Oshun Dance Studios

Feeling incredibly grateful, grounded, and excited to share a glimpse into the beginning of Daughter in the Soil. 🌱🤎

I gratefully acknowledge the support of Innovation PEI through the PEI Arts Grants as a Spring 2026 recipient. This support has given me the space to step deeper into my creative practice—to research, explore, question, and begin bringing this new work to life.

A heartfelt thank you to Live Art Dance for awarding me the 2025 Diane Moore Creation Award and for believing in me and this work at such an important stage of the creation process.

And to the incredible artists who have been in the studio with me over the past few days—thank you. 🤎 Thank you for your openness, trust, curiosity, and for honouring the work and the process. I am super appreciative of everything you have brought into the room.

Daughter in the Soil is a contemporary dance work exploring the relationship between women, land, ancestry, and resistance through my perspective as a Bahamian artist and choreographer.

Rooted in Afro-Caribbean movement traditions and emotional cartography, the work explores the body as a living archive—holding memory, survival, ritual, resilience, displacement, and reclamation. 🌱

This is only the beginning, and I am so excited to see where the soil takes us.

Thank you to everyone who continues to believe in, support, and make space for my artistic journey. I carry that gratitude with me into every room. 🤎

Be sure to follow PEI Creates and continue celebrating the incredible work being created across the Island.

Thank you to Dance Nova Scotia Halifax Dance
For offering this space in the creation process.

OshunDanceStudios

✨ With immense gratitude, thank you to Balancing Act Canada ✨

The Compassion Fund: Supporting the Whole Artist was born from a simple belief—that dancers deserve to be cared for not only as performers, but as whole people.

Because of your generosity and belief in this vision, we were able to support 11 dance artists across Prince Edward Island, helping remove barriers to wellness through access to services such as preventative health care, childcare, transportation, recovery supports, and other essential resources that allow artists to continue creating sustainably.

This pilot reminded me that sometimes the greatest gift isn’t only financial support—it’s letting artists know they are worthy of receiving care.

Thank you for investing in the health, dignity, and longevity of our dance community. Your support has planted the seed for a future where artist wellness is not an afterthought, but an essential part of our creative practice.

Here’s to continuing to build a community where artists can thrive, heal, and create with joy.

With heartfelt appreciation,

Reequal Smith
Founder & Artistic Director, Oshun Dance Studios

PrinceEdwardIsland

PEI Dance Community Survey

Your Voice Matters: In celebration of International Dance Day, we invite dancers, educators, choreographers, and movement practitioners across PEI to share their voices.

Help shape the future of dance on the Island by providing feedback on accessibility, training, creation opportunities, cultural representation, youth engagement, and community support.

Your input will help strengthen and grow a more connected, inclusive, and vibrant dance community for all.

Take the survey:
https://forms.gle/sUTfCmhahRXtXLFt7
Google form link in Bio ➡️➡️

Presented by Oshun Dance Studios in support of the PEI dance community.

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” — Kurt Vonnegut

Today was a day filled with inspiring conversations and days like these makes me know that I’m doing the right thing.

🎙️ Tune in to CBC PEI Mainstreet today, June 17, 2026, at 4:30 PM AST for an inspiring conversation about creativity, courage, and reconnecting with the arts.

Hosted by Nicola MacLeod, this special roundtable brings together Reequal Smith, Artistic Director of Oshun Dance Studios, Patrick | Fine Artist Patrick Guindon of Creative Rebel, and Nick MacDonald Nick MacDonald of the Confederation Centre to explore what it means to return to the artistic passions many people loved as children.

Through the lenses of dance, visual arts, and music, the conversation reflects on embracing creativity as adults, letting go of perfection, navigating self-doubt, learning through failure, and rediscovering the joy of artistic expression. Together, they highlight how the arts create spaces of belonging, connection, wellness, and inclusivity within Prince Edward Island’s vibrant creative community.

Whether you’re an artist, arts enthusiast, or someone considering revisiting a creative passion, this conversation serves as a reminder that creativity belongs to everyone—and that it is never too late to reconnect with the things that bring us joy.

📻 Listen live on CBC PEI Mainstreet at 4:30 PM AST.
CBC/Radio-Canada CBC P.E.I. Nicola MacLeod

CreativityForEveryone CommunityThroughArt ArtsForAll

OPEN STUDIO ARTIST FEATURE
💜
In our final artist feature, we are so pleased to welcome Reequal Smith, who is bringing her trio, “Elysium — An Excerpt from Journei to Paradise.” “A powerful journey of spiritual awakening, ‘Elysium’ explores the tension between darkness and light through expressive, soul-driven movement. What begins as inner struggle transforms into clarity, healing, and liberation. Rooted in resilience, connection, and truth, this work invites you to witness the evolution from shadow to radiance—where dancers become embodiments of light.”
💜
OPEN STUDIO
April 24 + 25, 2026 @ 7:30PM
DANSpace, 1800 Argyle Street (3rd floor), Kjipuktuk \/ Halifax
$17 \/ $15 \/ PWYC
kineticstudio.ca
tickets ON SALE NOW: link in bio!

💜
this event takes place in Kjipuktuk, on the ancestral and unceded traditional land of the Mi’kmaw people.
💜
photo credit: Emmanuel Albert
[ID: 1-Three women stand on stage lit faintly by purple light. You can see their arms in various shapes framing their upper bodies, and the woman on the left looks up and out. 2- Three women stand on stage lit by purple light. They face the right of the image, weight on their left legs with the right leg behind them, one arm up in front of them. They wear black skirts and crop tops.]

This weekend is going to be everything you dreamt about and more. Oshun is super excited in presenting and can’t wait to hit the stage.

Come out and support the amazing artists and performances this weekend in Halifax at DANSpace.

OPEN STUDIO
April 24 + 25, 2026 @ 7:30PM
DANSpace, 1800 Argyle Street (3rd floor), Kjipuktuk / Halifax
$17 / $15 / PWYC
kineticstudio.ca
tickets: linktr.ee/kineticstudio