Maribeth Tabanera
2025-2026 Artist-In-Residence

ARIST BIO

Maribeth Manalaysay Tabanera, MEd aka Kilusan (siya/sanda/they/she) is a Tagalog Bisaya Filipinx queer non-binary multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and community organizer. Kilusan is a chosen Tagalog name that means movement of an individual and/or group. A child of Filipino immigrants, born, raised, and based in Winnipeg on Treaty 1 Territory. Maribeth has been a full time public school educator and artist facilitator for over a decade. They have presented their work as an educator, dancer, and DJ at events all over Turtle Island.

A dancer for over 25 years, Maribeth’s training background includes breaking, hip hop, house, voguing, waacking, dancehall and afro beats. Maribeth has danced with Magdaragat Inc (1996 2001), Define Movement (2006-2013), Project Dance Company (2015), and B.O.S.S. Dance Team (2016-2020). Since 2018, Kilusan has DJed alongside artists such as Cupcakke, Kimmortal, Begonia, Skratch Bastid, and DJ Maseo of De La Soul.

In 2022, Maribeth was chosen as Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/West Chapter – BIPOC Dance Resident, and was a recipient of the Manitoba Arts Council Support Arts Leaders Grant. Some of Maribeth’s most notable projects include presenting ‘Into Our World’ at Art Holm no 8 (2023) in Winnipeg and producing a video for CBC Manitoba’s Creators Network “Unlocked” series. In November 2023, Maribeth became a published author, contributing “Pagpapasok sa sarili ko/Coming Into Myself” to Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing published by Cormorant Books.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Breathing Between is a collaborative movement and sound research project led by Winnipeg-based artists Maribeth “Kilusan” Tabanera (siya/they/she) and Dammecia Hall (she/her), who first worked together in Define Movement in 2007. After more than a decade apart, they reunite to explore how the body remembers collaboration, how rhythm and silence carry emotion, and how communication itself can become an art form.

Drawing from their shared roots in Hip Hop culture, street and contemporary dance, DJ culture, and community-based practice, the artists will explore how American Sign Language (ASL) and audio description can function as co-creative languages—not as translations or supports, but as expressive tools that shape choreography and sound. Alongside an ASL artist and a visual describer, they will create a multi-sensory dialogue between movement, sign, and sound, where each form listens and responds to the others. The project asks what it means to gain access to one’s voice—and whose voices have been historically silenced in artistic spaces. At its core, Breathing Between blurs the lines between dancer, DJ, interpreter, and describer, creating a space where our expressions become inseparable acts of care, witnessing, and transformation.

Collaborator Dammecia Hall

Dammecia Hall (she/her/hers) is an independent contemporary dancer, Hip Hop artist, choreographer, and community leader based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 Territory. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg’s Bachelor of Arts program in affiliation with the School of Contemporary Dancers, Hall’s practice bridges the worlds of street and concert dance with authenticity, rhythm, and care. 

An alumna of NAfro Dance Company, Hall has also made her name in Toronto, participating in numerous projects with the Nu Dance Performance Institute, the Toronto District School Board, and the Our Streetsville Square Project. These experiences deepened her commitment to connecting movement with education, storytelling, and social change. 

Hall is the founder and artistic director of Define Movement, a dance company and community platform dedicated to “keeping Hip Hop sacred through community.” Through Define Movement, she has produced and choreographed The Cipher Series, For the Love of Dance, and Define Movement’s One Love, initiatives that highlight Winnipeg’s diverse Hip Hop and street dance communities. Her work provides mentorship for emerging artists and fundraises to preserve accessible spaces for creative expression. 

Her choreography has recently been presented through RISE Musical Theatre Company and at Prairie Theatre Exchange’s The REMIX, a showcase highlighting ten of Winnipeg’s top Hip Hop and commercial dance choreographers. Hall currently serves as a faculty member at Kazka Dance Collective, where she continues to mentor the next generation of dancers, blending technique, community, and culture in every class. 

RESIDENCY DATES

Residency:
March 23 – April 3, 2026

Open Studio:
Monday, March 30, 2026
3:00 – 5:00pm
Location To Be Announced
Pay What You Can

Public Sharing:
Friday, April 3, 2026
7:00–8:30pm
The Forks – 1 Forks Market Road, Room 201
Pay What You Can

Facilitator: Mariana Muñoz Gómez

Accessibility Information:
Physically Accessible
Gender Inclusive Washrooms
ASL Interpretation Offered

This residency is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council.