When the Harbourfront Centre, as part of broader cost-cutting measures, announced last November that it would end its 41-year lease and close the Fleck Dance Theatre in the spring, it left Toronto’s dance community in shock.
The Fleck, located on the third floor of the mixed-use Queen’s Quay Terminal on Toronto’s waterfront, was the city’s only purpose-built dance theatre, fitted with dance-friendly sprung floors. For many mid-sized companies, the venue’s intimate setting, with 446 seats, made it an ideal space for their shows.
“We were completely traumatized by the announcement,” recalled Michael deConinck Smith, the co-founder and managing director of the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, which had rented the downtown venue and performed out of it since the early ’80s. “The news really ripped the heart out of our operation, very suddenly and abruptly.”
In the weeks leading up to the closure in March, there was much uncertainty about the future of the theatre. Companies like the CCDT were forced to find new homes. Some feared that the Fleck’s owners, Northam Realty Advisors, which operates the Queen’s Quay Terminal, would gut the venue and turn it into retail or office space.
“There was zero hope at the time that it could be saved,” deConinck Smith said. But now, there may be a glimmer of it.
More than three months after the Harbourfront Centre hosted its final performance at the theatre, a Toronto live entertainment producer has launched a public campaign to reopen the now-dormant venue.
Jon Chaters, founder of the Toronto Stage Company, wants to take over the theatre’s lease and resume performances at the venue. If all goes to plan, it could be up and running again by the fall. “It’s a spectacular, little gem of a theatre. And it’s been the heart and soul of the dance community for 40 years,” he said.
Though Chaters has the backing of some artists, including deConinck Smith, he still faces several challenges. He has yet to find any corporate donors or major investors. Instead, he’s hoping to raise $400,000 almost entirely through a grassroots campaign. But as of Wednesday, he had only raised roughly $6,000.
Chaters said he is not seeking public donations. All contributions, he noted, will be held at the box office as a credit. “We need to show the landlord that we can pre-sell enough tickets to make the theatre commercially viable,” he explained.
Will Jephcott, vice-president of leasing at Northam, confirmed that the Toronto Stage Company is one of several groups that has expressed interest in taking over the space. While no formal agreement has been signed, and he’s still “actively entertaining” anyone interested in leasing the venue, he said Northam “hopes the Toronto Stage Company can make it work.”
Jephcott said Northam would prefer that the space remains a performing arts venue. “But if an opportunity doesn’t present itself, we will look at other uses.”
Chater’s company, which was established in 2017, has a limited track record in the Toronto arts community. Its most significant production to date was a weeklong run of the Tony-winning comedy “God of Carnage” at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre in 2023. (The Toronto Stage Company rented the venue and the production was mostly self-funded by Chaters.) Before that, his company primarily produced fringe shows.
The arts impresario acknowledged that what he’s trying to do is ambitious. “But if we don’t try to save it, we’ll never know,” he said.
Originally named the Premiere Dance Theatre, the venue opened in 1983 and was widely considered the city’s most prestigious space for contemporary dance. It was renamed the Fleck in 2008. (Harbourfront Centre retains the naming rights to the Fleck, so the theatre would need to be renamed by its new operator.)
Before the theatre shuttered, however, the Harbourfront Centre had struggled to fill the space. Between 2014 and 2024, the venue was only occupied 40 per cent of the time.
If his bid is successful, Chaters said he would operate the venue somewhat differently. He sees his theatre company presenting four to six shows in the theatre each year. And while contemporary dance would still play a big role in the venue’s rental programming, Chaters wants to attract companies of various disciplines beyond dance.
