Charmaine Headley Co-Founding Artistic Director of COBA, Collective of Black Artists, Charmaine Headley is a champion of Africanist dance. Through her work as an artist, choreographer, teacher and mentor she advocates for the recognition and inclusion of the contributions of ethno-cultural dance practices in Canadian dance history and culture today. Headley pushes for a broadened societal appreciation of these art forms and advocates for reflexivity within Canadian curricula.

On leave from her PHD Studies at OISE, University of Toronto, Headley’s focus is on the contribution of Black Dance on the concert stage to Canadian Dance History. A graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and a strong believer in the healing power of dance, she holds an honours diploma in Gerontology/ Activation Coordination and has created a movement-based senior’s program for her Master’s thesis at York University. Headley implemented and ran an intergenerational program in collaboration with Malvern Family Centre and COBA, where seniors and elementary students in the Malvern area are brought together to explore and share their story through dance.