ABOUT US
Boys' Club comprises 3 female tap dancers (Veronica Simpson/Toronto, Laura Donaldson/Calgary, and Elise McGrenera/Vancouver) who are deeply passionate about exploring tap dance as a vehicle to examine power dynamics and the female experience. Our work strives to be a celebration of female voices in tap dance and jazz music.
Meet the Boys
LAURA DONALSON
Co-Founder
Laura Donaldson is a tap dancer, teacher and choreographer from Calgary, Alberta. Laura continues to develop her artistic voice through practice, research, creation, teaching, and performing in Canada and abroad. Laura has performed in works by Lisa La Touche, Danny Nielsen, Tasha Lawson, Derick Grant and more. Highlights include Fall For Dance North, Fluid Festival, Tap Dance Days at tanzhaus nrw, Tap Liege Festival and is an alumnus of The School at Jacob’s Pillow as part of the Tap Dance Performance Ensemble. Laura also performed in (in)sight dance’s commissioned piece Mirror/Water/Doorway at the Toronto International Tap Dance Festival. Most recently she was on tour as a principal dancer with Danny Nielsen’s On Foot in BC. Laura is also researching a new work which has been supported by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and The GRAND.
VERONICA SIMPSON
Co-Founder
Veronica Simpson is a dancer and theatre artist based in Toronto. Performance credits include projects with Dorrance Dance, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Rhythm and Sound, (in)sight dance, Dianne Montgomery at Fall For Dance North, Michelle Dorrance at New York City Center, and Danny Nielsen’s 2023 tour of On Foot. In 2021, she attended the School at Jacob’s Pillow as part of the Tap Dance Performance Ensemble studying closely alongside Michelle Dorrance, Derick Grant, and Dormeshia. Most recently, Veronica joined the cast of Dorrance Dance: the Nutcracker Suite on their US tour which premiered at the Kennedy Center. Veronica continues her freelance and creation work in Toronto and travels regularly to New York City to study with and work alongside prominent tap dancers.
ELISE MCGRENERA
Co-Founder
Elise McGrenera is a tap dancer from Vancouver, Canada. She has traveled around the world to participate in dance festivals in Vancouver, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Stockholm where she trained with some of the masters in tap dance. Elise is an alumna of the School at Jacob's Pillow where she was accepted into the 2019 tap dance program and graduated with the Professional Advancement in Dance Award. She was a featured dancer in the 2019 Vancouver premier of Danny Nielsen’s On Foot as well as both the 2021 and 2022 productions of Jeffrey Dawson and Friends presented by the Vancouver Tap Dance Society. Most recently, Elise joined Danny Nielsen’s cast of On Foot as a principal dancer for a BC tour.
OUR WORK
Boys’ Club I
is an exploration of femininity, the male gaze, and experiences of womanhood throughout time. Highlighting women in jazz music and tap dance, the piece is an expression of our individual stories as we relate to those who came before us. All of the music used is created and/or performed by women
Run time 50 min.
OUR WORK
Boys’ Club & his Orchestra
is a celebration of our favourite Toronto women in Jazz. In collaboration with vocalist Ale Nunez and an all-girl band, this work will explore jazz standards reimagined, and original music. This new work is being researched and created over the course of 2024/25
Footage coming soon...
Run time 25-30 min.
upcoming
PROJECTS
The Claquettes Club (Belgium)
May 4+5 2024
tanzhaus nrw (Germany)
May 9-12 2024
Ottawa Fringe Festival (Ottawa,ON)
June 13-23 2024
Aug. 13-23 2024
Residency To Be Announced (Toronto, ON)
We are extremely grateful for the support we’ve received from the following organizations;
The Claquettes Club
