Meryem Alaoui is a dancer-choreographer from Morocco, living in Toronto. She’s the founder of Jasad Dance Projects, a not-for-profit aiming at increasing the visibility and representation of dance artists from the MENA region. Influenced by her studies of Body-Mind Centering®, her work is often an invitation towards a softer, more sensorial and felt experience of dance.
A graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, she has danced for choreographers Amanda Acorn, Peggy Baker, Angela Blumberg and Antony Hamilton, among others.
Her choreography has been shown in Ontario, Quebec and Morocco. Her latest project ‘Ensemble’, a dance creation of with collaborators from Morocco, Canada and Switzerland, was presented in May 2022 in Rabat, Morocco. Upcoming projects include a new creation for 7 women from the MENA region, called “Sand Bodies”.
Meryem has received residency support nationally and internationally, and project funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario and Toronto Arts Councils.
She is also involved in community and arts education projects such as with Arts Etobicoke, Dreamwalker Dance and The Arab Community Centre of Toronto.