Nailah Renuka

Nailah Renuka is a Canada-based movement artist, known for her dynamic athleticism, inquisitive and daring mindset, and engaging performance quality. A graduate of York University’s Dance program, her artistry is deeply inspired by her childhood experiences as a child performer in Toronto’s opera and musical theatre scene, and her distinct movement qualities are rooted in her athletic background as an artistic gymnast.

Nailah began artistic gymnastics as a young child and remained dedicated to it until her medical retirement from the sport at age 14, following 5+ years of national-level competitions and countless medals on balance beam and uneven bars. Despite the demands of her sport, Nailah also found the time to train as a classical singer and actor with the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, appearing as a featured performer in albums and shows across the country, including The Four Tenors, Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Christmas Pops; Back in the Day; Canadian Specials), and Canadian Opera Company (Carmen; Madame Butterfly; La Bohème), as well as touring with the company across North America and Europe.

Since beginning her formal dance training while attending Etobicoke School for the Arts, Nailah has honed her skills internationally. Between summers at The Ailey School and the completion of her Honours BFA in Dance from York University, Nailah’s formal movement vocabulary has been highly influenced by Theatre Jazz, contemporary floor and partner work, Graham Technique, Precision Jazz, Dunham Technique, contemporary ballet, Limón Technique, and Horton Technique.

Immediately following her graduation from YorkU, Nailah moved to New York City to pursue a performance career where she had the honour of training and performing with companies and choreographers including VIM VIGOR, Ailey II, Helen Simoneau, Ronald K Brown/EVIDENCE, Ross Daniels, Jennifer Muller, and Buglisi Dance Theater while studying as an Ailey School Scholarship Student.

She has been granted the honour of featured artist for multiple creative residencies and performances in Canada for companies including Theatre Oculus (Reverb); Expect Theatre (Babble.); The And, Stage Company (The Stages, De-Centred); and VIBE Arts (NExT III; Converge).

Since returning to Toronto, she has been entranced by the circus world, beginning with contortion, handbalancing, and acrobatics with Alixa Slobodyan (Alixa Flexibility), Serchmaa Byamba (Circus Center SF), and Maleke Duncan-Reid (Cirque-ability), then branching into pole dance in early 2022, eventually winning first place in the Championship division at the Pole Sport Organization’s Canada East competition later that year. She has since expanded her discipline studies to include Lyra under the guidance of Leeann Ball (Trillium Entertainment), as well as Cyr Wheel through training at École de Cirque du Québec. Most recently, Nailah has worked with Hercinia Arts Collective as an ambient performer (acrobatics and contortion) and featured artist (Chaos Theory II; Cirque du Poulet), as well as a pole artist and dancer for Les 7 Doigts de la Main (All That We Are for Virgin Voyages).

Nailah often uses her work to investigate the complexities of identity as a disabled, marginalized, and queer soul, prioritizing interdisciplinary collaboration between juxtaposing visual, musical, and movement-based art forms in order to create a three-dimensional language that infuses the extremes of human physicality and perception with elaborate patterning and verbose imagery.