Pop Up Dances and Isak Enquist’s Fall(se) Cirque(us), as New Works reveals 2025-26 season

Packed program features Dance Film Masterclass, Jezebel at the PuSh Festival, residency showings, and more

Josh Cameron and Grace Ritcher. Photo by Kyra Wittkopf

IN ANNOUNCING ITS 2025-26 season, New Works says it will again bring its Pop Up Dances Festival to Granville Island, as well as to the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch, from September 19 to 21.

As part of the programming, on September 20 and 21, dancing hosts Madeleine Cruz and Mia Pelayo will lead audiences on a walking tour across Granville Island, featuring five site-specific dance performances by celebrated artists (including Josh Cameron and Grace Ritcher, and Ballet BC’s Jacalyn Tatro with Eduardo Jiménez Cabrera). More info on the Pop Up Dances Festivals is here.

On November 11, artist and filmmaker Laura Taler hosts a Dance Film Masterclass, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the village trilogy with a screening of the1995 dance film classic, alongside her genre-defying new work Matryoshka Crush.

On January 22 and 23, 2026, at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, Brussels-based Cherish Menzo/GRIP, the talent behind DARKMATTER at last year’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, returns with JEZEBEL, examining and deconstructing the controversial stereotypes of Black hip-hop video vixens of the late ’90s and early ’00s. The piece, copresented with PuSh, won the Amsterdam Fringe Award.

Isak Enquist’s Fall(se) Cirque(us) sees its world premiere March 21, 2026, in partnership with Little Room Productions and the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, where it will be staged. It features seven dancers wearing heavy-duty work pants and performing intensely physical unison movements that blur the lines between physical labour and virtuosic performance.

New Works will also stage public sharings of its short-term Theatre Residences, called Residency Reflections, at the Roundhouse. Alyssa (Lyzah) Favero stages COLORES, coproduced with Ana Sosa, on October 28; Belle Spirale Dance Projects presents an open rehearsal November 21; and Isak Enquist presents a window into his work on Fall(se) Cirque(us) on January 11.

In addition, New Works will continue its support programs for local dance artists, whether through a Help Desk open to any dance artist in BC and across Canada, or through the Cohort Program, offering five months of mentorship. It's also planning a spring symposium in March 2026 in collaboration with the Roundhouse.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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