By Neil Forester, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Substance Cares
As we arrive on the big day I can’t help but reflect on the journey this event has experienced over the last 10 years. I remember when I came up with the idea for this event back in 2017 like it was yesterday. It was a series of things that occurred within a couple of weeks that allowed me to come up with the idea and creation of this event.
While I will take full credit for coming up with this event and the concept lol, I would be doing others a disservice by not acknowledging their role in helping me come up with this idea.
First was my buddy Pete who sent me a video on Facebook of a bar in Europe where they hosted a small gathering of people living with Down syndrome who were partying at a bar set up by the venue. As an event producer and someone who used to promote night clubs, seeing the joy on their faces really stuck with me. Not too long after that I was approached by Kathryn Haggis who at the time was working at a charity. We did not know each other, but she reached out to introduce herself and wanted to let me know that they were open to exploring any partnership opportunities where we could collaborate, as I had just finished producing the world’s first ever autism job fair. About a week after that I was approached by a friend, Tara, who received a community grant to produce social events throughout the city of Toronto. It was there that I mentioned to her that one of the events should be focused on people living with disabilities. She agreed, liked the idea, and I told her I would get back to her with some deeper thoughts and that I would sleep on it.
The next day it just came to me. Do what they did in the video Pete sent me, work with the charity that Kathryn was employed at, and leverage Tara’s community grant initiative. Bring it all together in the form of a big event.
For those that know me or know about my back story, they know that I like to do things big. In my club promoting days I would throw parties for as many as 3000 people weekly, and in my concert promotion days I went from producing small shows in Toronto to national tours and producing music festivals that exceeded 20,000 attendees.
So, if I am going to do an event it has to be big, it must be impactful, and most importantly it must be meaningful. This is where Dance Able was created in 2017.
I immediately started to call contacts and relationships that I had in the industry. Most importantly was finding a venue to host this event, and luckily, I had a great relationship with the ownership of Cabana Toronto, whom I have been working with for over 20 years and where I had previously worked. Selling them on my vision and this concept didn’t take much effort, and without them seeing and believing in my vision this event would not have been possible.
Without getting too deep into the details all I will say is our first event was a success with over 500 attendees. I knew right away that we had something unique and innovative and quickly began planning the next event.
Each year the numbers increased to where we finally hit 1000 attendees in 2019 and we were excited for what was to come, only to be sidelined in 2020 due to the global pandemic. This however did not stop us from producing a virtual event that year that had over 2000 attendees throughout the three-hour virtual event. It was important for me to not lose the momentum and
most importantly to not allow those that had attended events in years past to miss out on another great event. And while we will never be able to achieve the energy of a live event, I am proud of the efforts we put in to make the virtual version of this event a resounding success.
We went back to the in-person format in 2021 and over the last four years we have seen our numbers grow to over 2000 people in 2025. Knowing we were coming into our 10th anniversary I really wanted to make an even bigger statement and make this an even larger celebration.
So, this meant a bigger event, more attendees, more attractions, and new additions. To achieve this, it required more planning and a longer window to organize this event, so we began the preparations as early as November for this year’s event.
For our 10th anniversary we really wanted to take it to the next level, and I couldn’t be prouder of our efforts, work ethic, and dedication as we get to the event day.
I am proud and excited to share that we have officially hit our target of 5000 downloaded tickets. We have opened the venue to include 2 stages and over a dozen performers, activations, and vendors. It is extremely fulfilling to see the vision you spoke about and created grow into something of this magnitude, and this would not be possible without the help and support of the community and most importantly the planning team.
While I might get some of the recognition it would be unjust to ignore the hard work and dedication of team members like Angela, Joanne, Xavier, our ambassadors Jessica, Lauren, and Naomi, all the vendors, especially Medusa Entertainment, Pizza Pizza, and Maple Lodge Farms. But a very special shout out needs to go to Tony, Carlo, and Alex from the venue for all their support and for allowing us to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible and the statement that an event like this makes.
As I close out my reflection post, I would be lying if I said that I did not realize how big, impactful, and meaningful this event has been. Thousands of attendees have voiced this to us over the years. I would have never envisioned two people living with physical disabilities would get engaged to be married on our stage. I would have never expected family members letting me know that this was the greatest day of their child’s life and that many of them mark their calendar as far in advance as they can simply to attend this event. I would have never realized the impact that this idea I had would have on many people’s lives, and it is that impact that continues to drive me to keep pushing forward with this event, with growing this event, and to celebrate all things inclusive.
