Denise Fujiwara began her career in childhood as a gymnast. While competing at the international level she completed an honours BFA at York University’s dance department. In 1978, during the first National Choreographic Seminar, Fujiwara co-founded the choreographers’ collective, Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise (TIDE). She created Fujiwara Dance Inventions in 1990 to continue her solo projects. Notably in 1993, she began studying butoh with master choreographer and performer Natsu Nakajima. Nakajima created her contemporary interpretation of Motomasa’s 15th-century Noh play, Sumida River, for Fujiwara. Sumida River established Fujiwara as a senior solo dance artist and butoh practitioner. Fujiwara premiered her second major butoh work, Komachi by Yukio Waguri, in 2005. She has taught workshops in Canada, the United States, the United kingdom, Europe, South America and India.

Timea Wharton-Suri is an arts executive, curator and producer. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance from York University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Arts and Media Management Graduate Diploma from Schulich School of Business. Timea performed for several years with dance companies such as Ballet Creole and Ronald Taylor Dance before opening a dance/fitness studio – one of the first that now proliferate in urban centres. She has produced events for TO Live, Holla Jazz, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Toronto Dance Theatre, the Remarkable Women Awards and others. In 2019, Timea co-developed and facilitated curriculum delivery for dance Immersion's Legacy Leaders Arts Project Management course. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of Dance Media Group (The Dance Current) and the Interim Managing Director of Toronto Dance Theatre, one of Canada's largest dance companies.