In 2006/2007, four young dance artists came together to form what would become known as the Good Women Dance Collective. Like many Edmonton artists, Amy Joy Allan, Nicole Kelly, Dixie Skieth (de Vries) and Alison Kause (Towne) made their debut at Nextfest. The title of that Nextfest performance was Good Women… we continue to grow, evolve and dance on.
Ainsley Hillyard joined the collective upon returning to Edmonton from the Winnipeg Contemporary Dance program in 2008. She spearheaded much of the administrative work that would lead to the diverse opportunities that GWDC has experienced and provided. Soon after, Alida Kendell joined, forming the trio (Ainsley, Alida and Alison) that would lay the foundation for much of the programming that GWDC continues to uphold including What’s Cooking (Creative Incubator), community dance classes and workshops and Convergence, an annual self presentation.
In 2012 the collective gained Kate Stashko, who played a pivotal role in securing funding and touring opportunities while offering her skills as a teacher and creative. After years of growth with a collective core of four artists and an incredibly supportive and dedicated board of directors the collective welcomed Edmonton based dance and theatre artist Rebecka Sadowski in 2020. Becky enthusiastically took over the role of Nextfest Curator on behalf of GWDC and provided exciting new perspectives and ideas as a new artist and administrator.
The past few years have seen substantial changes, with Kate, Ainsley and Becky transitioning from Good Women to other roles in the community and Deviani Andrea and Molly McDermott joining the organization.