EVENTS
The Dance Centre announces its 2025-2026 season
The Dance Centre’s 2025-2026 season presents a comprehensive program of exciting performances, accessible community programs, and creative residencies, featuring a diverse roster of artists working in a variety of dance genres. The Global Dance Connections series features Co.ERASGA, Action at a Distance/Vanessa Goodman, James Gnam/Plastic Orchid Factory, Justine A. Chambers, Ame Henderson + Matija Ferlin, Corporeal Imago and FakeKnot. The Discover Dance! noon hour series includes Sujit Vaidya, Flamenco Rosario, Idan Cohen/Ne. Sans Opera & Dance, and Danny Nielsen. Choreographic research is supported through residencies and labs, and residency exchanges with partners in Montreal, Toronto and New Zealand will support artistic growth and creative exchange. Community programs include the annual Scotiabank Dance Centre Open House and International Dance Day events, and The Power of Dance program workshops for schools, youth and seniors.
(Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, Vancouver, September 2025 – June 2026)
DanceHouse and The Cultch present Recirquel’s Paradisum
DanceHouse and The Cultch present the North American premiere of Recirquel’s Paradisum, a haunting, full-length work directed and choreographed by Artistic Director Bence Vági. Fusing circus, contemporary dance, and physical theatre, the performance uses a shared language of movement to explore renewal and connection in an uncertain future. Set to a striking soundscape by Edina Szirtes, six performers create otherworldly imagery through dynamic choreography, aerial work, and evocative stagecraft.
(Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton St., Jan. 21–24)
The Dance Centre, Music on Main and the PuSh Festival present Action at a Distance: WAIL
WAIL is crafted as a poem for our present moment, weaving sound and movement into a shared experience shaped by dissonance. Six dance artists create a living score that blends physical and sonic compositions. Choreographed by Vanessa Goodman, the work draws on botanical distortions and auditory illusions to explore joy, community, and our connection to the natural world.
(Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Jan. 26–27, 2026)
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods and Carmina Burana
Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) presents a striking double bill of the evocative West Coast premiere of T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, featured alongside the celebrated favourite Carmina Burana, on stage January 27, 2026 at Evergreen Theatre. T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, created and choreographed by RWB School alumnus Cameron Fraser-Monroe, is an historic collaboration of Indigenous artists that fuses storytelling, contemporary ballet, and classical music – honouring the richness of oral tradition. Narrated in both English and Ayajuthem by Elder Elsie Paul and scored by JUNO-nominated Cris Derksen, this stunning work marks a bold new chapter in the RWB’s repertoire. Carmina Burana fuses bold, athletic movement with Carl Orff’s thunderous and evocative score to create a visceral experience that transcends traditional storytelling. Tickets: Ticketmaster.ca | Info: RWB.org
(Evergreen Theatre, 5001 Joyce Ave, Powell River, Jan. 27)
Plastic Orchid Factory/James Gnam
The Dance Centre and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival present the world premiere of Catching Up to the Future of Our Past, where two performers move through midlife, tracing what was and imagining what could be. Natalie LeFebvre Gnam and James Gnam explore time as something elastic—stretching between memory and possibility—inside a Mary Quant–inspired retro-futurist bubble that plays with the weight and lightness of time passing.
(Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Jan. 30, 8pm; Jan. 31, 4pm, 2026)
The Dance Centre and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival present Justine A. Chambers: The Brutal Joy
The Brutal Joy unfurls Black line dancing and sartorial expression as intellectual discourse, reverie, and devotion to Black-living. Created by acclaimed Vancouver-based choreographer Justine A. Chambers, the work is rooted in her childhood memories and developed in collaboration with her Black matrilineal heritage. A dazzling scored improvisation for dance, lighting, and sound, The Brutal Joy draws from the Electric Slide and Black dandyism as embodied knowledge sources for self-actualization and future possibilities.
(Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Feb. 5–6)
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents Carmina Burana and T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods
Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) presents a striking double bill of celebrated favourite Carmina Burana, featured alongside the evocative West Coast premiere of T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods. Carmina Burana fuses bold, athletic movement with Carl Orff’s thunderous score to create a visceral experience that transcends traditional storytelling. Hailed by critics and audiences alike, T’əl, created by RWB alumnus Cameron Fraser-Monroe, is an historic collaboration of Indigenous artists that fuses storytelling, contemporary ballet, and classical music, narrated in both English and Ayajuthem by Elder Elsie Paul, and scored by JUNO-nominated Cris Derksen.
(The Centre Vancouver, Feb. 9–10, 2026)
