We are thrilled to present The Falling Company and the world premiere of Family Room April 19 & 20! We sat down with Artistic Director Marissa Wong to discuss her dance career, the themes of her choreography, and what we can expect from Family Room. Tell us about your career in dance to date. When asked this question, my early training in classical ballet often comes up. Partly because it was my entrance into dance and also I had invested much of my adolescent and early adulthood into the technique. This included 6-week Summer Intensives since I was 10 years old and a planned early graduat ..read more

April 2024: Jennifer McLeish-Lewis Who is Jennifer McLeish-Lewis in a sentence? I am a contemporary dance choreographer and performer with a focus on creating abstract narrative performances that speak to my identity as a woman. Tell us a bit about your work and practice. I started dance classes in a really committed way when I was eight years old. I danced at the Alberta Ballet School in Calgary until I was eighteen. I went on to study at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre in Toronto and at MainDance in Vancouver. I have also lived and worked as a dancer in Montreal. I have danced across Can ..read more

Cosmology, wormholes, quantum mechanics… Choreographer Kaia Shukin talks about some of the inspirations behind her work Portals. Studio showings are coming up March 25 and 27 as part of our DanceLab program. Briefly describe your dance career to date. I started dancing when I was four  – I still remember how excited I was the moment my mum told me she had signed me up. After 13 years dancing in a studio setting I took a break but there was a huge hole in my life without dance. I found my way back to it through SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts where I completed my Bachelor of Fine Ar ..read more

March 2024: Perelandra Waddle Who is Perelandra Waddle in a sentence? A storyteller who wants to make you smile. Tell us a bit about your work and practice. I’m an interdisciplinary artist with a focus in dance and theatre. I recently graduated from SFU with a BFA in Dance and now I’m now trying to create my own work as an emerging choreographer and starting an artist collective for fellow emerging Queer and BIPOC creators. I’m starting to realize just how much persistence and patience this work requires and I feel like if we can work together we can all benefit. How long have you been dancing ..read more

Aviation technology, the physicality of dance, running marathons… Meet the multitalented Dutch choreographer Arno Schuitemaker! Dance fans, see his work for the first time in Vancouver March 14-16 when we present If You Could See Me Now. Who is Arno Schuitemaker?  I am an artist and choreographer based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. About ten years ago I started my own company and I have been collaborating closely with an outstanding team of artists. Breaking down the boundaries between dance, performance, and visual art, my work is very physical, and I give a big role to the music and ..read more

Next up in our Discover Dance! series is Voirelia Dance Hub. We sat down with Founder and Co-Artistic Director Alina Sotskova to discuss her career in dance, the elements of her choreography and what we can expect at the upcoming performance. Tell us about your journey to/through dance I started dancing at the age of 4 in Sevastopol, Ukraine, taking ballet, lyrical, and folk dance. I immigrated to Canada as a teenager and my connection with dance was interrupted. Moving to Toronto was a huge shock and a difficult transition, especially while learning English, adjusting to a new culture, and tr ..read more

The sixth annual Matriarchs Uprising Festival takes place February 19-25. We sat down with O.Dela Arts Artistic Associate Samantha Sutherland, to discuss her work, the festival, and what you can expect in the upcoming edition. Briefly describe your dance career to date. I grew up and received my dance training on the west coast. After completing the Arts Umbrella Graduate Program I worked as a guest artist with Ballet BC, then moved to Tkaronto to work as an Associate Artist with Red Sky Performance. Over the last three years I have been working as a freelance choreographer, performer, and tea ..read more

February 2024: Kinesis Dance somatheatro How would you describe Kinesis Dance somatheatro in a sentence? Kinesis Dance somatheatro is a long-standing contemporary dance company, recognized for its bold theatrical work and innovative community engagement that is now in transition under new artistic direction, with newly appointed Associate Artistic Director Rachel Helten. What was the artistic path that led you to building the company? Founder Paras Terezakis has sought to ask questions on the human condition while exploring our limitations, contradictions and emotional impulses. Now, after 35 ..read more

This season we are thrilled to partner with Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique in Montreal for the Quebec-BC Residency Exchange. We caught up with Quebec choreographer Natsumi Sophia Bellali who visits Vancouver this month as part of the program. Briefly describe your dance career to date. Without letting it strictly define me, being of mixed heritage (Japanese Moroccan), and born and raised in Montreal, has inevitably guided my curiosity, and informed my artistic practice. I’m most drawn to works where we get to discover someone’s story. Following my training at The Ailey School in New York, m ..read more

Dance, disease, revolution: our Executive Director Mirna Zagar provides some insights into Ramanenjana, coming up January 19-21, and the work’s creators Simona Deaconescu (Romania) and Gaby Saranouffi (Madagascar). Who are Simona Deaconescu and Gaby Saranouffi? Simona and Gaby both come from dance communities that one might say exist more on the margins of the international contemporary dance family. However their way of working, achievements and increasingly international profile is nothing marginal! Simona comes from the small but very vibrant Romanian contemporary dance scene. She works acr ..read more