DANCE — Articles

Dance reviews: Rising voices, fresh talent, and vivid worlds at Dancing on the Edge's second week

Quick takes on three atmospheric works: Modus Operandi’s Wound, Dance//Novella’s Soft Animals, and O.Dela Arts’ Where You Go

With MY HOUSE, Ralph Escamillan brings the spirit of Ballroom to contemporary-dance stage

At The Dance Centre, new FakeKnot production taps into deep community ties to celebrate the family bonds and playful energy behind the voguing

With Kin & Doves, Belle Spirale Dance Projects draws on deep connections in Vancouver scene

At Dancing on the Edge, Alexis Fletcher and Sylvain Senez develop a new piece alongside one by Ballet BC’s Sid Chuckas

LIFT Festival uses dance to connect generations, June 3 and 4

Inverso Productions event includes performance featuring Claudia Moore, Calder White, Anne Cooper, Savannah Walling, and more at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre

DANCEJanet SmithJune 1, 2026Inverso Productions, LIFT Festival

New Works hosts All Over The Map performance series this July and August

Annual event brings free outdoor dance to the Granville Island Picnic Pavilion and the VPL Central Library’s rooftop

DANCEStir VancouverJune 1, 2026Partner Content, New Works, All Over the Map, Summer 2026

Lukas Malkowski’s Microphone Controller is a rock ’n’ roll show with a difference

The choreographer and performer’s character-driven Dancing on the Edge piece is informed by his perspective as the child of a deaf parent

DANCE, FESTSJanet SmithMay 29, 2026Dancing on the Edge, Firehall Arts Centre

FakeKnot’s Ballroom culture–infused MY HOUSE premieres at The Dance Centre, June 19 and 20

Ralph Escamillan’s subversive, playful new work brings the Ball from the runway to the stage

Jade Circle brings together dance, music, projections, and storytelling, at the Kay Meek Arts Centre May 20 to 22

Artist Jasmine Chen relearns Mandarin and discovers lost family history in multidisciplinary, personal show

DANCE, MUSIC, CULTURE, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithMay 17, 2026Kay Meek Arts Centre, rice & beans theatre

In Corporeal Imago's Drift, an otherworldly landscape prevails over human bodies

At The Dance Centre, world premiere by Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes moves away from aerial arts and toward conceptual innovation

DANCEJanet SmithMay 15, 2026THE DANCE CENTRE, The Dance CEntre, The Dance Centre, Corporeal Imago

Ballet BC unveils a 2026–27 40th season with works by Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Imre and Marne van Opstal, and more

Principal dancers from the National Ballet of Canada perform a guest duet and artists-in-residence Margaret Grenier and Starr Muranko share a creation after their five-year collaboration with the troupe

DANCE, NEWSJanet SmithMay 14, 2026BALLET BC, Ballet BC

At Arts Umbrella’s Memento Mori, every moment on stage is a lifetime

Featuring works by Crystal Pite, Marcos Morau, Sharon Eyal, and more, the season finale is a celebration of presence, community, and the beauty of fleeting time

DANCEJanet SmithMay 14, 2026Arts Umbrella, ARTS UMBRELLA

Denmark’s Uppercut Dance Theater pushes the limits of movement in BENCHED

Choreographer Stephanie Thomasen’s piece has no plot and instead invites audience members to imagine their own storylines

Arts Umbrella Dance Company hosts Memento Mori: A Season Finale Performance, May 21 to 23

Vancouver Playhouse show features works by several world-renowned choreographers, including Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, and Medhi Walerski

DANCEStir VancouverMay 12, 2026Partner Content, Arts Umbrella, ARTS UMBRELLA

Dance review: In FOR GLASS, the artists of Ballet BC display uninhibited emotion

Set to music by Philip Glass, Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s latest piece focuses on everyday moments and palpable intimacy

DANCEJanet SmithMay 11, 2026Ballet BC, Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber

Dancing on the Edge announces 30-show program for June 4 to 13

Amid the offerings are names like Lukas Malkowski, Belle Spirale Dance Projects, O.Dela Arts and musica intima, and much more

Co.ERASGA’s Undivided Colours bridges forms, from Bharatanatyam to Asian Flamenco, May 14 and 15

Marking Asian Heritage Month, the show features names like Kasandra La China, Andrea Nann, and Sujit Vaidya

DANCE, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithMay 7, 2026Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Co.ERASGA

Ziyian Kwan and Alvin Erasga Tolentino win top B.C. dance artist prizes

The Dance Centre announces Lola Award and Isadora Award for Vancouver choreographers

DANCE, NEWSJanet SmithMay 4, 2026DANCE CENTRE, The Dance Centre, THE DANCE CENTRE

With FOR GLASS, Ballet BC dancers push and succumb to live string quartet’s rhythms

Star choreographic duo Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber return with a full-evening premiere that draws on the emotional layers in Philip Glass’s music—and in the company members themselves

In Enemy Lines, Mayumi Lashbrook unearths a history she was never told

At the Firehall Arts Centre, the Toronto-based choreographer reckons with the forced displacement of Japanese Canadians and the cycles of fear-based thinking that still echo today