Dennis Massar

Inclusive, engaged, connecting

Dennis Massar: a committed and connecting dancer, dance creator, and dance teacher.

Dennis is a contemporary dancer with a love for house dance.

Creative skills are Dennis's greatest passion. During the creative process, Dennis draws on his background in contemporary dance. These creative processes are his favourite part. He truly enjoys being in the studio and physically exploring. Dennis sees this process as "a playground where people can play," where they can experiment, and where new insights, ideas, and connections/friendships emerge. Key values reflected in his work are inclusivity and accessibility. He also advocates for an informal work environment, openness, and discipline.

The themes of Dennis's work often relate to a form of communication. Dennis's artistic inspiration and starting point is sign language. For him, sign language is a way of physically expressing himself through movement. Here, Dennis sees a connection between dance and sign language. For his graduation research, Dennis is exploring the possibilities of combining sign language and dance.

Dennis is a dancer, dance creator, and dance teacher with a strong passion for inclusion. He works nationally and internationally in the field of dance inclusion. Within inclusion, his passion lies with people with hearing impairments. Dennis believes it's important to have a diverse range of dancers on stage. This will greatly enrich the art of dance! Working with sign language is also a way for him to create accessible and inclusive works. Sign language isn't often used on stage, and certainly not in combination with dance. By combining these two, he hopes to make dance more inclusive for people with hearing impairments and thus be an inspiration for many in the future.