Camino y Despedida (Walking Farewells) reveals bittersweet aspects of migration, August 29 and 30

Copresentation by TEMPO Dance & Visual Art and VLACC weaves contemporary movement with live music, video projection, and multilingual text

*Camino y Despedida (Walking Farewells).* Photo by Gabriel Aspee

Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre and TEMPO Dance & Visual Art present Camino y Despedida (Walking Farewells) at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on August 29 at 7:30 pm and 30 at 2 pm

IN TEMPO DANCE & VISUAL ART’S Camino y Despedida, Spanish for Walking Farewells, six immigrant and refugee Latinx artists express the range of emotions that accompany migration.

Through contemporary dance, live music, video projection, and multilingual text, the performers share stories of departure and belonging. With TEMPO’s co-artistic directors Marco Esccer and Carla Alcántara at the helm of the bittersweet work, expect everything from swift-moving suitcases to original compositions.

Camino y Despedida premiered last winter at the Scotiabank Dance Centre as part of Blackout Art Society’s STAND Festival. A remount is taking place at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on August 29 and 30, presented in partnership with the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre.

Esccer and Alcántara’s first project as co-artistic directors of TEMPO was a multidisciplinary tribute to revered Mexican feminist writer Rosario Castellanos called Seeds of Resistance, a VLACC commission that premiered at the Roundhouse in May. The two-part piece blends an educational installation about the political side of Castellanos’s work with impactful contemporary dance, spoken word, video projections, and live music.

Alcántara told Stir before Seeds of Resistance premiered that for her and Esccer, “It has been super rewarding being able to navigate through all of that and also recognizing how that is moving us as performers, right? Because we’re both inside—not only directing, but also living the process as performers.”

Expect a similar balance of leadership and participation from the duo with Camino y Despedida, as Esccer and Alcántara are both performing in the piece alongside a team of fellow Latinx artists: Colombian singer-musician Carolina Silva, Brazilian dancer Ysadora Dias, Mexican multidisciplinary artist RCHRDY, and Indigenous Mexican dancer Rodrigo Hervert.

Following each performance, the artists will host a 20-minute talkback with the audience.

Featured

Emily Lyth

Stir editorial assistant Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

Articles

In The Brutal Joy, Justine A. Chambers channels the overwhelming beauty of Black living

With staging that evokes a Chicago jazz bar, the Dance Centre and PuSh Festival co-presentation draws on matrilineal fashion and line dancing

Ballet BC highlights masterful choreographers Crystal Pite and Jiří Kylián with INFINITY, February 26 to 28

Program features Pite’s Frontier, a deep dive into the unknown, and Kylián’s 27’52”, an exploration of theoretical elements

Dance review: JEZEBEL challenges the stereotype of the booty-poppin’ backup dancer

In a riveting PuSh Festival and New Works copresentation, Belgium’s Cherish Menzo plays with repetition, chopped-and-screwed music, and flashing dental grillz

Review: Liquid limbs and mesmerizing visual magic at Recirquel’s Paradisum

In DanceHouse and The Cultch co-presentation, the Hungarian company is full of flowing bodies and rippling fabric

At PuSh, Alan Lake Factori(e)’s mythologically driven Orpheus paints a visceral picture of loss

In the deeply moving production, dancers embody the ancient tale of death and longing by tapping into their own experiences of tragedy

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 shows to startle and spellbind at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

Productions that “push” forms include dance works that play with props and stereotypes, as well as ethereal odes to nature and the northern lights

Recirquel’s postapocalyptic Paradisum conjures visual worlds out of fabric and light

Producer Natália Fábics says the Hungarian work, co-presented by DanceHouse and The Cultch, is as much a contemporary artwork and philosophical epic as a fusion of circus and dance

The Dance Centre and PuSh Festival present Justine A. Chambers in The Brutal Joy, February 5 and 6

Choreographer’s latest creation is a dazzling blend of dance, lighting, and sound that draws on her Black matrilineal heritage

Dozens of musicians and dancers take the stage for Celebrate Africa! at BlueShore at CapU, January 30

Big bands play West African music with guests Dawn Pemberton, Khari McClelland, and others

Cherish Menzo's JEZEBEL lands at PuSh Festival in copresentation with New Works, January 22 and 23

Electrifying performance reclaims hyper-sexualized “video vixen” of hip hop’s golden era

Matriarchs Uprising spotlights stunning contemporary dance by Indigenous women, February 16 to 21

Festival brings live performances, conversations, and community workshops to the Scotiabank Dance Centre and Morrow

At interplay_2026, artists blur the lines between digital and physical realms

Chimerik 似不像 and New Works XR partner to continue the online festival with new artistic producer Caroline Chien-MacCaull

Year in review: Looking back on a few standout moments in Vancouver’s theatre and dance scenes in 2025

Provocatively reimagined endings to opera and Shakespeare were among the random scenes that stuck with us from the year onstage

Ballet BC announces artistic director Medhi Walerski to step down in June 2027

Having steered the company toward full houses and extensive touring, French-born dance artist will leave after 40th-anniversary season

New Ballet Jörgen production A Midsummer Night's Dream tours to Massey Theatre, February 7

Set to a score by Mendelssohn, whimsical show puts a Northern Canadian twist on Shakespeare’s timeless comedy

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield follows New York City Ballet to a wintry estate, to December 28 at VIFF Centre

The Leading Ladies bring to life Duke Ellington’s swingy twist on Tchaikovsky score at December 14 screening

Goh Ballet fosters young talent and holiday cheer with 15th edition of The Nutcracker

Amid tulle tutus and fleecey lambs, director Chan Hon Goh reflects on the history of the “feel-good production”

DanceHouse and The Cultch present the North American premiere of Recirquel’s Paradisum, January 21 to 24

Hungarian dance-circus company invites audiences to witness a visceral, mesmerizing spectacle set in the aftermath of a destroyed world

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker inhabits a snow-dusted Canada, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, December 12 to 14

Pond hockey, RCMP battles, and polar bears bring this unique rendition home—with classic Russian touches, of course

Arts Umbrella’s dancers rise to the challenge of learning every part in Mixed Nuts

Company’s annual holiday twist on The Nutcracker features a flavoursome assortment of styles, from classical ballet to hip hop to ’60s swing

Dance review: In Birdy, Hung Dance makes endless, artful play with feathered headpieces of Chinese opera

Dreamlike Taiwanese show explores freedom and oppression, with Ling Zi becoming everything from spiky weapons to shivering life forces all their own