Evadne Kelly is a dance artist, educator, and interdisciplinary scholar. Since graduating from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 1997, where she studied composition with Trish Beatty and Elizabeth Chitty, she has had the honour of working with Dancetheatre David Earle as a core dancer for fourteen years and, subsequently, as a guest. As an independent artist, Evadne has also performed works by choreographers D.A. Hoskins, Allen Kaeja, Learie McNicolls, Sharon Moore, Carly Wong, Graham McKelvie, Patricia Beatty, and Julia Sasso (including 2004 Dora award winning Variété directed by Ross Manson). Parallel to her dance career, Evadne worked as a fully certified pilates instructor (Stott) for 20 years as she gained degrees in Equity Studies, Women’s Studies, Anthropology, and Dance Studies (PhD, York University). Her dissertation culminated in the publication of her 2019 peer-reviewed book, Dancing Spirit, Love, and War: Performing the Translocal Realities of Contemporary Fiji (Univ. Wisconsin Press).

Building on her 25+ years of professional dance experience and scholarly pursuits, Evadne focuses her arts-based research and creation work on community-engaged and devised methodologies for social justice aims. Evadne recently led the co-creation of a project series that exposes and counters histories and legacies of eugenics, including the exhibition Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario (recipient of the 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Award for Excellence in Conservation) and the online knowledge platform Into the Light: Living Histories of Oppression and Education in Ontario. The projects have formed collaborations with First Nations and settler survivor-activists and practitioners across various disciplines and sectors.

In addition to teaching contemporary composition at Guelph Youth Dance, Evadne is an Adjunct Professor at Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice, University of Guelph. She also works as a Sessional Instructor in Theatre Studies at University of Guelph and in Dance at York University.