates-to-come, where shade-worshipping becomes a new tradition. Eight dancers and a large choir navigate around the newly formed sand dune, exploring the tension between honouring our infrastructure and fighting our new nature.

Featuring an original composition and a cast of local and international performers, this bold new work of climate fiction is a call to closely consider the evolution of our local environments in the not-so-distant future, while creating new customs we’ll collectively value in a changing world.

The Bentway and Toronto Dance Theatre believe that cost should not be a barrier to experiencing this performance, so tickets are on a sliding scale Pay-What-You-Choose model. Ranging from $10 to $30, audiences are invited to select whichever ticket price option works best for them. All price points give access to the same seating areas.

Photo by Hans Ravn

Sand Flight
A new creation by Ingri Fiksdal and Jonas Corell Petersen

Commissioned by The Bentway
Co-Produced by The Bentway and Fiksdal dans stiftelse
Presented in partnership with Toronto Dance Theatre
Featuring VIVA Singers Toronto

And don’t miss:

The Bentway’s summer 2025 programming is set to bring the heat – and cool – with a free public art exhibition titled Sun/Shade. Everything kicks off with the Sun/Shade Opening Night Party on May 23!

See full program here

About The Bentway

The Bentway works to ignite the urban imagination, using the city as site, subject, and canvas.

Anchored under Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and guiding its complex future, The Bentway is a growing public space, and much more. The Bentway is a new type of civic organization: a not-for-profit, powered by vital partnerships with the City of Toronto, residents, supporters, artists, city-builders, and dreamers. The Bentway is a catalyst rooted in experimentation, leading a creative movement to re-imagine the opportunities of urban spaces. ​

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Accessibility:
The Bentway is fully accessible. For more information, visit here.

The Bentway’s Summer 202s season is generously supported by:
Sun-Safety Partner: David Cornfield Melanoma Fund
Seasonal Supporters: Balsam Foundation, City of Toronto, Tand D Bank Group