A c a d e m i c S t u d i e s
2022 - 2024
2019 - 2022
2009 - 2013
R e s i d e n c i e s , T r a i n i n g & C e r t i f i c a t i o n
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2013 - 2016
Mary-Dora (MD) Bloch-Hansen (they/them) is a queer millennial, multi-disciplinary performance artist, care worker, somatic movement educator, pleasure activist, writer and second-generation settler based in Tkaronto. Their work focuses on queer & trans affirming body-centered practices and healing arts for a more livable future. They show up in their community as a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, counsellor/therapist and somatic movement educator, weaving various holistic and anti-incarceral/abolitionist approaches into their work. They are passionate about creating inclusive and brave spaces for equity seeking communities. As a disability and reproductive justice advocate, MD prioritizes holding neurodiversity and identity affirming spaces to foster resilience in the people they work and share space with. Drawing from their own lived experiences of survivorship, trauma and neurodiversity, they explore how the arts, movement, and care work can be used as tools for community liberation and collective healing.
As a dance artist, MDโs research and creations have been supported by residencies and festivals at New Blue Dance (2016), Dock11****Eden (2018), Dance Makers Toronto (2020), Lake Studio Berlin (2022), Toronto Dance Theatre (2022), Jaberi Dance Theatre (2023) and the National Ballet of Canadaโs Open Space program (2023), among others. They have studied and collaborated with various artists, including Alvin Collantes, Alyssa Martin (Rock Bottom Movement), Amanda Acorn, Amanda Smith (FAWN Chamber Creative), David Earle, Ismael Ivo (ImPulsTanz), Jennifer Laiwint, Mariko Tanabe, Nicole Negro, Pamela Rasbach (Typecast Dance), The Box NYC, Will Kwan (AGO). With Rock Bottom Movement, MD was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Ensemble in the performance of MANICPIXIEDREAMGIRLS (2017).
MD holds a BFA in Performance Dance from Toronto Metropolitan University (2013) and a BA in Psychology (Honors) from Laurentian University (2022), where they were awarded the Canadian Psychological Association Certificate of Academic Excellence for their honours thesis on the health experiences of 2S-LGBTQ+ individuals living in Northern Ontario. Currently, MD is pursuing a Masters of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Check out their work and offerings at www.somaticpractice.ca or follow their IG @somaticpractice.